The Lady of My Choosing Chapter Twelve

 Chapter Twelve

If Your Dream Comes True...

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

Oh no! It is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wand'ring bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me prov'd,

I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd."

    Finding at long last a few moments to herself, Caroline had fled to the shelter of her private rooms and sat alone, reading aloud in a quiet murmur. She had spent several agonizing hours in the throne room, the most agonizing of all having been the last, for John had been there. He had looked at her and the look in his eyes had gone straight to her heart. Until she had finally been dismissed, she had stared down at her hands which she had clasped tremblingly in her lap. No, not even months could dull the pain.

    Over and over had she repeated that sonnet. How painfully true was it!

    Love... looks on tempests and is never shaken... Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom.

    Bears it out to the edge of doom!

    Caroline said those words loudly. And no sooner had they left her lips than she was startled by another voice. A voice she had never heard before and, indeed, she had not expected to hear any voice at all when she was locked in her private chambers. Or had she forgotten to lock the door...?

    "Quite right, my dear!" a middle-aged lady whom she had never before seen, stood in the middle of her room, smiling pleasantly at her. "Truer words were never spoken."

    "Who... where did you come from?" Caroline faltered in surprise. "How did you get here?"

    "Oh, you weren't expecting me?" the lady said anxiously. As Caroline shook her head, the lady frowned contemplatively. "I really must get better at that. This happens every time," she continued, apologetically. "I just can't seem to get the hang of it!"

    "I'm sure I don't understand..." Caroline said slowly. "Who are you?"

    "Oh, never mind who I am. There are much more important people at stake here. Now," she seated herself in a businesslike attitude. "This matter of you and John..."

    "How do you know about that?" Caroline gasped, her eyes wide.

    "It doesn't really matter how I know," the woman replied, peevishly. "Would you please focus on the subject at hand? The fact remains that I know and the fact is yet to be made known that I intend to do something about it."

    "Do something..." Caroline was overcome with surprise and rather caught off guard.

    "You do love John, don't you?"

    "Yes, but I..."

    "But what?" the lady cried.

    "Nothing." Caroline shook her head. Something told her that this unusual personage was not one to be argued with.

    "Now the problem here is simply that he is below your station..." she mused. "Tricky thing is this matter of position and positioning, you know." she added confidingly. "Can't say I've had much practice here. There was the case of Robin Fitzooth... Robin Hood, that is. He was just the son of the steward and Lady Marian was... well... much like you." she looked up suddenly with a relieved smile.

    "That's it, of course!" she laughed merrily. "Robin Hood and Lady Marian!"

    "Robin Hood..." Caroline began confusedly.

    "Yes, yes of course! Now what happened then was that King Richard... Now there's the problem. King Richard the Lion-Hearted was slightly simpler to deal with than..." she lapsed into deep thought again. Caroline watched her in awe, unaware of the fact that her mouth was hanging open.

    "Ah. That's it." she announced at length. "The prince, of course."

    "Prince Edward?" cried Caroline, trying desperately to make some sense out of the situation. The woman looked at her narrowly.

    "Is there another prince that I am unaware of?" she did not wait for a response. "I shall simply have to have a talk with him. Or perhaps... perhaps I'm good enough now that I can dispense with the talk and try and do it from afar..." she rose and set her hat firmly back on her head. Caroline stood motionless as she watched the woman walk to the door. Just before leaving, the stranger turned back and smiled encouragingly.

    "Now, don't you worry about a thing, my dear. I'll take care of it all. It'll all come right again, just you wait and see! Just one thing I ask in return."

    "That is..."

    "Look carefully!" the lady said, cryptically. "If your dream comes true, then you will have the power to make another's dream come true. I heard your wish about wanting to do something, and you can. If you look carefully, with your whole heart. Don't let any little detail, any little incident go unnoticed."

    With those words, she was gone. Caroline started after her but when she reached the door and looked out into the dimly-lit hallway, the woman had vanished without a trace.