Sir Guy’s Atonement” (Book 3), Ch. 17 (PG-13, D, S): Love’s Healing Kiss, March 20, 2015 Gratiana Lovelace (Post #721)
[An Original Fan Fiction adaptation of the characters from the BBC’s Robin Hood; & a Sequel to “Sir Guy’s Dilemma” (Book 2) by Gratiana Lovelace] (All Rights Reserved; No copyright infringement intended) [(1) story logo, top right]
[From time to time, I will illustrate my story with my dream cast of: Richard Armitage as Sir Guy of Gisborne, Clive Standen as Lord Archer of Locksley, Emma Watson as Lady Roseanna Gisborne, Tommy Bastow as the young Seth Gisborne, Lucy Griffiths as the spectre of Lady Marian, James McAvoy as Lord George Middleton, Toby Stephens as Prince John, Dakota Fanning as Lady Caroline Havorford, Chris Hemsworth as Sir Roderick Merton, Tamsin Egerton as Lady Rebecca Oxbridge, Lee Ross as Sir Jasper, etc.]
Author’s Mature Content Note: “Sir Guy’s Atonement” is a story of romance and intrigue set amidst Medieval times. As such there will be some passages in this story involving heartfelt love scenes (S) and some passages involving highly dramatic moments (D), or foul language (L). I will label the maturity rating of those chapters accordingly. Otherwise, the general rating for this story is PG or PG-13 due to some mature situations and topics. If you are unable or unwilling to attend a movie with the ratings that I provide, then please do not read the chapters with those labels. This is my disclaimer.
Nota Bene: And though I might refer to some historical timelines, events, and personages, I reconfigure them somewhat for this storyline–and they should not be taken as literal historical fact. The citation links are provided for you to find out what really happened historically. And medical incidences represented in the story–such as the crisis child birth sequence–are pure conjecture on my part.
Author’s Recap from the previous installment: Sir Jasper was gored by the boar he and the Gisborne-Middleton-Locksley brothers were hunting. Whilst a very pregnant Lady Mary Middleton gave birth to her and Lord George’s third child, a daughter whom they have yet to name. And Prince John needs to be informed–of many things.
Sir Guy’s Atonement” (Book 3), Ch. 17 (PG-13, D, S): Love’s Healing Kiss
After the euphoria of Lord George and Lady Mary Middleton’s third child being born–their hoped for daughter named Lady Juliana born the Monday April 1st afternoon before Sir Guy of Gisborne’s baronial investiture the next day–all Sir Guy wants to do is to take his wife to bed to lovingly celebrate the lifting of the gloom surrounding them about the assassination plot against Sir Guy. With Sir Jasper dead and his co-conspirators exiled from court, the assassination plot has been well and truly thwarted. At least that is Sir Guy, Lord Archer, and Lord George’s hope.
But they must first tend to the formalities of actually informing Prince John that his toady Sir Jasper is dead. With Lord George needing to stay with his wife and new baby, Sir Guy and his brother Lord Archer stride toward Prince John’s large guest suite in the guest wing of Gordon Castle. The two brothers mull over exactly how to relate that important news–and what reactions they might elicit from Prince John regarding it.
Lord Archer: “Guy, I think we should simply tell Prince John, Sir Jasper was speared by the boar he stalked. And therefore, that unfortunate courtier’s lifeless body–now installed in the Gordon Castle stables–awaits Prince John’s decision on its ultimate destination.”
Sir Guy: “Archer, not that I care a fig for Prince John’s reaction, but Sir Jasper’s death is likely to be a shock to him. And he is apt to be more annoyed with the need to replace Sir Jasper, than grieving that fellow’s timely demise.”
Lord Archer: “So? What of it?”
Sir Guy: “I do not want to be detained as an audience for Prince John voicing his displeasure. I have better ways to employ my time.” Sir Guy raises a saucy eyebrow.
Lord Archer: “Indeed? And what would that be, Lord Gisborne? Practicing your strutting down the aisle at your investiture tomorrow without fear of being felled by an arrow?” He teases with a smile.
