To Stand Beside Her (55 page)

“To the bath,”
Ruth
commanded
,
running into the garden
.
Leila beamed as she stood and scooped
Ruth
into her arms.
Roger waved goodbye as the two left down the stairs.

Anatolio
approached and
looked up at the clouds with Roger
before
sigh
ing
.
“Do you think she will ever see me as a man and not a boy?”

Roger chuckled.
“To her you are a boy.
Don’t worry.
We all grow up faster than we want.
Enjoy being young and having no responsibility.
Someday this will all be yours and trust me, you will wish you were just a boy again.
Life goes by so quickly.”

“I feel like she will always see me as a younger brother and never
as
the man she is suppose
d
to spend the rest of her life with,” Anatolio added.

“Only you can change how she sees you now,” Roger said.
“You will know what to do when the moment i
s
right.
I would not worry about it.”
Roger trusted Nalick and Gabor that this young man was truly Leila's match.
Even Roger could see it.

Chapter
32

The next day Leila again endured being cleaned and dressed to be presented to yet another group of visiting wedding guests.
Leila had been so busy with getting ready
that
she failed to notice Nalick and Phillip had not been around all morning.
As they returned together and
also
hurried to get ready, they were up to something yet again.
S
ee
ing
the happiness in his eyes with Phillip
,
Leila smiled at Nalick as he passed by her.
S
he
wanted
to interrogate the two men
but
knew it would have to wait until she was finished getting ready.
As soon as she got the last nod of Mauve
’s
satisfaction, Leila quickly hurried to find Phillip.
Leila found him sitting in his room already dressed.

“What were you doing all morning?”
Leila
asked
,
wanting to get to the end of the secrets in their lives
.

“Nothing,”
Phillip
replied with a smile.
Leila sat down next to him and placed her arm around his shoulder.
As he gasped and pulled away, she knew what they had been up to.

“Let me see,” she said strictly
,
and
Phillip
reluctantly raised the back of his shirt.
On the upper center portion of his back was the royal family crest
,
still red from it having been done the same morning.
“And when were you going to tell me about this?”

“After I got my hand done also, but I think I might wait a bit longer for that.
I didn’t know it would hurt so much.
Dad said you didn’t take any pain medi
c
ation when you had yours done, so I thought I could be as tough as you,” Phillip grinned.
“I was wrong.
It hurt, a lot!!”

Leila tussled his hair.
“Why did he tell you that I didn’t use any medicine?
And yes, it hurts a lot.
I could have told you that.”

“I did tell him that,” Nalick said standing in the doorway.
“Trying to get me into trouble with mom?” Nalick asked Phillip
,
who began to laugh.

“If you didn’t show up it could have worked,”
Phillip
said
,
and Leila laughed with him.
“Have you seen dad’s?”
Phillip
asked
,
and Leila nodded her head
trying not to blush at admitting she had seen Nalick shirtless
.
“It’s huge.
It must have hurt so much
.
”

“We better get going,” Nalick said
,
noticing the blush
.

“This is not going to be fun,”
Leila
complained.

“I don’t know about that.
From what I hear, several of the men coming tonight, and many with their wives, once asked a certain ghost courier to marry them,” Nalick said quietly as they walked down the stairs.

“You didn’t,” she replied
,
and he nodded.
“Isn’t that a bit like gloating?”

“And why not?”
Nalick
responded.
“We need at least a bit of entertainment.”
Leila playfully hit his arm.
She might just enjoy the night after all.

With dinner done and Leila tucked into bed for the night, she was relieved to only have one last dinner left. She did not enjoy all the people no matter how entertaining it was to greet the last set of guests.

The next day
Leila was pampered for her last formal dinner. The whole family was ushered into waiting carriages and driven to the location.
Nalick offered her his hand as he led her into the market
square
of
Lexia
.
Leila realized why Mauve did not mind
this time
as Leila removed several pieces of jewelry before she left.
The market was completely filled with decorated tables and people she recognized sitting at them.
They arrive
d
from the north end of the market
,
and
Leila
could see games set up on both the east and west sides where the vender tents normally were on market days.
At their own set of tables with empty seats waiting for Leila was her family.

