To Stand Beside Her (60 page)

“Will she ever trust me like that?” Anatolio asked quietly.

“She already does,” Roger replied.
“I can see it in her eyes when she looks at you.
Somewhere inside of her, she loves you.
She might not understand those feelings
,
yet, but give her time.”

“What about Nalick?” Anatolio asked.
“Won’t he be hurt once she figures this out?”

“Not in the least.
We already talked about this,” Roger explained.

“You asked Nalick about Leila falling in love with me?” Anatolio asked in shock.
He would never be so brash with his king or the topic of another man's wife.

“Yes and why not?
I wanted to know where he stood on it.
And actually, he hopes that one day he can see you both fall in love.
Then at least he can be reassure
d
that when he dies, things will be all right,” Roger added.
Anatolio stared now at Nalick and not Leila.
Again
,
Anatolio
was impressed and wondered if he would ever be good enough to replace
Nalick
.

“He’s leaving you not only Leila, but also his family.
I hope you are up for the task.”

Chapter
36

The next day, Leila was left alone as she got ready for her second wedding.
Elena had dressed the children
,
who
were busy helping
their
grand
parents with the decorations.
A large tent had been set up near the lake by her brothers and chairs for all the guests were set.
All the women were busy helping Kay
prepare
food for everyone.
Leila’s mother and father watched all their grandchildren as they each tried to help as much as possible.
Before
Leila got dressed, she quietly slipped through all the chaos to see the wedding tent before the guests arrived.
Leila silently walked down the middle
a
isle and stopped every now and then to touch a ribbon or smell a flower.
She had gone through with one wedding already, but she remembered very little as she was exhausted from the week leading
up
to it.
Leila seriously tried to take in every little piece she saw and commit it to memory.
She
turned quickly as someone coughed in the back of the tent.

“Not getting ready yet?” a familiar voice asked.
Leila smiled at Roger quickly
hurry
ing
to hug him.

“It’s not for a few hours,” she replied.

“Your mother figured you had run off again and since Nalick couldn’t come look for you, I figure I should,”
Roger
explained.
“Anatolio is worried about you.”

“I’m fine, just a little sad,”
Leila
replied
,
knowing it was no use lying to him.

“This is your wedding day.
You can’t be sad.
You should be happy,” Roger explained.
Leila nodded but did not smile.

“Come on kid
, I’ll walk you back to the house.
Your mother left your dress for you on your bed.”
Roger put his arm around her and began to walk her back up to the house.
“Ten years is a long time.
There is no need to worry now about it.
Just think, it hasn’t even been ten years since you chased Erich home
,
and yet
,
it feels like a lifetime has passed.”

As they neared the house, Leila quickly hugged him again
before
open
ing
the door.
It felt like she had known Roger forever
;
however,
it had only been eight years.
He was right that ten years would be a long time.
Roger waved as she shut the door and went to her room.
Lying on the bed was a long off
-
white dress that had been sewn by her mother.
Leila smiled pick
ing
up the delicately made dress.

Slowly
,
Leila slipped into her wedding dress.
She could remember when she was ten and her oldest brother got married.
She complained for hours that her mother was making her wear a dress, but as soon as she put it on it all changed.
Leila
spent hours twirling in the dress watching the hem swirl around her.
As Leila slipped into the dress her mother made, she again could feel the magic of it.
It lifted her spirits as she looked at every detail her mother had
included
.
Leila noticed the small purple flowers on the hem
.
This was her real wedding.

Leila was ready long before the guest
s
started to arrive.
She sat and tried her best to occupy herself with anything she could find but her thoughts continued to drift back to Nalick and what her life would be like without him.
As she continued to wait, she climbed upstairs into the room Ruth had been sleeping in.
S
he could see every detail of her old room was completely mimicked even down to where the windows were.
Leila walked to the nearest window and slowly felt the lace on the curtains.
T
hey were the original curtains from her room
,
just freshly washed.
While
sitting
on the bed,
Leila
stared at the pattern the quilt pieces made.
As she
lay
on the bed and felt lost as to why she could not be happy on her wedding day, she wished she could see
Erich
if even for just a moment just to be reassured she was making the correct choice.

