Part 47: link
MONDAY
“I see what anda mean about the gardens,” Gwen says as they walk up the path to Roger and Lorraine’s house. They’d packed up and closed up the house already and drove the short distance to drop off the keys on their way back to London.
Arthur rings the bell, reaching for Gwen’s hand as they wait. No one comes to the door.
“I know she’s home,” he says, pulling Gwen off the porch onto the lawn as he starts to walk around to the back garden. “She’s probably back here.”
They come around the corner of the house and Gwen spies a large sunhat bobbing amidst the rosebushes.
Lorraine’s back is to them, so Arthur calls, “Any strawberries for me to eat?”
“Oh!” the older woman stands and turns. “Arthur! How are you, darling?” She picks her way out of the rosebushes as Arthur and Gwen continue to walk towards her.
Lorraine pulls her gloves off and drops them in a plastic bucket she passes and reaches out to Arthur, pulling him to her matronly frame for a large hug.
“So nice to see you,” Arthur tells her, hugging her back. “Lorraine, this is my fiancée, Guinevere,” he introduces her.
“Gwen,” Gwen says, taking the woman’s outstretched hand in hers.
“So nice to meet you. I’ve heard something of anda from my Roger. How is your head, dear?”
“Much better, thank anda very much,” she smiles at the woman.
“Arthur, she’s just lovely,” Lorraine tells him, her frank openness making Gwen blush slightly.
“Yes, she is, and I’m glad anda think so,” Arthur says.
“Well. I suppose anda two are back to London this morning, yes?” she asks. Then she adds, “Please, come sit a minute,” and leads them to some wrought iron chairs on a brick patio.
“Unfortunately, yes, we both have to get back to real life and work again. But first I had to come visit you. And return the key,” Arthur says, sitting.
“Yes, of course. So Gwen, what is it anda do?”
“I’m a librarian,” she tells her.
“Very interesting,” Lorraine says. “Are anda getting this one to read some?” she asks, indicating Arthur.
“Yes, she is,” Arthur answers. “It’s actually enjoyable when it’s not for school; when no one is telling me what I should read and when.”
“I told him that many times,” Lorraine says conspiratorially to Gwen, who laughs.
“And Gwen is being modest. She’s the head librarian, in fact.”
“Which is really nothing to brag about,” Gwen adds.
Lorraine smiles at the young couple, noticing how happy they are. I’ve never seen Arthur so happy like this, she thinks, and it warms her heart.
“When is the wedding?” she asks.
“October 20,” Arthur answers, pleased with himself for remembering the date. “And of course you’ll be receiving an invite.”
“I’ll put it down in my diary immediately. Where will it be?”
“The Manor.”
“Oh, now, that will be lovely.”
“We’re hoping so,” Gwen says.
Lorraine sighs. “Well, I shan’t keep you. Oh! Arthur, I know anda want some jam. Wait a moment and I’ll just run and grab anda a few jars.”
“Thank you, Lorraine. Oh, hang on,” he says, and digs the key out of his pocket and hands it to her. “So anda can put it inside right away.”
The woman smiles at him and heads to the house, calling back, “Feel free to pick some treats from the garden, dears.”
“Treats?” Gwen asks, amused at this charming and warm woman who obviously loves Arthur very much.
He rolls his eyes, but not unkindly. “Yeah. Vegetable garden. We’d better go look for anything needing harvesting atau she’ll be insulted.”
Gwen laughs and follows him to a sunny spot containing a large patch of vegetables, flanked sejak some raspberry, raspberi bushes and a row of strawberries on one side.
“Holy cow,” Gwen says.
“Yes.”
They find two cucumbers, four tomatoes, a handful of strawberries (half of which Arthur eats immediately), a green pepper, a red pepper, and several fat peapods. Lorraine comes striding back to them with a full bag and an empty bag in her hands. She hands Gwen the empty bag for the produce they’ve picked, and the full bag goes to Arthur.
He inspects the contents immediately, earning him a sideways look from Gwen and a laugh from Lorraine, who honestly would have been disappointed if he didn’t behave like a small child at Christmas.
