"Sir Guy's Atonement" (Bk 3), Ch. 11 (PG-13, D):  Affairs of the Heart, Part 2  
March 02, 2015 Gratiana Lovelace

[An Original Fan Fiction adaptation of the characters from the BBC's Robin Hood; 

& a Sequel to "Sir Guy's Dilemma" (Book 2) by Gratiana Lovelace]
(All Rights Reserved; No copyright infringement intended)  [(1) story logo, top right]

[From time to time, I will illustrate my story with my dream cast of:  Richard Armitage as Sir Guy of Gisborne, Clive Standen as Lord Archer of Locksley, Emma Watson as Lady Roseanna Gisborne, Tommy Bastow as the young Seth Gisborne, Lucy Griffiths as the spectre of Lady Marian, James McAvoy as Lord George Middleton, Toby Stephens as Prince John, Dakota Fanning as Lady Caroline Havorford,  Chris Hemsworth as Sir Roderick Merton, Tamsin Egerton as Lady Rebecca Oxbridge, Lee Ross as Sir Jasper, etc.]

Author's Mature Content Note:  "Sir Guy's Atonement" is a story of romance and intrigue set amidst Medieval times.  As such there will be some passages in this story involving heartfelt love scenes (S) and some passages involving highly dramatic moments (D).  I will label the maturity rating of those chapters accordingly.  Otherwise, the general rating for this story is PG or PG-13 due to some mature situations and topics.  If you are unable or unwilling to attend a movie with the ratings that I provide, then please do not read the chapters with those labels.  This is my disclaimer.

Author's Recap from the previous installment:  Sir Guy of Gisborne found there to be many secrets and lies abounding at the Friday, March 29th, 1199 celebratory feast in his honor. Not everything is clear.  Especially regarding Prince John hinting that their kinsman John Oxbridge, Earl of Leicester--their Gordon Castle hostess Lady Rebecca's husband--might be gravely injured, or even dead.  And Sir Guy does suspect that the savior of his children, Sir Roderick Merton, might prove to be a worrisome aspect of their lives.  However, Sir Roderick's part to play in what will transpire has yet to be revealed.  And Sir Guy finding the younger man, Sir Roderick, restless when they returned  to the Gisborne Family's Gordon Castle guest suite--Sir Guy suggests that Sir Roderick take a moonlight stroll. After Sir Roderick departs, Sir Guy adoringly makes love with his wife Lady Roseanna --unconcerned about where Sir Roderick will go this night--but he should be.

"Sir Guy's Atonement" (Bk 3), Ch. 11 (PG-13, D):  Affairs of the Heart, Part 2

Meanwhile, Sir Roderick cannot believe how easily his slipping away from the Gisborne Family guest suite is accomplished as he makes his way to Lady Rebecca's bed chamber down the darkened corridor lit sparingly by torches at each door since it is well past midnight.  Sir Roderick  carries a gift for Lady Rebecca's son, little Lord Graham--a wooden puzzle of sorts [(2)].  In truth, he had brought it with him to Gordon Castle with the intention of giving it to the Oxbridge boy child were he to be in his and his mother's company.  So him bringing it with him now as an alibi for his presence in Lady Rebecca's chambers is a ruse that has been long in the making.

As Sir Roderick approaches the end of the family bed chamber corridor--that is actually a large wing of the castle--he hesitates [(3) right].    He knows that he is being foolish--risking more than just his own reputation.  But he is drawn to Lady Rebecca as if a silken tether binds them together and she is pulling him toward her.  At her door with the rose carved door frame, Sir Roderick pauses, then he raps his knuckles three times quickly and softly. 

After she had changed into her nightclothes of an ivory  silken nightgown shift and a silvery silken robe, Lady Rebecca had dismissed her ladies maid for the night--anticipating Sir Roderick's arrival--hoping for it.  So now Lady Rebecca, and not her maid servant, opens her bed chamber door to Sir Roderick in naught but her night dress and robe.  She quickly ushers him inside and shuts her door.

Lady Rebecca: "Roddy, I was not sure if you would come."  She smiles at him bashfully.

Sir Roderick: "Becca, I cannot stay long."  He sees her pout [(4) right].   "For your sake, we must not risk discovery while you have a castle filled to the battlements with guests."

Lady Rebecca: "I know." She sighs.  "At least sit with me a moment." 

She gestures to the sette in her apartment's sitting room and they sit together--she to his right as he wraps his good right arm around her shoulders and they kiss briefly, knowing the limitations upon them this night.  Her children are asleep in her bed chamber just beyond the closed interior door at the back of the sitting room--since their bed chambers are housing some of their visiting family for Sir Guy's investiture.

