Chapter Twenty-five - Absolutely No Doubt

It had been nearly a week since their trip to Long Cleeve when Pippin stood before the plain brown door upon which the placard said, “Miss Diamond North-took”, and knocked. He heard humming on the other side and then some whispering…and then heard the inner adjacent door close. Pimpernel…, he thought.

“Good morning, Diamond,” he said when the door finally opened, however, the dweller did not immediately appear inside the entryway. Pippin gazed into Diamond’s room to search for the lass. He smiled when he spied her off to the side behind the door, obviously as a surprise for him. He then stepped inside.

“You look so,” he smiled wider, “…beautiful.”

“You like my new frock?” Diamond smiled in return, doing a pirouette. She wore a nice-looking green dress with yellow trim, and an apron over top to keep it looking nice.

“Oh,” Pippin now noticed the frock. “Your dress is pretty, too. I was just noticing both of your lovely brown eyes…how long your hair is when its not plaited.” His green eyes sparkled with affection and love, “You are indeed a stunning lass, Diamond.”

Diamond laughed, “You certainly are a charmer, buttering me up like that. Are you ready?”

Pippin said nothing, still gaping at the striking young lass; he only had eyes for her--he neither saw nor heard anything else round him.

Diamond was fairly amused. “Are those for me?” she asked, seeing the half-dozen red roses in Pippin’s hand, hand-picked from the north garden.

Returning to the present, Pippin replied, “They are,” then handed Diamond the roses.

She smiled, “They’re beautiful! Thank you, Pippin.” Diamond then took the bouquet, placing the freshly cut stems inside a drinking glass with water, then set it in the middle of her desk for all to see. She had been contemplating a special gift for Pippin, figuring this would be the best moment to give it to him.

“Pippin,” she began, “I very much want to thank you for all you have done to bring me back home.”

“But you have,” said Pippin, “many times.”

“Well…not properly,” she said, gently pulling him closer…and then kissed him. With all the anxiety of confronting her mother behind her, Diamond now felt relieved--a bit more at ease in truly expressing to Pippin her gratitude--and exactly how she felt about him. Diamond blushed when Pippin finally smiled, “I like the way you properly convey your gratefulness.” He held out his arm for her to take, “Perhaps in the future I ought to show the same degree of appreciation.”

Smiling, Diamond put her arm in his, strolling beside him as they made their way toward the Great Door. “You said that we’re going to picnic at your most favourite spot in all the Shire. Where is that?”

“Remember when I told you about Whitwell?” asked Pippin. When Diamond nodded, he replied, “There is a small stream not far from our little farm smial. As children, me, my sister, Pervinca, and cousin Merry played there after we were finished with our chores whenever we could.”

“A stream, you say?” Diamond enquired, though she didn’t seem nervous at all about the water.

“You like streams and rivers?” Pippin asked, holding the door open for his lass to pass through. They stepped out into the morning sunlight, birds chirping overhead in song while they waited for Mat to bring the trap up the lane.

“There is a stream not very far from my uncle Bart’s house,” said Diamond, “a small tributary of the river near Bindbole Wood. Years ago, Sapphira and I would run off with a sack filled with bread, cheese, and apples and have our own picnic whilst listening to the water run over the rocks.”

Pippin drank in that pleasant thought; of just lying in soft tufts of grass on a warm summer afternoon, relaxing to the sound of bubbly water. Maybe he could fit that into their day at some point. “That does sound lovely,” he said to her. “I thought perhaps we could have a wee ramble through the village, show you one of my father’s crop fields, and also the smial where I grew up. After that, we shall have a feast that only a hobbit could appreciate.”

Diamond smiled, “I’d love that.”

The steady clip-clop of the pony’s hooves was the only sound upon the lane as the couple rode toward Whitwell. Neither Pippin nor Diamond spoke much since leaving Great Smials. Diamond smiled, her heart swelling with love as she sat beside her lad, enjoying the trees and tranquil meadows that they passed. This--the Tookland--was now home to her. Though her days in Long Cleeve had been a tad difficult for her, every single day since the fair, she felt her love for Pippin growing each day. And for all those difficulties with her mother, they only served to increase and strengthen the relationship between her and Pippin. If they could face her mother and come away closer than ever before, then Diamond felt they could face just about anything together.

Pippin took note of the lass’s merry mood, her delightful smile…then felt her snuggle up to him. The lane would be straight for the final stretch, not taking much effort to guide the pony unless a rut came into their path, so Pippin wrapped his free arm round her. “We’re almost there,” he spoke tenderly. “We’ll stop first at the farm to unhitch the pony--to let him graze in the pasture. The village is little over a half-mile walk from there.”

