Be Mine, Valentine Read online

  Be Mine, Valentine

  by

  Turquoise Morning Press Authors

  Krista Ames

  Suzanne Barrett

  Elizabeth Chalkley

  Marissa Dobson

  Janet Eaves

  Margaret Ethridge

  Jennifer Johnson

  Amy Le Blanc

  Tracy March

  Nancy Naigle

  Cat Shaffer

  Bobbye Terry

  Be Mine, Valentine

  Copyright © 2011, Turquoise Morning Press

  Print ISBN: 978-1935817475

  Digital ISBN: 9781935817468

  Cover Art Design by Kim Jacobs

  Electronic release, January 2011

  Trade Paperback release, January 2011

  Love Takes The Cake ©2011, Krista Ames; The Letter © 2011, Suzanne Barrett; His Other Valentine © 2011 Elizabeth Chalkley; Secret Valentine © 2011, Marissa Dobson; A Mother’s Heart © 2011, Janet Eaves; Be Mine © 2011, Margaret Ethridge; Valentina: The Untold Legend © 2011, Jennifer Johnson; The Red Dress © 2011, Amy Le Blanc; Bittersweet © 2011, Tracy March; Forever In My Heart © 2011, Nancy Naigle; One Perfect Moment © 2011, Cat Shaffer; The Legend Of The True Love Angel © 2011, Bobbye Terry

  Published by Turquoise Morning Press for Smashwords

  Turquoise Morning, LLC

  www.turquoisemorningpress.com

  Turquoise Morning, LLC

  P.O. Box 43958

  Louisville, KY 40253-0958

  Smashwords Edition, License

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Turquoise Morning Press' Valentine's Day Anthology 2011

  A dozen short stories of love…just as good as roses.

  Maybe even better.

  This short story collection celebrates love—young love and old, mended love, secret love, and love enduring. Twelve talented writers share stories to touch your heart and soul.

  Valentina: The Untold Legend

  Jennifer Johnson

  With hands held, the young couple stood facing each other in front of the fireplace, flames burning in its hearth. Their love for each other shown as they gazed into each other’s eyes.

  Gaius held a brass band in his hand and slid it on Elizabeth’s finger. “With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”

  The priest who stood before them nodded his head in approval. “You have declared your consent before the Church. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you with his blessings. What God hath joined, men must not divide. So be it.” He glanced toward his wife who stood next to the bride. “Valentina? What comes next, my heart?”

  The woman smiled at her husband, “I believe the consent and marriage is sealed with a kiss.”

  “Ah yes. Gaius, you may kiss your bride.”

  Elizabeth blushed as she lowered her gaze. His face flushed as well, the young man stared at the priest who nodded encouragingly. Peeking surreptitiously at her new husband, she stepped closer to him, stood on her toes, and brushed her lips quickly across his, before moving away again.

  Valentina cast an amused gaze at Ternay, her husband and the priest who had brought God’s blessing on this couple who had risked their lives to become married. As was her duty, Valentina led the bride and groom out of the house to their tent in which they would spend their wedding night. Raising the woven fabric, she motioned them through before entering herself. Kneeling on the thick rug which stretched the length of the tent, Valentina picked up a flask and poured honeyed wine into cups sitting on the low table.

  “This is mead which you both are to drink before bedding tonight and after you awake. It encourages the growth of sons in your womb, Elizabeth.”

  Neither of them moved.

  Valentina withheld a chuckle as she straightened. She had counseled young Elizabeth while Ternay had explained coupling to Gaius. Valentina felt sure it would be quite soon after she left their presence that they would overcome their reservations.

  “Fare thee well then.” She exited their tent and secured the flap with a strip of leather.

  Returning to her home, she joined Ternay where he sat at their table, his hands folded on its wooden surface.

  “I shall leave to go to Phrygania,” he said as she settled herself on the bench.

  Valentina shook her head. “Tomorrow.”

  “No. Now. I will meet Diana’s betrothed and seek a place far off in her father’s fields for them to shelter after they wed. Her father has sent out men looking for her. He is anxious for her safety.”

  “He is anxious for his money pouch,” Valentina returned.

  Diana had run from her father’s house after learning he had signed a contract for her to marry a wealthy man in the town of Phrygania. The man was twice Diana’s age which was not a problem if Diana had consented to the union, but she had not. Diana was in love with Reuben, a shepherd who cared for the flocks of Diana’s father.

  Diana had shown up at Ridgeland seeking Valentina knowing that she and Ternay would hide her from her father and arrange for her marriage to Reuben.

  “Be that as it may, my heart, word has arrived that Diana’s father has connections with the capitol guards. I fear they may follow her scent here.” He grasped his wife’s hand. “Valentina, our service to the young lovers of our land has become known, and it is getting dangerous.”

  “I fear not for our safety.”

  “We will not be the only ones harmed. Anyone who is found with us will suffer as well. I will travel tonight, and before the sun rising, your father and mother will come for you and Diana. You will travel a different path to Phrygania.”

