Gertie's Choice Read Free Page B

her husband. Any guess how long he and the King
should be away?”
    “That is good news at
least, for I heard him tell his wife that he and the King should be
gone for quite a while. Sounded like not until after the child is
born.”
    “I shall leave you now,
sister. Godspeed.” Ophelia said when William came around with a
wagon. The sisters embraced and Gertie watched them ride off down
the path for a few minutes before Gertie then went back through the
Palace gates.

Chapter 4
     
     
    Many months had gone by
and Gertie had settled into both her new name and her new duties.
She and Julia had formed a friendship. They were the only women in
the Palace other than a couple of scrub women who came in to clean
a couple of days a week, but did not actually reside in the Palace.
There was also a cook, an old woman who had been with the King when
his mother was still alive.
    The child was born, a son
that Julia named Hugo. She had sent word to a man and his wife that
she apparently had known for years. They were on their way to the
Palace to help Gertie and Julia.
    William and Ophelia had
fallen in love and were married in a small ceremony in the forest.
Ophelia was now with child herself. William continued to drive the
wagons to procure food and other goods needed and to take Gertie
back and forth when she visited with her sister and
mother.
    “I don’t feel right being
at the Palace when you are going to have a baby.” Gertie told her
sister. “Taking care of Julia and her son instead of taking care of
you and your child.”
    “Do not worry about me. I
have mother and William to watch over me. I feel like I have ten
children in me.” Ophelia laughed.
    “Look it as well.” Gertie
said, falling quickly into their old banter.
    “So tell me, what is the
news from the Crown?”
    “The huntsmen that Mathew
and the King hired will be arriving soon. Mathew and the King have
been delayed again. As you know, there is no queen and I believe,
and Julia does as well, that they are doing less work and more
drinking and gambling than befitting their rankings. Of course,
Mathew is only a pretend royal family member, being married to the
king’s second cousin and all. I have settled into life in the
Palace quite well and Julia no longer treats me as her servant. In
fact, she had taken upon herself to give the laundry duties to the
scrub women. Of course with a new baby there is quite a bit of
laundry to be washed. More than enough to go around.”
    “I am glad you are happy
there, Gertrude, but I wish you would come back home. Enough time
has passed for you to know what might happen.”
    “I know, but I am rather
comfortable there in the Palace.” Gertie said.
    “Imagine that!” Ophelia
laughed.
    When Gertie got back to
the Palace she noticed a beautiful red ruby ring that Julia was
holding in her hand. “What a bright stone! It is very
fetching!”
    Julia looked as if she
might say something, but then changed her mind. She smiled. “The
huntsman arrives today, Gertie. He is known as The Great
Evil.”
     
    Gertie felt her legs
giving out under her. She steadied herself by holding onto the
bedpost. “The Great Evil.” She said, repeating the dreaded
moniker.
    “Gertie, him being here is
not my idea at all. I stand for nothing that my husband or the
Great Evil does. My cousin does not feel the need to make changes,
but he is weak and wishes to be more powerful and gain the respect
of others, so he will do whatever this Great Evil person suggests
he do. Please believe that. I feel ill just knowing that man will
be arriving soon.”
    “Surely he will not stay
since your husband and the king are not here, correct,
milady?”
    Julia did not answer. She
walked to the crib and held Hugo tightly in her arms. “You have
been a good friend to me, Gertie, a good companion. I want you to
know that I appreciate everything you have done for me and my
son.”
    Gertie just smiled, and
wondered what Julia was really saying.
    That night as