Sir Guy: “Lord! I forgot the ceremony is tomorrow. I wish this was now the day after and all would be behind me.”
Lord Archer: “Nervous, Guy? You need not be. The assassins are vanquished. You and Seth–and Prince John–are safe from attack.”
Sir Guy: “For now. But if Prince John wanted to stop my elevation to a barony before, what is to prevent him from doing something else to disrupt in the ceremony? Some rewards come at a very high price to my peace of mind–and this barony is one of them.”
Lord Archer: “Now, now. Do not forget that your heirs will forever be among the aristocracy of England. And in particular, your son Seth will inherit your title upon your death. That has to be measured more for good than for bad.”
Sir Guy: “I know, I know.” Sir Guy sighs in a low rumble, reminiscent of a growl.
Coming to a stop as they reach Prince John’s guest suite in the castle, they hear a patchwork of conversations within the open door.
Prince John: “Ah! Gisborne, Locksley!” Prince John beckons. “Tell us news of the Middletons’. Has their new babe been born? Might they name it after me?” Prince John smiles mockingly. The courtier around him titter with laughter. Prince John is not that amusing. It is just that courtiers would rather laugh at a Prince John’s poor jests with their heads still attached to their necks.
Lord Archer: “Yes. And not unless they name the child Johanna.” Prince John narrows his eyes quizzically at him
Sir Guy: “The baby is a daughter, My Liege.” Sir Guy can not bring himself to address the Prince Regent, Prince John, as Sire. That title is reserved for King Richard, in Sir Guy’s mind. “They named her Lady Juliana.”
Prince John: “Ah! Well, I suppose that having a girl baby now and again can not be helped. Please give my cousin Georgie and his wife Lady Mary my felicitations.”
Sir Guy: He bows. “Of course, My Prince.”
Lord Archer elbows his brother Sir Guy to stop stalling. Prince John notices the exchange between the brothers.
Prince John: “And what of your boar hunt? Hmm? Did you make a killing?” For he has not heard any news about Sir Jasper yet, since it was usually Sir Jasper who gave Prince John news and gossip.
Lord Archer: “The hunt was, indeed, successful in eliminating the rats in our presence.” Lord Archer speaks metaphorically.
A scowling Sir Guy now elbows his brother Lord Archer.
Prince John: “Rats? You were hunting boar?”
Sir Guy: “Indeed, and we were successful–you will feast on boar this night. But … our hunting party suffered a loss.”
Prince John: “Oh? You two seem intact.” Prince John sneers to say with some irritation.
Lord Archer: “Can you not think what or perhaps whom is missing from this room.” Prince John’s eyes narrow at Lord Archer.
Sir Guy: “Archer!” Sir Guy hisses. And Prince John’s attention turns to Sir Guy. “My Liege, before we killed it, the boar attacked Sir Jasper, impaling him on its tusk. He is was killed instantly. Sir Jasper is dead.”
Lord Archer: “Quite dead.” Lord Archer says with a faint hint of ennui belying the cheerful flips his mind is doing with this happy occurance.”
Prince John: Setting down his goblet of wine slowly, Prince John utters. “You cannot be serious. Sir Jasper is needed at court. He cannot be dead.”
Lord Archer: “Sorry to disappointment you, My Prince. But needed or not, Sir Jasper is dead.”
Sir Guy: “I instructed our attendants on the hunt to relay Sir Jasper’s body to the stables awaiting your command.”
Prince John: “My command? If Sir Jasper is dead, then my commands are meaningless to him.”
Sir Guy: “Yes, but did he have family to whom you wish to convey the body? Or should he be buried here?” Sir Guy wishes to have the matter dispensed with as quickly as possible to extricate himself from thinking about Sir Jasper ever again.
Prince John: “You are in earnest? Sir Jasper is dead?” Prince John looks astonished as he flops back onto his throne. Well, in the chair that he is using for his throne at Gordon Castle. Prince John had not thought of this outcome. Now he will have to find and train a new courtier to act as his eyes and ears and agent when necessary. Then Prince John commands disinterestedly–as if he were ordering wine. “Bury him here. He has no family to speak of.” And, thinks Prince John, I will confiscate Sir Jasper’s estates that I had given him for his service. Hmm.
