The Wanderer

Chapter 18--Part 2

            The clink of a key in a lock echoed in the prison cell.  The faint pink light of dawn filtered in through the barred window above, dust most dancing above where Ferrer knelt, head bent in prayer.  He didn’t bother to look up.

            Saskia had been unsuccessful in freeing him and it was time for his hanging.  Someone would come retrieve him in a minute, whether he got up on his own or not.  The clank of the key was proof of that.  He would finish making peace with God before he joined Him above.

            Soft steps came towards him, pausing behind him, but no one seized his kneeling form.  When a hand came to rest on his shoulder, he finally lifted his face to meet Saskia’s smiling one.  The glittering satisfaction in her eyes told him that she had been successful after all.

            Leaping from the ground, he threw his arms around her neck, burying his face in her dark curls.  The scent of lilacs rose to tickle his nose and a smile tilted the corners of his mouth.  She still wore the same perfume after all these years.  She giggled and felt the rumble of her laugh rise up through her chest.

            “Well, that’s quite a reception.  Perhaps I should save you more often,” she laughed, returning his embrace.

            He clung to her.  “How?” was all he asked, whispering the words into her hair.

            Saskia spent the next few minutes explaining how they’d found the real bandits and answering Ferrer’s stunned questions.  When Saskia told him how Riley had explained Ferrer’s innocence to the villagers and how ashamed they all felt for having blamed him, a few tears fell down his face and he fell to his knees again.

            “Thank you, Lord,” he prayed in a whisper.  “You are mighty.  Forgive me for the doubt I had about being rescued.  You are sovereign and now I see that even thought I didn’t understand why you let this happen to me, you’ve brought good out of it.  You’ve brought this beautiful, smart woman back into my life and have rid the village of the actual culprits.  Help me to use this second chance you’ve given me and to never cease heaping praises and thanks at your feet.  Don’t let me forget your faithfulness, Father.”

            “Amen.”  Saskia’s voice joined his reverently, her smile touching her eyes as well as her lips.  She held out a hand and helped pull him to his feet.  “For the record, I’m really glad that you’re back in my life as well.  I think…I hope… that I’ve grown a lot over the years we were apart.  I’m trying not to be that scared, insecure girl that I was, but I find myself behaving like that sometimes.  I’m doing my best to try and change that.”  Saskia chewed on her lip, her eyes fluttering from Ferrer’s confused face to the floor and back.  Ferrer’s confusion grew as Saskia’s face turned various shades of red.  Finally, she let out an exasperated sigh and looked him in the eye before taking a deep breath and blurting, “What I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry for what I’ve done in the past.  I’m trying to change for the better and I want you at my side while I do that.”  She lowered her eyes to the dirty jail floor.  “That is, if you want me back after all the trouble I’ve caused.”

            Ferrer stepped closer, closing the gap between them and leaned his forehead against hers.  She lifted her eyes to meet his, so close to her own and she felt her breath catch.  “Nothing you’ve done in the past can change the way I feel about you.  I’ve always loved you and I’ve had a lot of time to think in the last few days and I realized that running away from my feelings, trying to bury them, and wishing and praying for them to change hasn’t worked.  I can’t change the way I feel about you, Saskia, and I don’t want to.  I love you.”  Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears of joy before she closed the distance between them and pressed her lips to his.

†

Author's Note:  Thanks to everyone for hanging in there with me.  I know it's been awhile, but I'm really going to try to make an effort to write more often.  I got bogged down with work and life recently, but I'm going to try to be better.  Thanks to everyone for all the votes, reads, and comments.  They make my day.