Arthur crouches on the ground and withdraws two jars of strawberi jam, two jars of marmalade, one jar of pickles, and a loaf of zucchini bread.
“You’ve been busy,” he smiles, repacking the bag and standing.
“Now, anda make good use of those vegetables, now,” she warns him.
“Not to worry, madam, Gwen is an excellent cook and she is making sure I get my veggies,” he promises her.
“Good girl,” Lorraine nods her approval in Guinevere’s direction.
“All right, come here, love,” Lorraine pulls Arthur to her. They hug again and Arthur gives her a Ciuman on the cheek as well.
“Take care,” he tells her.
Gwen steps forward, saying, “It was very nice to meet you, Lorraine,” and holds out her hand.
“Oh, no anda don’t,” Lorraine says and wraps the younger woman in her soft embrace. “Take care of him. He is very special,” she whispers in Gwen’s ear.
“I know,” Gwen softly says back.
As Arthur and Gwen walk back to the car with their parcels, Arthur asks, “What did she say to you?”
“Hmm?”
“When she hugged you. She whispered something to you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gwen says, smirking.
“Guinevere!” he exclaims, amused but frustrated. All she’s doing is making him lebih curious.
“You’re nothing but a nosy old lady, anda know that?”
“She berkata something, and anda answered her. I saw you,” he goads, opening the door of the car for her.
She climbs in, laughing. He takes his kerusi, tempat duduk and looks at her. “Well?”
“She told me to be good to anda atau she’d arrange to have my kneecaps broken.”
“She did not!”
“No.” Gwen is enjoying herself now.
“Guinevere…” he tries saying her name the way that usually gets him his way.
She leans over and kisses him. “She told me to take care of anda and that anda are very special,” she says softly to him. “And I didn’t just tell anda that because anda turned my insides to puding saying my name.”
He grins. “Sure, anda didn’t.”
They arrive back at their flat shortly after eleven.
“I guess this means I have to go to work on time,” Arthur says. “However, they don’t know I’m back yet…”
“Tempting though that is, we both know that you’re too honest to follow through with that thought.”
He sighs. “True.”
Just then his phone rings. It’s not Merlin; the ring is different. The tune coming from his phone this time is The Imperial March, Darth Vader’s theme from Star Wars.
Gwen looks at him, puzzled.
“Father,” Arthur explains. Gwen laughs loudly, clapping her hand over her mouth as Arthur answers.
“Hello.”
Gwen goes about unpacking, trying not to look like she’s listening to their conversation.
“Very good. We had a wonderful time. Charlie and Roger both say hello. Oh, and Gwen almost drowned, but she’s okay.”
“Yes, there. She hit her head. Well, obviously I did. Yes, she’s fine.” He sighs. “Gwen, you’re fine, right?” He holds the phone out.
“Yes, I’m fine, no need to worry,” she shouts.
“There. Satisfied? Good.”
“Yes. Yes, I did.” He rolls his eyes.
Must be making sure Arthur left the house in order, Gwen thinks.
“No, I wanted to ask anda something. anda still go to the club Wednesdays for dinner?”
“Would anda like some company?”
“No, just me.”
“Just to have makan malam, majlis makan malam with you.” He looks at Guinevere, his eyes pleading. Help. She nods encouragingly.
“Well, actually I want to talk to anda a bit, someplace where anda won’t be distracted sejak work.” He looks at Gwen again, and she nods again, giving him a thumbs-up.
“Father, I have to get going to work. I’ll see anda Wednesday. Seven? Okay. ‘Bye.”
“He never would have bought that I just wanted to spend quality time with him,” he says to Gwen, changing into his work clothes.
“I know. anda berkata enough. It’s delicate, I know. But he knows anda want to talk to him, even if he doesn’t know what about.”
“And now he’ll be stewing for two days, wondering what I could possibly wish to discuss with him.”
“Do anda think he’ll figure it out?”
“Possible.”
She pulls the foto out of the side pocket of her suitcase and sets it on the wardrobe.
“So what will anda do with the rest of your day?” he asks her.
She looks at the hamper, now overflowing. “Laundry,” she sighs. “I may stop in and say hello to Morgana. Maybe meet her for lunch. And I think I need to call Cedric and get a status update on the dress. Haven’t heard from him in a bit.”
