EPILOGUE
Christmas, 1281 A.D.
Castle Canaan
He was displeased.
Avrielle could tell simply by looking at her husband that he was displeased and trying not to appear so. In the great hall of Canaan, he was pacing around, distracted by small children when the occasion arose, but he was mostly pacing in thought.
On this day, there was much to think about.
It had been a brutal winter so far this year, with early snows in November that were heavy. They hadn’t let up and as the Christmas season came, the hills surrounding Canaan were solid white with the stuff. The pass from Carlisle to Kendal was mostly blocked because of it, meaning the Christmas celebration that had been planned with the de Wolfe clan was more than likely not going to happen.
The north of England, from what they’d heard, was socked in with snow as well and Scott had been certain that his elderly father and mother, as well as various brothers and sisters, would not want to travel in such weather. This year, they had all planned to converge on Canaan because Scott had wanted to host the holiday in his southernmost property where the weather was usually better than it was in the north. But the weather gods were not smiling upon him this year. Therefore, Scott was certain he would not see his family during the holidays. Not that he blamed them.
But it was more than an abundance of snow and the lack of seeing his parents and siblings. There was something else happening, something that had Scott pacing around as his children played at his feet. William and Thomas were due to arrive from Lioncross Abbey where they had both been serving.
At twenty years and one, William had been knighted last year by his grandfather and namesake. It had been a proud moment for William to be knighted by the Wolfe of the Border. Thomas, bigger and taller than his older brother, was on the verge of being knighted as well and, according to the Earl of Worcester, his liege, the young man already fought better than most knights. Paris de Norville, his mother’s father, had claimed credit for Thomas’ overachievements while William held the fact that he would knight the lad over his head. It was a good-natured rivalry between men who had been the best of friends for decades, but Scott and his brothers wondered if, in private, that rivalry hadn’t come to blows at times. Nothing like old men beating each other up just for the privilege of claiming victory.
And it was young William in particular where Scott’s troubles lay on this cold and blustery day. It had all started when he received a missive from the Earl of Worcester, Chris de Lohr, that Stephen du Rennic was given permission to come home for the holidays. Stephen had been fostering at Lioncross Abbey Castle for two years and, according to the earl, was doing very well in his studies and positively brilliant in military tactics. But that wasn’t the concerning part; the concerning part came when the earl went on to say in his message that the lad would be escorted home by his brother William and his new wife. The man went on to offer a hearty congratulations on the marriage.
A marriage that Scott knew nothing about.
Avrielle knew that Scott was deeply troubled by the fact that young William hadn’t bothered to tell him that he’d married. Scott had no idea to whom, or the circumstances, and more than anything he was hurt by the lack of communication from a son he’d been close to for the last seven years. A marriage was a terribly big thing and certainly too big not to discuss.
Therefore, Scott paced as Avrielle watched. They were in the great hall with their children, over near the hearth and away from the soldiers who had come in to get warm. Raymond was out on watch but Milo was in the hall with his wife of two years, a merchant’s daughter from Kendal, as was Stanley. Stanley didn’t seem to want a wife but he had no shortage of women in his bed, much to Avrielle’s annoyance. She didn’t like the man bringing women in and out of Canaan when her daughter, Sorsha, and her sons with Scott, Jeremy and Nathaniel, were old enough to wonder who the strange women were.
The children were naturally curious, of course. Sorsha had seen seven years, a sweet girl who was very attached to Scott, whom she called Father. Having never known Nathaniel, Avrielle and Scott had decided early on that she would know Scott as her father, although when she was old enough they planned to tell her the truth. There was no use in doing so now because it would simply confuse her.
Born when Sorsha was two years of age, Jeremy de Wolfe was the exact image of his father, followed a year later by Nathaniel de Wolfe, who was also the image of his father. Alexander de Wolfe was born two and a half years later, a dark-eyed brunette who looked a good deal like Gordon. With Scott’s two eldest boys already men, and Sophia and Stephen off to foster, there was no shortage of children in the de Wolfe household these days and, even now, as Scott paced around near the hearth, the three boys were torn between following him around and playing with an army of wooden soldiers that Gordon had made for them. In fact, they played with the same set of toys that Gordon had made for Stephen those years ago and now it looked like a mob read to take over the very castle.
