Page 9 of The Pebbled Path

He discovered new favorite corners of the vast forest, yet portions of it he did not explore. He would begin to wander in the direction Gretel usually walked, but never made it very far. Why was that?

Two months had passed since he’d first met Gretel. Only two months, and he did not even see her every day, yet he could no longer imagine his life without her.

He met her on a chill late-autumn morning in a meadow, one they had declared several weeks earlier was a particular favorite. He brought with him a thick woven rug he had purchased on his one and only trip through the forest to the town beyond. That had been a difficult journey; he’d found himself turned around time and time again. But he’d managed to sell a few things and gain the attention of many people who were likely to purchase goods from him in the future. And he had this rug, perfect for him and Gretel to sit on in their meadow and spend a leisurely morning.

“What are you carving?” she asked.

“A bird.” He held it up for her to see. He’d nearly finished it and, though he hadn’t told her yet, he meant it for her.

“You’ve chosen maple. It’s the perfect choice.”

He shook his head in amazement. “I never imagined I would meet another person as fascinated by trees as I am.”

“And I never imagined I would meet a man who did not think that an oddity in me.”

He leaned closer and pressed a kiss to her temple. She blushed, but did not object. Indeed, she rested her head against his shoulder.

“I wish we could stay in this spot always.” She spoke with such regret.

“It is lovely, more so when we are here together.” He set aside his carving and put his arms around her. “Can you not come more often, my dear Gretel?”

She shook her head without moving away. “If somehow my mistress did not notice my frequent absences, she would surely realize I was not seeing to my duties.”

“I could come call on you. If she were able to meet me, to see that my intentions were honorable—”

“She does not care about that,” Gretel said.

“She fears if you marry, you will leave her employ?”

Gretel sat fully upright. “I cannot leave her employ. I cannot even leave this forest.”

Cannot? “You are held prisoner?”

She stood as if to leave.

Hansel jumped to his feet. “If you are in danger, if you are being held against your will, please, you must allow me to help you.”

“I cannot be helped.”

He closed the distance between them, then took her hands in his. “Gretel, please.”

“She is an enchantress, Hansel. A witch. She bewitched my father, blinding him to what she truly was, making him abjectly devoted to her from the first moment he saw her. She would have killed him; that is her design in luring men there. I did what I needed to do to save him.”

“You traded your freedom?”

She nodded. “Another of her spells binds me to her home and these woods. I cannot leave. If I try, her vow to spare my father will be erased, and she will likely kill us both.”

Fear pushed Hansel’s pulse to racing, but determination squared his shoulders. “We will find a way to break this spell.”

“I have been trying, with no luck. I am not yet ready to abandon hope entirely, but, Hansel, if she had any idea of our connection, of your very existence, she would stop at nothing to destroy you simply because it would hurt me.”

He shook his head firmly. “I will not be threatened into abandoning you.”

She reached up and gently touched his cheek. “Continue to meet me here now and then, and I will feel anything but abandoned.”

“That is not enough.”

She stepped away but glanced back at him. “It will have to be enough.”