“Surely there’s still plenty of time for that. How long does it take to make one dress?” Arthur asks, tying his shoes.
“That’s why I’m going to call him. He may need to do some fittings.” She looks at the photo. “I might take that in as well to get restored.”
“Ah. Good.” Then he frowns. “Well, my love, I had better go and see what mayhem Leon has gotten the lads into.”
“So Leon was in charge in your absence?” she asks as he walks to her to Ciuman her goodbye.
“Yes, he’s seterusnya senior after me. He wants and deserves a promotion, and I figured this would be a good way to test him, I guess, to see if he’s truly ready.” He wraps his arms around her, looking down at her. “Unfortunately that means he’d alih to a different crew and shift, but it would be unfair of me to hold him back just because I like the guy.”
Gwen smiles at him. He’s such a good man, she thinks. “That’s really good of you,” she tells him, leaning up to Ciuman him.
He leans down, deepening the kiss, telling her how much he doesn’t want to leave her. His hands slide on her back, one traveling up to hold her head as he leans further into her, the other wrapping around her waist to support her. His tongue presses against hers, caressing it, as they Ciuman each other until they are both slightly dazed.
Gwen pulls away first, reluctantly. “Go to work,” she whispers. “Be safe. I Cinta you.”
“I Cinta you, too. See anda Wednesday.” He kisses her one lebih time before tearing himself away to go off to work.
“He did what?” Morgana about chokes on her bite of salad as Guinevere gives her highlights from their weekend. Currently she is describing their encounter with Sophia and her elderly husband.
“I know! I was so mad at him.”
“Even after saving your life and giving anda that gorgeous necklace? I am going to kill him. He is so dead.”
“Morgana, no. It’s fine. We worked it all out. He recognized that he was a total keldai and has lebih than made up for it.”
“You didn’t give in immediately, did you?” Morgana asks, knowing her friend’s mild and forgiving nature and dreading the worst.
“Oh, God, no.” She smiles. “I locked him out of the bathroom.”
“So?”
“I was taking a bubble bath at the time.”
“Nice.” Morgana grins. Then she angles her head, looking at Gwen.
“What?”
“Come back to the salon with me after lunch. anda need a trim.”
“I was going to go over to the jeweler, but I suppose I can pencil anda in before I go there,” she teases.
“Going to look at a wedding band for Arthur?”
“Yes. Oh, speaking of which, have anda seen Cedric lately?”
“Oh, yes, sorry! He was in just Friday. You’re supposed to call him for a fitting.”
“He lives!” Wayne exclaims as Arthur strolls into the firehouse.
“Yes, she didn’t do me in just yet,” he says casually. “Not that I didn’t deserve it at one point,” he mutters as he walks past Merlin, who stands and follows him up to the bunkroom to drop his things.
“What did anda do?” Merlin asks, his tone accusatory.
“We ran into Sophia.”
“No.”
“And… I was nice to her.”
“No! Arthur…”
“I was in shock, Merls. We were having a lovely dinner, actually having a very good time tormenting her across the dining room—“
“And how exactly did anda do that?” Merlin asks. “Wait, I don’t think I want to know.”
“Anyway, she intercepted us on the way out and I was taken quite sejak surprise, and…”
“You couldn’t treat her the way she deserved to be treated after what she did to you.” Merlin finishes Arthur’s sentence.
“Right.”
“Coward.”
“That’s what she called me! A coward! And a hypocrite!”
“Yes, that too,” Merlin agrees, knowing full well about their accidental meeting with Lance.
“Merlin! You’re supposed to be my friend!” Arthur complains.
“I am being your friend, Cabbage Head. I’m agreeing that anda were a jerk. If I wasn’t your friend I wouldn’t be so honest.”
Arthur scowls. Now I have two people that are always right to have to deal with.
“I take it she forgave you, though. I don’t see any visible lacerations atau contusions…” Merlin inclines his head, giving Arthur a mock inspection.
“Eventually,” Arthur says, then remembers the morning after and a dirty grin crosses his face.
“Don’t want to know,” Merlin says again. “So what else happened?”