Sir Roderick:   Taking Lady Rebecca's  hand in his, Sir Roderick pours out his feelings to her.  "You are so lovely, Becca.   I wish there were a way for us to live our lives together--as husband and wife."

Lady Rebecca: "I wish it, too, Roddy.  But there is not a way.  Despite what Prince John said about my husband Lord John being injured and possibly dead, my conscience will not allow me to wish my husband away--because that would make my children fatherless."

Sir Roderick: "Are they not fatherless now?"  He asks impertinently.

Lady Rebecca reaches up to her love's face and gently caresses his bearded cheek.  It is a gesture at once comforting to him, yet her caress is also poignant in its acknowledgement of the futility of their love. 

Lady Rebecca:  "Yes.  But my children Graham and Rachel know that their father exists. And I have told them that he will one day come back to them.  I have tried to keep his memory alive in their hearts--for their sakes, as much as for his.  That is the least I could do for my husband.  And my children long for their father.  I pray for his safe return despite what Fr. Bale revealed to me of his injuries."

Sir Roderick:  "But your husband is gravely injured, perhaps fatally so?"  Sir Roderick clings to the small hope that he and Lady Rebecca can somehow find an honorable way to be together.

Lady Rebecca: "Perhaps.  But though Prince John believes my husband's injuries to be grave, Fr. Bale is less convinced.  I must pray for my children's sake that their father lives and returns to them."

Sir Roderick: "And for your sake?"  He gazes at her expectantly.

Lady Rebecca:   "My only hope is for my children's happiness.  To wish for anything more is to tempt the fates and to risk damnation." 

Sir Roderick nods his head.  He knows that she will not wish for him as he wishes for her.  Or at least, she will not allow herself to admit her feelings. Then he removes his arm from her shoulders and reaches into a breast pocket of his tunic.

Sir Roderick:  "Your suggestion of me bringing your child Graham a gift to give me a reason to my being here in your bed chamber suite was quite prescient.  I had already brought this wooden building block puzzle with me to give to your son, Lord Graham--were I allowed to meet him.  I had such a set when I was a child and played with it for hours.  The box lid slides off and inside there are several differently shaped wooden pieces that he can fit together to make different shapes."  He demonstrates by putting a pointy cone atop a stubby square.

Lady Rebecca: "What is that supposed to be?" She asks curiously.

Sir Roderick: "I thought perhaps a tower."  She looks at him quizzically.  "Or it may be an arrow.  It can be whatever little Lord Graham wants it to be."

Lady Rebecca: "Thank you, Roddy.  My Graham will enjoy such imaginative play."  She smiles up at him.

Sir Roderick: "I am glad."  He smiles.  Then his face saddens and he adds. "You are very blessed, Becca."

Lady Rebecca knows that Sir Roderick is referring to her two healthy children--Lord Graham and Lady Rachel--when his own son had died not long after its birth eighteen months ago, after the child's mother had already succumbed and died in giving birth to him. 

Lady Rebecca:  "Roddy, I am truly sorry for your loss."  She consolingly clasps his hand in hers--noticing how rough his palm is from his military labors in wielding a sword and bow, but yet lacing her delicate fingers with his.  Then she brings his hand to her lips and kisses it lightly.

This sweetly tender gesture is Sir Roderick's undoing and he gently pulls her to him as he buries his face in her neck and kisses its soft creamy expanse of skin.

Sir Roderick: "Becca, Becca, my only hope for happiness is for you to become my wife.  Yours is the only love my heart will allow." He murmurs in a poignant hushed whisper, yet still with the strength of his fervent devotion to her.

Lady Rebecca: Tears brimming in her eyes, she knows what she must do--though it is tearing her apart to do so.  "Roddy."  She caresses his face and kisses his temple as her tears fall.  "Our being together is impossible."

Sir Roderick:  He gazes at her with adoring hopefulness [(5) right],  his deep voice smooth as a velvet caress. "Nay, My Becca.  I love you so.  Nothing is impossible for love."

Placing her arms about his neck and kissing him sweetly, for a brief and wild moment she seeks to encourage his more passionate kisses as she presses herself against him. He can feel her womanly softness through her thin fabric covering and he pulls her body close to his body.   She has been so long without his love, and she has been so long without the comfort of the less wanted, but still pleasant, husbandly attentions.  For Lord John Oxbridge saw to his husbandly duties with tender regard for his wife, if not love for her. 

And Sir Roderick has been chaste for over two years now since his wife was in the later stages of the pregnancy that caused her death.  So it is a wonder that they are each able to restrain themselves from bedding each other here and now. But they have two small cherubic reminders--in the persons of her children Graham and Rachel sleeping contentedly in her bed--that temper their passions for now.

