The Forgotten Keepsake

Chapter 22

XXII

It was late afternoon as Marian arrived back at camp and the first thing she did was go to Robin to tell him all that she'd found out in Clun. However she never got that far, for as she was about to tell him the whole story, she was abruptly cut off by him giving her a lecture about staying out so long. This put her on the defensive from the get go and had her wondering what had happened to the tender concerned lover he had been of late and why had he been replaced by this nagging housewife now stood before her. She figured that he would however come round to her way of thinking upon hearing what it was she had to say but no; Robin didn't want to hear about Gisborne right now, he had much more important things to think about like worrying about her and why it had taken her so long to fetch a few supplies from Clun...

Marian felt as if she could strangle him.

Not so long ago he had been very interested in Gisborne and what his enemy had been getting up to - he'd even asked her if she could keep an eye on him and now that she knew what it was Guy had been doing, now that she had the answers he didn't want to hear about it.

Marian thought about the conversation she'd had with Mina earlier about retiring to a convent and wondered if it was not too late to sign up for it.

God save me from idiotic men.

And so Marian did what she usually did in these situations and stormed off in a huff. She wasn't very far from the camp when it occurred to her that she now had nowhere to storm off to. She couldn't go home to her father as she had always done, for she no longer had a home or a father. And she couldn't go back to the Castle, for as much as she would like to confront Guy with what she now knew about him, there was the problem of the Sheriff wanting to hang her.

It was with these thoughts in mind that she swallowed her pride and went back to camp. She gave Robin a wide berth for the rest of the evening and said very little, if he didn't want to hear what she had to say then so be it.

*****

Robin Hood certainly had some interesting ideas about how to treat his beloved.

If he had thought that Marian would appreciate being tied up whilst the Sheriff's guards attacked Clun nearby then he was sorely mistaken. Telling her to go cook his dinner didn't exactly help fan the flames of her passion for him either - that went down about as well as the time that Gisborne confessed his feelings for her just after she'd discovered her father was dead.

The menfolk of Nottingham had some strange ideas about women indeed.

And it kept on getting stranger...

Just when she thought Robin couldn't be topped in strangeness enter Gisborne once more to raise the bar.

She had arranged to meet him with every intention of disclosing what she knew, she had wanted to ask him about Mina, if he loved her as much as she obviously loved him, she had wanted to ask him what his intentions towards that lady had been, she had wanted to know what exactly had occurred between them.

But as it so often goes with the best laid plans...

The conversation began as Marian had expected; with Guy's usual disbelieving comments concerning her desire to become a Nun – why did nobody ever believe her? One of these days she would show them all - in fact if it carried on like this she really would do it!

But then Guy was once again in full-on confession of feelings mode and all Marian could do was stand there overwhelmed, whilst wondering how far he was planning to go with this.

She was ashamed to admit it, even to herself, but he remained intensely fascinating for her. And although at the time she could hardly believe the conversation they were having, (one highlight from him being the extremely awkward and downright creepy exclamation: "What better way to grieve than to create new life!?"), she made no move to resist him as he leaned in to kiss her.

Still then again it was perhaps no wonder that he seemed to connect grieving with sex, for moments later despite all of her talk of grieving she was pulling him in for a clinch and kissing him like there's no tomorrow. It may well have been to distract him from an escaping Robin but still, if that isn't an example of mixed signals then what is!?

"This was a mistake..."

"Marian this wasn't a mistake; this was the most perfect thing that's ever happened!"

God what a mess.

"I'm grieving Guy."

Careful now, if you keep saying that to him, who knows where this will end!?

It was a dangerous game she was playing here, and as much as she liked to think she was in control - Guy had unsettled her once again. Every time she thought she knew what was going to happen next, what she was going to say to him and what he was going to say to her, it all unravelled and she was reminded of how little control she actually had - over the situation, over him and most alarmingly over herself.

It was in this moment that Marian thought of Mina and could not help but feel envy.

Mina knew who she was.

Mina knew her own heart.

Mina was accepting and grateful.

In this strange world that was certainly something to be envious of.