Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine (reading an ebook TXT) 📕

"No. Leave her to me. Please. "

Ann scrambled stiffly to her feet and backed away. Reluctantly Bennet followed suit. Both were watching Jo's face.

Nick stooped and caught her shoulders, pulling her to her feet. "Stand up. Do you hear me? Stand up. Don't give in. Fight. " He shook her hard so that her head snapped back and forth as she sagged toward him,

Bennet took a protesting step forward, but Ann put her hand on his arm. "Wait, " she whispered.

"Fight it. Live. I want you to live. Do you know who I am?" He held her hard in front of him.

Slowly and painfully Jo focused on his face.

"I want you to live. Come back to me. Do you hear me, Jo? It is all over!"

Darkness and pain were swirling in her head, dragging her down into the earth. Blackness, sleep, escape. Peace. She did not want to return. She felt no anger. Only regret; regret for the sun and the sky and laughter that was behind her. Soft eternal blackness waited. Blackness where her son was already at peace....

She did not want to come back. A second chance. A reprieve; the sun blazing down from behind the high towers of white stone. She put her hands up to her eyes, but he caught her wrists and pulled them away, the man who had been her king. His eyes were full of compassion now. He was ordering her back. Her life was not being demanded. The body in her arms was dissolving, fading into the mist. There was a new life inside her waiting to be born. She had to come back. She had to obey, to give him the chance to atone....

"Jo?" Nick was willing her back to life. "Jo, can you hear me?"

There was a very slight change in her now. He couldn't name it, but it was as if her resistance were weakening. She had changed her mind. She was going to return. "Jo, my darling, you're going to make it. " He shook her again. "It's all over, love. All over. "

She touched his jacket experimentally, as if testing the command she had over her fingers, and winced at the pain. "Over?" she repeated, dazed.

Behind them Ann and Carl Bennet exchanged glances. Ann was smiling, but there were tears in her eyes.

"It's over, " Jo repeated slowly. "She died. Here, beneath this tower. "

"I know, love. "

"They took the bodies out of the oubliette after eleven days. They laid them in a single grave. Will was in her arms. They couldn't separate them at the end. There was no cross, no stone. The king wanted to forget.... "

"He never forgot, Jo. He never forgot. "

She extricated herself from his arms slowly and for half a second he moved to try to restrain her, then he stood back as she walked, shakily, across the grass to the crumbling wall behind them. "Here, " she whispered. "They are here, in the foundations of the wall. They threw them in the rubble and piled the stones on top of them. " Slowly she stooped, then, gently snapping off a stem of wild marjoram, she walked to the shadow of the wall and laid the flower on a shelf in the stone. For a moment she stood staring down at it, then she turned and began to walk back toward the shadowed entrance to the Martyr's Gate.

Nick hesitated, then he followed her as she made her way slowly back down the lower ward and out across the bridge.

The Mercedes was parked outside the pub. Bennet opened the rear door and obediently she climbed in, sitting back, her eyes closed. In silence Ann climbed in beside her and put her arm around her shoulders. "She needs a brandy, " she said.

Bennet shook his head. "That's the last thing this girl needs, " he said curtly, "on top of all that Valium. I've got some coffee in the back. "

Nick was standing uncertainly beside the car, watching as Jo clasped the mug of hot sweet coffee in her hands, sipping it. He glanced at Ann, then at Bennet. They were both preoccupied with Jo. Quietly he turned and began to retrace his steps into the castle.

Bennet looked around. For a moment he did not move. He frowned, then he handed the Thermos to Ann. "Take care of her, " he whispered. "I'll be back in a moment. "

Nick was standing looking down at the spray of tiny mauve flowers lying in the shadow of the stone.

Her hair had been redder than Jo's, her eyes a little greener perhaps. She had been so full of life, so graceful, so vivacious. And she had been broken by him.

"Forgive me. " He did not realize he had spoken aloud. Slowly he knelt in the wet grass in silence.

It was five full minutes before he rose slowly to his feet. Without looking back he turned and headed toward the cars. Bennet was waiting for him in the shadow of the huge stone gateway.

Suddenly noticing him, Nick stopped, looking embarrassed.

"I thought I was alone. "

Bennet smiled gravely as he fell in step beside him. "You were not alone, " he said. "Someone was listening. I think, for some reason, you have been given a second chance. "

Nick nodded. "I believe I have. "

In the back of the car Jo reached across and touched Nick's hand. She was staring at the wet, muddied knees of his trousers. "Thank you, " she whispered.

He put his arm around her. "It's finally over. " He pulled her against him.

"For them. " She gave him a shaky smile. "But what about for us?"

"For us it is the beginning. A new beginning. "

"And Sam?" she whispered.

"I don't think Sam will come back. " His arms tightened around her. "And nor will Tim, Jo. They had a fight last night. Tim slipped and cracked his skull. " He hesitated, feeling her body tighten. "He's dead, love. "

She tried to