Forever and Always
Amelia giggles as she lets out a small sigh. “Thank you for the story love.” She smiles a bit as she falls asleep holding his hand. She heard him say something about an Amelia but it didn’t really registered as she fell asleep after a long day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He smiled and squeezed her hand, kissed her forehead gently, and whispered as she fell asleep, “I will always be yours, my love. Until the stars fall from the sky.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amelia was dreaming. She was walking along a cliff. She smiled as the wind blew the sea breeze towards her. She sighs picking up a few flowers and smelling them. She walks a bit closer to the edge and gasps looking over. There was no ocean. Just black nothing. That’s when she trips. She screams as she falls towards the nothingness.
Amelia screams sitting up in her hospital bed. Tears stream down her face as she looks around. “No….no I thought I was all better. Why am I back?” She lays back down with a whimper of pain.
Fred woke at the scream and reached for Amelia with both hands. “Amelia? Sweetheart? What’s wrong? What happened?”
Amelia looks at Fred, “I-I was all better. I was walking along a cliff. It was so pretty.” She sniffles, “And then I was falling. And screaming and I didn’t like it.” She looks at Fred, “I’m sorry I woke you. What time is it?” She looks around confused but whimpers, “N-no I should not move my head so fast.”
He held her and gently stroked her hair, then took a handkerchief from his pocket and gently wiped her cheeks. “I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t like it, either. Falling is one of the scariest feelings there is. For me, there’s only one thing scarier.”
He smiled and shook his head. “Sweetheart, you know I don’t mind. You are the most important thing to me, no matter what. Don’t worry about the time. I’m sure the nurse will be along soon to wake you for your morning meds.”
Amelia lays against him, “Thank you.” She sniffles a bit and giggles at the handkerchief tickling her cheek, “That tickles.” A small blush comes to her cheeks, “Thank you. I don’t know where I would be without you. But I just want to go home at this point.” She looks at him in the dim light, “What’s scarier?”
He chuckled and bent to kiss her gently. “As soon as they let you go, I’ll have you out of here, honey. I promise.” He squeezed her hands and whispered, “The stars falling.”
Amelia looks at him funny, “Like in your story? That’s an odd fear…” She kisses his cheek, “Well…since we’re both up. Will you tell me another one?” She smiles at him still tired. “Thank you for holding me.”
Fred held her close, nuzzled her hair, and whispered gently, “I will love you until the stars fall from the sky, Amelia. I promise.”
“Hmm… another story. Let’s see…”
He thought for a bit, then nodded. “Have you ever heard of the Siege of Vienna? It happened in 1529, when the Turks attempted to conquer Vienna on their way to taking all of Hungary. An old Landsknechter named Nicholas had gone to take charge of the defenses in the fall of 1528, and he was brilliant. He spent the year before the siege reinforcing the city. He blocked the gates, reinforced the walls, even built ramparts on the inside of the walls to ensure they were thick enough to stand up to the Ottoman artillery he anticipated. Luckily for the city, though, the Turks had made the mistake of marching through Austria during the rainiest part of the year, so they were sick and exhausted, and had been forced to abandon their camels and artillery in the mud. All they had left that were in any shape to fight when they got there were janissaries and light cavalry, which left them woefully unprepared for a protracted siege.
Nicholas set up his headquarters near St. Stephen’s Cathedral, which had the best fortifications and was one of two centers of the city’s life at the time. The other center was a former monastery that had just been returned to its original owner, an old man named Aurelius Ambrosius, who changed the name of the monastery to the Zimmerman Inn. The monastery was famous for being the place where Herzwesten beer was brewed. What most people didn’t know was that it, or more specifically, the brewery, was built on the grave of Sigmund. One of the Zimmerman’s barmaids was a beautiful lass named Amelia, who Nicholas fell in love with within weeks of arriving in Vienna. He swore to her that he would defend Vienna for her sake, and that’s exactly what he did.
“For two months, the Turks tried to break through the walls. They sent sappers to mine under the walls. Nicholas sent soldiers to beat back the sappers. They launched fast attacks on the walls, and the people of Vienna, led by the landsknechter Nicholas had brought with him, beat them back. In October, it began raining again, and the Turks were forced to make one last attack on the walls, and were defeated so decisively they were forced to return to Turkey, through a winter that was wet and miserable enough they lost their baggage and weapons in the snow, and even lost the prisoners they had managed to take.
“All through the siege, Nicholas and Amelia grew closer, their love blazed so brightly that even the Fisher King blessed them. In December of 1529, Nicholas and Amelia were married in the cathedral, with guests ranging from a ragtag band of Vikings who had joined in the defense of the city, to the Hofmeister of Austria, Wilhelm von Roggendorf himself. Back then, the Hofmeister was the personal representative of the Holy Roman Emperor, so his presence at the wedding was seen by everyone as granting the Emperor’s blessing to their marriage.
"Unfortunately, Nicholas was injured when a wall collapsed on him during the final Turk assault on the city, and died the next spring. Amelia gave birth to their twin sons the following August. But his last words to her were his promise that he would love her until the stars fell from the sky, and he would come back for her, no matter how many lifetimes it took. Because of their marriage, Amelia was now nobility, and never had to work another day as a barmaid. She became the Countess von Salm. Their son Nicholas became the new Count von Salm when he came of age, while his brother Wolfgang became the Bishop of Passau. Even as a widow, Amelia believed in his promise to her, and knew that, whether in that life or another, she and her Count would be reunited, and would be together until the stars fall from the sky.”
Amelia laid back against her pillows fighting off sleep. She smiled as Fred started on another of his amazing tales. She nodded at knowing of the time period he spoke of. She bit her lip as he went on to describe what Nicholas was doing. She blushed as he named the barmaid after her. She smiled hearing they were married. She looked a bit far away when he said the star line. She was convinced she had heard it somewhere. Maybe in a dream. At the news of Nicholas dying she found herself quite emotional over a character. But hearing of the twins put a thoughtful expression on her face as Fred finished the story.
She smiled at him holding his hand, "I love your stories dearest. They always make me so happy.” She yawns quietly. “I wish we could just head home. This bed isn’t nearly as comfy.” She yawns again sliding further down into her blanket.
He smiled as she yawned, and gently squeezed her hand. "I’m pretty sure they make these beds uncomfortable, so you’ll want to get out of them as soon as possible.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers, one at a time. “The sooner the - Oops. Here comes the nurse, just like I thought.”
“Awake already? Good. I have something for you, miss. And this is who will be taking you home? I’ll just give him your prescriptions, then.” The nurse poured some more water into her cup, then held out a dose cup for Amelia. “Here you go, miss. Something to help with the discomfort, and something to keep down inflammation. We don’t want you coming back in a couple days because you had swelling take you by surprise, after all.”
The dose cup had two small pills in it, and the nurse stood waiting for Amelia to take them, with the look of someone who has had to deal with patients not wanting to take their meds.
Amelia looked at the cup of water suddenly her mouth feeling very dry. She grabbed the cup and wanted to drink it as fast as humanly possible. She takes the pill cup and looks up at the nurse. She sighs knowing she couldn't pull one of her tricks. She places both in her mouth and swallows them down quickly. She then finishes off the cup of water. "Can I go home now? We just got engaged yesterday. I just want to go home and relax with my fiancé." She looks at the nurse and then at Fred. "Fred. Sweetie. Did you ride in the ambulance with me? Is our car here?"
