The Winter Love by April Munday

returned them to the chest and locked it. They must be the most valuable items in the entire house, thought Eleanor, possibly even more valuable than the wine in the store room.
    When she returned to the hall it was still empty. She sat on a bench and waited, turning her thoughts gradually to prayer.
    Eventually Henry joined her. He had shaved off his beard and trimmed his hair so that he looked like a respectable man. Now that she could see his face, she could see that he was also very handsome. She had not expected this. She stared for a moment and he caught her doing it. She blushed.
    “I did not know you were so handsome.”
    Henry snorted with laughter.  “I think you confuse me with someone else.”
    Eleanor’s blush grew deeper. Could it be that her ideas of masculine beauty were wrong?
    “Now I have insulted you.” Henry’s voice cut through her embarrassment and she laughed.
    “No, I accept that I cannot tell whether you are handsome or not, but it is very pleasing to look at you.”
    Now it was Henry’s turn to blush. “You are also very pleasing to the eye.”
    “Oh.” Eleanor looked at the floor. “I wish that you had not told me, for now I shall be vain.”
    “I tell you so that you will not be surprised when men look at you in the street. Did you not notice them on our way here?”
    “No, I was too busy looking around.”
    He came and stood in front of her and lifte d her face so that he could look into her eyes.
    “You are comfortable in your room?” he asked.
    “Yes, it’s very pleasant.” She smiled slightly at the clumsy way that he had changed their conversation.
    “We will eat well tonight; Edward keeps a good table, as well as good wine.”
    Eleanor was relieved that he would be eating well ; he looked even thinner than he had before they had joined the ship. He was wearing fresh clothes, finer and newer than the clothes he had been wearing on their journey. Now he looked more like a man who could afford a fine war horse.
    “We have some time before we eat, shall I take you out and show you some of the town?”
    “I should like that.” Eleanor was slightly scared at the thought of going out among so many people again, but was confident that Henry would protect her. She noticed that he wore his sword and wondered how dangerous the town was. Rich people lived here, so perhaps thieves wandered the streets as well.
    It was cold outside and starting to rain, but they walked quickly, despite her efforts to slow him down again. She almost fell once as she continued to look at something after they had passed it by and tripped. Henry caught her by the waist and she was reminded once more that, no matter how thin he was and how sick he had been, he was still very strong. He tucked her hand into his elbow and started walking again without a word. Eleanor looked up into his face and saw a determined man. This was not someone who had brought her out to look around aimlessly; this was a man who had a purpose.
    To her surprise Henry led her into a church, then she remembered that he had just returned from France, from a battle in which he had undoubtedly killed. Surely he would have been shriven by a priest before he left for England.
    “ I’ve come to fulfil a vow,” he told her, “but I thought you would welcome the sanctuary of this place.”
    “Yes, thank you.” His thoughtfulness touched her.
    Henry removed his sword and left it by the entrance, then t hey walked together to the altar and knelt. Eleanor paid no attention to what Henry was doing and took solace just from being here. Exciting though the last few days had been, she had missed the quiet and order of life in the convent, where the pattern of the days was always the same. She had longed to regain the stillness that she felt she had left behind there. Silently she poured out her heart, not forgetting to show her proper gratitude for Henry and Edward. Gradually, thankfully she embraced the stillness and lost herself in her