Lady Rebecca:  "Roddy, we must find a way to be together soon."  Lady Rebecca whispers pleadingly in his ear  and he holds her closer to him. 

Lady Rebecca's need to love and be loved is what every woman wants.  This tender love is what her kinswoman Lady Roseanna shares with her husband Sir Guy.  The first time, Lady Rebecca married for duty and honor and obligation.  And now, she wants to marry for love.

Sir Roderick:   Kissing her lips, and neck and shoulder as he ponders her unspoken invitation, he suggests.  "I want that as well, Becca.  But we must be careful--for your sake."  For Noble ladies reputations are easily tarnished, such is the precarious nature of their status in society.    "I must go now to stroll through the garden to maintain my ruse for where I have been this night. But perhaps I can stay behind when the others leave after Sir Guy's investiture?  I could excuse myself from Prince John's service by saying that I have to tend to matters on my estates in Staffordshire before returning to court in London."  He raises his eyebrow hopefully.

Lady Rebecca: "Yes!  Do!   Stay with me, Roddy!"

Lady Rebecca and Sir Roderick must part this night.  But first they give in to a fever of passionate kisses and embraces with the promise of them meeting again, soon.  As he leaves her but a quarter hour since he arrived, Sir Roderick resolves to find some way for he and his love Becca to be together, with honor. 

Before Lady Rebecca goes to bed, she walks out upon her balcony that overlooks Gordon Castle's formal gardens. And she sees her love, Sir Roderick, walk out of the castle toward the flower gardens.  Would that she could go to him, but she cannot. And her sadness is reflected in her sorrowful gaze [(6) right].  Then she turns and walks back inside to join her children in sleep.

That night, as Lady Rebecca lays down to sleep next to her children, she remembers the sweetly passionate but still chaste tenderness that she and her Sir Roderick oh too briefly shared this night.  For if they only have stolen moments such as these, then they must make memories to sustain them when they will be apart. 

And Lady Rebecca knows that though Sir Roderick will resist becoming betrothed to little Lady Caroline on principle--since she is so young at only eleven years old--that he might not have a say in that matter.  She knows that Prince John wants his betrothal and dowry taxes.  And if Sir Roderick refuse to become betrothed to the very young Lady Caroline, then Prince [John] will find some other lady to betroth to Sir Roderick.  It is simply a matter of time.  And Lady Rebecca will soon come to discover that time is not an advantage that she will possess. 

However for Sir Roderick, what he hoped would be a leisurely mind clearing stroll in the Gordon Castle gardens will prove more worrisome than he could have ever imagined.

To be continued with Chapter 12

1)  Story Logo for Sir Guy's Atonement" is a composite of:

a) Sir Guy  portrayed by Richard Armitage found at richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/RobinHood/album/seasonthree/Episodefive/slides/5_086.jpg (crop-hair-manip-hi-res); and

b) The spectre image of Lady Marian  is that of Lucy Griffiths who portrayed Lady Marian in the BBC series Robin Hood from2006-2009 and was found at Hamilton Hodell Talent Management at http://www.hamiltonhodell.co.uk/cv/client_lucy-griffiths_id_100044.htm;  image found at

thedubs-staging.com/images/hamiltonhodell/600x600FFFFFFf/_uploads/userassets/images/griffithslucynewpic11

2)   A general history of children's toys is found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy

3) Sir Roderick Merton is Chris Hemsworth in a still from Thor the Dark World(manip (with a manip of  his  left arm sling hidden under cape) that was found at  http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/thor-the-dark-world-chris-hemsworth6.jpg 

4) Image representing Lady Rebecca Stafford Oxbridge, Lady Leicester (face only) is that of Tamsin Egerton portraying Guinevere in Camelot and was found at http://ficassets.fichub.com/Fox_pt_pt/character/12765.281x308.jpg

5) Sir Roderick Merton is Chris Hemsworth in a still from Thor the Dark World that was found at

http://a.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/REX_chris_hemsworth_thor_kab_140107_16x9_992.jpg

6) Image representing Lady Rebecca Stafford Oxbridge, Lady Leicester (on the balcony in her night gown) is that of Tamsin Egerton portraying Guinevere in Camelot and was found at  filmweb.pl at http://1.fwcdn.pl/ph/52/25/575225/259028.1.jpg

Sir Guy's Atonement" (Book 3), Ch. 11 Blog link (Post #712)

http://gratianads90.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/sir-guys-atonement-bk-3-ch-11-pg-13-d-affairs-of-the-heart-part-2-march-02-2015-gratiana-lovelace-post-712/