Her knight

Chapter Three

Vanessa woke up in the middle of the night and discovered she wasn’t alone. Something hairy was pressed on her back. Suddenly the events of her wedding night began to unfold. She had shared a night of bliss with her husband and he had taken her virginity. She had wanted the man she loved to be the one to bear that gift but she had entered up giving it to a total stranger.

“You are awake,” he said behind her.

“I just woke up. I’m sorry if I woke you up.”

“You have to go back to sleep. We have a long and stressful journey to embark on tomorrow.” Vanessa stayed a little and soon drifted back to sleep.

She woke up in the morning and discovered Adam wasn’t lying beside her. She asked a maid to draw a bath for herself and after she was done, she asked for another one to be drawn for him then she ordered breakfast to be brought to their room for him. When Adam returned, he took his bath ate then ordered her to dress and bid her farewell as they would soon be leaving. She dressed up and went in search of anna. She has always been an early bird but she was suddenly nowhere to be found. Vanessa walked to annas room and knocked on the door.

“Anna!” she called out. “Anna open the door.” The door was unlocked from inside and anna stood at the other end. Vanessa pulled her into a hug. I was scared. I thought something had happened to you.

“Nothing happened to me.”

“Were you crying?” Vanessa touched her face and wiped the tears away. Anna walked back and sat on her bed. she looked like a shadow of herself. Vanessa walked over and joined her.

“I can’t believe you are truly leaving me. It must be a bad dream.”

“Oh Anna!” Vanessa said pulling her into a hug as she began to sob. “We already talked about this.”

“I’m really going to miss you Essa. It will be lonely without you”.

“I will miss you too. I will come visit from time to time. I promise.” Anna wiped her eyes and stood up. She walked to her wardrobe and brought out a chest then she walked back to the bed and sat down then she handed the chest over to Vanessa.

“This is my gift for you.” Vanessa opened the chest and gasped. Inside laid different jewelries.

“Anna, where did you get these from? How did you come to be in possession of these?”

“I bought them each time I sneaked out to the market. They are yours.”

“Thank you. I will use them well. Will you come and see me off?”

“Of course.” Vanessa closed the chest and standing up she left the room. She handed the chest over to Mary who was going to be her personal maid and instructed her to drop it in her box. She then made her way to Gwendolyn’s room. She knew Gwendolyn wasn’t going to see her off so she was going to bid her farewell. She knocked on the door and opened it when Gwendolyn asked her to enter. She stepped in and walked over to the dressing table which was were Gwendolyn sat.

“What do you want? What have you come to do? Have you come to laugh at me?”

“I came to say farewell,” Vanessa told her.

“I know you don’t mean it. But I’m not sad that you are leaving. It just means another parasite is out of the way,” Gwendolyn told her.

“You don’t have to be so harsh, Gwen.

“My name is Gwendolyn not Gwen. You came here bearing that innocent face of yours behaving like you will miss me but I know that you and your sisters are hypocrites and have never missed me. You all want me gone from this house but its not going to work. You won’t be able to get rid of me like your mother did mine. Devil’s spurn.”

“My mother loved you like her own. I just came to say farewell. Take care of yourself.” Vanessa stormed out of the room. She was angry but she didn’t want anything to spoil her mood. She still had a lot of people to say farewell to but little time. She went to her father’s room to bid him farewell but he wasn’t there. She was about to make go to his study when a maid approach her and informed her that her father was in his study and he wanted to see her. She hurried there and let herself in without knocking. Katherine was there with him. She walked over and sat beside her. Her father was going through some documents.

“What’s going on?” Vanessa whispered

“I don’t know,” Katherine whispered back shrugging her shoulders. “I’m as confused as you are.”

“I can hear you two whispering,” Henry said without looking up and they both giggled. He arranged the two files he had separated from the bunch and put them both in separate files and handed each to the girls.

“What’s this Papa?” Katherine was the first to ask. Both of them opened the files and read the documents. They were documents indicating ownership of lands.

“Papa, I don’t understand,” Vanessa said breaking the silence. Henry bent and picked up two bundles and handed it to both girls. They tried to open it but he stopped them.

“They contain baby clothes. Your mother wanted to give them to you when you married. As for the lands, they are what you inherited from your mother. I was charged with taking care of them until you girls come of age. I believe it’s the right time to give these to you.” He had tears in his eyes and was finding it difficult to control himself. Both girls dropped the bundles and the files and rushed over to him and gave him a hug. At that moment the door opened. Anna and Elodie ran in and joined in the hug everyone shedding tears.