“Dada!” Nathaniel called to Scott. “Build us a castle! Please, Dada!”
Scott stopped puttering around and looked at his son. He wasn’t in the mood to build castles but Nathaniel wouldn’t understand that. When he hesitated, Avrielle spoke.
“Build them a castle, Dada,” she said encouragingly. “It will give you something to do other than wear a hole in the floor.”
Scott looked at his wife; radiant, elegant, and gorgeous were the words that came to mind every time he looked at her. She seemed to grow more beautiful with age. Sitting in a chair near the hearth, she was knitting a blanket, appropriate in these freezing temperatures. With all of the good wool from Kendal, she had an endless supply.
“I am not wearing a hole in the floor,” he told her, rather annoyed, but he nonetheless moved to the kindling box to pick out pieces of wood with which to build a castle. “And I thought you would show more concern about this.”
Avrielle glanced up from her knitting. “About what?”
Scott frowned. “Do you seriously mean to ask that question?”
Avrielle fought off a grin. “I am not sure why you are fretting,” she said. “We have been through this many times as of late. William is a grown man. If he wishes to take a wife, then he can make that choice.”
Scott shook his head as if she knew absolutely nothing about the workings of the world. “He is a de Wolfe,” he said. “More than that, he is the eldest son of the heir to the House of de Wolfe. The woman he marries is very important. Politically, it is important and you know it.”
Avrielle sighed, trying to show some patience with this subject. They’d been discussing it since the missive from the House of de Lohr came the previous month. In fact, Scott wouldn’t shut up about it and she was ready to stuff her knitting into his mouth simply to quiet him.
“You are the heir to the House of de Wolfe and you did not consider politics when you married me,” she said quietly.
“That is not true,” he said, pointing at her. “You were the widow of Nathaniel du Rennic with a great castle and fortune attached to you. You were political, or do you not recall Edward trying to marry you to a Scottish lord?”
She stopped knitting and looked at him. “So you married me simply because it was a politically correct move? That is a terrible thing to say.”
Now it was Scott who was fighting off a grin. He went back to building his castle. “I do not know what I was thinking,” he grumbled. “I must have gone mad. Someone should have talked me out of it.”
Avrielle knew he was poking at her; they were so deeply in love that one could not breathe without the other. “Had I known this was really your attitude, I could have easily married the Scottish lord,” she said, returning to her knitting. “He was probably a big, handsome brute with a halo of red hair and eyes that breathed fire. What a passionate life we would have had. But alas, I had to marry a de Wolfe. I was a fool.”
Scott was getting a good deal of help from Jeremy and Nathaniel in building his castle. He rocked back on his heels, letting the boys take over, as he sneered at his wife. “You knew in your heart that you could not live without me, you ungrateful wench,” he said. “You are the most fortunate woman in the world to be married to me.”
Avrielle broke down into soft laughter. “God’s Bones,” she clucked. “You are quite proud of yourself.”
“And you are not?”
She looked at him, then. “More than all the stars in the heavens,” she said, her eyes glimmering at him. The love in her heart shone brightly in her eyes. Yet it didn’t last; she sobered quickly. “But you fret like an old woman over this situation with Will. He will be here any day and you can ask him for yourself why he did not tell you of his plans to marry. He adores you, Scott, you know that. I am sure he has a good reason.”
Scott knew she was right but he was still fretting. He watched Jeremy and Nathaniel build the castle while Alexander, who was not quite two, tried to help. “Mayhap,” he said, seemingly depressed by it all. “But it was de Lohr who had to tell me. Chris and I have known each other a very long time. You know our families are close. I cannot believe he did not tell me more other than congratulating me on my son’s marriage.”
Avrielle went back to her knitting. “You shall know soon enough,” she said. “The missive came over a month ago and I have been expecting them any day this week. Even in this weather, they should have arrived by now, so do not let yourself be troubled. You shall know soon enough.”
