One-Shots of Princess and the Pauper

Dear Diary (Final Page)

April 17 

Even a more diverse flow of emotions come to my mind as I write! 

After my exit, I had fallen asleep as soon as I changed into my night gown. What seemed like moments later there was a knock at my ceiling to floor double doors. 

“Go away!” I half-yelled into my pillow. Going against my command (how dare they?!) someone entered my dark room. By the quick but soft footsteps against the white marble, I could tell they were Julian’s.

“Anneliese?” he asked. He was sitting on the edge of my bed and grabbed my shoulder, “Annel-“

“Let go of me!”

“Darling, please tell me what is troubling you! And why did you accuse me of a thing as awful as not loving you? I have never stopped loving you!” I whipped my head around quickly to his gaze and with a scowl on my face, I spat, 

“Why don’t you go tell that to the girl who was in your room. That sleazy, good-for-nothing-“ He jumped up from his comfortable position and paced rapidly with his right hand on his mouth. (Imagine him thinking while pacing, but furious)

“You think,” he cuts himself off to put in an airy scoff; “you think that I’m with another woman?” Julian stopped in front of me and pointed out the door, “That ‘girl’ that you think I am being unfaithful with,” he pauses, “that ‘girl’ is my brother’s wife. She was going to help me propose to you!” His yelling ceased when the last word escaped his mouth. 

“Julian, I – I-“ 

“Save it, I don’t want to hear it…” he left my room before I knew it and he was gone.

I know he can get a temper, but never like that!

I gave him a few moments to regain his composure before I went after him. I knew exactly where he was, in the Western Forest. On the way there, I remembered of the much simpler times when Julian first began to mentor me. Whenever we were tired of learning we would go behind the castle gardens into the Western Forrest. There would be the Creek of Gold that we would hop over and play in the moss and toss handfuls of water at on another. I miss those days. Before I knew it, I was just mere yards away from Julian who was lying down in the moss. A few water droplets hit Julian’s face, which broke his concentration. He looked up and saw me standing on the other side of the creek. I was still wearing my nightgown and in the whole confusion, I forgot to dress in my outdoor shoes. I had stepped on rocks, thorns, and the occasional hole in the ground. And to top it all off, it started raining harder than earlier.  In other words, I looked like a mess. But I didn’t care. I had to tell him that I was wrong.

“What are you doing here, dressed like this? Where are your shoes?” Julian looked down to my feet and with sincere concern in his voice yelled, “Your feet are bleeding!” I noticed for the first time that, indeed, my feet were bleeding. Without hesitation, he leapt over the stream to kneel at my feet, “You might get an infection. We need to get you to the ca-“ 

“Julian, stop,” his eyes met mine and his beautifully shaped face showed a hint of confusion, “I'm sorry for earlier. For yelling at you and accusing you of not loving me,” he kept his gaze on me and waited for me to finish, “Look, if you don’t forgive me I understand, but I just wanted you to know that I love you and that I-“ with each word I raised my voice because of the rain and averted my eyes from his without realizing what he was doing until he said my name,

“Anneliese,” I stopped apologizing to see what he wanted when I saw it. The ring. “My brother’s wife makes jewelry. That’s why she was with me earlier and I didn’t tell you until tomorrow when it was not raining, but what the hell,” He straightened his back and cleared his throat, “Anneliese of Kattenland, will you do the honors of being my wife?” 

“Oh, Julian! Yes, a thousand times yes!” I fell into his arms, where he lost his balance and tumbled to the ground with me. We laughed and sat up so he could slip the ring onto my third finger. With all of this rain, the ring slipped on easily. 

“Sorry the moment wasn’t perfect like you had dreamed of,”

“Nonsense! It couldn’t have been more perfect,” we momentarily paused before he reached his sizable hands up to my cheeks to pull me in to a kiss. I couldn’t believe it! My first real kiss! (In the rain, too.) 

Julian lowered himself to the wet ground with me on top not breaking our connection. The brief instant was so surreal and seemed to stop time. 

“Julian,” I said breathlessly.

“Yes, my love,”

“We need to go back inside,”

“Why?” he asked in between kisses he placed under my ear.

“My feet, they are beginning to hurt,” he stopped suddenly and once again, looked confused.

“Oh!” he said in sudden remembrance. With me in his strong arms, he carried me back to the palace, where he and I shall call home, till death do us part.