Chapter Twelve

For three whole days Joanna went missing, thus landed Mrs Isabella and Antonio into adversity. Antonio had to go to the nook and cranny of the ghetto in a futile search for her and following the directions given by Mrs Isabella, he extended his search beyond the ghetto and finally found Joanna in a community of nuns located outskirts of London. She left home because she was jumpy and she believed she could settle her dispute with Catherine by staying away from Antonio. But one big problem she had was that she was pregnant and it would be difficult to break up with Antonio when she had his baby in her womb. When Antonio met her, he hugged her in deep tears and offered to take her home but she turned him down for she had decided to heal her wounded bound with Catherine by giving up her love for Him.

"You can't do this to me." Antonio said very worryingly.

"Antonio I have no choice, the princess is my friend and i have to let go." Joanna cried in response.

"But i am in love with you." Antonio said worryingly.

"Antonio you belong to the princess, she wants you back." Joanna cried.

"For Christ sake would you stop talking about Cathy!" Antonio yelled in anger and frustration and Joanna stayed calm at once. "Joan I don't love Cathy at all, i love you!" He continued with a calm voice for Joanna became a little frightened. He gently took hold of her and made her sit on his thighs. "You are my guardian Angel and my life will come to an end the very moment you kick me out of your life." He said and placed his head on Joanna's shoulder and after a brief silence, Joanna turned to him and watched tears roll down his pitiful eyes- those eyes she missed a lot. She held his face in lost of control and gave him a kiss on the lips, thus triggered an intense love making right there in the nuns' convent and the nuns who saw them thought they were crazy. When they were done, Joanna decided to tell Antonio about her pregnancy,

"Antonio I am pregnant." she said and Antonio burst into smiles,

"I am about to be a father and the princess will do nothing to stop me from making you my wife! Now I will walk straight to the princess and tell her plainly that i am no longer interested in her." He said happily.

"Alright." Joanna responded confidently.

"Joan I don't think the nuns will be happy to keep you here for they just witnessed our love making right here. Come with me, come back home!" Antonio said.

"Alright." Joanna responded and Antonio took her hand and walked her out of the Nuns' community.

Antonio anticipated Catherine's visit and to settle her dispute with Joanna once and for all, he needed to return home and wait for her. He left Mrs Isabella's house for the first time in two months and headed back home, hoping that Catherine would soon visit him. Yes, his prediction happened faster than he expected. Just few seconds after his arrival, Catherine pop out from no where like she was secretly watching him and hugged him insanely. In alarm, Antonio withdrew him self and gave her a slight push for he thought her body guards could be around and they could react if he assaulted her. She burst out in tears and tried to hug him again but he resisted. Her mannerism made it clear to him that she regretted dumping him and who ever made her kick him out of her life must have failed her. But it was too late for apologies because Joanna had taken her place. When he realized that she came alone, he said to her,

"I will hurt you and face the consequences if you do not leave now you she devil!"

"I am sorry my love!" Catherine cried and tried to hold him but he fiercely resisted and she began singing him a love song, hoping that it could calm his anger and remind him of the old times they spent together.

"Nice try Cathy." He responded. "Cathy we are done!" He continued, "its over between us! i don't want to see you here again!"

"Antonio am deeply sorry for treating you the way i did." Catherine cried.

"Its too late for apologies Cathy, Joan had taken your place forever!" He responded and pushed her for he intended to frighten her.

"Joan?" Catherine paused from crying and asked.

"Yea Joan, i gave Joan my heart because she deserves it. She is not a pervert like you!" Antonio responded and Catherine was provoked,

"Don't call me that." She warned.

"Oh cause if I do, you will order the guards to lock me up like you did before? Pervert!" Antonio responded.

"No, but Joanna is gonna pay for this!" Catherine said venomously and left without saying another word. She went straight to Mrs Isabella's house to see Joanna and on arrival, she met Joanna outside and warned her sternly to stay away from her man or all hell would let loose. At first Joanna maintained her respect for her for she thought it was unimaginable to quarrel with her,

"Cathy I thought we are friends, why did you suddenly turn hostile to me?" Joanna asked her in sadness and perplexity.

"Because you are a back stabber! You knew he belonged to me yet you made love to him." She replied in frustration.

"When Antonio came to me, he was injured and heart broken. His next option was suicide but i didn't let that happen. To stay alive after you dumped him, he needed love and company and i gave them to him." Joanna said.

"Enough of the cock and bull story, i never told you I dumped him! You are the goodie and am the baddie right? back stabber!"

She replied and Joanna became provoked.

"You have always been Jealous of my achievements, that's why you always wanted me to live in your shadow." She spoke back and Catherine gave a cynical laugh,

"Jealous of your achievements? you poor wretched scare crow." Catherine mocked.

"Yes jealous of me. You came back for him not because you needed to, but because you think he loves me more than he loved you." Joanna continued.

