A Knight in Central Park(37)

The old man tugged at the moth eaten blanket until a large hole revealed knobby knees. “Aye, er, the plan. Hmmm.” He rubbed his beard again as if that might help stir his memory.

Joe rolled his eyes. “There isn’t a plan, is there?”

Neither Alexandra nor the old man could look Joe in the eye. “We’ll just sort of wing it, is that it?” Joe asked. “Once we get to Richard’s castle I’ll just catapult Alexandra over the stone wall and hope for the best.” He rubbed his palms together. “There, we have a plan. Let’s go,” he said, motioning for Alexandra to come along. “I’m ready.”

Alexandra brought a hand to her hip. “Your sarcasm is not amusing.”

Joe cocked his brow. “What? There is a stone wall, isn’t there?”

“Alexandra,” the old man said, his voice firm. “Sir Joe and I need a moment alone.”

Alexandra appeared apprehensive at the idea of leaving him with her grandfather. Nonetheless, she headed for the exit. “I will ready the horses and await Sir Joe near the stables.”

They watched her leave.

“She is lovely, is she not?” the old man asked after the linen flapped shut.

“She’s a nice girl,” Joe said, but all he was thinking about was how the hell he was going to live without Advil for the next twenty-nine days.

“You are a lonely man, are you not?” the old man asked. “No family, no one to take care of you?”

Joe felt a twitch in his jaw. “I enjoy being by myself. And just for the record, I do have family...” The word caught in his throat. “I have my father.”

“Ahhh. He must be worried about you.”

“Worried sick, I’m sure.” Joe wondered what the old man was getting at. “Was there something more you wanted to say?”

“Aye. I wish to speak to you of my granddaughter. A stubborn, strong-minded young woman she is, but she has a good heart.”

Nodding, Joe tried to rub some of the tension from the back of his neck.

“There is a reason Alexandra has not yet married.”

Ah, Joe thought, now they were getting to the heart of the matter.

“Alexandra’s husband was chosen for her years ago. Although she expresses an unwillingness to settle down, I believe she secretly dreams of the day when she will be married and busy with children of her own.”

Joe did not like where this conversation was going. “I’m sure she’ll make a wonderful mother.”

“And a wife,” the old man added.

“Any man would be lucky to have her,” Joe agreed, backing toward the door.

The old man beamed.

Joe tugged at the medieval wool tunic that felt too tight against his chest, growing tighter by the second. The hut felt suddenly stuffy and hot, making it hard to breathe. “If you don’t mind...”

“It is not just any man who shall be so lucky,” the old man added before Joe could escape. “’Tis a very special man. A learned, lonely man who seeks that which all children crave...the love of his parents, or shall we say parent.”

Joe felt the warmth drain from his face as the old man’s words confirmed his suspicions. “Listen here,” Joe said, tired of the old man telling him what he was missing in his life. “I don’t crave any such thing. I know my father loves me. I have letters from him to prove it, many, many letters. And in her own special way,” he added with more acerbity than intended, “my mother loved me, too. I don’t need...” Joe narrowed his eyes and pointed a finger at the old man and then suddenly lost his train of thought. “Are you saying Alexandra has not married all these years because she’s been waiting for me?”

The old man answered with a grin and a nod. “Upon your return from Radmore’s Keep, there will be much to celebrate.”

“That’s what this is all about?” Joe raked a hand through his damp hair. “I hate to disappoint you, but I cannot marry your granddaughter.”

“You have no choice in the matter. It is your destiny to do so.”

“It’s not happening.” Joe crossed his arms over his chest. “And, just to be sure you don’t try and pull the wool over my eyes, I refuse to go in search of your other granddaughter until somebody hands over the last stone.”

There was a long pause. A trickle of sweat slid toward Joe’s brow at the thought that he might never find that stone. The hut was the size of a small office. The air inside had grown warm and thick, making it hard to breathe. “I’ll stand here all day if I have to,” Joe lied. “I will not budge until I have the stone in my possession. I want assurance that in twenty-nine days I can leave here the same way I came...unattached.”