She was right. Scott sat down on the floor with his boys and Alexander ended up plopping himself onto his father’s lap. Scott looked at the little boy, running his hand through his soft brown hair.
“You shall not get married without telling me, will you?” he asked the little boy.
Alexander shook his head because Scott was shaking his head, but he really had no idea what his father meant. On the floor in front of them, however, Jeremy heard his father’s question.
“I will never marry, Dada,” he declared.
Scott looked at him, amused. “Why not?”
Jeremy wrinkled his nose up at his father. “I do not like girls!”
Scott laughed. “Someday you will, I promise.”
Next to Jeremy, Nathaniel piped up. “You smell,” he told his brother. “Girls do not like smells!”
Jeremy threw a piece of wood at him, clipping his brother’s shoulder, and Nathaniel launched himself over the castle. The castle crumbled into splinters of wood as Nathaniel landed on his brother and they started punching and kicking one another. Avrielle eyed her sons without missing a stitch on her knitting as Scott reached over to grab Nathaniel and pull him off his brother. Even though Nathaniel was younger, he was the more aggressive of the pair, much to the delight of his father. He had a special place for his bruiser of a son even though he pretended otherwise.
“What have I told you about striking your brother, Nat?” he said sternly as he put the boy on his feet.
“Not to draw blood?” Nathaniel said innocently.
Scott cleared his throat nervously, eyeing his wife. “I never told you that,” he said, seeing that Avrielle was grinning. “In any case, no more fighting with him, please. You will soon be too big for me to stop the fight and I do not want anyone getting hurt, least of all me. Is that clear?”
Nathaniel nodded solemnly although he was eyeing his brother angrily. “Aye, Dada.”
As the boys went back to rebuilding their now-destroyed castle, Scott stood up and went for a cup of warmed wine from the pitcher on the table next to Avrielle. He no sooner poured himself a cup than Raymond came in through the hall entry.
Icy wind howled into the hall as the door swung open, causing Milo, nearer the door, to shout at Raymond to close the panel. Raymond pulled it shut behind him but his attention was on Scott.
“My lord,” he said. “We have visitors. From Lioncross Abbey, I believe. We have identified the de Lohr blue and gold standards.”
Scott almost spilled his wine as he set it on the table. “They are here,” he said, already bolting for the door. “Finally, they are here!”
Avrielle set her knitting down in a hurry, grabbing Alexander by the hand as she rushed after her husband and sons. Sorsha, who had been sitting with her mother, had sprinted to the door before even her father got to it, nearly plowing into Raymond, who was trying to get out of the way of the stampede. Out into the bright, cold day they ran, straight into the bailey full of muddy slush and snow as the well-equipped party from Lioncross Abbey Castle, seat of the mighty de Lohr family, began filtering in through the southern gatehouse.
“Dada, look!” Jeremy cried, pointing to the heavily-dressed knights who were entering the bailey first. “They shine, they shine!”
Scott couldn’t help but smile at his excited boys. The plate armor and mail on the knights was, indeed, shining in the sunlight, reflecting the beams in bursts of stars as they moved. Six heavily-armed men entered the bailey first followed by not one, but two covered carriages, both of them heavily-armored conveyances. Following the carriages came dozens of men-at-arms, all of them filling up the bailey as the de Lohr party closed in. As de Wolfe men rushed out to help the party settle in, Scott picked up Nathaniel so the boy could see the “shiny knights” better.
But it was the carriages that Scott was more interested in. He wondered why there were two of them. As he watched, the rear of the first carriage opened and a big man with blonde hair climbed out. The man was wrapped heavily against the freezing weather and he stood by the rear of the carriage, holding out his hand and helping a woman dressed in furs out into the mud. Two more women climbed out behind her while in the second carriage, children seemed to be emerging. Avrielle’s sharp eye saw her son immediately.
“There he is!” she exclaimed. She waved her hand. “Stephen!”
Stephen saw his mother but didn’t wave back. He had been instructed not to. He remained with the others who had come out of the carriage, young men and women who were his age more or less. Avrielle’s smile faded as she watched as her son and the group of young people approach only to fall back when the man who’d climbed out of the first carriage took the lead. Everyone seemed to be following him and Scott knew why; he smiled at Christopher de Lohr, called Chris so he was not confused with his famous grandsire, as the man approached.