"Joan i made you who you are. I picked you from the gutter, cleaned you up and treated you like my own sister. I even gave you the privilege to dine with the royal family." Catherine said.

"And i loved you cause you are like my very own sister but you traded your soul for lust." Joanna responded fearlessly.

"Joan are you talking back at me?" Catherine asked.

"Yea Princess Catherine, do you think am afraid of you?" Joanna responded.

"I will slap the hell out of your ugly face." Catherine threatened.

"Lets see you try, jealous ugly troll!" Joanna responded in anger.

"For the last time Joan stay away from my man, i will wreck your life if you fail to do so!" Catherine warned in great anger.

"Enough young ladies!" sounded Mrs Isabella's voice from the inside.

"And your mum's too." Catherine continued and left. Then Mrs Isabella who had been busy in the sitting room came out side and said to Joanna, "I warned you." and seeing that Joanna was a bit jumpy, she held her on the shoulder and continued, "Be careful my daughter, give the monster what she wants if possible and stay away from her."

Catherine made endless attempts to win back Antonio's love. She also picked on her childhood friend Joanna on several occasions more especially when ever her attempt to regain Antonio's love failed. She even became the reason why the love garden was knocked down, restructured and turned into a heavily guarded queen's property for she felt the restriction of Antonio and Joan's access to the garden could cause injury to their passion for each other. Things even got worst when the news came to her that Joanna was pregnant for Antonio. The news got her wild and out of control and she became desperate to hurt Joanna. One day, being obsessed by Antonio's kisses, cuddling and other romantic touches which she missed so much, she broke into his house and lay on his bed in tears. Antonio wasn't around for he went to check on Joanna and when he returned, he was startled to see a young lady lying on her bed and sniffing his wears like they were flowers from the love garden. At first he thought it was Joanna for Joanna alone could boldly walk into his bed room without his consent.

"How did she possibly get here before me?" He thought in confusion, and when he came closer, Catherine rose from the bed suddenly and took hold of him.

"Touch me Antonio!, i want you to touch me!" she cried in lust.

"Let go!" Antonio replied as he struggled desperately to let him self loose from her firm grip.

"I want to carry your child in my womb too." She continued and after a long struggle, she took off Antonio's shirt and Antonio managed to release him self from her grip and take off. Then she went straight to see Joanna with Antonio's shirt and on arrival, Joanna saw her and spoke up in frustration,

"Cathy you are here again to look for my trouble right?"

"No Joan, i am here to prove to you that Antonio made love to me. Here is his shirt." She said childishly and showed Joanna the shirt she came with.

"Nice try Cathy." Joanna responded and laughed and knowing that her plan was childish and couldn't possibly turn Joanna against Antonio, she became provoked and spoke harshly,

"You dirty whore! my man isn't responsible for that retarded child in your belly."

"Antonio never slept with you because he knows you are a jealous street whore." Joanna responded and Catherine slapped her in anger and in response, Joanna went for the cloth she was holding and pulled it out of her grip, then she headed inside the house, brought back a match box and as Catherine watched, she set the cloth on fire.

"I will rather burn this shirt into ashes than seeing you have it and if you try to stop me, i will set you ablaze too." she said and Catherine drew back in fear.

"Joan you have crossed the line and you know i have what it takes to take your life right now."

Catherine said.

"And you also have what it takes to give up on Antonio and get another man for you are the so called dream of every man in England." Joanna spoke back.

"Antonio was mine first." Catherine said.

"You will never let go because you are jealous of me." Joanna spoke back.

"I will take back what belongs to me Joanna, no backsies and if you try to stop me, i will crush you like a bug." Catherine said.

"Cathy you can never win back his attention, so no backsies too. Its too late for you." Joanna spoke back and Catherine became more provoked.

"I am a member of the royal family and i can get what ever i want in England. Antonio is mine whether he likes it or not!" she said in desperation and left and because Joanna was jumpy, she paid Oliver a visit and reported Catherine's recent hostility and provocative behaviour for she hoped Oliver could talk sense into her.

"I actually thought Cathy was my friend, but she is a nut job! she has gone crazy, please Oliver do something."

In response, Oliver advised Joanna to go to the Queen's Castle and report Catherine to her mother. But as things were, Joanna thought that Catherine would eat her alive if she saw her in the castle and far that reason, she never dared to heed Oliver's advice. Nevertheless, reporting Catherine to her mother was the best action she would have taken.

