Sorry for the delay, but the wedding did get in the way.

It wasn't quite as if the entire manor wanted to celebrate. Silas, the Duke, His Madness, or whatever anyone had ever called him had of course not been popular. Even so, a death tended to cast a grim aura, no matter whose it was. Yet it wasn't as if the entire manor wanted to mourn, either. The news of the accidental death spread like wildfire and within half an hour everyone knew. Not only was the Duke dead, but his killer had been none other than the Prince himself. And even if little true loyalty was had for the Duke, apparently none existed for Prince Matthias, especially when his actions had been so tragically visible.

After all he had done and plotted, Prince Matthias had not intended to kill Silas. His face had been too startled, his body too shocked to fight much as Silas' guards took hold of him. He had shot one last glance, terrified and pleading, at Mimi as he was dragged from the room. She wondered if she should have pitied him, and for a moment she did; but that was a feeling that did not last long.

The Duke's body was moved last. It almost seemed as if no one wanted to touch it, but he had been the Duke if only illegally and temporarily and they couldn't very well leave a dead body lying around.

Mimi felt all but invisible during this. The attention was on Blake, who wide-eyed and timidly accepted all of it as the priest and Lucy chattered on about the truth of who he was. It may have been all the excitement over a murder and the arrest of a prince, but imaginations loved the idea of a long-lost duke and it did not take long before other servants of the house recognized him and the truth of the story just about everyone knew soon revealed itself.

Murder, betrayal, an ending worthy of any story Mimi had ever heard. The mix of emotions was strong, but as the news spread and rumors flew Mimi knew that in general all was good. Of course it was good, and could be nothing else. Blake was where he should be, Lucy never far from him. Prince Matthias was chained up, his father in the capital notified, and the city abuzz with theories of just what his punishment would be. The ideas were many and varied, and surely whatever happened would not be as good as even the dullest imagination desired.

And all Mimi could do was sleep.

It was a silly action that surprised even her, but as soon as the chaos showed the faintest sign of relaxing fatigue struck her like a fist. She was given a bed, a nice one in which she was expected to be, and she slept deep. No dreams. She had not realized just how tired she had been.

Late morning light was what awoke her. She lay still for a few minutes. Like a list of chores to do or plants to gather lay before her what she needed to do. Except her list had nothing but going home. There was nothing else left to do. For so many years she had desired nothing more than that.

She felt different. No longer a goose, no longer a servant girl. She was not even sure she was just a sorcerer's daughter. Her hair properly brushed until it was the same yellow so many had admired and wearing a dress Lucy had found for her, she instinctively made her way to the kitchen.

"Ah," said Michael with a laugh in his voice, not even turning from the vegetables he chopped. "Our goose girl. Back here again."

She laughed nervously. "I feel like I should be hiding in the corner still. So you believe that's who I was?"

"No reason not to. Jacob explained everything."

Jacob. She closed her eyes for the briefest moment. She had to talk to Jacob.

"He's not here, by the way."

She stared at Michael. "In the manor?"

"He's leaving. Shortly, I believe."

"Leaving for where?" But she didn't wait for an answer and instead ran from the kitchen.

She almost trampled Blake in her dash. He steadied her, his hands on her shoulders. He looked good. The clothes he wore did not fit, but they were fine and respectable and certainly suited his status more than being a squirrel had. "Whoa! And where do you think you're going?"

She blushed as manners overtook her. It would be prudent of her to speak to Blake as well. "You look well, Blake. This place suits you."

He tilted his head and smiled, and for a second he might as well have been a squirrel again. "It's… it's strange to be home. But good. I like it." He moved his hands from her shoulders to her hands and squeezed them. "Thank-you."

She squeezed back. "You're the one I must thank. You really were my knight."

He laughed. "I'm not sure what I did exactly, but thank-you just the same. I think my actions were based upon everyone else and pure dumb luck."

"You need a story of heroics at this time. People like stories. You don't even have to have the squirrel in it. Pick another animal, if you like."

"I can't think of anything more ferocious than a squirrel!" He laughed again. "But if I can help you with anything else, ask. I liked attempting to be your knight."

The reason for her rush. But how to make it a formal request? Well, who cared? "Do you know where Jacob is going?"

"I don't know. Just that he was leaving. I invited him to stay. I told him he didn't even have to be a cook if he didn't want to. I thought he liked it here."

"Where is he?"

Blake nodded vaguely through the walls. "The stable, I believe. Getting a horse. If nothing else, he should be allowed a horse."

The horse Mimi found Jacob with was certainly a fine one, and she wondered just what horses His Madness had kept. He was speaking to the stableman, who even then eyed him with amazement and confusion, when Mimi entered the yard.

Jacob cut his conversation short as he turned to look at her. "Mimi. You're finally up."

