The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 471: Accepting (1)

"I saw the ring on her finger. I would say that you are moving fast, but others would say that you were late in getting married. I hope that you know what you are getting yourself into," Thelma said, happy for the pair, but still worried that they had not fully considered what awaited them.

She hoped they knew the good and bad sides of marriage. That they were doing it all for love and no other reason. Love didn’t seem to be needed in many marriages these days.

"Annalise is a good woman. You only need to get to know her," Rafael replied as her words wouldn’t change his mind. Rafael knew what he was getting himself into and he was going to wed Annalise as soon as he could.

He would not have proposed if he hadn’t thought this through to the end. He welcomed twists that he hadn’t anticipated.

"I meant about marriage. I would not try to convince you to change the woman you fell in love with. Marriage is not as easy as many make it to be. There are many good moments, but you have to prepare yourself for a few bad moments. Remember what you feel now and fight to keep it," Thelma further explained so he wouldn’t misunderstand her. "I don’t dislike her."

Rafael already knew that and he had said it to Annalise a few times. Thelma was just a little harder on strangers unless they were children. "It is that you do not know her. She cares a lot for Lydia and she will keep her safe. Annalise will be a great mother in the future."

"You wouldn’t lie to me so I am halfway convinced to let Lydia go with you. You two were quick to get her to open up to you. Something the caretakers and I failed to do. There was a point in time when we thought she was mute. We concluded that she was near one when she was left here," Thelma said, watching Annalise play with Lydia from afar.

"The child took so long to let us know that she could speak as she grew up. I hate to think of what might have made such a young child reluctant to make any sound. She will need special care to continue to open up to those around her. I want all the children to find homes, but I worry about them."

Thelma had been fooled once and it was that one time to make her more concerned about the homes she was sending the children to.

"Truthfully, there’s not much of a test for you to do. I just needed more time to watch Annalise to figure out the woman she is," Thelma confessed.

The most Rafael and Annalise had to do was answer a few questions. Thelma was meant to get a paper from the court here in town, letting her know their past to check that they had done nothing to children in the past or others around them.

Most who came looking for children to adopt succeeded if their answers were good and the court found nothing suspicious. Rafael was cleared already, but it was taking the court long to find something about Annalise. It was like the woman didn’t exist with the way the court kept responding to Thelma.

"If you want to speed this up, you should go to the court and tell them which town Annalise is from because they can’t seem to find anything about her. That worries me and it is why I am watching her," Thlema said, deeply concerned by this process.

The court should have found out something about Annalise by now unless they had turned lazy and were not doing their job.

Rafael already knew this problem was coming. It would take some time for the court here to receive news about Annalise coming from the border. Her name along with many others had to be added to their records which would be sent all over the kingdom. The maid court by the palace should have started sending this knowledge around along with drawings of Annalise.

"The court won’t find anything about Annalise. She is not from this kingdom," Rafael revealed.

Thelma laughed as it was impossible for that to be true. "Even then they would have a record of her for when she tried to cross our borders. I hope we are not all seeing a ghost."

"Annalise comes from the border. I won’t say the name of what you know her people as-"

"Rafael!’ Thelma gasped, touching her chest. "You cannot. Tell me you did not. This is all a lie. A ridiculous lie your mother would smack you for telling. You did not bring one of them here."

Thelma looked again at Annalise. She looked so normal that she would have never assumed. Bringing one of the people here would get her orphanage in trouble. She could not have the children seeing guards coming to take Annalise away.

"Did she send you to tell me about this? Hoping you would make this easier on me?" Thelma asked as this wouldn’t work on her. Annalise should be brave to say it from her own mouth.

"No. She’d be angry with me if she knew that I told you when she wasn’t around. She already fears that you knowing where she comes from will have you judging her and ripping Lydia from her side. I am telling you this now so you do not do or say something to hurt Annalise. She is nothing like what you might have heard about her people," Rafael said, placing his hand on Thelma’s shoulder to help calm her.

He would like to avoid anyone doing something rash after learning about Annalise. Lydia didn’t need to be thrown into the confusion.

"I would not have brought her here if I considered her to be dangerous. I would not be marrying her if she was a danger to anyone. I am giving you my word that regardless of where Annalise is from, she will make a good mother as will I a good father. You liked Nicolas and he had some involvement with her people," Rafael said, using the story he was told to his advantage now.

"Nicolas wasn’t from there. He told me where he came from. I know why he ran off to be a knight and doesn’t speak much of his family. Whatever someone put in your head isn’t true-"

"It is Iris who came from the border," Rafael interjected before she could ramble off about Nicolas. " You should remember more than anyone how much he loved her. Nicolas knew where she came from. He knew where she ran off to and didn’t tell any of us. Iris went home to the border."

"Preposterous. He never mentioned a word to me about the border and he always came to me with his troubles. With his secrets he didn’t want to worry River about it. Why would he never tell me where Iris came from?" Thelma questioned, finding this all to be unbelievable.

Nicolas was her long-time friend who could tell her anything and not have it shared with anyone. He would not have kept her in the dark about something so important.

"He probably did not tell you for the same reason he did not tell us. The fewer people to know the better it was for our safety. When Annalise came to the orphanage for the first time, she noticed a mark on the gate. A symbol that her people would use to say this place is safe for them to be. He had to have learned it from Iris," said Rafael.

Thelma wished that she could think otherwise, but she couldn’t because she was the one to catch Annalise staring at the gate. At what Nicolas had left behind which all the caretakers were yet to figure out his reasoning.

Back then, Annalise seemed to have the answer, but she wasn’t willing to share.

"Nicolas you fool," Thelma muttered as he had such a big secret to bear alone. "Now it makes sense why he didn’t look sad when she vanished in the middle of the night. Why would he bear that alone and not tell any of us? How did you learn of this? Did you meet Iris again?"

"I’m afraid that Iris had long passed away after she returned home. It is best to think that they started a life elsewhere. I hope you can give Annalise a chance and not fear her. Do not be hard on her when she tells you," Rafael requested as he could not stomach worrying more about her home getting in the way of them adopting Lydia.

"I will try my best to not let this affect my judgement. I will try to forget all the stories I have heard, but knowing that she is from the same place as Iris will not make me understand or accept her as Lydia’s parent yet. Since the court will find nothing, allow me to watch her a little more," Thelma requested.

"That is fine with me," Rafael answered.

All he wanted was for Thelma to give Annalise a chance while knowing where she truly came from.