  Valentina sighed. “I do wish you would include me in plans you make to secure our safety. We should all go tonight then.”

  “I do not want you or the young maiden traveling with me after dark. I have spoken with Gaius who will keep an ear open and his sword close.”

  “Ternay, really. On his marriage night? For shame. His only concern should be showing his affections toward his wife.”

  Ternay rose and bent over to kiss the top of Valentina’s head. “You are such a romantic. This is why I love you.”

  “Mayhap you demonstrate your love by showing your affections to your wife before your journey,” Valentina replied as she followed him across the room where he retrieved his quiver and bow.

  “You must have spoken with Diana today about her nuptial duties. Such conversations always ignite your desire for your husband.”

  “I have not spoken with her yet. We are to converse after dinner. My yearning stems from knowing my eyes will not see you alone nor my body be warmed by yours alone for a week.”

  Ternay embraced his wife as he gazed into her lovely face. “I shall bring two tents, and your parents will bring theirs. Tomorrow night Reuben and Diana will bed as husband and wife in their tent. I shall bed with my wife in our own tent, and your mother and father will have their separate pallets in their own tent as is their custom.”

  Valentina snickered. “We shall be old one day and seek out separate pallets to better our sleep.”

  Ternay shook his head. “My only restful slumber is next to you.”

  ****

  Diana, a young woman with intense dark eyes and auburn hair, chewed on her
lip as she gazed at a charcoal drawing hanging on the wall in the modest room. Valentina noticed her studying the whimsical rendering of an infant with angel wings and clutching a bow with a drawn arrow in his chubby hands.

  “That’s our Cory,” Valentina commented affectionately as she pulled a kettle away from the fire and poured the melted chocolate into a wooden mold in the shape of tiny hearts which sat on the edge of the table.

  “He looks like an angel.”

  She continued to fill the heart-shaped spaces until the mold was full then poured the rest of it in a shallow bowl. “He is one now. He would have been four years old now if he had lived.”

  Diana picked up a berry and dipped it in the chocolate before eating it. “Tis awful to lose a babe. My Mum has lost two. Mmm, this sauce is delicious. Thank you for the sauce hearts you placed on my pillow my first morning here. What do you call it again?”

  “Chocolate. It creates the same feeling as being in love.”

  “I do not need chocolate to mimic love. Not when I know I will be with Reuben soon.” She immersed another berry and popped it in her mouth. “Perhaps I may take a few of your candies to him?”

  “Of course. I will wrap them in red paper for you to give him as a wedding gift. Red for the passion which flows in your blood for each other, and the shape of a heart for the love in your hearts.”

  “’Tis as if you are a matron of love.”

  “Nothing like that, my dear. My husband and I act out of our concern that lovers in our country have not the means to marry as they wish. He and I chose to love and marry each other and we believe such such freedom is due for every man and woman. Shortly after Cory died, Ternay found a woman who had been beaten severely by her father because she had refused to marry according to his wishes. He pushed her out of his house and she would have died if Ternay had not rescued her. We summoned the man whom she longed for, and they married here in this room. Ternay and I thought it a fitting way to honor our son who had been the product of our affection for each other.”

  “Why is it that your son is pictured shooting an arrow?”

  “Ternay drew that picture for me as a remembrance of how he and I met.” Valentina poured water in the kettle and returned it to the fire. She stood and watched the flames as the events of the day returned to her.

  ****

  At fifteen years old, Valentina spent much of her time carrying water to her home from the stream in the forest, and when that task was done, climbing trees in the same wood and watching the animals who lived there go about their life making.

  One day she lay prostrate on a branch in a cypress tree as a mother rabbit below her munched on clover. Valentina had suspected the plump animal was in the family way for a few weeks now, and a much smaller rabbit had Valentina seeking out the warren. To her delight seven tiny babies snuggled together in a hollowed log under Valentina’s cypress tree.

  Though the wood was silent, movement caught her eye. She turned her head beholding a young man who crept along the ground his eyes trained on the rabbit. Swiftly he raised his bow, the arrow poised.

  No! If he killed the rabbit, her babies would starve.

  Valentina slipped off the limb bracing herself for the jump. At the same instant the hunter let loose the bow string, and the arrow shot through the air. Pain pierced her breast as her body hit the hard earth. Valentina squeezed her eyes shut and struggled to regain the breath which had been knocked out of her.

  A firm hand pressed against her neck. Fabric of her dress ripped as the hunter tore the material away from the arrow lodged in her chest.

  Valentina opened pained eyes, and the grim expression of the man filled her vision.

  “She has…” Pain gripped her breast, and she grabbed the arrow, but his hand stopped hers.

  “No.” His voice was gentle, but firm. “You mustn’t pull it. You will bleed out and die before I can get you to help. Do you live close?” A lock of white blond hair hung over his face as he crouched over her, his green eyes bore into hers.

  “Yes.”

  “What is your name, angel?”

  “Valentina.”

