As she passed out of the door, she heard her father say to Colin behind her, “She said yes?”
“Yes, Your Grace,” Colin replied.
It seemed her father knew a bit of English. Colin had apparently discussed his marrying her, and her father had not refused. That thought set her heart to soaring. She squeezed Colin’s hand, and he squeezed back.
“I just remembered,” Margaretha said, as they sat down at the trestle tables in the Great Hall at Hagenheim Castle. “I haven’t eaten since my wedding feast last night.”
Colin nearly choked on the sip he had just taken from his goblet. He met Duke Wilhelm’s eye at the head of the table.
“Father, I’m not truly married to Claybrook, am I?” Margaretha asked. “I heard the priest say we were man and wife, but I did not give my consent, and I escaped him before I was forced to fight him off. Besides, everyone knows that he was heaving his stomach’s contents all night.”
“Nevertheless,” Duke Wilhelm said, “I shall write the archbishop immediately and have him annul your marriage to Claybrook.”
“How long will that take?” she asked, echoing his own thoughts.
“Perhaps no more than a month. Perhaps two.”
A month seemed like a long time to Colin. Two months was an eternity.
“Margaretha,” Duke Wilhelm said, as he pinned her with a serious stare. “I want to know if you have accepted Colin le Wyse’s suit to marry you.”
“Yes, Father, I have.”
She clasped Colin’s hand under the table.
“Do you understand that your responsibility will be to your husband? That your home will be England, not Hagenheim?”
“Yes, Father, I understand.”
“And that you will not be able to visit Hagenheim whenever you wish?”
“Yes, Father.”
Colin’s heart sank as he thought he detected a note of sadness in Margaretha’s voice. Was he wrong to take her away from her family, a family who loved her? She loved him, but did she love him enough not to resent, after a while, having to live away from her family and the only home she had ever known? She had said she would be happy with him, but would she regret her decision, maybe even regret it already?
She smiled up at him, then attacked her food like a person who was thinking only joyful thoughts. Perhaps she hadn’t realized yet the homesickness she would feel, the loneliness for her family, living in a foreign place with only a husband to love her. He must speak to her, to make her understand what her father had been asking her.
With much still to do to restore order after Claybrook’s seizure of Hagenheim, the town and the castle, their meal was rather quick. Even so, while they ate, Margaretha managed to charm Colin’s father into smiling and laughing. His father even promised to help Colin build her a house bigger than le Wyse House, and to her specifications.
Their fathers stood to be off, Colin’s father to assist Duke Wilhelm.
Margaretha also stood. “I shall go up to see if Mother needs any help with Gisela.”
“Wait a moment,” Colin said, touching her arm. “I think we need to talk.”
“We can go into the library, if you wish.”
No one seemed to notice them slip into the nearby library. It was rather dark, as the sky outside was cloudy and there was no fire and no candles lit. She turned to him, an eager light in her eyes.
“Margaretha.” She was so fair, with her long eyelashes and sweet smile. But he had to give her a chance to change her mind. “I don’t know if you realize what you are giving up to marry me. You will live across the ocean from your family. You won’t be able to visit Hagenheim very often. Are you sure you understand?”
“Of course I do. I’m not a child.”
He stared hard at her.
She sighed. “I know I will miss my family. I have a wonderful family. But I want to be with you.” She reached up and pressed her hand to his cheek. “I can’t stay at home forever, and I don’t want to. I need to have a family of my own.”
“Yes, but you will rarely see your parents.”
“Don’t you think we will be well-suited? That we will be content in our love?”
“I don’t know if . . . if I will be enough. Perhaps you will miss your mother and will come to resent me for taking you away. Anne said you would never leave your family.”