How dare he blame her for sleeping in. Would he have left without speaking to her? She took a deep breath as she vainly tried to gather her thoughts. "You're leaving?"

He nodded and twisted the horse's reins around his wrist. "Yes, I am. Very soon. No better time for it."

"Better time? Better than when you were to be executed?"

"Well, besides, that." He flashed a smile at her.

She did not smile back. "Blake…. He said he invited you to stay. Why aren't you staying?"

He shrugged. "The inn idea. Find my parents. This really is the perfect time for that."

"Oh. Of course." She crossed the yard and stroked the horse's mane. "What about me?"

His hesitation was much too long. "What about you?"

She hit him. Without thinking about it, she lifted her hand and struck him hard across the face. "You're going to leave me here? You're just going to leave and forget about me?"

The expression on his face was pure shock, and he brought his hand to his stinging cheek. "What was that for?"

"Don't make me hit you again." But she wanted to. It was all she could do to not hit him again, but clearly that action only made him ask silly questions. "Do you even love me?"

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the very uncomfortable-looking stableman slip back into the stable. Good. No witnesses.

"Why would you ask me that?" Jacob's voice was meek and bewildered.

The desire to scream replaced the desire to hit. "Do you? You said all these things about everything you felt for me, and yet nothing. You were too much of a coward to talk to my father. You left me at my father's house. You…" She gasped for air and realized she was crying.

"I do love you, Mimi."

The sentence was a knife, sharp enough to make her listen. She wiped the tears from her eyes and stared at him. "What?"

His eyes were locked on her. "I do love you. I swear. More than anything. And I would marry you. And I did speak to your father. Right after you asked me to."

"You did?" She grabbed his hand. "What did he say?"

He hesitated again, then moved his mouth to speak. Nothing came out.

"I don't care. I don't care what my father says. I'll come with you. I already ran away from my father, I might as well keep going."

"No. I can't take you away from all that. You just got your home back. A magic castle. That's yours. You can go back, study magic, everything you deserve. You don't want to be running an inn."

She had no response. She could only see his face, watching her, blathering on about all this stuff that was true. Was it true? Her hands collapsed, dropping his, and she turned from the yard.

"Mimi, wait!"

Still no response. She broke into a run, feet pounding across the grass she had crossed with Prince Matthias, as a goose, until she reached the manor. She ran to the room she had slept in and fell into the bed. There, her voice muffled by the bedclothes, she finally let herself scream.

Was Jacob right? Was she just supposed to go back home? Her father, the enchanted castle, the life Lavender had stolen from her. And what? Read books, study plants, maybe even magic.

The screaming felt good. It was out of her lungs, and she felt calmer. Sadder.

Her father had said no. Jacob had asked to marry her, and her father had said no. Was she supposed to be angry with her father? She couldn't decide. If she were angry at him, what good would going home be?

But she eventually had to tell her father where she was. He deserved that much. He had risked so much for her.

She could stay here, with Blake. And do what? Be a cook? A servant? Do nothing?

She rose from the bed, anger returning. Not at her father. Once more at Jacob. It seemed she was always mad at Jacob. He was wrong. Before Lavender had made her a servant, she had been nothing but a sorcerer's daughter. A little girl waiting to grow up and find someone to take care of her. A prince to rescue her. Well, princes were useless. She didn't need a prince, she didn't need a castle.

She needed Jacob.

And as if to enunciate that thought, the window of the room shattered.

She stared at the broken glass and the rather large rock lying among it, then carefully and quickly stepped around it on the way to the window.

There was Jacob on the ground beneath, looking up at her and panting. "Lucy said you were in this room."

She didn't know whether to laugh or still be mad at him. "Why didn't you just come knock?"

"You wouldn't have let me in."

Possibly. "Jacob, I have something to tell you."

"Same here. And I need to go first because I never told you what your father said."

"No," she said. "He told you know."

Jacob shook his head.

Mimi clenched the windowsill.

"He said it was entirely up to you."

"But…"

"He gave his blessing. As long as you said yes."

"But…" Was there anything else to say?

"I already told you the reasons I didn't ask you. But I had to explain everything."

The laugh came out. "So you broke a window?"

He nodded. He looked more terrified than she had ever seen him. Even when he had been threatened with death. "What did you have to tell me?"

She laughed again. "I disagree with your reasons."

Several more rocks fell from his hand. "You do?"

"I will be perfectly happy being your wife and running an inn with you. In fact, it's what I want. Just a minute." She didn't wait for a response. She had to get downstairs.

Funny how running could feel like flying.

She didn't make it outside, or even downstairs. Jacob met her on the staircase. She jumped into his arms. The kiss was worth of any story she had ever heard, perhaps more.

"All right, then," he said when they finally broke part. "Let's do this. Miss Goose, will you marry me?"

"That's my second proposal in a week."

"I think mine's better. Your answer?"

She just kissed him again.

The End