“Do all the people still know you?”

“Oh, yes,” Pippin answered, “I’ve been back here plenty of times. Mr. Longsheaf still calls me a laddie--of course, he’s almost 100 years old now. Everybody’s a laddie to him. And we may just get a glimpse of mother’s old adversary, Mrs. Dingle--she’s almost 112.”

“Your mum’s adversary? Why?”

Pippin took in a deep, long breath before speaking. “Well, I suppose it all started a long way back--after Pervinca was born. It’s a long story, but I should venture to say that mother and Mrs. Dingle never did see eye to eye on a lot of matters even before that--mostly having to do with the village and the people who lived there.”

Diamond laughed, “I take it that Mrs. Dingle thought that she was the sole member of the village council?”

Pippin smiled, “Something like that. When word got round that father was to be the next Thain, suddenly Mrs. Dingle became very agreeable toward mother.”

“Is there anyone our age in Whitwell?” Diamond asked.

Laughing, Pippin answered, “I think so. Many stay behind because of the work farms provide, but some have removed to other parts of the Shire. As you’ll soon see, Whitwell is smaller than Long Cleeve. Erlow Weaver--the only lad in the village who was my age, took an apprenticeship in Stock to learn how to make soaps. And he is very successful at it.”

“I should hope so,” said Diamond, grinning, imagining the Shire full of scruffy-looking hobbits. As they turned onto a very narrow lane, she saw Pippin point toward a small hill…or, what appeared to be a hill.

Pippin stopped the trap just shy of the closed gate, getting down to open it. “We’re here,” he said, opening the gate. “This was my home for nigh unto thirteen years.”

“Does anyone live here now?”

“No,” he answered, hoisting himself back into the trap. “Pim let the place to a young couple who, for whatever reason last year, decided to go back to their own family in the Southfarthing. Pim is normally shrewd, but her heart sometimes overtakes her head. She said she suspected such when they made the agreement yet went ahead with it anyway.”

Diamond tenderly brushed away an errant lock from Pippin’s brow. “Your heart overtaking your head never happens to you, right?” She smiled when Pippin didn’t answer.

Pippin halted again when they came up to the paddock gate then halted the pony. After the pony had been unhitched and released to the pasture, Pippin took the hamper, indicating for Diamond to open the smial door. He walked inside, placing it upon the kitchen table. There was a bit of a chill inside the vacant smial. Pippin took a whiff of the musty air, taking a moment to let his hand glide over the rough, dusty surface of the table, memories--both good and not so good--filling his thought. This was where all family discussions took place, where all meals were taken. Where he would playfully kick Merry under the table and get away with it. He missed those days, and yet, they made him desire all the more of having his own family.

“You ate here,” Diamond mused out loud, looking about the kitchen. In the corner she spied the sideboard where the Thain’s Mistress once stored her dishes and crocks, the hearth--presently dark and cold--that had boiled the tea for Pippin’s family, cooked their meals, and warmed the toes of little ones. The infamous larder that at one time contained Pippin’s favourite snack: apples.

“I did…I mean, we did take our meals here,” he said in response, then the inner, young lad resurfaced. Pippin excitedly recounted where members of his family sat at the kitchen table. “My father sat right here at the head--and mother next to him. Pearl always sat next to mother--and I always sat next to my father. Mostly because I would misbehave in some rude manner, but supper had always been my favourite time of the day to eat here.”

“After all these years,” said Diamond, walking about the kitchen, “it still feels like a home--as if…a loving family once lived here, their spirits lingering.” Inwardly, tween wished that she, too, had been raised in such a loving home.

Pippin’s eyes glistened when he looked over to the lass that he was quite certain he would spend the rest of his life with. “Want to see the rest?”

* * *

Diamond lay upon her tummy on the picnic blanket happily munching an apple. She and Pippin had a rather lengthy discussion inside the farm smial; things about when he was a young lad, his hiding places, growing up with three sisters. It slowly grew to include his cousin Merry, the many pranks and visits to Bag End…Frodo and Sam. Then the discourse evolved toward the Conspiracy…and the Quest. She and Pippin had talked for well over two hours before they decided it was too late now to walk to the village and back. The twosome went ahead with their picnic, finding a lovely spot in the tall heather near the stream.

