Page 41 of Disenchanted
“…and although Amy has never been good at housework, you would not believe what prodigious care she takes of her ponies. When she was a little girl, whether she had happy or sad tidings, she would always rush to tell Pookie and Pippa everything.”
“Ella…” Mal began.
“I am sure that is what she is doing right now, telling her ponies about the ball tickets. But you must not mention that to anyone. Amy would be so mortified if anyone knew.”
“Ella!” Mal said more sharply. He came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the garden path, demanding, “So who was he? This musician who supposedly broke your heart?”
“No one.” I withdrew my arm from his. “I mean he is no longer of any importance. Just let it go, Mal, please.”
But of course, he was not about to do that. He took hold of my shoulders, obliging me to face him. “You fancied yourself in love with someone and you never told me? When was this?”
“It happened a long time ago when I was seventeen and you were not around to tell. It was that summer after your grandmother died and you were grieving so much you took off on that trip upriver.”
“But I came back, and you still never breathed a word to me. Not once in all these years.” Mal looked far more than hurt. He appeared devastated. “I sensed there was something different about you when I returned from that trip. But I always attributed it to your father’s dying and leaving you with so much responsibility heaped on your shoulders. I never imagined there could be any other cause for your sorrow. Why, Ella? Why did you never tell me?”
“There are some emotions that are too private for me to share, even with you, Mal. And it doesn’t matter now, whatever I thought I felt for this young man, because it all came to nothing.”
“Why not tell me then? Who was he, Ella? This nothing that you fell in love with?”
I sighed, more than ever regretting my stepmother’s slip of the tongue. I knew Mal would give me no peace until I confessed everything to him. “He was a traveling minstrel. His name was Harper.”
“A traveling minstrel who called himself Harper! Thundering fairies, Ella! How naive could you be? You realize that likely wasn’t even his real name.”
“And you wonder why I never told you any of this.”
“Sorry,” he muttered. “But I know what these wandering musicians are like even if you don’t. He probably had some girl besotted with him in every town, maybe even a wife and children tucked away somewhere in another kingdom.”
“He didn’t,” I snapped. “He could hardly have asked me to marry him if he was already wed—” I stopped, wondering why I was still so heatedly defending the man who had broken my heart. The bitter truth was I had known so little about Harper, Mal could possibly be right.
“Maybe he was married,” I conceded. “That would certainly explain why he never turned up the night we were supposed to elope.”
“Elope! You intended to run off with this villain without even telling me goodbye?”
“You weren’t here! I was going to send you a note.”
“A note? Oh, well that would have made everything just great, wouldn’t it?” Mal said bitterly. “I would have come home to find that my dearest friend had disappeared with some itinerant lute player, but it’s all fine because she left me a frapping note!”
“I am sorry,” I cried. “So will you kindly stop berating me for something I didn’t do years ago?”
“Apparently the only reason you didn’t run off was because he deserted you. Frap, Ella! How could you be so cruel?”
“I don’t know,” I replied miserably. “When I was with Harper, it was as though the rest of the world disappeared. All I could think about was him. I adored him so much.”
“No doubt you did if you were willing to abandon everything for him. You were never a lukewarm girl, Ella. I always knew if you ever fell in love, you would surrender completely to the man lucky enough to win your heart.” Mal swallowed. “But I always hoped it would be me.”
“Don’t, Mal.” I pressed my fingers to his lips to silence him. “Please don’t say anything we will both regret.”
Mal shifted my fingers aside. “What you mean is, don’t say anything you don’t want to hear.” He gave me a look so rife with longing and despair, it made my heart ache.
“All right, I won’t,” he conceded with a sigh. “At least not, for now.”
I sighed, feeling grateful for the reprieve, even if it was only temporary. Mal had never been the sort of man easily discouraged when it came to getting what he wanted. I valued our friendship beyond anything, but I could never feel anything deeper for Mal than that. He had grown to be a mightily attractive man, but a part of me would always see him as the boy who used to swing on my garden gate, calling, “Ella! Come out and play.” Someday, I would have to force Mal to accept that. When that day came, I wondered what would become of our friendship.
I realized that he was still holding my hand, but not with any amorous intent. He had discovered the bruises on my wrist and was frowning. “What happened here?”
I withdrew my hand, so eager to shift the conversation away from any further discussion of Harper that I told Mal about the attack in Misty Bottoms and how Commander Crushington had rescued me. I expected another eruption from Mal, but perhaps by this time his anger was spent.
He merely scowled and lightly rapped the top of my head. “Idiot! What were you thinking? Wandering around Misty Bottoms alone in the fog and laden with a sack full of coins? I never thought the day would come when I would say this, but thank the fairies for Commander Crushington!”
