The Sapphire Broach

Chapter 25 (rough draft)

The sun slipped behind the mountain as Kenric left Ivy. His heart split in two. Part of him wanted to run back to her, take her in his arms, and hold her . . . forever, but the other part knew he had to return to his family. Their survival depended upon his return. They were counting on him.

He heaved a great sigh. Sweetie mimicked him with a whinny.

"I know, girl. It isn't fair that we had to choose. It isn't fair at all."

His steps took him on the familiar road home, but he didn't feel the excitement that had filled him at the start of his journey. Instead, he felt empty—hollow.

"We have to stop this, Sweetie," he said. "We cannot wallow over her forever. We have to let her go. It is better this way . . . somehow."

A few moments later, he turned down the street that led to his home. A bit of excitement stirred in his heart, and he grabbed on to it and kindled it with memories of each of his siblings, now two years older than he remembered them, and of his beloved mother.

It worked. By the time he saw the firelight glowing through the windows of his home, he felt a warm eagerness and would have run the last bit if he had thought he could have done it without flaring his cough.

He tied Sweetie to the fence post, then walked to the back of the home where he guessed his mother would be cleaning up the kitchen with the little ones tucked in bed in the room above. He knocked softly on the door, then listened to his mother's footsteps inside.

The door opened.

"Can I help—Kenric!" she screamed and threw herself into his arms.

He held her and breathed in the smells of home—fresh baked bread and strong soap. He also thought he might have caught a whiff of apple pie.

She began to shake in his arms and he knew she was crying. "Oh, Kenric! My son!"

"Kenric!"

"Kenric!"

The call seemed to come from everywhere. Arms encircled him and his mother. He looked around and hardly recognized the boys and girls that clambered to hug or even just touch him.

His mother kissed both of his cheeks, then held him at arm's length. "Oh, Kenric! You look so handsome and so much more like your father than I remember you looking."

Kenric wiped moisture from his eyes, then grabbed a little girl who was nearly pulling his clothes off in her excitement to be held. He could only guess that she was his little sister Sarah who had only been two when he left. He kissed her rosy cheeks and remembered her birth. His father had passed away four months before she was born and the delivery had been especially hard for his mother.

His eyes searched out his brother, Rodney who would now be fifteen. He looked nearly like a man. Kenric grabbed hold of his shoulder. "Thank you for caring for them, Rod."

"I did my best." Rodney straightened to his full height which nearly matched Kenric's.

"He has worked so hard," their mother said.

"I am sure he has." Kenric smiled. He was home.

After many hugs and a little bit of crying, Kenric's mother and sisters put the little ones back to bed and pulled an apple pie from the cupboard.

"What a perfect evening for pie." His mother set a plate before each of them. "Let us eat and listen to all your adventures, son."

Kenric talked while they ate. He spoke briefly of his time in the king's army, and soon found himself talking of Ivy. Rodney blushed when he spoke of removing her dress after she nearly drowned, his sister's giggled when he described their silly arguments, and his mother gasped when he spoke of getting shot.

"Kenric, no!" she cried.

"Mother, you can see that I am well." But just when he said that, he coughed and winced at the pain.

She pulled up his tunic and undershirt to examine the wound. "We will have to get you fresh bandages and you should rest."

"I will, mother. I promise. But for now, let me continue. My tale is nearly finished."

She tried to fret more over him, but he lovingly pushed her away, then ended his tale.

"You walked away from her?" his sister Janie cried. She was the closest to his age and probably nearly the same age as Ivy.

"What else could he do?" Anna, now sixteen, said.

"It was an easy choice," Kenric lied. "I had to return to my family."

"But you left her," Janie continued. "What if she gets hurt? What if the soldiers catch up to her? And what of your feelings for her?"

"I do not have feelings for her," he lied again.

"Yes, you do." Janie elbowed him in the ribs. "I can tell by the way you are blushing."

"I am not blushing." But he did feel heat creep into his cheeks.

"All right, girls," his mother interrupted. "Leave Kenric alone. He needs his rest and so do all of you. To bed everyone."

***

Ivy stared after Kenric long beyond when he disappeared from view. She couldn't bring herself to begin her lonely trek to the palace, so she just stood there.

He was gone, really gone, and she wasn't likely to ever see him again. She knew he had made the choice he had to, but she still felt abandoned and hurt.

The sun set and left her in the glowing light of dusk. Finally she turned. She dragged one foot in front of the other, oblivious to her surroundings. How far should she travel before she stopped to sleep? When should she eat an evening meal? How long would it take her to reach the palace? She didn't know the answer to any of her questions, nor did she care.

She tried to imagine the look on Kenric's face when he saw his family again after such a long absence. She had never asked about his siblings. Did he have a brother who had become the man of the house or a sister who had reached marrying age while he was gone? Had anyone gotten sick or hurt while he was away? How had his mother faired?

A rustling sound ahead brought her from her thoughts, and she realized she had walked for probably an hour on the main road. She should head off into the protection of the woods and stop for the night before it grew too dark to find a good spot.

She turned and looked one last time back on the path she had walked and where she had seen Kenric for the last time. She sighed and faced the empty road before her again. Only it wasn't empty.

Three soldiers in full uniform stood before her.