“Well, I got to help eject a large brute from a pub because he clumsily tried to chat up Gwen and almost assaulted her.”
“What?”
“And then she slipped on some rocks in the stream, right in that spot where it gets deep,”
“Oh, no…”
“Oh, yes. She hit her head and knocked herself out in the process. I had to pull her out of the water and administer CPR.”
“Oh my God, Arthur! Is she okay?”
“Yes, she’s fine. I even had Roger check her for concussion.”
“Good man.” Merlin’s brow unfurrows, and he asks, “Was that before atau after anda were an ass?”
“Before.”
“So did anything good happen?”
“Believe it atau not, we actually had a really good time. We didn’t want to come back.”
“Doesn’t sound that way…” Merlin is skeptical.
“No, mate, honest. We’re… closer than ever, actually. And she’s quite the fisherman, that’s for sure.”
Gwen goes to the jeweler after finishing with Morgana, her hair now trimmed neatly, giving her curls a little extra bounce. She walks through the door, not realizing that it is the same kedai Arthur had visited just the week before. She browses the display cases until she finds the one she needs.
“May I help you?” a woman walks up to her.
“Yes, I’m looking for a wedding band for my fiancé,” she looks up from the case and smiles at the woman.
“Oh! anda must be Mr. Pendragon’s fiancée,” the woman says, taking Gwen completely sejak surprise.
“Yes… how did you…” she asks.
“Sorry. It’s your necklace. I sold it to him,” she explains. “And since it was just last week, it’s still fresh in my mind.”
“I see,” Gwen smiles, “I hadn’t realized that he had come here.”
“And that ring of yours is pretty hard to forget, too, my dear.”
Gwen looks at her hand. “Yes, it is at that.”
“He was so cute. I’ve been in this business quite a while and every once in a while a young man like him comes in. Completely smitten,” she smiles, and Gwen blushes slightly. “Now, what type of ring would anda like for him?”
Gwen smiles at the older woman. “I know exactly what I want.”
“Well, then, this should be easy, shouldn’t it? And if we don’t have it, we can get it,” she assures her.
Part 49: link
MONDAY
“I see what anda mean about the gardens,” Gwen says as they walk up the path to Roger and Lorraine’s house. They’d packed up and closed up the house already and drove the short distance to drop off the keys on their way back to London.
Arthur rings the bell, reaching for Gwen’s hand as they wait. No one comes to the door.
“I know she’s home,” he says, pulling Gwen off the porch onto the lawn as he starts to walk around to the back garden. “She’s probably back here.”
They come around the corner of the house and Gwen spies a large sunhat bobbing amidst the rosebushes.
Lorraine’s back is to them, so Arthur calls, “Any strawberries for me to eat?”
“Oh!” the older woman stands and turns. “Arthur! How are you, darling?” She picks her way out of the rosebushes as Arthur and Gwen continue to walk towards her.
Lorraine pulls her gloves off and drops them in a plastic bucket she passes and reaches out to Arthur, pulling him to her matronly frame for a large hug.
“So nice to see you,” Arthur tells her, hugging her back. “Lorraine, this is my fiancée, Guinevere,” he introduces her.
“Gwen,” Gwen says, taking the woman’s outstretched hand in hers.
“So nice to meet you. I’ve heard something of anda from my Roger. How is your head, dear?”
“Much better, thank anda very much,” she smiles at the woman.
“Arthur, she’s just lovely,” Lorraine tells him, her frank openness making Gwen blush slightly.
“Yes, she is, and I’m glad anda think so,” Arthur says.
“Well. I suppose anda two are back to London this morning, yes?” she asks. Then she adds, “Please, come sit a minute,” and leads them to some wrought iron chairs on a brick patio.
“Unfortunately, yes, we both have to get back to real life and work again. But first I had to come visit you. And return the key,” Arthur says, sitting.
“Yes, of course. So Gwen, what is it anda do?”
“I’m a librarian,” she tells her.
“Very interesting,” Lorraine says. “Are anda getting this one to read some?” she asks, indicating Arthur.
“Yes, she is,” Arthur answers. “It’s actually enjoyable when it’s not for school; when no one is telling me what I should read and when.”
