"Sir Guy's Atonement" (Book 3) by Gratiana Lovelace, 2015 (a Wattys2015 Nominee)

Ch. 22 (PG-13, D): Forgiveness is an Illusory Dream, Part 2

Sir Guy kneels beside Lady Marian and recoiling in horror at what he has done  [(5) right]--gulping air as he sobs--Sir Guy pleads to Lady Marian.

Sir Guy:   “I did not mean to … I would never hurt you, never!  Marian, you are my life!” Sir Guy cups Lady Marian’s face in his hand, her tears wetting his hands. 

In reality, Baron Guy is cupping his wife Lady Roseanna’s face in his hands--her tears of sorrow wetting his hands.

Lady Roseanna: “Guy!”  Lady Rose chokingly whispers through her tears, trying to get his attention and wake him up. But Baron Guy thinks that he hears Lady Marian in his nightmare.

Dream Lady Marian: “Guy.”   She sighs with labored breathing since her every movement is wracked with the pain of being impaled upon Sir Guy’s sword.

Sir Guy: “Marian, My Love.” Tears are streaming down Sir Guy’s face.  She will die and there is nothing he can do to stop it.

Then Robin Hood and his outlaws race into the courtyard just as Nottingham’s Sheriff Vasey also arrives on horseback, bellowing for Sir Guy to join him.

Vasey: “Gisborne!   We must away!”  He bellows

Robin:  Dropping to his knees beside Lady Marian, Robin looks in horror upon the scene.  “What have you done, you devil!?!” He asks of Sir Guy.

Sir Guy:  Sir Guy shakily stands.  “I love Marian!  I did not mean to …”  Sir Guy says more to Lady Marian than to Robin Hood.

Vasey:  “Gisborne!”   Sherriff  Vasey howls high atop his horse, now within three feet of Sir Guy.

Lady Marian faints--and Sir Guy believes that she has died, and he cannot look upon what he hath wrought.  So Sir Guy turns and takes two strides toward Sherriff Vasey on his horse and then hops up behind him.  As Vasey gallops away from the scene, Sir Guy’s eyes look back until he can see Lady Marian no more, her white gown reminding him of the innocent pure spirit that he just killed.

Sir Guy: “Marian!  Oh God!   Marian!  What have I done!?!”  Baron Guy wails as he sobs uncontrollablyin his dream and in reality.

Lady Roseanna:  Rousing herself to try again to awaken her husband from his nightmare, Lady Roseanna stands up from their bed and cups his face in her hands as she cryingly pleads in an urgent but hushed voice so as not to awaken their baby daughter sleeping nearby.  “Guy, Guy, please wake up!   That is all in the past.”

At first Baron Guy’s arms shoot up and without him meaning to, and he forcefully grabs his wife’s Lady Roseanna’s arms about her shoulders, shaking her.  Baron Guy’s eyes flutter open [(6a) right], but are not in focus yet.

Sir Guy:  “Marian?  You’re alive!  I thought I had lost you!  Do not leave me every again, My Beloved!” 

Lady Roseanna:  Lady Roseanna’s tears now subside in her own numbed shock at the full realization of the depth of her husband’s pain, and she says meekly.  “Guy, I am Rose--and I will never leave you, my husband.”

Baron Guy blinks several times.  His vision begins to clear and he looks around him as he recognizes his bed chamber--with his wife Lady Rose in his arms before him.  He also sees the slumbering form of their now seven month old baby daughter Lady Diana in her cradle nearby.  Then Baron Guy looks upon the bereft face of his much younger wife, Lady Roseanna [(6b) right]. 

Sir Guy shakes his head as much to clear his mind as to dispel his wife’s concern.  But it does not work, and she turns her head away from him to try to hide her tears that now flow again.  Sir Guy has wounded his Lady Rose--not with a sword, but with expressing his love for Lady Marian with such unabashed emotion.  Anguished to have caused his beloved wife pain, Sir Guy contritely apologizes.