The piglet squealed with annoyance as Rennio batted him away lightly with his boot, and Susanna looked over at Rennio and took a deep breath. “And I thought all this time that you were horrible,” she told Rennio. A crease appeared between Rennio’s brows as if he wasn’t sure whether he was insulted. “I am very pleased to be wrong.”
“See, what did I tell you, love? He’s only horrible half the time.” Gerhard looked across the table and asked, “Are you going to stay not-horrible enough to marry us?”
Rennio rolled his eyes. “Weddings are a little below my pay-grade,” he said loftily. “Wait until you get home to that nice little estate you’ve had waiting for you in Bavaria all these years, then have a big to-do with your local priest and your neighbors and such.” He took another swig of his ale and added casually, “And let me know how it goes.”
“I’m afraid it’s important that we marry before I bring her home as my bride…”
Rennio rolled his eyes. “Why?” Then he suddenly answered his own question and his eyebrows rose nearly to his hairline. “Don’t say you’ve bredher already?”
On any other day, it might have been Gerhard’s turn to roll his eyes. But he’d been feeling quite pleased indeed since Susanna admitted to him that she’d missed her monthly flow and had even been feeling ill the last couple of days. Nothing sounded better to him right now than the idea of settling down and starting a family with her on his quiet little estate.
Susanna blushed. “Don’t call it breeding like I’m some filly!” she demanded of Rennio.
“Well, excuse me,” Rennio replied sarcastically. He nodded toward her but eyed Gerhard. “And if anyone should ask, how did you come by this new wife of yours? She does look suspiciously like a particular princess who recently met an unfortunate end.”
“I doubt that many of my humble neighbors will have had cause to be in the presence of a princess, so I suspect that the resemblance will go unnoticed. If anyone should remark on it, however, I’m sure that my bride would consider it a great compliment to be thought similar in appearance to one so beautiful as the late Princess Susanna of Hohenzollern.”
Gerhard paused long enough to kiss Susanna deeply, finally breaking off only when Rennio cleared his throat as loudly and obnoxiously as possible.
“As for how I came by her,” he continued, “she’s just a pretty girl I carried off from a castle I conquered, of course. She fought me at first, but I think she’s finally starting to like me. She might even learn to love me one day,” he finished with a smile, before kissing her again, even more passionately.
Rennio and the piglet both grunted in disgust.
The End