“I told him that many times,” Lorraine says conspiratorially to Gwen, who laughs.
“And Gwen is being modest. She’s the head librarian, in fact.”
“Which is really nothing to brag about,” Gwen adds.
Lorraine smiles at the young couple, noticing how happy they are. I’ve never seen Arthur so happy like this, she thinks, and it warms her heart.
“When is the wedding?” she asks.
“October 20,” Arthur answers, pleased with himself for remembering the date. “And of course you’ll be receiving an invite.”
“I’ll put it down in my diary immediately. Where will it be?”
“The Manor.”
“Oh, now, that will be lovely.”
“We’re hoping so,” Gwen says.
Lorraine sighs. “Well, I shan’t keep you. Oh! Arthur, I know anda want some jam. Wait a moment and I’ll just run and grab anda a few jars.”
“Thank you, Lorraine. Oh, hang on,” he says, and digs the key out of his pocket and hands it to her. “So anda can put it inside right away.”
The woman smiles at him and heads to the house, calling back, “Feel free to pick some treats from the garden, dears.”
“Treats?” Gwen asks, amused at this charming and warm woman who obviously loves Arthur very much.
He rolls his eyes, but not unkindly. “Yeah. Vegetable garden. We’d better go look for anything needing harvesting atau she’ll be insulted.”
Gwen laughs and follows him to a sunny spot containing a large patch of vegetables, flanked sejak some raspberry, raspberi bushes and a row of strawberries on one side.
“Holy cow,” Gwen says.
“Yes.”
They find two cucumbers, four tomatoes, a handful of strawberries (half of which Arthur eats immediately), a green pepper, a red pepper, and several fat peapods. Lorraine comes striding back to them with a full bag and an empty bag in her hands. She hands Gwen the empty bag for the produce they’ve picked, and the full bag goes to Arthur.
He inspects the contents immediately, earning him a sideways look from Gwen and a laugh from Lorraine, who honestly would have been disappointed if he didn’t behave like a small child at Christmas.
Arthur crouches on the ground and withdraws two jars of strawberi jam, two jars of marmalade, one jar of pickles, and a loaf of zucchini bread.
“You’ve been busy,” he smiles, repacking the bag and standing.
“Now, anda make good use of those vegetables, now,” she warns him.
“Not to worry, madam, Gwen is an excellent cook and she is making sure I get my veggies,” he promises her.
“Good girl,” Lorraine nods her approval in Guinevere’s direction.
“All right, come here, love,” Lorraine pulls Arthur to her. They hug again and Arthur gives her a Ciuman on the cheek as well.
“Take care,” he tells her.
Gwen steps forward, saying, “It was very nice to meet you, Lorraine,” and holds out her hand.
“Oh, no anda don’t,” Lorraine says and wraps the younger woman in her soft embrace. “Take care of him. He is very special,” she whispers in Gwen’s ear.
“I know,” Gwen softly says back.
As Arthur and Gwen walk back to the car with their parcels, Arthur asks, “What did she say to you?”
“Hmm?”
“When she hugged you. She whispered something to you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gwen says, smirking.
“Guinevere!” he exclaims, amused but frustrated. All she’s doing is making him lebih curious.
“You’re nothing but a nosy old lady, anda know that?”
“She berkata something, and anda answered her. I saw you,” he goads, opening the door of the car for her.
She climbs in, laughing. He takes his kerusi, tempat duduk and looks at her. “Well?”
“She told me to be good to anda atau she’d arrange to have my kneecaps broken.”
“She did not!”
“No.” Gwen is enjoying herself now.
“Guinevere…” he tries saying her name the way that usually gets him his way.
She leans over and kisses him. “She told me to take care of anda and that anda are very special,” she says softly to him. “And I didn’t just tell anda that because anda turned my insides to puding saying my name.”
He grins. “Sure, anda didn’t.”
They arrive back at their flat shortly after eleven.
“I guess this means I have to go to work on time,” Arthur says. “However, they don’t know I’m back yet…”
“Tempting though that is, we both know that you’re too honest to follow through with that thought.”
He sighs. “True.”
