The Girlfriend

Chapter Fourteen

Jon

"Oh, wow," Lydia whispered, her eyes widening.

I nodded. "It's beautiful."

Wawel Castle was stunning, every room was bathed in deep reds, golds, and decorated with stunning tapestries. It was all from another time, the European architecture was just gorgeous and the tour guide seemed more and more excited with every area that we looked at. She was also thrilled at how interested Lydia was in the history of the palace, I wasn't sure who was happier to be here.

We could have gone anywhere in the city, and she chose one of the most beautiful locations steeped in intense history. This castle had weathered more than twenty rulers and was built entirely around the legend of the Wawel dragon. The chapel was its own separate building and while we couldn't go today, I hoped that Lydia would also want to visit that before I left tomorrow.

She grabbed my hand and tugged me along beside her as we neared the end of the tour and I jerked my head in the direction of the gift shop. She smiled broadly and glanced up again as if for permission.

"Lead the way," I teased, gesturing to the double doors.

Lydia fiddled with the ends of her hair as we wandered through the rows knick-knacks, nervously glancing between different little items. She stopped suddenly and reached out to touch a small metal rosary. It appeared to be gold brushed with dark teal accents and gold beads. It glittered in her palm and I reached out automatically to close her hand around it.

"It's a Franciscan rosary," I whispered, trying to be mindful of the other shoppers. I guided her fingers over the chain, letting her feel each bead. "It has more beads than a normal five-decade rosary. It commemorates the seven joys of the virgin Mary."

"What are the 'joys'?" she asked, gazing up at me with knitted brows.

Carefully rearranging her hands, I had her thumb rest on the first bead. "The annunciation, the visitation, the nativity of Jesus, adoration of the magi, the finding in the temple, the resurrection of Jesus, and the assumption." I guided her over each one, feeling her thin, nimble fingers flex against mine and the cool metal of her rings on my palm.

"I have no idea what any of that means," she told me softly. "Except for the resurrection part, I'm pretty sure I know that was."

I chuckled and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Is that what you want to get? We can look at other things if you want something else."

She shook her head adamantly and smiled. "It's beautiful and it's a part of the culture, I want it."

I paid for the rosary and watched as Lydia carefully wrapped it before slipping it into her bag. The weather was perfect for us to be walking around the city today, Patrick and I had arranged for dinner on the river in an hour for the three of us and I figured we could take a walk down by the river before heading back to the hotel to get ready.

We left the castle and started down towards the river. One thing that was nice about visiting Europe was that no one really paid attention to us being affectionate in public or even just being together in public at all. I had spent enough time in France to know that the culture there was the same and in the back of my head, I wondered if I could convince Lydia and Patrick to do some more travelling. I had already started the process of "losing" some of my money, not that she needed to know that, so I knew I could afford it.

I watched her as he walked along the path, her hair was pulled into a loose braid and she had a faint smile as she gazed out ahead of us. Her smile faltered and I followed her line of sight to the couple standing by the water laughing, at first I wasn't sure what I was supposed to see but as the woman turned I zeroed in on her obvious baby bump. The way she touched it and cradled it made me smile as well but in an instant I lost it, knowing exactly what Lydia was thinking.