Adam searched the estate for Vanessa but seemed to have disappeared. he had been told her father had summoned her but her father and lady Katherine had said they left the study a while ago. Even her two younger sisters had no idea where she could have gone to. He had clearly informed her that they were going to be embarking on a long journey and she had clearly disappeared. he was very pissed and he would let her know he won’t tolerate being disobeyed. He was about to ask for a search party to be sent in search of her when he spotted her. He sighed in relieve. She was safe. He stomped to meet her as she approached.

Vanessa noticed Adam’s angry expression before he reached where she was and knew he was very not happy with her. He met her midway stopping her in her track.

“Where have you been?” he demanded angrily. “I told you we were to leave early and you went off to play.”

“I’m sorry m’lord. I didn’t mean to disappear and I certainly didn’t go off to play.”

“If you didn’t go off to play then did you go to bid farewell to a lover?” Vanessa sharply looked up at him in disbelieve. He couldn’t possibly be accusing her of cheating.

“I don’t have a lover. You should know that after last night,” she said and bent her head. Adam noticed the blush on her cheeks and didn’t believe she could still blush in this situation.

“So, tell me, where did you go to? I demand to know.”

“I went to my mother’s grave.” She murmured but he clearly heard her.

“In the future, inform someone of your whereabout. I won’t tolerate this if it happens next time,” he told her then he turned and walked back to the house. Vanessa lifted her gown and hurried after him. They were already ready to depart. Mary was to ride with Andrew who was Adam’s squire. One of his men handed him two horses. A black stallion and a white mare. Both were beautiful. Adam gave her the white mare to her amazement.

“She’s yours. I got her for you because of the long journey and I didn’t know if you had a horse.”

“She’s beautiful. Thank you,” Vanessa said and touched the horse. “What’s her name?”

“I don’t know. It’s yours. You name it.”

“Spirit. It was the name of my mother’s horse.”

“What happened to it?” Adam asked when he saw the sadness on her face. The mare was supposed to make her happy not sad.

“She broke her leg in the riding accident my mum was involved in so my father put her down. It was a long time ago.” The both mounted their horses and Vanessa turned back for the last time to wave to her family. Her father’s sad face would hunt her for a long time. Katherine waved at her and turned her tears stained face to her husband. Elodie was holding a sobbing Anna. Even Margaret was wiping her eyes with a handkerchief. Most of the servants too were teary. She tried not to cry but still a tear escaped.

“We need to go,” Adam informed her. She wiped off the tears and urged Spirit forward. She was going to her new home though she hardly knew where it was.

They rode for days on end and stopped sometimes to eat and rest the horses and at night to sleep. Vanessa rode with Adam in his horse. She had almost slept off and fall off her horse so Adam had insisted she ride with him. She was still fast asleep in his arms and he was enjoying the feeling of that. Magnus his second in command drew closer to him.

“M’lord, I believe we should stop for awhile when we get to the nearest village. We are almost out of food and water for ourselves and the horses.” Adam nodded his agreement and Magnus went to inform the rest. They soon got to a nearby village and magnus went in search of an inn for them to stay. He found one, payed for where they would stay and came back to lead them to the place. When they got to the inn, Adam woke Vanessa then he scooped her up when they dismounted, and carried her to the room they were to stay then he instructed magnus to take Mary along so she could get what her lady needed. He also told them to get all they wanted as this would be their last stop. He also encouraged Vanessa to sleep more this would be their last stop. Vanessa didn’t argue. Her body ached so she just laid down and soon she was asleep but not before she noticed him climbing in beside her.

Vanessa woke up and noticed it was a little bit dark. She must have slept all through the night. She touched the bed but Adam wasn’t there. She sat up and noticed she was wearing something different and lighter. Adam must have undressed her. There was a knock on the door and Mary came in.

“Good morning my lady. You are awake.”

“Where’s my husband?” Vanessa asked her.

“M’lord rode out at first light with Andrew. He instructed me to help you dress when the c**k crows the second time. He said to tell you he wants to stop somewhere so you would have to ride with the men and they would protect you.” Vanessa sighed then she asked her to prepare a bath for her which Mary told her was already waiting outside.

“Who undressed me?”

“I believe m’lord did,” Mary responded. Vanessa turned so Mary could unbutton the gown. She wondered where Adam had to go so importantly. ‘Could he have a lover nearby and was she who he had gone to see?’ She shook her head and willed the thoughts away. It was still too early to be suspicious of her husband.