Just then his phone rings. It’s not Merlin; the ring is different. The tune coming from his phone this time is The Imperial March, Darth Vader’s theme from Star Wars.
Gwen looks at him, puzzled.
“Father,” Arthur explains. Gwen laughs loudly, clapping her hand over her mouth as Arthur answers.
“Hello.”
Gwen goes about unpacking, trying not to look like she’s listening to their conversation.
“Very good. We had a wonderful time. Charlie and Roger both say hello. Oh, and Gwen almost drowned, but she’s okay.”
“Yes, there. She hit her head. Well, obviously I did. Yes, she’s fine.” He sighs. “Gwen, you’re fine, right?” He holds the phone out.
“Yes, I’m fine, no need to worry,” she shouts.
“There. Satisfied? Good.”
“Yes. Yes, I did.” He rolls his eyes.
Must be making sure Arthur left the house in order, Gwen thinks.
“No, I wanted to ask anda something. anda still go to the club Wednesdays for dinner?”
“Would anda like some company?”
“No, just me.”
“Just to have makan malam, majlis makan malam with you.” He looks at Guinevere, his eyes pleading. Help. She nods encouragingly.
“Well, actually I want to talk to anda a bit, someplace where anda won’t be distracted sejak work.” He looks at Gwen again, and she nods again, giving him a thumbs-up.
“Father, I have to get going to work. I’ll see anda Wednesday. Seven? Okay. ‘Bye.”
“He never would have bought that I just wanted to spend quality time with him,” he says to Gwen, changing into his work clothes.
“I know. anda berkata enough. It’s delicate, I know. But he knows anda want to talk to him, even if he doesn’t know what about.”
“And now he’ll be stewing for two days, wondering what I could possibly wish to discuss with him.”
“Do anda think he’ll figure it out?”
“Possible.”
She pulls the foto out of the side pocket of her suitcase and sets it on the wardrobe.
“So what will anda do with the rest of your day?” he asks her.
She looks at the hamper, now overflowing. “Laundry,” she sighs. “I may stop in and say hello to Morgana. Maybe meet her for lunch. And I think I need to call Cedric and get a status update on the dress. Haven’t heard from him in a bit.”
“Surely there’s still plenty of time for that. How long does it take to make one dress?” Arthur asks, tying his shoes.
“That’s why I’m going to call him. He may need to do some fittings.” She looks at the photo. “I might take that in as well to get restored.”
“Ah. Good.” Then he frowns. “Well, my love, I had better go and see what mayhem Leon has gotten the lads into.”
“So Leon was in charge in your absence?” she asks as he walks to her to Ciuman her goodbye.
“Yes, he’s seterusnya senior after me. He wants and deserves a promotion, and I figured this would be a good way to test him, I guess, to see if he’s truly ready.” He wraps his arms around her, looking down at her. “Unfortunately that means he’d alih to a different crew and shift, but it would be unfair of me to hold him back just because I like the guy.”
Gwen smiles at him. He’s such a good man, she thinks. “That’s really good of you,” she tells him, leaning up to Ciuman him.
He leans down, deepening the kiss, telling her how much he doesn’t want to leave her. His hands slide on her back, one traveling up to hold her head as he leans further into her, the other wrapping around her waist to support her. His tongue presses against hers, caressing it, as they Ciuman each other until they are both slightly dazed.
Gwen pulls away first, reluctantly. “Go to work,” she whispers. “Be safe. I Cinta you.”
“I Cinta you, too. See anda Wednesday.” He kisses her one lebih time before tearing himself away to go off to work.
“He did what?” Morgana about chokes on her bite of salad as Guinevere gives her highlights from their weekend. Currently she is describing their encounter with Sophia and her elderly husband.
“I know! I was so mad at him.”
“Even after saving your life and giving anda that gorgeous necklace? I am going to kill him. He is so dead.”
“Morgana, no. It’s fine. We worked it all out. He recognized that he was a total keldai and has lebih than made up for it.”
“You didn’t give in immediately, did you?” Morgana asks, knowing her friend’s mild and forgiving nature and dreading the worst.
“Oh, God, no.” She smiles. “I locked him out of the bathroom.”
“So?”
“I was taking a bubble bath at the time.”