So with a sanguine Prince John attended to and dispensed with, Sir Guy and Lord Archer head back to their respective families.
***
The boar was indeed quite tasty this night–and the Gordon Castle feast a merry one. But Sir Guy was never so happy to get his family back to their guest suite and settled in for the night, as he is tonight–except for Sir Roderick who said he needed a stroll in the cool night air again, whom Sir Guy presumes will somehow find his way to Lady Rebecca for a secret assignation, however chaste. Then tomorrow will be Sir Guy’s baronial investiture ceremony and then they may thankfully all go home. For this honor of being named a Baron by King Richard has proven to be more trouble than what value some may place upon it.
However, Sir Guy eagerly contemplates the comfort of lying in his beloved wife Lady Rose’s arms this night force out all other and sundry thoughts. They have been too long apart due to their being guests in cramped quarters the past several days. But let the devil take him, for Sir Guy desires this night the pure love and affection that he shares with his wife. After putting their children to bed, telling them stories, and kissing their cheeks, Sir Guy and Lady Rose walk serenely to their bed chamber on the other side of their guest suite’s sitting room. Tonight will belong to them and them alone.
Having dismissed their personal attendants for the night, Sir Guy and Lady Roseanna help 
each other out of their garments, kissing each other softly in between partings to complete their respective tasks–her dress lacings, his tunic fasteners, and so on. Sir Guy removes his blousey shirt to stand before her bare from the waist up [(2) right]. Lady Roseanna cannot help but be in awe of her husband’s masculine perfection.She marvels at the muscular definition of his shoulders chest, abdomen, and arms. Then she removes all but her thin linen shift, and they embrace each other joyfully, their hands exploring and caressing each other–reacquainting themselves, one with the other.
Lady Roseanna reaches out for her handsome husband [(3) right]. However, a parental 
concern enters Lady Roseanna’s mind and stills her amorous purpose. Then she expresses it in a hushed voice for their six month old baby Lady Diana lies nearby, sleeping in her cradle.
Lady Roseanna: “Guy? Should we have waited until the older children fell asleep before we retired? Helen has still not fully gotten over her ordeal. And I fear that Louis and Sarah are still so little to sleep in unfamiliar surroundings, as we are here.”
Sir Guy: Also whispering so as not to awaken their baby, Sir Guy kisses her ear, then nibbles her neck. “Beloved, our children have two nurses to tend to them. They will want for nothing.”
Lady Roseanna: “Still.” She bites her lower lip.
Sir Guy: “Come, let us focus upon ourselves.” Sir Guy gazes upon his loving wife. “I have missed our nightly adorations of each other.” Sir Guy growls suggestively. Then he kisses her at first tenderly, then with a heated passion–leaving her in no doubt about his intentions.
Lady Roseanna: “As have I.” She smiles tenderly. “But did you not wish to celebrate tomorrow night? After your investiture to a barony?” She asks sweetly.
Sir Guy: “Oh I intend to. But tonight is ours as well, My Love.”
Sir Guy gently picks up his wife Lady Roseanna and carries her to their bed. And then he slides in with her. As they begin their lovers’ dance, Sir Guy quickly divests himself and her of their remaining out coverings. Skin against skin, they feel the warmth and contours of each others’ bodies as they mold themselves together.
At forty-five years old, Sir Guy has maintained the tone in his muscular physique well past the time when his contemporaries might have let their bodies soften and expand. Perhaps, they do not have a lovely twenty seven year old wife to adore as Sir Guy does. Lady Roseanna is all soft curves to her husband’s hard sinews. Then feeling along his clavicle scaffolding his magnificent frame as she then trails kisses as her hands caress his powerful frame.
Sir Guy is equally enraptured with the beauty of his sweet wife, Lady Rose. Her full curving bosoms betoken the evidence of her fecundity, as they have expanded again during her last pregnancy and have remained so as she nurses their baby daughter. And it is, perhaps, inevitable that his gentle caresses cause her to spill some nectar from her breasts–to which he languorously trails his kisses to her murmuring encouragement. And her belly once flat when they first wed, bears the small plump evidence at her hips of her having given birth four times to their much loved children, Helen, Louis, Sarah, and Diana. And though Seth was not born of Sir Guy’s Lady Rose, he has grown in her heart as her son.
