“I ask you to pass through life at my side—to be my second self, and best earthly companion.” Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
---
Chapter Twenty – Six
Thinking about proposing, and then actually proposing, were two very different things. The first made David feel excited about his future with Elena. The second made him feel physically sick. He knew that she would accept, but what would he say? How would he find the words? He was not terribly romantic, nor was he well versed in poetry or sonnets.
He suddenly wished that he was home. His mother and sisters would be useful for such a feat as this. They probably would have written him a script.
But David was on his own, sweating through his clothing, stressing over the silly words he needed to say to make Elena accept him as her husband for the rest of her life. There was absolutely no pressure at all.
The week after Carlos and Marisol’s wedding was very chaotic. Elena was busy helping Marisol to pack ready to depart Spain for Portugal, whilst also spending time with her mother. Elena was still very hesitant around Lupe, but David could see that having a relationship with her mother was something that was very important to her. Exactly one week after the wedding, Carlos and Marisol left the palace.
Elena was a mess of tears, as was Marisol, but the two friends promised to write each other often. David could not help but smile when Elena told Marisol to send her letters to England.
Upon their arrival in Portugal, Carlos and Marisol would marry again before the Portuguese royal family, and then they would commence their lives as future rulers. David believed that Marisol would do well. Given this opportunity, he could see that she was a very poised, graceful and compassionate woman.
But now that Marisol was gone, there was nothing keeping them in Spain. The only thing left to do was propose.
David anxiously paced the length of his lavish palace bedchamber while fidgeting with Elena’s mother’s ring. “It is just four words, David,” he scolded himself. “Just spit them out and be done with it.”
David needed to think logically. First, where would he propose? He had an entire palace of rooms to propose in. Which would Elena like most? He soon settled on the rose garden. Elena loved her mother’s rose garden.
David did not waste a minute of time as he dashed downstairs and out into the courtyard that housed the rose garden. He ignored the several ‘Salvaje’ greetings he received from the Court members who were walking about the palace. Joaquín’s name for him had found its way into the Court and it had stuck. While Elena’s family understood the humorous side to the name, there were a few who greeted ‘Señor Salvaje’ with a certain amount of fear, just in case the man was anything like his name.
David frantically walked about the rose garden, searching for the perfect spot. As he was searching around, he had an idea that even he though was romantic. He could hide the ring inside the petals of a rose, present it to Elena, and then propose when she found it.
“That was not so difficult,” he murmured to himself. Perhaps he could be romantic when he tried. David found a stone bench in the centre of the garden and then selected the largest rose so that he could find it again when he brought Elena to the garden. He pushed the ring inside the rose and then willed it to stay there.
The ideas were coming quickly. The garden would be lit with torches come nightfall so David would bring Elena outside after nightfall, after dinner perhaps. He would take her to the bench, pick the rose from the shrub, avoiding the thorns, of course, and then he would hand it to her. When she found the ring, he would propose to her, she would accept, and that would be that.
David decided to spend the rest of the day writing to his family. He had many letters to write. He hoped that writing would calm his nerves.
Elena felt quite forlorn without Marisol and was very sad about her departure from Madrid. The only consolation she felt was that Marisol did seem genuinely happy with her new husband. She looked forward to hearing news of their life in Portugal.
Her mother had been anxious to support her while she had farewelled Marisol. It was such a strange thing to be given any sort of affection or attention by her mother. It seemed that Lupe had been just as trapped and afraid of Juan as they all had.
Lupe was very careful around Elena, as well as her brothers. She did not want to force any relationships which Elena was grateful for. She was glad, though, that she could know her mother before she left for England.
Elena kept making small plans and thinking like that. She was making preparations to leave England yet she had not technically been asked. David had asked her brother’s permission, he had practically reunited Lupe with her children, yet he had not formally asked Elena to return to England with him.
She knew that there had been many distractions, but she was truly growing impatient. She was impatient to start her life free from the control of her father’s intimidating control. She was impatient to start her life with David.
Elena did not have much time to dwell on her impatience as she was warned in the mid afternoon that a heavy thunderstorm was coming rapidly towards Madrid.
The storm had come from the south, through Andalucía. Joaquín had received word that there had been significant damage to many homes and businesses. This storm would be Joaquín’s first opportunity to prove himself to his people. Just as soon as the storm passed, Elena was certain that Joaquín would journey down to Andalucía to show his compassion and offer the support that the people needed from the monarchy, just as their father had done with the Barcelona riots many years ago.
She spent the rest of the day helping the cooks in the kitchen prepare unperishable meals for families who might lose any livestock or crops in the storm. The cooks were very surprised to have the help of their Princess but Elena could not simply sit around and wait for the storm to pass. She wanted to help. After working for so long as a maid below stairs at Ascot, she could no longer sit idly while others around her worked.
Once she had prepared several dozen meals along, Elena collected a basket from the palace laundry and retrieved blankets from every one of the vacant bedrooms in the palace. Along with a dinner, she would have them sent out to her brother’s subjects once the storm passed and it was safe to venture outdoors.
When the first clap of thunder started to rumble, and the rain began to pour, the Court gathered in the throne room to wait out the storm.