Leila was interrupted from her thoughts as she heard Anatolio calling her name.
S
he stood and walked to the staircase.
As she took one step, she stopped as tears began to trickle down her cheeks.
I can’t do this
, she thought
.
If I marry him, then I agree to let him die
.
The tears continued to trickle.
She had finally found love again, only to find it was temporary.
Ten years is not enough time
. I can’t do this again. I can’t lose my
love.
Leila leaned against the wall search
ing
in her mind for alternatives.

At the bottom of the stairwell Anatolio stood watching her.
Tears flowed freely down her face
.
Slowly h
e approached her and stopped on the step below her so that he stood eye to eye with her.

“I can’t do this,” she said to him
barely even a whisper
.
“By marrying him, I sign his death warrant.”

“This was never your choice
,” Anatolio explained.

Leila began to cry more.
“How could he do this to me?
I don’t want to be alone again.”
She began crying harder.
“If I just stay here,” she started
,
but she stopped as Anatolio gently took her face in his hands.
Ever so gently, he
leaned close to her face
.
His lips gently touched hers.

“You will never be alone again,”
Anatolio
promised
,
staring into her eyes while wrapping his arms around her.
Anatolio could not contain the love her already felt for her and held onto her tightly.
“I
will always be there for you
.”

Leila looked deep into his eyes.
The boy she normally saw back was gone.
In his place
stood
a man
.
For the first time, Leila could see
him for who
he was.
With his tight grip around her, Leila realized
Anatolio
was right.
He had not left her alone since the day she first entered Lexia.
Anatolio gently wiped her tears away as he regretfully let go.
She had stopped crying
,
and he could see the change in her eyes.

“We need to get you to your wedding before you are late
, my queen
,
”
Anatolio
said while adding
a bow.

“Nalick would understand if I told him I got lost on the way,” she joked as he smiled and took her hand to lead her down the stairs and outside.
Her hand fit perfectly in his.

Anatolio and Leila walked in silence to the tent by the lake that was filled with her family and friends.
As she near
ed the open doorway
,
Anatolio
stopped.
Leila turned to him
,
and he smiled as Ruth ran to greet her.
Ruth h
anded Leila flowers as Anatolio
quietly slipped into the tent before she could protest.
Ruth led the way between the seated guests.
Her
parents proudly watched her walk their way.
Leila smiled as Anatolio moved and stood beside Nalick.
Leila stopped
near
the front of the tent
,
and Nalick turned to greet her at Anatolio’s prompting.
Leila slowly moved near Nalick and as he took her hands in his she gazed intently up at him.
She could see no fear or regret in his eyes
-
just complete happiness.
Leila knew then that even though her life was not going to be exactly how she wished, she was certain as everyone had promised, she would be happy.

Epilogue

A week and ten years after their wedding in the
North Country
, Nalick woke early for his trip with Phillip to Dria.
They had been planning the trip for months and Phillip was eager to leave the palace for some
peace
and quiet after the birth of his first son.
Nalick carefully checked his desk before having breakfast.
The letter he had written Leila was still there waiting.
Everything was in order to transfer power to Leila for the next
five
years
until Connor reached his
fourteenth
birthday and could claim the throne.
Sadly
,
Nalick
ate before walking upstairs to say goodbye to his sleeping children.

The first door he opened had an unmade empty bed in it as
Nalick
had expected.
Tim was always up before everyone else training as hard as he could so that Leila would allow him to take easy runs from Roger’s courier station.
The next room was that of Connor, the heir to the throne of Lior.
Connor was nestled between his covers quietly sleeping.
Nalick sat beside him and watched his eye lids flicker.
To an outside observer, they would see Connor as Nalick’s child, but beyond his head of dark hair, there was little resemblance.
Every day Nalick could see more and more Connor was growing into the person Gabor had promised to Nalick before he was even born.
Nalick had no reservations leaving his country to him
knowing
Connor would live up to every expectation.
Nalick kissed him before checking on each of his other children
:
Isabella, Jeffrey, Nathanial, and Ava.
Ex
cept for the youngest, they all had his dark hair and tan skin, though they all
displayed
a mixture of his and Leila’s personalities.