Moving to lie his body atop his wife Lady Rose, Sir Guy seeks to join his body with hers–to be as one with her in the loving communion of husband and wife. Lady Rose welcomes her husband Sir Guy’s loving ministrations and she beckons her encouragement with first one leg intertwined around his, and then the other, pulling him closer to her. Sir Guy’s and Lady Rose’s arousals are complete, and he joins their bodies together again, and again, and again, and again. They are each lost in the whirl of pleasurable sensations as their bodies reach their blissful sensual release. Spilling his seed within her–hoping to give her yet another child, another son, for them to love and to nurture–Sir Guy strains upward as they both cry out their joy, before leaning down to her again in an achingly tender kiss full of love for her, even as her kiss is like a healing balm to him.
Then each spent from their loving conjugation, Sir Guy rolls their still joined bodies such 
that he is now lying on his back and she lying atop him, cradled within the embrace of his loving arms as he pulls the sheets and blanket around them for warmth. They sleep cherishingly like this for several hours until they shift to lying on their sides [(4) right], with Lady Rose tucked within her love Sir Guy’s embrace, his cheek resting on top of her shoulder as they nestle into one another as they slumber.
Theirs is a love so all consuming that Sir Guy finds acceptance and peace in his wife’s loving arms. Lady Rose is his sweetness and his joy–as he is hers. With his loving wife Lady Rose and their growing family, Sir Guy has become a better man, a good man, an honorable man. He is happier than he could have ever imagined that he would be. And for now, in this place, at this time, with this life, he is content. To be otherwise would be foolish and ungrateful for the blessings of love and family that he has been given.
Tomorrow Sir Guy will become a baron, Crispin Roger, Sir Guy, Baron Gisborne. But for the boon that this elevation will bring to his family–and especially to Seth–Sir Guy would not seek it. But just as Sir Guy is impelled to accept this honor, so too must he continue to strive to be worthy of it.
To be continued with Chapter 18
“Sir Guy’s Atonement” (Book 3), Ch. 17 References, March 20, 2015 Gratiana Lovelace (Post #721)
1) Story Logo for Sir Guy’s Atonement” is a composite of:
a) Sir Guy portrayed by Richard Armitage found at richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/RobinHood/album/seasonthree/Episodefive/slides/5_086.jpg (crop-hair-manip-hi-res); and
b) The spectre image of Lady Marian is that of Lucy Griffiths who portrayed Lady Marian in the BBC series Robin Hood from2006-2009 and was found at Hamilton Hodell Talent Management at http://www.hamiltonhodell.co.uk/cv/client_lucy-griffiths_id_100044.htm; image found at
thedubs-staging.com/images/hamiltonhodell/600x600FFFFFFf/_uploads/userassets/images/griffithslucynewpic11
2) Richard Armitage) in the BBC’s Robin Hood series 2, episode 3 (pix 104) was found at http://www.richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/RobinHood/album/seasontwo/Episode3/slides/rh203_104.jpg
3) Sir Guy of Gisborne ‘s (as portrayed by Richard Armitage) bare torso in the BBC’s Robin Hood series 2, episode 3 (pix 115) was found at http://www.richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/RobinHood/album/seasontwo/Episode3/slides/rh203_115.jpg
4) Cropped image of Sir Guy (as portrayed by Richard Armitage) and image of Lady Marian (as portrayed by Lucy Griffiths) representing Lady Roseanna is a beautiful photo manipulation artwork created by the talented artist Maltysa and was originally found at http://maltysa.livejournal.com/355.html
Sir Guy’s Atonement” (Book 3), Previous Ch. 16 Blog Link (Post#719)
Something About Love (A) 
March 20, 2015–The link for my Wattpad version of Ch. 17 is:
http://www.wattpad.com/112559912-sir-guy%27s-atonement-book-3-by-gratiana-lovelace
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