Chapter 33. Spring Picnic

The Thain looked up to rest his eyes on the view outside the study window. He noted with surprise that it hardly looked like mid-February. 'It looks like spring,' he mused aloud.

'We're having an early spring, it seems,' his steward answered him.

'What's it like out there?'

'More like May than February,' Regi said. 'We've made it through another winter.'

'That's something,' the Thain said. He was quiet a moment, thinking, then said, 'Reg? Could you ask Diamond to pack a picnic, and then have Socks and White Face saddled?'

'Sir?' The steward looked penetratingly at the Thain. The Took was looking well, better than he had in weeks.

'I think I'm going to take my wife out for a ride. She's been cooped up all the winter. It's about time I took a day off,' Pippin said.

'Very good, Sir,' Reginard answered.

The Thain laughed. 'And take the day off, yourself, you're getting much too stiff and proper!'

Regi smiled. 'Thank you, cousin, I think I will.' He went out to set the preparations in motion, then came back with Ferdibrand to carry the Thain out to the ponies.

Diamond was waiting with a bright smile. 'What a lovely idea!' she said.

'Yes, I'm surprised you didn't think of it first,' her husband teased. 'Picnic lunch, open air, stimulate the appetite, get the Thain to eat...'

'O you!' she said in exasperation.

The Thain looked to Meliloc, standing by his own pony. 'Going somewhere?'

'Don't you need an escort?' Meliloc asked.

'Take your own wife on your own picnic,' the Thain retorted. 'Diamond and I will be fine.' He smiled at his wife. 'I think we can manage well; I haven't felt this well in a long time.' He allowed them to lift him onto the pony, saying 'You know I can climb up by myself if I want to, just allowing you poor folk to feel useful is all.'

Diamond mounted her own pony, and the two were off into the hills and woods.

Pippin led them to his favourite picnic spot, the grassy clearing by the spring, riding beneath wild cherry trees in blossom which sprinkled them with delicate petals. They pulled up their ponies in the clearing, and Pippin slid from his saddle. 'We'll put the blanket right here, my love,' he said.

'Your wish is my command,' Diamond answered, bowing low to him, taking down the thick blanket she'd packed to keep any chill of the earth from reaching them, and spreading it out on the lush grass in the sunshine. She helped him to sit down, then said, 'What do we do with the ponies?'

'Just tie them up to a tree, there,' he said. 'Sadly we cannot stay all the day, and they'll be all right under saddle while we picnic. Besides, I don't want you wrestling with unsaddling and saddling again.'

She laughed. 'You forget I'm a farmer's daughter. I cut my teeth harnessing ponies.'

He winced. 'Ooo, sounds painful.' She put the saddle bags down on the blanket and led the ponies away.

When she returned, he had not yet unpacked the food. 'Aren't you hungry?' she asked him, concerned.

'Ravenous,' he answered, patting the blanket next to him. 'Sit down, my love, rest your darling feet.' She sat and he plucked a blossom from her hair. 'Look,' he said. 'Even the trees think you're lovely.' He reached again, taking the combs from her hair so that the curls cascaded down around her shoulders.

'You look just like the maid who came out of the barn, waving an apron at me, another spring ago.'

She laughed. 'I'm an old hobbit lady, now, a matron with three children!'

He smiled. 'Would you like to try for four?'

'Pippin!'

He kept smiling, stroking her wrist with gentle fingers. 'Do you remember our wedding vows? Somehow they came to me when I looked out on this beautiful day.'

'O?' she said quietly.

'...to seize each moment,' he said, 'to live to the fullest the love that's between us...'

'Yes,' she whispered.

'...to refuse no joy set before us...' he kissed her gently in the hollow of her throat. 'How'm I doing?' he murmured.

'Ummmm,' she said.

He continued softly, '...that each day might be a golden coin to add to the treasure trove of our love...' She reached up to put her arms around him, and there was no more need for words.

***

As the Thain and his lady rode back into the yard, Reginard came out to greet them. 'You two look like the cats that got into the cream.'

'Lucky cats,' Pippin laughed. 'I hope they left some for us.'

'Tea's just on,' his steward said. 'You've come in good time.'

Pippin smiled at Diamond, 'You hear that, love? Not only did you get to stuff my face full of picnic food, but we're back in time for tea!'

'O good,' Diamond said. 'My next-to-favourite pastime is stuffing your face full of food.'

'And what is your favourite pastime?' her husband asked.

She smiled a secret smile. 'That would be telling,' was all she said.