Chapter 146: Forgiveness
On that warm sunny morning, Lady Kara and her children had used the day and the good weather to take a calm and peaceful walk along the coast.
Man was an island and as such had beautiful coasts, high hills covered with fresh and soft green grass, on which, with almost the slightest attention, one could see the light of the sun's rays reflecting on the clear and transparent water.
Kara noticed the scene, she observed the horizon where the blue sky met the cool sea, where the first trading ships were arriving on the coast and docking at the port.
Man was a beautiful island and despite having only three most populated cities such as: Bradda East, Douglas and Ramsey in the north, most of the other towns were mostly agricultural and populated by peasant families or people who in any case based their trade on vegetables and maybe on fishing.
Beside the woman stood Philip, her eldest son, a boy who for his age seemed to be much more mentally mature.
He resembled her much more than he did with his father: Philip had wavy brown hair of a fairly dark colour, two large hazel eyes like those of his mother and a delicate a light olive skin, exactly like his mother's.
The boy also observed the sea, that great and infinite land of salty and transparent water.
Kara knew those times were magnificent but at the same time difficult for her son: he was not yet used to the birth of his little sister but at the same time he felt that his relationship with the young lady Sophia was getting stronger and stronger.
They had promised themselves to wait another three years, until they both turned sixteen they would get married and start thinking about their future.
Obviously Kara did not like the idea that her boy was getting married at such an early age, on the other hand both would still be too young for serious things but love was love and as long as both had agreed, she would have agreed too.
It was not very common for a young man to marry so early, for a girl it was fifteen the average age for marriage, but for a man twenty was often the average age.
Philip did not immediately love Amber, of course he loved her as a big brother but he would have preferred her even more if she could have already communicate with him and not do the things that newborns of just one month do.
Amber was quite annoying to him: she was small and with quite wrinkled skin, she did not walk, did not speak, she could not see well either and her eyes were wide and completely black and sometimes she was so naive to smile at nothing.
The woman had talked to her son about how he should be patient and loving with his little sister, that there would even come a time when he himself would be protective of her and it seemed somewhat that Philip understood her.
Now all three were walking on the high shores of the small island.
Kara kept her hair loose on her back, which in their length reached about half her neck, a somewhat not popular hairstyle for the ladies of that time who mostly had very long hair.
On the contrary, she had bobbed and wavy hair, she had them cut and it gave the woman a somewhat rebellious and free look.
She wore on her body a beautiful dress of fine fabric of a pale cream colour and with several stitching of colourful flowers on it.
She hugged her little girl to her chest, her Amber: her newborn daughter was covered in a magnificent dress of light white fabric, adorned with various lace at the ends.
The little girl wore a beautiful bonnet over her many blond hair that covered her head, protecting it from the strong rays of the sun, avoiding sunstroke.
-So Philip...- asked the mother dipping her delicate hand into the wavy and numerous hair of her son, caressing them -so you and Sophia are finally officially a couple?-.
The young man waited a few moments before answering, on the one hand he did not want her to treat him like a small child, on the other he was still very attached to her, even too much to forbid her to caress his head.
He limited himself only to looking up, meeting the big brown eyes of the other, Philip smiled weakly, he knew what he wanted to answer but on the other hand all that waiting made him nervous at the same time.
-I am not sure anymore mother...- the young lord admitted lowering his gaze towards the fresh and soft grass, Kara understood something was wrong, it was like a sixth sense that she invariably felt towards her son.
-Something wrong darling?- she asked perhaps as a rhetorical question, she was sure something was wrong, yet, instead of comforting her son she was there to ask, as if she still did not understand.
It had been months since the boy had not met his father, Henry must have gone to war or so the boy believed, because in his heart he did not know as much as his mother knew.
Perhaps it must have been a surprise when, up the shores of the cliff the boy saw a figure rise, as foreign as he was known to him.
He recognised him by his blond hair, by his pale face, by his big grey eyes, by his clothes, because it was simply him, his father, whom he had not seen for months, who had finally come to visit them.
At the sight of the man the boy's eyes widened and filled with joy, he knew he should not cry nor show strong emotions towards one of his parents, but after everything they had been through, nothing could stop young Philip from jumping at his father's neck and start crying.
Of course, the young man was still too inexperienced to understand, for him his father was the war hero he believed in, he believed he was, because his mother had not yet reserved the young man a serious chat about Henry.
Kara knew a lot more than her young son knew and from the look that she pulled at her husband that too much information about him did not please her at all.
But now that wasn't all that mattered, he Henry Hannover was finally reunited with his family.
The prince hugged his son to his body, consoled all the tears of joy he shed and caressed his hair, reassuring him that he was back and would never leave them again.
But when he tried for the first time in months to give his wife a kiss, something happened that he himself thought was unexpected, because not even he was aware of how much the woman knew.
Henry observed with what look Kara looked at him, but he observed mostly the little baby girl that she carried in her arms, her big and languid black eyes, her blond hairs, she was his daughter.
-Philip, please, take your sister briefly for a walk around here, I have to reserve your father a rather serious chat...- the woman said almost angrily looking at her husband's face -do as I tell you...-.
The boy reluctantly in the desire to talk to his father had to obey his mother, as, most of all, he did not want her to get more angry.
So Philip took his newborn sister in his arms and at the same time that he could walk around, he fantasised about all the topics he could talk about with with his father.
How the war had gone, how he had come home, if he had won, perhaps, which he was almost sure of but which his mother seemed incredibly doubtful.
-What's going on?- asked the prince, trying in some way to be able to discuss with his wife -you don't love me anymore after all this time?-
He knew he shouldn't have been there, but after he was exiled from Scotland returning to his family was his only hope.
-Oh, Henry! You also know very well what happened, what you did to that poor boy, Rudolph...your cousin Juniper informed me of everything through correspondence...- the woman admitted closing both her arms, intertwining them under her breast.
Damn, Juniper! His damned cousin, did he have to warn his wife? Wouldn't it have been much easier to clear things up with him once and for all?
-You could have killed that boy Henry! I hope you understand the gravity of your action...this time it was your cousin's son but the next one could very well be one of our children and I don't want to live like this Henry! To live in fear...- protested Kara trying to look for something good that was still in his heart.
-It was dumb on my part...I admit it and I'm sorry, in any case I could never do something bad to our children! Never! I swear to you!- tried to convince her the man who in all his sincerity seemed to understand only now the gravity of his actions and his accomplishment, how he could console his wife, persuade her to forgive him, when she herself was sure that now no way back it was possible.
The man's grey eyes plunged into her browns, they were full of humidity, they were wet from sadness.
-They lost Henry, the news has just come to me, Rudolph managed to save himself, however presenting a second degree injury on his left leg...now there are only two conditions for which you can regain my trust: you will have to apologise in person to your cousin and his son for what you have done to him and renounce become king...-.
-But, I... Kara, you know how much I wanted...hoped for that role...-.
-Henry, I don't need a role, I'm already the most important person in the world, as long as I'm with you...-.
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