It occurred to Elena that she had not seen David all day. There were very few people that could communicate the storm warning in English to him so she went to fetch him.
When Elena reached the corridor which housed David’s bedchamber, she could see just how heavy the rain was. The clouds were black and the thunder sounded very violent.
Elena did not have to fetch David as he emerged from his bedchamber, albeit quite frantic. He did not see Elena as he raced to one of the large window in the corridor. He slapped his hand to his forehead and groaned, “No! Oh, no!”
“David, we are gathering in the throne room!” called out Elena.
David immediately turned at the sound of his name, but he did not acknowledge what she had said. Instead, he began to run. He sprinted down the corridor towards Elena before passing her.
Elena instantaneously feared something was wrong. Where was he going in such a hurry? She gathered her skirts and chased after him. David did not respond to the many times that Elena called out his name so she simply tried to keep up with him. David was a quick runner and Elena struggled to keep him in her sights. He had dashed down several staircases to the ground floor before exiting out the door that led to her mother’s rose garden. Why would he be going outside in such weather?
Elena started to fret that he would be hit by a bolt of lightning! Without thinking of her own personal safety, Elena raced out into the storm after him. She was immediately pelted with rain that soaked her completely in seconds. Her hair was stuck to her face and her gown was impossibly heavy, but she pushed on, determined to find David. She would drag him inside if she had to.
While constantly wiping her eyes free from the rain, Elena searched for David around the garden. The thunder was deafening and the rain was coming down harder and harder. The gravel beneath her feet had turned to mud and it was becoming very slippery, nigh on dangerous.
“David!” Elena called out, shouting at the top of her lungs so that he might hear her over the storm.
“Elena?” David’s head appeared from in and between several rose bushes. He was just as saturated as she was.
Elena headed straight for him, weaving in and between the plants, trying to stay upright due to the mud beneath her feet.
David met her halfway and captured her in his arms. “What are you doing out here?” he demanded to know. “It is dangerous to be out in a storm!”
“I could say the same to you!” retorted Elena.
David attempted to shield Elena from the rain with his coat but it did not do much good. “Go back inside,” he instructed. “I will be there in a minute.”
“No!” exclaimed Elena. “You must come inside now. We are all gathering in the throne room. It is foolish to be outside! What are you doing?”
David rolled his eyes, and Elena could sense that he knew she would not do as he said. “I left something out here. I cannot go inside knowing that it might wash away!”
What could David have possibly left in her mother’s rose garden? “Let me help you find it,” Elena shouted just as a clap of thunder boomed over their heads. The wind whipped her hair around her face. Elena pulled the dark locks from in front of her eyes.
The thunder had obscured her words and David had pulled her along with him, helping her to walk through the mud. When they reached where David had been searching originally, Elena recognised it as the bench where Joaquín, Carlos and Marisol had told her that they had a plan to free her from Juan. On the bench was a rose with its petals pulled apart. He was no on his hands and knees, sifting through the mud.
Two pairs of eyes were better than one, so Elena decided to help him look for whatever he had lost. Ignoring the fact that her expensive gown was effectively ruined, Elena sank to her knees and began pushing the mud away so that she could see if there were any objects underneath.
David was frantic. Whatever he had lost was clearly of great importance to him. Elena persisted with running her fingers through the mud but all she could feel was soggy grit and gravel.
The storm was getting heavier and the thunder was getting louder. Lightning strikes were starting to light up the sky. They needed to go indoors. They could search for whatever it was when the storm was over. Just as Elena was pushing herself up, she felt something sharp under her thumb.
Elena immediately separated the mud to see whatever it was that she had felt. There, covered in muck, was a small ring. Elena now realised why David had been so desperate to find it.
Elena held the ring out to David and said, or rather shouted, “What is that?”
Pure and utter relief filled David’s face as he took the ring from Elena. He wiped the mud away from the stones, revealing a diamond and two rubies. The ring was familiar somehow. “It is your wedding ring,” David shouted back. “I was going to ask you here, but the storm complicated my plans.”
Despite the thunder, lightning, pouring rain, and the mud, Elena beamed. “Ask me!” cried Elena. “Ask me right this minute!”
David chuckled and pushed the saturated stands of hair out of his eyes. Elena could see the raindrops falling from his eyelashes. He was smiling at her lovingly. He held the ring up to her, pinching it between his thumb and index finger. The rain was effectively polishing the little band. “This is not how I imagined asking you, but a lot of the last year has not turned out how I imagined it would be. Elena, I love you. You are, without a doubt, the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I do not ever want to be apart from you. You have made my life extraordinary from the very beginning. Would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”
Elena let out a squeal as she threw herself into his arms. David fell backwards and landed in the mud. Neither of them cared as they were already covered in muck. “Sí, mi amor!” she exclaimed.
----
Happy new year!!!! Hope everyone's nights were awesome :) Mine was very fun, though the morning after was not so fun. Went to Maccas and a quater pounder always fixes it :P
This will be the last chapter before the epilogue. Then I'll be on to Imogen's story :) The quote is from one of my favourite books, Jane Eyre, and by the woman who inspired my pen name :)
Vote and comment!!