“Nice.” Morgana grins. Then she angles her head, looking at Gwen.
“What?”
“Come back to the salon with me after lunch. anda need a trim.”
“I was going to go over to the jeweler, but I suppose I can pencil anda in before I go there,” she teases.
“Going to look at a wedding band for Arthur?”
“Yes. Oh, speaking of which, have anda seen Cedric lately?”
“Oh, yes, sorry! He was in just Friday. You’re supposed to call him for a fitting.”
“He lives!” Wayne exclaims as Arthur strolls into the firehouse.
“Yes, she didn’t do me in just yet,” he says casually. “Not that I didn’t deserve it at one point,” he mutters as he walks past Merlin, who stands and follows him up to the bunkroom to drop his things.
“What did anda do?” Merlin asks, his tone accusatory.
“We ran into Sophia.”
“No.”
“And… I was nice to her.”
“No! Arthur…”
“I was in shock, Merls. We were having a lovely dinner, actually having a very good time tormenting her across the dining room—“
“And how exactly did anda do that?” Merlin asks. “Wait, I don’t think I want to know.”
“Anyway, she intercepted us on the way out and I was taken quite sejak surprise, and…”
“You couldn’t treat her the way she deserved to be treated after what she did to you.” Merlin finishes Arthur’s sentence.
“Right.”
“Coward.”
“That’s what she called me! A coward! And a hypocrite!”
“Yes, that too,” Merlin agrees, knowing full well about their accidental meeting with Lance.
“Merlin! You’re supposed to be my friend!” Arthur complains.
“I am being your friend, Cabbage Head. I’m agreeing that anda were a jerk. If I wasn’t your friend I wouldn’t be so honest.”
Arthur scowls. Now I have two people that are always right to have to deal with.
“I take it she forgave you, though. I don’t see any visible lacerations atau contusions…” Merlin inclines his head, giving Arthur a mock inspection.
“Eventually,” Arthur says, then remembers the morning after and a dirty grin crosses his face.
“Don’t want to know,” Merlin says again. “So what else happened?”
“Well, I got to help eject a large brute from a pub because he clumsily tried to chat up Gwen and almost assaulted her.”
“What?”
“And then she slipped on some rocks in the stream, right in that spot where it gets deep,”
“Oh, no…”
“Oh, yes. She hit her head and knocked herself out in the process. I had to pull her out of the water and administer CPR.”
“Oh my God, Arthur! Is she okay?”
“Yes, she’s fine. I even had Roger check her for concussion.”
“Good man.” Merlin’s brow unfurrows, and he asks, “Was that before atau after anda were an ass?”
“Before.”
“So did anything good happen?”
“Believe it atau not, we actually had a really good time. We didn’t want to come back.”
“Doesn’t sound that way…” Merlin is skeptical.
“No, mate, honest. We’re… closer than ever, actually. And she’s quite the fisherman, that’s for sure.”
Gwen goes to the jeweler after finishing with Morgana, her hair now trimmed neatly, giving her curls a little extra bounce. She walks through the door, not realizing that it is the same kedai Arthur had visited just the week before. She browses the display cases until she finds the one she needs.
“May I help you?” a woman walks up to her.
“Yes, I’m looking for a wedding band for my fiancé,” she looks up from the case and smiles at the woman.
“Oh! anda must be Mr. Pendragon’s fiancée,” the woman says, taking Gwen completely sejak surprise.
“Yes… how did you…” she asks.
“Sorry. It’s your necklace. I sold it to him,” she explains. “And since it was just last week, it’s still fresh in my mind.”
“I see,” Gwen smiles, “I hadn’t realized that he had come here.”
“And that ring of yours is pretty hard to forget, too, my dear.”
Gwen looks at her hand. “Yes, it is at that.”
“He was so cute. I’ve been in this business quite a while and every once in a while a young man like him comes in. Completely smitten,” she smiles, and Gwen blushes slightly. “Now, what type of ring would anda like for him?”
Gwen smiles at the older woman. “I know exactly what I want.”
“Well, then, this should be easy, shouldn’t it? And if we don’t have it, we can get it,” she assures her.
Part 49: link