“Gordie? Gordie!”
Sir Gordie jerked from his daydreaming to the inquisitive face of Consort Velvet. He fought back tears as she slipped behind him and embraced him warmly. She was his best friend and had always been able to sense his moods. She remained quiet, waiting for him to speak but he couldn’t seem to find the words.
“You’re in love, aren’t you?” He nodded, his shoulders slumping as tears gave way to silent sobs. Velvet gave him a long squeeze, keeping him in her arms. “What is it that you’re fighting, honey?”
Gordie took a deep breath. “My heart.” He managed to squeak the words out before he melted into tears again.
“First loves always hurt the worst, Gord, but why are you fighting your heart? From what you’ve told me of your picnic, seems you’ve all but got him in the bag.”
“He’s a builder, Velvet.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Builders travel.”
Builders travel
. Now she understood why he was fighting his heart. Gordie had found the love of his life and he was petrified to lose him to the road and possibly other partners. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll leave.” She said softly.
“What would make him want to stay here?”
“You, of course!” She laughed, trying to lighten his mood but Gordie was having none of it. He broke her embrace, heading for the wall. “Are you questioning his feelings?”
“No, not at all.” He sat on the bench, folding his legs Indian-style to face her. “The way he made love to me … “ He closed his eyes and remembered how soft his mouth was around his penis. “No, there’s no doubt about how he feels about me.”
“Are you worried that he’s not sincere? That maybe he’s just using you?”
“No.” Velvet watched him take another breath, fighting back a new flurry of tears. “But no matter how he feels about me, he’ll be leaving when the job’s over.”
She took his hands. “Did he tell you that?”
“No.” He looked up at her, tears brimming in his eyes. “What do I do, Velvet?”
“You can do one of two things. You can either return to the way you were before: cold and mechanical or you can do what the rest of us do: love for the moment. There is a chance that you will get hurt.”
“You didn’t get hurt with Rosebud.”
“Yes, I did. You know as well as I do that she and I have had our fights since we’ve gotten back together. But we’ve worked through the problems because we love each other.” She paused to see if he was understanding the meaning of her words. “I think you are doing him a disservice by not talking to him directly about it. He would understand.”
“He would understand what?” Sam bit into a crispy red apple, resting his back against the parapet’s doorway. “Were you talking about me?”
Velvet hesitated to see what Gordie would do and when he didn’t respond, she did, standing up. “Yes, we were.”
“I see.” He turned his hurt eyes on Gordie, who hadn’t raised his eyes. “Anything I should know about?”
There was no sound but the spring breeze soughing through the new leaves. “Talk to him, Gordie!”
Sam’s anger cooled when he saw tears rolling down Gordie’s cheeks. He had thought that the twosome was gossiping about him but quickly saw that he was wrong. He sat down on the bench, not noticing that Velvet had quietly departed. “Gordie, look at me.” He lifted the seneschal’s head up and felt his world tilt when he saw the sadness written in those green eyes. “Baby.” He wiped the tear tracks away. “Talk to me.”
Gordie looked down, willing his insecurity away. “When you finish the castle, will you leave?”
Sam inhaled harshly, feeling as if a hatchet had been buried in the center of his chest. “Isn’t that a little premature? I haven’t gotten the project yet.”
“You know what I mean, Sam.”
Yes, he did
. Sam knew exactly what Gordie meant and what he was looking for.
Say it, Sam. Commitment
. “I don’t know how to answer that, Gordie.”
Gordie’s eyes filled with tears, blinding him. “Then don’t bother.” He took the steps two at a time, leaving Sam with an open mouth and a heavy heart.
******
The afternoon found the king, the princess, Rosebud, little Simon, Sam and Gordie heading through the North Forest toward the marshlands where the new castle was to be built. The king wanted the castle to serve as an incidental palace as well as a guard station at this corner of his local kingdom. Velvet tried to direct her attention to the little prince, but found that she could not help but stare at Gordie and Sam.
The lovers hadn’t spoken to each other since after breakfast and Gordie had seemed to return to his private, protective self. He barked orders to the guard staff at the castle and treated his friends with a formality that was only required at official events. Velvet had had to comfort Rosebud and the little prince did not understand why Unca Gordie wouldn’t let him ride with him.
Sam rode quietly behind Velvet, taking every chance he could to steal glance back at Gordie. His glimpse was met with stern glares or outright looks of indifference. At another time, he would have laughed it off, thinking about the road that had yet to meet him and the conquests that lay before him. But something was different now.
Holding Gordie in his arms yesterday had been an epiphany to him. Before, where he would have looked forward to fucking some man’s mouth, he now found himself looking forward to the soft kisses and gentle touches that preceded the lovemaking. And that was another thing.
Lovemaking. NOT fucking
. Lovemaking! He had never made love before. He had never wanted to please someone more than himself. But Gordie had slipped into his heart when he wasn’t looking and now he was ruined for anyone else, including himself.
If only he could tell Gordie the truth …
“Let’s stop here.” Gordie shouted as he rode by, commandeering the column. A low-branched magnolia tree was tasked into use as a horse post and after everyone’s animal was tied and secured, they all tramped down into the marshland.
Sam noticed that it was a good area for a castle. The ground was hard and flat, bordered on one side by marshes and on two others by cliffs. This ensured that no one could approach the castle to attack it on the cliffsides and that the enemy would have to trudge through water on another. He pulled his parchment portfolio pad out and grabbing a charcoal point, he began to sketch.
It took twenty minutes for Sam to precisely sketch the surrounding area and place the perfect castle within its confines. As Rosebud and Velvet brought out the wine, jerky and dried fruit, Sam sat down in the meadow, explaining the merits of his plan. The king, Rosebud and Velvet seemed to agree with just about everything he had laid out. On the other hand …
“It’s impossible!”
“What’s impossible?” King Simon asked. “His design is fantastic! Come here and have a look, Gordie. He even put an entrance to the stables that makes things easier for the guard staff.”
“And where is the prince’s room?”
“Here.”
“And where is my room?”
“Here.”
“On the opposite side of the castle?” Gordie spat incredulously. “How am I supposed to provide protection to the prince
on the opposite side of the castle?
”
