Golden Box Book Publishing GBBPub February Magazine | Page 25

The next time he’d seen her was in December of that same year. It
was just before Christmas and she was skating across the ice of the
lake. The same lake in the same park, he realized now. If his memory
served him correctly, he’d skated over to her then and, without a word
spoken by either of them, became her partner. They were together the
rest of that day. That evening she introduced him to her parents and
soon after they announced their engagement. In April of the following
year they were married in Notre Dame Cathedral and went to Rome for
their honeymoon, where they stayed until July.
The next two months at the chateau in Orynx – the tiny kingdom
where Charles had been born and where they would always live – were
joyous for them. They spent every moment together. In September,
Marie celebrated her sixteenth birthday and what a party he’d given
her! The whole village had been invited! The ten year difference in
their ages went over well with the local minister, who had come at
Charles’s insistence, and everyone thought they made a perfect couple.
A few weeks later he was called to London on urgent business. He
was gone until the day before Christmas Eve. When he arrived home,
he wrapped his bride in his arms and apologized for staying away so
long. She smiled at him and he noticed there was a special glow in her
eyes as she said –
“Don’t worry, my love, I know you’ll always come back.”
Two days later, while she unwrapped the numerous presents he’d
given her, she handed him a small package wrapped in blue tissue with
a pink ribbon.
“Open it,” she coaxed.
He obeyed but said the name of the object aloud in a puzzled tone.
“It’s a silver spoon.”