Page 12 of Silent Knight: Alexander

Chapter 6

“Girls, you’d better hurry and finish dressing or you will be late for Christmas mass,” said Summer, standing at the door, having just entered the room with Lady Ann, Charlotte’s mother.

Charlotte had awoken and dressed earlier, but Regina and Claire were moving slowly. Their handmaids attended to their needs.

“Charlotte,” snapped her mother. “I heard you were rude to Sir Dreyfis last night and even refused to dance with him. How are you ever going to find a husband with that attitude?”

Charlotte stared out the open window, straightening up when she spied Alex walking out of the stable, holding the reins of his horse. It looked as if he were leaving.

“Charlotte, did you hear me?” asked her mother. “Why didn’t you dance with him? What is the matter with you? Do you want to end up back in the convent for the rest of your life?”

“She’s smitten with Alex,” said Claire, holding her hands over her head as her handmaid pulled her gown into place.

“Alex? That nice young man we met on the road?” asked Summer.

“He’s the cripple, isn’t he?” said Ann. “He is not an able-bodied man and certainly not an option of someone to marry. He could never protect a wife.”

“Mother, do not refer to him in that way again,” snapped Charlotte. “He is more of a man than Sir Dreyfis will ever be. Alex is kind, handsome, and thoughtful. Do you know last night in the garden he even shared his cloak with me to keep me warm?”

“The garden?” asked Summer. “What was he doing there?”

“Never mind that,” snorted Charlotte’s mother. “What were you doing so close to him in the dark?”

“She kissed him, too,” Claire blurted out.

“She did,” agreed Regina. “I like him. He is nice.”

“I suppose he is,” said Claire. “But as Lady Ann said, he is not even to be considered as a prospect for a husband.”

“Why not, Claire?” asked Summer. “Are you being haughty again?”

“Nay, Mother,” said Claire as the handmaid ran a brush through her hair. It caught on a snaggle and Claire cried out. “Ow! I’ll do that.” She dismissed the handmaids, and they left the room. “I am not being haughty, Mother. I see what Lady Charlotte means about Sir Dreyfis. He is a wretched cur.”

“He is also very cruel to Alex,” added Regina with a nod.

“Claire, I think you’ve been unkind and unfair to Alex as well,” said Summer.

“I suppose I might have,” said Claire. “The longer he is here, the more I am starting to like him.”

“You’d marry a commoner?” gasped Lady Ann.

Claire laughed. “Nay, and I would never marry Alex.”

“Why would you say that?” asked Charlotte. “Is it because of his leg? Because I don’t mind at all.”

“It’s not that,” said Claire, looking over to Regina. “It’s just that we don’t think of him as the marrying type, do we, Regina?”

Regina shrugged her shoulders. “Alexander is a fine man but, to me, he seems more like a brother than he does a husband.”

“Aye, that’s it,” agreed Claire. “Speaking of brothers, where is Dominick? He said he was going to escort us to mass.”

“Here I am,” said their brother, Dominick, holding the hand of his five-year-old son, Robert. “I heard every word you girls said about Alex. I would have been here sooner, but Robert was playing with the hound.”

“Where is Alex now?” asked Summer curiously.

Charlotte’s attention was back out the window. “He slept in the stable last night. I see him crossing over the drawbridge now. I believe he’s leaving.”

“He is?” Summer ran to the window and looked out. “He didn’t even say goodbye.”