Into the Unknown

Maria looked up at Arthur and quirked her head to the side as she gave him a questioning glance. He chuckled and tilted his head to match hers.

"Are we going someplace?" she asked as she took his hand and let him help her to stand.

"We are," he cryptically said as he pulled her towards the bedroom door.

Maria waited for a moment, and when he did not explain, she asked, "Where?"

"You'll see," he said with a smirk.

They exited the room, and Maria felt her sadness about Arthur leaving replaced with abundant curiosity about where he was taking her this late at night. He looked down at her to catch her staring at him with a slight frown, which only made him chuckle more.

"Don't worry, my love, it's a surprise, nothing to fret over."

"Another surprise?" Maria asked in disbelief. "Are we going back on the boat?" She felt her heart leap in her chest. Arthur was always surprising her.

Arthur's smile pulled even more at the corners as he jokingly said, "I think it's a little too late to have another accident that lands us in the water; it would be even colder now that the sun is down."

Maria gave him a slight shove on his arm with her free hand as she said, "I won't tip it again!"

Arthur laughed and said, "We can go on the boat again another day."

He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it as he usually did. Even though this was a typical occurrence now, it continued to give Maria happy butterflies in her stomach every time he did it.

The small action completely melted her and she sighed. "Fine, another day, then."

They walked down the carpeted hall, and before they could pass the kitchen, Arthur stopped walking, turned to Maria and said, "Wait here, I have to ask the chef something."

Maria's brows pulled together in curiosity, but she simply nodded and waited as Arthur entered the kitchen. She tried to be sneaky as she leaned her ear towards the doors to see if she could hear the conversation, but it was no use. The sounds of clanging pots and pans as they cleaned up for the night covered up any conversations that were being held.

Barely a minute passed before Arthur returned, grabbed Maria's hand, and continued walking as if there hadn't just been a slight interruption in their stroll through the halls.

"What did you need to ask the chef?" Maria asked him.

"You have so many questions," Arthur teased as he shook his head. He looked down at Maria and gave her a mysterious smile.

Maria sighed yet again, knowing that although she was stubborn, Arthur was even more stubborn, so she was not going to get an answer. At that point, she had been completely distracted away from their earlier conversation since she was so focused on figuring out what Arthur had planned.

Eventually, they had reached a large door that Maria knew they had not come across on the tour they took earlier. This door led to someplace new.

Arthur pushed the door open and let go of Maria's hand so that he could use both hands to light a candle that was on the other side of the door.

Once the candle was lit and light filled the space, Maria could see that the space behind the door contained a staircase that went down. She looked over at Arthur with yet another questioning glance, hoping that maybe now she could have some sort of explanation.

Arthur used the single lit candle to light a candelabra so that they had even more light; it made Maria think that wherever the staircase led to would be dark enough to cause need for the candelabra.

He held tightly to it with one hand before he offered his free hand for Maria to take again. She did, but not before she threw him another look of curiosity. He chuckled before he led her down the stairs and into the unknown.

The closer to the bottom they got, the more the sounds of their steps echoed throughout the space. Maria looked around and noticed how it was starting to look like they had entered a cave, and even the air seemed to chill. She shivered in response and moved until her entire side was plastered against Arthur.

They finally made it to the end of the stairs, and Arthur reached up to light a small hanging chandelier that was by the entrance to the cave-like space.

Once the room had more light and Maria's eyes had adjusted, she saw that they seemed to be in a cellar meant for storing bottles. "Is this a wine cellar?" she asked as she looked at Arthur.

"It is. I thought it would be nice to end our day sharing a bottle of whatever wine you would like. What do you think?"

"I think you're great at planning surprises," she said as she got up on her tippy-toes to give him a kiss. "Thank you," she said when she pulled away.

Maria's whole body felt warm with love, and any thought of Arthur leaving was on the back burner, at least for now. She was going to make sure the two of them enjoyed the night, just as she was sure Arthur had planned. She knew how guilty he must have felt about having to leave her, and of course Maria did not blame him for it.

"So? Which bottle should we open?" he asked her. "The white wines are over here," he said as he pointed to the back wall, "The reds here," he continued as he turned to the left, "And the roses here," he ended as he turned to the front wall.

Maria walked over to the back wall and studied all of the different bottles until she saw one that looked a little different from the rest. It was in a pink bottle instead of green, and it didn't have a label.

"How about this one?" she said as she reached for it.

"Hmm, you have great taste. That particular wine is one that Julien makes himself. It's rather good, I must say."

"Julien makes wine?" she asked as she whipped her head to face Arthur.

He nodded and continued, "He loves all things food and drink, as I'm sure you've noticed. This is something he learned recently how to do with the help of our castle's winemaker."

Arthur took the bottle from her and went over to a cupboard in the corner that had glasses stored in it. Maria watched as he opened the bottle and began to pour it into two glasses for them.

As he did that, Maria heard a slight echo coming from the staircase. She immediately ran over to Arthur and grabbed onto his arm as she hurried to say, "Someone is coming!"

Arthur laughed as Maria clung to him, and he pat her head as he said, "Right on time."

Confused, Maria looked to the stairs and saw some of the kitchen staff descending down with candles in one hand and dessert in the other. Now their stop earlier at the kitchen made sense.

"Did you order them to make us sweets?" she asked as she turned her head back to Arthur. She started to lighten her grip on his arm, but she continued to hold onto him.

"Macarons and cake. French delicacies," he explained before he planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"Merci beaucoup," Arthur thanked the staff who bowed before they placed the desserts on the table and walked back up the stairs with their candles, leaving the couple alone again.

"Yummm," Maria couldn't help but exclaim as she skipped over to the table that held their desserts.

Arthur chuckled as he followed her holding their two wine glasses. "Here you are," he said as he handed her a glass.

Maria took a sip and sighed as she sunk into a chair that was next to the table. "This is delicious."

"Told you," he replied with a wink.

"Thank you for yet another surprise today, this is lovely." Maria's heart felt so full. She really loved this man.

"Anything for you, darling," Arthur said with a smile. He took a sip of wine as he joined Maria in sitting at the table.

The pair indulged in their wine and desserts as they shared stories about their childhoods. Neither knew how much time had passed, and they didn't care. They were just happy to be in each other's company.