“Dray,” he said quietly. “There are three other people at this table who consider this a sensitive topic, not the least of which is my wife. We’ll discuss this at another time.”
Andreas understood. He sighed faintly, looking at young Helene, who was buttering her bread and oblivious to the conversation the adults were having. As Andreas simply nodded and took another drink of wine, Edward spoke softly.
“Aye, I saw her,” he muttered for Andreas’ ears only. “I helped bring her into the house when the soldiers brought her back from the accident. I helped lay her on the floor of Poppy’s solar. She looked as if she were sleeping, Dray. You needn’t worry.”
Andreas turned to look at him, appreciating that he murmured words that only he could hear. Or so he thought. “I did not mean to ask uncomfortable questions,” he said. “But it just occurred to me that I have met a woman I am interested in and I have no mother to ask questions of. Women know about women, don’t they?”
“You can ask me.”
Both Andreas and Edward looked across the table to Cassiopeia. She was the baby of the de Norville family – she had two older brothers, then her sisters were born, then another brother, and then her. When her eyes met Andreas, she smiled faintly.
“Please, Dray,” she said. “I would consider it an honor. You can ask me what I think about this lady you spent the afternoon with. I think my sister would like it if you did.”
Cassiopeia was actually two years younger than Andreas. He had spent a lot of time with her in his youth because she had been a late baby for her parents, born well after their older brood were young men and women. She really was the closest thing he would ever have to his own mother so he shrugged, suddenly uncertain of what he would even ask.
He had to think a moment.
“I suppose I would ask why a woman would be so secretive about her life,” he said. “It is clear that she is attracted to me, and I am attracted to her, so why would she not tell me everything I want to know?”
Cassiopeia grinned. “Because you cannot learn everything about a woman in just a few hours,” she said. “Getting to know someone takes time. She cannot tell you everything about herself all at once. Part of the joy of coming to know someone is the time it takes to do it. It is like unwrapping a gift that keeps going and going… and you keep unwrapping and unwrapping, finding new and delightful things.”
Andreas sighed, thinking she made a great deal of sense. “But she is very secretive,” he said. “As if… as if she is hiding something from me, though she assured me that she is not married nor betrothed. In fact, she says that she is meant for the veil.”
“Then that is why she has been secretive, I am sure,” Edward said. “You have asked uncomfortable questions, ones that are not your right to know. She is meant for the church.”
“But I want to speak with her father.”
Edward scratched his head, looking at his wife to see if she had anything to say about this impetuous man who would not be denied his wants. Cassiopeia took the hint.
“Tread carefully, Dray,” she said. “If the woman is guarded and has already told you that she is meant for the veil, then you do not want to push her too much. It might scare her away. You must be gentle when dealing with a woman you do not know – or even one you do.”
That was probably very true, though Andreas didn’t want to admit it. His aunt and uncle were giving him excellent advice. It was up to him to take it.
“She agreed to meet me tomorrow and tell me what I wish to know,” he said. “All I really want to know is her family name and where she lives so that I may speak with her father. Everything else… I can learn in time, I suppose.”
“A wise attitude,” Edward said as the food began to arrive. “And whatever you do, do not listen to de Velt. Women do not like to be spanked, forced, or otherwise, no matter what he says.”
Theodis had his spoon in his hand, licking his lips at the trencher of roast bird set before him. But he heard Edward and frowned. “That is not true,” he said. “I do not spank or force women. Well, not much. Not unless they want me to. Say, when did I become such a dolt when it comes to women in your eyes? I am not, you know.”
Edward started laughing, pouring his nephews more wine. “Tay, you are a gorgeous creature and you know it,” he said. “But do not advise Dray to push this lady into giving him what he wants. If she has already been hesitant, that kind of advice will only work against him.”
Theodis shrugged and plowed into his food with gusto. In fact, everyone at the table did except for Andreas.
For once, he couldn’t eat. Thoughts of Gavriella had his stomach tied up in knots, but they were knots of excitement.
He couldn’t wait until the morrow.
Andreas sat with his uncle and cousins long into the night, long after the table was cleared and everyone else went to bed. The conversation flowed, as did the wine, and they ended up speaking more about his mother and dead aunt. Edward spoke mostly of what he remembered about them. Even though he wasn’t much older than Andreas or William, he still remembered Athena and Helene, women that he had essentially grown up with.
When Andreas finally did go to bed, it was with thoughts of his mother on his mind.
He very much wished she was there to advise him.
Sleep did not come easily, however, and when it did, it was heavy. The wine had seen to that and Andreas awoke the next morning with a throbbing head, well after dawn. In a panic, and knowing that Gavriella would be waiting for him, he ignored his aching head and dressed quickly. He flew out of his uncle’s home and rushed through the dusty streets of London until he came to the narrow alleyway where The Fox and The Wolf was located.
Only barely composed, he entered the tavern and fully expected to see Gavriella waiting patiently for him. He knew that she would be annoyed that he was late, but he knew that he could soothe her. He was just excited to see her again, that beautiful woman with the stunning blue eyes. He was excited to sit with her and talk to her almost more than he was excited to finally know her name and where she was from.
In his excitement, he ended up going twice around the common room looking for the table where Gavriella would be waiting for him and by the third turn around the room, it began to occur to him that she wasn’t there. The tavern was full of people eating the very fine food that the tavern produced, but not one of those people was Gavriella, so he found his own table to sit and wait.
And wait.
Andreas waited all day for Gavriella to appear. He kept telling himself that she had only been delayed and that any second she would come in through the door, but she never did. He ordered food simply to keep the table, but he never ate the food. It sat there and grew stone cold as he continued to wait for a woman who had been so delayed that she still hadn’t shown up by sunset.
But he refused to believe she wasn’t coming.
Andreas ended up sitting there all night, even after the tavernkeeper locked the door for the night. He continued to sit and wait, wondering if Gavriella had misunderstood him about when to meet him at the tavern. He thought that perhaps she had thought he meant the next day and he was willing to put faith in that belief, but when dawn came on the following day, Gavriella still did not come.
But Andreas continued to wait.