By the closure of the love garden, Antonio and Joanna found another cool place to spend time together and it was in the Chiltern hills. At first Antonio came up with the idea of elopement for the sake of Catherine's hostility, but Joanna countered the idea because she needed to stay close to her poor foster mother, and for that reason, Antonio was forced to discover a Hill top in the Chiltern hills where he and Joanna could spent time together without being interrupted by Catherine. What made the hill remarkable was the atmosphere of peace at the top and the roses growing at the bottom too. But close to the hill was a treacherous valley which posed an unimaginable threat to any human or animal standing at the hill top. Antonio took Joanna to the hill when they felt they were bored and he usually carried her on his arms like a baby and went to the hill top fearlessly to sing love songs for her. Joanna wasn't afraid of the height for she trusted Antonio like no other person. But their visits to this hill wasn't so secret because Catherine had prying eyes on them. She had messengers all over London watching them and even if they eloped as Antonio had planned, Catherine would still locate them eventually- indeed it was too much of a risk for a commoner in England to quarrel with a member of the royal family. Realizing that her child hood friend would not let go Antonio, Catherine decided to do it the hard way. So on that fateful day, She picked some royal guards without the consent of her mother and went after the love birds who made her jealous. They laid ambush in the hills and waited patiently for the love birds to visit. When Antonio and Joanna visited, Antonio carried Joanna on his arm and took her to the hill top as usual to sing love songs for her. He was a gifted singer and his songs made Joanna so excited. From her hiding spot, Catherine could hear his melodious voice which she missed a lot and when she couldn't take it anymore, she ordered the guards to go to the top of the hill in a tip toe and grab Antonio. The guards did as she said, they tip toed to the hill top and suddenly grabbed Antonio and as a result of that, Joanna fell off from his arm.

"No!" Antonio screamed in terror for Joanna was on the verge of falling into the treacherous valley. She hung at the edge of the hill and screamed for Antonio's help but the guards seized him and failed to let go. Then Catherine came up and went straight to meet her childhood friend at the edge of the hill.

"Joan here you are at last." she said to Joanna and gave a sinister smile.

"Please Cathy save me! save me!"Joanna cried in great panic.

"Joan I warned you to stay away from my man." Catherine responded with a venomous voice.

"Please princess save me, my hands are getting weak!" Joanna cried pitifully.

"You deserve to die Joan, you challenged me and you posed a threat to my love life." Catherine responded and turned to the royal guards in determination, "She must be put down like a dog." She continued and Joanna screamed in great fear,

"No No No No Cathy! i don't want to die!" and with a sob of despair, Joanna continued, "Oh Cathy my first love! remember our bound, remember the good times we spent together. We are friends and we will always be friends...."

"Liar! you back stabber!" Catherine screamed in venom and Joanna continued in tears, "It wasn't part of my plan for this to happen, it just had to happen because Antonio's life depended on me and he would have ended his life if i failed to give him the love and attention he needed. Cathy i look upon you like my own sister, you have always been close to me and i will purposely do nothing to cause you trouble."

"You stood defiantly and You talked back at me, that was supposed to be unimaginable to you." Catherine responded and threw away her eyes for the last thing she wanted was feeling any pity for her childhood friend.

"Cathy you did attack me on several occasions, you even slapped me but i didn't slap back because i still love and respect you. Cathy look down on my hair, look down and see that the ribbon you gave me as a gift when we were kids is still tied to it." Joanna said very weakly for she was gradually giving up. Catherine returned her eyes and discovered that the ribbon she gave to Joanna as a sign of their covenant during their child hood was still tied to her hair, this calmed her anger a little. Then in one last struggle for hope, Joanna began singing the song which she and Catherine dedicated to their friendship,

"like God and his creations are bound by love,

So shall me and you be bound by our lasting love,

Indeed, our strong bound shall last forever, we forever in love

peace, love, unity, honesty involved.

Envy, hate, pride, unfaithfulness we should minus.

selfishness, greed and discrimination, we avoid in disgust.

feelings beyond friendship, like human evolved-

our love transforms, it's as bright as the shining sun.

our bound is an example of a true bound to the whole world..."

hearing the song, Catherine had a flash back. She remembered the old times- the times when she and Joanna were still best friends. She remembered how strong their bound was and how happy they were together. She even had to hide her identity and sneak out of her mother's castle a time without number just to spend time with Joanna. She had to lie to her mum just to give Joanna access to her home -imagine that? How about the time when she rewrote a letter which her mum sent to the duke of Salisbury just for Joanna's sake- their child hood was cool and yea Joanna was fun and cool too. After the flash back, by the way she behaved, it looked like she had given up her desperate plan to harm her childhood friend for she was very touched. She fixed her eyes on Joanna in pity and walked slowly to her like she wanted to save her.

"Save her Cathy! she has my child in her womb!" Antonio screamed and an ocean of Jealousy suddenly gushed out of her heart and swallowed up her pity for she felt Antonio would never give up on Joanna. Once again she became red and venomous and in lost of temper, she raised her feet and stamped it so hard on Joanna's face. Joanna lost hold at once and fell from there.

"Nooooooooo!" Antonio screamed in horror and Catherine moved closer to him to calm him down.

