The Duke's Baby

...LANCELOT possesses all he wants, when the queen voluntarily seeks his company and love, and when he holds her in his arms, and she holds him in hers. Their sport is so agreeable and sweet, as they kiss and fondle each other, that in truth such a marvelous joy comes over them as was never heard or known.With an aching groan, Andrea Fallon closed the book she was reading, unable to see any more words in the fading light. It was just as well since she couldn't bear to go on reading the hauntingly beautiful story.Maybe never again.Though the French poet Chretien de Troyes might have written the story of Lancelot in 1171, his description of the famous knight's love for Guinevere was as stirring now as then.What woman wasn't envious of the queen who inspired such love in the first Knight of the Round Table?Wouldn't any woman wish to be loved with a love so all-consuming and powerful.Cross at herself over her preoccupation with the greatest Knight in Christendom, Andrea's thoughts returned to Richard, the husband she'd buried three months ago."Would you have loved me more if I'd been able to give you a child?" her heart cried.Since the funeral she'd gone over and over their troubled marriage in her mind, wondering if her unexpected barren condition had been so painful for him, some of his feelings for her had simply turned off.Only twenty-one to his thirty-one when they'd exchanged vows, who would have dreamed she would develop a childbearing problem so early in their married life?Her aunt's cousin hadn't been able to have children, but that didn't seem to have affected the love between her and her husband. They went on to adopt two children. But Richard refused to talk about adoption. He wanted a child from his own body, not someone else's.Knowing he felt that way, Andrea hadn't pressed him about it. But from then on their relationship underwent subtle changes. He grew more distant and threw himself into his work, either unaware of Andrea's pain, or unwilling to deal with it because his own was too great.Their lovemaking seemed to have become an afterthought for him. In the last year he'd behaved more like a friend than a lover with only an occasional coming together she'd been forced to initiate.She'd hoped they would get past their sorrow, that it was temporary. Surely in time he would ache for a child and be willing to consider adoption.Andrea was convinced that if they'd taken the steps to start adoption proceedings right away, the anticipation of becoming parents would have brought joy and helped the physical side of their marriage get back on track. But that time never came. Now it was too late.Oh, Richard...Hot tears formed rivulets down her cheeks. Her aunt had promised her this period of mourning would pass. "One day you'll meet that special someone who will want to marry you and adopt children."Andrea didn't believe it, not when she remembered the other things in their marriage that Foret de Broceliande became an enchanted world after the sun went down. In awe of the forest's almost seven-hundred-foot high canopy, she found the place secretive and quiet except for the forest creatures ambling among birch and chestnut trees.Any minute now she expected the characters from Camelot to steal from their hiding places in this magical setting and whisper their stories.As Andrea put the strap of her camera case over her shoulder, she thought she heard the rustle of underbrush caused by the breeze. Or possibly it was a forest creature, but her imagination had been playing overtime for the last few hours.A little spooked she looked around, causing her hair to swish around herWinters, Rebecca is the author of 'The Duke's Baby', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373183258 and ISBN 0373183259.