Presently, Diamond lay there nibbling at her apple watching Pippin doze. He looked so peaceful lying across the blanket, eyes closed in slumber. Yes, the water rushing over the rocks could be quite soothing, however, Diamond wasn’t through asking Pippin questions about his Journey. After all, he did say that he was at her disposal for questions…and he’d been napping now for close to an hour. Diamond leaned back, plucking a long stem from the heather. She held forth the green frond until the tip rested lightly upon Pippin’s nose. Diamond quietly giggled at Pippin swatting an imaginary fly. She next let it touch his forehead. Diamond smiled with delight as Pippin brushed aside his curls. Once more, she let the long, thin stem with a wee yellow flower rest upon his nose, but her aim was off. Instead, it landed on his lips.

“Ack!” Pippin instantly woke. He sat up, wiping his lips with his hands, thinking a fly had landed on them. Then saw Diamond’s mischievous gleam in her eyes…and the frond in her hand. “You!” he laughed, “I should have known!”

“I’m not finished with you yet,” said Diamond. “You asked for a tongue-rest after…,” Diaimond narrowed her eyes in thought, “I think it was when your cousin Frodo went off alone to think. What happened--what did he decide to do?”

“He decided to go on alone without us,” said Pippin, but we caught on to his plans. Unfortunately, not soon enough, though. The rest of us ran off in different directions looking for him…but we didn’t find him. The Uruk-hai found us, though.” Pippin went on to explain that the creature she had seen in Merry’s drawing, was indeed one of these.

Diamond shuddered, unable to imagine herself outside of the Shire borders, let alone confronted with such a monstrous being.

Pippin was silent for a long moment, gathering his thoughts as how to best proceed without frightening the lass too terribly. Yet…Diamond was the one who said she wanted to hear every detail about his life-changing journey. He recounted their capture; his voice filling with emotion when describing Boromir’s last stand. He went on to tell of his experience upon waking. “I was cold and sick…our hands and feet were bound tightly with cords that cut into our skin. They made us run much of the way toward Isengard while using a whip to make us keep up,” he said, “or when our legs failed, they’d carried us like sacks and I would fall into dark dreams.”

Diamond gazed sorrowfully at Pippin’s wrists, seeing discoloured marks upon his skin. “Are those from the cords?” she asked.

Pippin nodded while wiping his eyes. “They’re very private, the wounds; I don’t show them to just anyone.”

“I know that, which makes them even more special.” Diamond replied in a softer tone, taking his hand in hers. She let her fingers lightly glide over the indentations that marked his skin.

“Yours is special, too,” he said, noting the reddish scar near her left eye.

Diamond shook her head, “No--not like these. I wasn’t captured by wicked beasts and dragged across foreign lands.”

Pippin looked at Diamond in amazement. “You--you actually do believe me.”

Diamond shrugged, “Of course I do. Don’t others?”

“Usually, I get the feeling that most people merely nod in agreement while never really grasping the true reason behind the Quest, and would rather I tell a much more pleasant aspect of our adventure,” Pippin answered. “My family, bless them--they try their best to understand, but even they find it difficult to comprehend everything.”

“How does that make you feel?” Diamond asked with genuine concern. She scooted over to sit beside Pippin as he thought about his answer.

“It makes me feel…that sometimes folk believe the Quest was of no value,” he finally said in reply. “But I can’t blame them--they really didn’t know about the danger they were in, and most still don’t know--and never will. Everyone else was back here in the Shire being bullied by ruffians. What used to anger me after we first returned was when certain fools would call Frodo Mad Baggins. When we reached the Green Dragon, one of the ruffians called Frodo a ‘cock-a-whoop’.” Pippin added with a far away note in his voice, “That squint-eyed fellow almost died that hour for his impudence.” Pippin was silent for a moment as his thought strayed to that time. “Well,” he said after a minute, looking at Diamond beside him, “Now you know why Merry and I hide our scars.”

Diamond could tell that Pippin wanted to wrap-up things. It was now mid-afternoon and getting on towards tea. She started to put their plates and cups into the hamper. “That does answer a few things,” Diamond remarked, recalling when she first met Mr. Merry, how he held his baby son in his arms just so, so that his wrists were covered up. “But you don’t have to do that with me.”

“I don’t think I will be,” said Pippin as he helped her gather the silverware. He looked at the tween with a sparkle in his eye, “You’re different, Diamond. “There is no one else in the Shire like you.” Pippin stopped in his gathering, took the sweet lass in his arms, giving her a tender kiss. His heart skipped a beat as he felt her respond. Then again…she did “properly” thank him earlier.

His mind was made up.

Absolutely no doubt in his mind…

Diamond was the one.

After a while, the young couple picked up their picnic hamper and headed for home.

TBC

A/N: One more chapter left!