"Shiii, she has been put down for good and she will not pose a threat to our love again. Don't worry Antonio, i will make another child for you, a child with the royal blood, you've always wanted to be part of the royal family." She said to him for she was apparently crazy.

"Cathy you are a monster!" Antonio cried in deep weakness.

"You will soon get this over with." Cathy responded. "take him to the cell and lock him up until he gets back to his right senses." She turned to the guards and ordered and Antonio was dragged to the Castle and locked up in the cell without the queen's consent.

Antonio had all sorts of nightmares in the cell for Joanna's death was the most horrible and unimaginable thing he had experienced. He was also in endless tears because he would miss Joanna and his unborn child forever. In deep frustration, he kept letting out a howl of anguish and when Catherine couldn't take it anymore, she ordered the royal guards to tie up his mouth with a cloth so that he would not make loud noises and attract the attention of her mother. Catherine visited him frequently in the cell and sometimes when she did, she blamed him for causing the death of Joanna by choosing mare Joanna over her. She also put it to him that their love would continue whether he liked it or not. Antonio remained in cell for days and he neither ate, drank nor accepted to return his love to Catherine. He only quivered in great anger and cried endlessly for vengeance. When it came to Catherine that he may never fall in love with her again, she nearly regretted killing her childhood friend for nobody. Then one day a guard was sent by Catherine to force him to eat and noticing that the guard had a bunch of keys attached to his belt, he outsmarted the guard and throttled him to unconsciousness. He unshackled himself at once and was about to flee the castle when the other guards raised alarm and for the first time, the queen's attention was called.

"What's going on here?" The Queen asked in confusion.

"Your highness a man called Antonio escaped from the cell." A guard answered.

"Who is Antonio and why was he locked up in my cell?" She asked again in curiosity.

"Princess Catherine locked him up, personal issues probably." The guard responded nervously.

"Get me Catherine at once!" She ordered.

"Your highness she is in pursuit of the man who escaped, they've already left the castle." The guard responded.

"She might be in danger!" She said worryingly.

"Don't worry your highness, she's in safe hands for many guards followed her immediately." The guard responded and the queen calmed a little.

When Antonio successfully escaped from the castle, he ran back to the Chiltern hills, climbed to the hill top where Joanna met her death and held still in deep tears. Catherine and many guards who were in pursuit could sight him at the edge of the hill.

"Nooooo Darlene! Don't do this to me, don't throw your self down please!" Catherine cried for she believed he had planned to commit suicide, but he gave her no attention, instead he looked up to the sky and spoke,

"Joan my love we are about to meet again, but this time in the skies,

We will always be together, and nothing can separate us.

I can't possibly survive without you and when the wicked world took you away, they took me too.

I am on my way to meet you and i can see you and my unborn baby waiting in smiles.

together we shall live forever in the beautiful gardens of paradise and there will be no Jealous princess to intrude this time." He paused, cried silently and continued,

"Open up your beautiful arm and welcome me Darlene!"

And when Catherine and the guards were so close to him, he ended his eulogy and fell from there.

"Nooooooo!" Catherine screamed in horror and burst into tears. She threw her self to the ground and wailed endlessly in frustration, and so it was, the whole drama came to an end.

"Wait! is this the end of the story? Nah this better not be the end of the story. How about Antonio and me? You didn't tell me if we were dead or alive, you just used the words 'fell from there.' look, am gonna kiss you right on your lips again if you fail to tell me the part two of this story right now, Jesus Christ!"

"What are you doing? wait the story isn't...no don't do that! it makes me feel like am about to fly without wings, i told you this before"

"Cathy! Cathy pay attention to me! Stop frowning and pay attention to me! Its Antonio again right? Open up to me sister."

"Yea he wants to go out on a date with me and am afraid you could…"

"And if he tries to kiss you, knock your self out and do not turn him down this time, just take his face and kiss the crab out of him.'

"You are funny Joan. My brother is a pervert, but I think he genuinely likes you and you made him cry when you refused to accept those gowns he bought for you."

"I did that on purpose but I think I should give him a try now."

"Sis I don't think he can make a good partner."

"Don't worry princess, I gat this."

"Okay Joan, let me count on you. Wait! why would anyone imagine that I Catherine will take your life just because of some Guy???"

"You probably thought so that's why you told me the story."

"Are you loosing your trust in me?"

"Catherine we've been friends from childhood and I know you wouldn't hurt a fly. By the way, word on the streets, Princess Elizabeth will not inherit your mum's throne because of health issues. You know what that means? looking at the next queen of England dead in the eye."

"Oh Joan I am already nervous, when the time comes please will you help me rule England?"

"Don't worry Princess, You will rule England and I will always stand beside you. By the way, stay put sis, I think the birthday party got you a new admirer in Salisbury, Charlie Edwards obviously likes you."