First Embrace

Robert silently took Elizabeth's hand, and they returned to their own bedroom, where they both lay down on the bed and Elizabeth settled into Robert's arms with her head resting on his shoulder.

"Do you remember the very first time you ever held me like this?" she asked him.

"Do I ever!" he replied.

She had told herself that she would avoid him as much as possible, but on this particular day, she found herself walking toward the stables for no particular reason except that she knew that he would be there. It was a lovely day for horseback riding, and that was enough of an excuse for her to go. Perhaps she would just quietly choose a horse and go riding without even saying hello to him. However, that was not to be.

"Elizabeth!" She heard the excitement in his voice and saw the big grin on his face as he ran up to her.

"Hello, Robert. It's a lovely day for riding, isn't it?" she asked coolly.

"Absolutely gorgeous," he agreed.

She found the horse she wanted and he helped her to mount it. She was just about to ride away when she saw the sad look in his eyes and had to swallow a lump in her throat.

"Would you care to accompany me, Robert?"

"I'd love to!" he replied without hesitation.

After a lovely morning of riding, they returned to the stables, and Elizabeth was just about to go back to the palace when the look on Robert's face made her hesitate.

"There's something I'd like for you to see," he explained. Obediently she followed him into one of the stalls, where a newborn foal lay in the straw at its mother's feet.

"He was just born last night," Robert told her.

The foal looked at Elizabeth with its large chocolate-colored eyes and Elizabeth felt her heart melt. "Oh, aren't you precious," she whispered, kneeling to gently touch the foal's downy head. Absorbed in the wonder of new life, it was a few minutes before she noticed Robert standing to the side, grinning at her. She rose and went to stand beside him.

"He's beautiful," Elizabeth said, blinking back tears. For some reason she didn't understand, she was deeply moved.

"You're beautiful." Robert softly touched her chin and looked into her eyes. "I love you, Bessie. I have since I was nine years old."

"Why did you marry Amy then?" she asked curtly, turning away from him. "I cried myself to sleep the night after you two were wed."

"Oh, Bess, I had no idea," he said softly. "You told me once that you would never marry, and I believed you." She heard the pleading tone in his voice but wouldn't turn around and face him. "All you would have had to do would have been to say the word."

"You know as well as I do that it isn't proper for a young lady to ask a gentleman for his hand in matrimony, Robert. It simply isn't done. Besides, you had plenty of opportunity to ask me if you so desired."

"We were both so young then," Robert said. "That, and I was afraid of what the answer might be."

"You were too afraid to ask me, but not to ask Amy?"

"Bess, you know what I'm talking about. You know how things were back then." She did. Her brother Edward had been King but too young to take on the full responsibility of his position. Those who had really been in control might well have disapproved of a match between a princess and a man who wasn't royalty himself. Still, Robert could have asked.

"Things are different now, Bessie." His voice was warm and soft as he lightly touched her arm, turned her to face him once again. "We're both older now, more mature, more sure of what we want. And what I want is to have you beside me, always."

She looked down, blinking back tears.

"There was another reason," she whispered. "Thomas Seymour. I was only fourteen years old when he touched me in ways that weren't appropriate, while his wife Katherine Parr yet carried his child."

Robert's face grew red with fury. "I would kill the scoundrel if he weren't dead already. I almost wish that were the case."

"He didn't take my virtue, Robin. I still have that to offer to whomever I may wed in the future."

"How I should love to be that most fortunate of men." The fact that she had reverted to using the nickname wasn't lost to him. "Although I am sorry indeed that you had to endure what you did." He embraced her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. It occurred to her that being held by Robert was the nicest feeling she had ever experienced. As he stroked her hair, she practically melted under his touch. She thought that she could easily have stayed in that position for the rest of the day.

"What he did disinclined me toward marriage for a long time afterwards, however."

"I can certainly understand that," Robert said sympathetically. "I certainly hope that you have become less disinclined toward it with the passage of time." The barest hint of mischief was in his smile.

"I believe that I have, Robin." She smiled in return, and suddenly everything was all right again. He walked her back to the palace and kissed her cheek when he said good-bye. Every time she touched that cheek afterwards, she smiled fondly, remembering. She went to sleep that night with the memory of that innocent kiss still burning in her mind.