  “You are brave, Valentina, to shield what was to be my supper with your body.”

  “She is nursing babes. You kill her, and they perish as well,” she gasped each word.

  “Be brave once more. I shall break the arrow so it does not protrude so far from your body, but doing so will pain you.” He held the shaft next to her skin. “Place your hands over mine. We shall hold it as still as possible.”

  Valentina watched his eyes, so kind, as he ministered to save her life. She gripped his hand, and with his other hand, he bent the wood.

  His compassion touched her heart. “Are you betrothed or belong to a woman in marriage?” she asked.

  The arrow snapped as his startled gaze met hers.

  “If you ask because your breast is bare and my hand is upon you,” he tossed the broken shaft aside, and shed his shirt ripping it into strips, “I assure you my only intention is to render aid.” His hands covered with her blood, he retrieved a small flask from a leather pouch secured to his breeches and pulled out the stopper.

  “What is that?”

  “Communion wine.”

  Valentina gasped. “You think I am dying.” She lowered her gaze to her bosom and saw the broken arrow, blood leaking around it which had soaked the front of her dress and shift beneath.

  “Not for your last Eucharist. To clean the wound. The Lord be praised, the arrow is not deep. Your angelic flight distracted me when I shot and lessened the force of the arrow.”

  “You are a priest?”

  “Still want to know if I have a wife?”

  “I am a believer. I would be a good wife for a priest.”

  He laughed. “I shoot you in the chest, and you propose marriage? Let us preserve your life before we begin our courtship.” He poured the wine around the wood protruding from her chest. “Although, I must admit, we are beginning rather poorly. Sit up, there’s a girl.” He supported her back and lifted her into an upright position careful to keep his torn shirt at the wound to stay the blood. He ran his hand over her shoulder and back wrapping the bands of cloth around her.

  “What is your name?”

  “Ternay.” Finishing his task, he lifted her in his arms. “We must hurry. I hope your father is a forgiving man.”

  ****

  “So Ternay drew wings on Cory because of you falling out of the sky as an angel, and he drew the bow and arrow because he shot you the day you met him.”

  Diana’s comment brought Valentina back to the present. She turned from the fireplace and faced the young woman sitting at her table.

  “Yes. We can laugh about it now, though that day, he was sore afraid I would not live. The guilt of his action weighed heavily upon him.”

  “Was your father very angry?”

  “With me, yes, for intercepting the arrow meant for a rabbit. He disavowed Ternay of any blame, but Ternay refused to leave my side. He said I had proposed marriage, and if it suited my father, he would accept.”

  “Surely, you jest,” Diana gasped.

  “’Tis true. An arrow of another kind seemed to pierce my heart that day, and his, too. If I was not sure as he tended to my wound, the mile trek he carried me to my father’s house cinched my love for him. He told me he had never seen a woman so calm and brave in the face of death, and his love for me budded and blossomed before the sun set that evening. We married less than a month after.”

  “You understand, then, why it is I must marry Reuben.”

  Valentina gathered two baskets and gestured Diana to follow her out of doors. “Diana,” she said as they entered the brisk evening air and she led Diana on a path into the woods lit by the setting sun. “Have you spent much time alone with Reuben?”

  “A few times when I brought food or news to him from Father though before I ran away Father had forbidden me from wandering the field.”

  “When you were with Reube
n alone, were you chaste?” When Diana did not answer, Valentina turned and faced her.

  Standing on the packed dirt clearing, the blush on her cheeks spoke volumes.

  Oh.

  “Is the urgency to marry, then, because you are with child?”

  Diana’s dark eyes widened. “I don’t know. Reuben. He kissed me, three times now. I fear I am carrying a babe because my craw tumbles and turns as the sickness Mum has when she is with child.”

  Valentina studied the woman. “When you say he kissed you three times, you mean he touched his lips to yours? Is this all he did with you?”

  Ashamed, Diana hung her head and nodded. Valentina took the girl’s hand and led her further into the forest to a place with a fallen log where they sat.

  “Kissing does not cause you to be with child. It is the coupling. Have you not seen the ram mount a ewe in the fields?”

  Diana’s mouth fell open. “You mean Reuben must mount me in such a manner?” She shook her head in horror.

  “No. Well, when coupling is between a husband and wife, there is tenderness and love. And perchance Reuben has only the ram as a model; Ternay has gone ahead of us to advise him.”

  Thunder and a shout echoed through the trees. Both women turned toward the sounds coming from the house.

  Had Diana’s father come looking for her?

  Grabbing her arm, Valentina pulled her deeper into the wood to a blind Ternay had fashioned for hunting deer. She shoved the girl inside. “You stay here until I make sure it’s safe.” Valentina ran for the path and quickened her step more so when a woman’s scream reached her ears.

  Elizabeth!

  When Valentina arrived at the stead, three soldiers sat astride horses as Gaius, his sword held in front of him stood outside of his tent. Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen.

  “Step aside now, boy, or we shall trample the tent with the harlot inside.”