For Thee M'Lady

"M'Lady. You cannot have a Rainbow without Rain. You cannot have a Rose Garden without Thorns. You cannot have a Symphony without a Composer." Though the disembodied voice was still strong, Sabrina could sense him getting closer. "You cannot seek a Dream without first having a Wish. You cannot have Sunshine without Shadows. You cannot have Magic without the Mundane." Tears were welling in her eyes as the beautiful words of love were spoken. "You cannot have Night without Day. You cannot have the Sun without the Moon. You cannot have Life without Love." As the young lord finally arrived on the stage before the king, Sabrina's tears were flowing freely and she said the last line of the poem with him: "Therefore I will not live without you." It was the poem he had written for her on their six-month anniversary.

Jason took Sabrina's hand and knelt at her feet. Somehow she had stood to meet him though how her legs were holding her up she did not know. Jason looked into her eyes as he grasped her hands in his. "M'Lady for thee I would gladly give up riches to be by your side. For thee I would slay dragons and demons. For thee I would give up my life... if you would consent to be my wife."

Sabrina smiled brilliantly into her lover's eyes. Jason was dressed the part: her medieval lord in tights and jerkin with a sword at his side. She nodded emphatically.

Lord Chancellor's voice was soft in her ear but still projected over the hushed crowd. "Lady Sabrina, our guests cannot hear your answer."

She never took her eyes away from Jason's as she excitedly cried out. "YES!" and the arena erupted in cheers of joy as Jason slipped a ring on her hand and then stood up to kiss her with all the passion in his soul and embrace her.

"M'Lady... my love," he whispered.

* * * * *

It was only hours later that Sabrina learned that she had been the only one surprised. Jason had been planning this elaborate proposal for months and had conferred quite often with the cast of the dinner theatre to make certain that everyone would play a part. The young Squire Kenny was already on staff as a page, one day to become her Poetic Yellow Knight. Daniel, her boss and his wife Teresa had shown up to voice their support of Jason's quest to win his lady's hand. Coincidence was that it also was near Danny's birthday. Her parents and daughters had known for many months and she was flabbergasted to know that her eldest Alexandria had kept the secret that long.

"Truth be told, Mom," Belinda explained. "Alex only knew about two weeks ago." To that, Alex punched her little sister playfully in the arm.

She found to her extreme delight that Chris, Jason's brother had been able to get off work after all and was there to attend the grand proposal. Her neighbor and would-be conspirator, Elizabeth, also knew and did more elaborate decorating than Bree had planned, at Jason's request.

"You knew all along that I was going to propose tonight," she admonished him later in their bed after passionate lovemaking.

He nodded in the candlelight and she saw his blue eyes twinkling. "But I had to beat you to the punch, M'Lady. As non-traditional as we like to think we are, I wouldn't have stood for it if I could not have proposed to you the way I did. To see the smile and surprise on your face... for thee M'Lady I would do it all over again."

She turned her face up to him and kissed him passionately. They made love once more and lived happily ever after.