“There are plain clothed guards around the perimeter and two guards here are to watch each child,”
Nalick
explained
as the children ran to the table
.

“And how many are watching me?”
Leila
teased
,
but he did not answer as she set Ruth down.

“I’ll stay with her,” Phillip volunteered as he took a hold of his sister’s hand.

Leila
looked at the faces around her
.
Nalick had a hand in inviting the people present.
Emma and her husband along with Lady and Lord Pillas were the only nobles there for the party.
Leila
caught a glimpse of Nikias
.
H
e was there to watch someone
,
and she hoped it was Phillip.
Across the way she saw Frank and Marg along with their son
who had worked on her arm and back
.
Theo, Macarius, and Theo’s entire family were also
nearby
.
G
az
ing
around she knew most of the faces and recognized the rest from her trips to the market.

“When did you plan this?”
Leila
asked Nalick.

“Oh
,
it didn’t take much planning,”
Nalick
replied.
“Most of the vendors in the market already wanted to throw a party for you
,
and I just helped them along, with the help of your family and Roger of course.”

“Where’s Roger?” she asked
,
and she quickly looked around and did not find him.

“He will be a little late with Anatolio,” Nalick explained
,
sitting
down next to one of her brothers.

Leila
immediately
knew then that Nikias was there watching over her for Anatolio.
Tim pulled on Leila’s hand, and she kneeled next to him.

“Can I play too?”
Tim
asked
,
pointing at Phillip across the way.

“Of course,” Leila replied
,
taking the child’s hand and walking him over to his brother.
Phillip easily took charge of both his brother and sister as several of his new cousins also joined them at the games.

Leila spent the evening enjoying herself with her family and friends.
The dinner, dance, and games were much more relaxed and
she felt comfortable in
the
atmosphere.
Leila
was surrounded by what she considered normal people and found that the stuffiness and coldness of the noble’s court and dinner was not there.
Everyone there seemed truly happy for Leila and Nalick and wanted to share in the happiness they saw between the two of them
.

“So sis,” Leon said approach
ing
from one side and Nael from the other
on the walk back to the palace
.
“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Leila stared at
Leon
as she tried to remember the plans for the next day.
Her week had been so long and every day there were plans, but everything seemed to be running together.

“And tomorrow is?”
Leila
asked, still not remembering.

“Your wedding,” Nael replied
,
picking her up as Leon tapped on her head.
Her brother's had always treated her like a doll because she was so much smaller than them.

“I think you would forget your own name if left alone too long,” Leon added
,
motioning
for Nael to toss Leila to him
.

“Put me down,”
Leila
complained
before she could be tossed in the air
.
“It has been a long week
,
and I have gotten little sleep.
It is okay for me to forget stuff without enough sleep,” she added
,
pound
ing
on her brother’s chest to set her down.
Nael complied and set her down.

“So you’re actually going to go through with it?”
Leon
asked.

Leila smiled punch
ing
him in the arm.
“Of course.
Some of us don’t get cold feet before making a commitment
.
”

“Just checking,”
Leon
said grinning.
Nalick joined her and handed her the sleeping Ruth as he picked up Tim.

“I don’t know how you still have
the
energy to fight with your brothers,”
Nalick
said quietly.

“I don’t think she has ever not had energy to fight with those two,” Dirk added walking beside them also.
“
All
three
have been
fighting since the day she was born.
Just wait until you have more children.
They are not all as nicely behaved as the three you have.”

After she got all three children tucked into bed, Leila returned downstairs to find Anatolio and Nalick on the balcony talking.
Slowly she approached so that they would not know she was there.
She stood just inside the doorway and listened.

“I’m sure,” Anatolio replied
keeping his head bowed
.

“Are you two not getting along?” Nalick asked.

“No, everything is fine.
She seems to be treating me the same as before.
I just feel it would be better if you have Nikias escort her tomorrow,” Anatolio added.