“Scott!” Chris said happily. “It is good to see you, my friend.”
Scott set Nathaniel down, reaching out to take the earl’s offered hand. “My lord,” he greeted, pleased but surprised. “I had no idea you were coming. The missive you sent said nothing about you coming to Canaan, so I apologize that I did not have an honor guard to greet you.”
Chris looked much like his grandsire with long locks of blonde hair and eyes the color of the sky. “Nonsense,” he said. “Since when do you put on airs for me? We are old friends, you and I, and if you try to treat me like a nobleman I shall punch you right in the face.”
Scott grinned. “Very well,” he said. “It is much easier to treat you like that bully of a boy I used to know. How are your brothers?”
“Well, every one.”
“Your uncles?”
“Getting old. Uncle Richard has not been well, unfortunately, but what do you expect for a man in his seventy-sixth year? He has lived a long and full life.”
Scott nodded. “I am sorry to hear he is not well,” he said. “I shall make sure to tell my father when I next write to him.”
“And how is your father?”
Scott wriggled his eyebrows. “He is ageless,” he said. “He is currently negotiating a marriage for my youngest sister, Penelope. You remember Penny, do you not?”
Chris nodded. “Indeed, I do. She took a sword to me once.”
“She still has that sword.”
“Then her husband is going to need a bigger one.”
“If my father is able to negotiate with the husband he wants for her, the man is the hereditary King of Anglesey. He has a very big sword.”
Chris snorted. “Then he’d better be prepared to use it,” he said, laughing because Scott was. But quickly, he sobered, stepping back to indicate the women and children who had come with him. “I am being rude. Greet my wife, Scott. She has been eager to see you.”
Scott stepped forward to politely kiss Lady de Lohr, the former Alys de Titouan. She was a beautiful woman with black hair and blue eyes, and she greeted Scott and then Avrielle as if they were her oldest and dearest friends.
“It is so very good to see you both,” Alys said sweetly. “I hope we are not intruding on your Christmas.”
Avrielle took the woman by the arm companionably. “It is a better Christmas already now that you have come,” she said. “Come inside, please. You must be exhausted from your journey.”
“Wait, Alys,” Chris stopped her. “Not yet. We must make introductions.”
Alys nodded as if very forgetful. “Of course,” she said. “We have so much to tell you.”
Now they were coming to the very subject Scott wanted to discuss and he jumped on it eagerly. “And I am impatient to hear it,” he said, sounding the least bit disapproving of what was to come. “Where is my son, William?”
Chris pointed to one of the “shining knights” Nathaniel had been so excited to see. “William!” he boomed. “Thomas! Greet your father!”
Two of the men quickly dismounted their steeds, flipping up visors as they moved. Scott found himself looking at both of his sons, big and powerful de Wolfe offspring. Thomas was first, receiving an embrace from his father, but when William moved in to hug his father, Scott held out a hand and stopped him.
“You,” he said, grabbing the man by the chest. “Do you have something to tell me?”
William looked at his father with a mixture of fear and joy, an odd combination. “Aye, Father, I do,” he said. “I apologize I’ve not told you before, but… it all happened rather suddenly and… uh…”
Chris stepped in, laughing. “You cannot blame him, truly,” he said. “He was pushed into it.”
Scott wasn’t following him. “Pushed into it?” he said, looking between Chris and his son. “What does that mean?”
Chris was still laughing when he moved back into the crowed of women and children behind him and pulled forth a young woman with long blonde hair, stunning brown eyes, and a curvy figure that not even Scott could ignore. She was astonishingly lovely and quite petite.
“He was pushed into it by me,” Chris said. “Scott, this is my daughter, Lily. You have met her before but I doubt you would remember. She was very young. She has been away at Thunderbey Castle, fostering, for the past several years. She only returned to us this past summer.”
Scott eyed the lovely young woman, wondering what she had to do with all of this. “Welcome to Canaan, Lady Lily.”
Chris shook his head. “It is not ‘Lady Lily’.”
Scott cocked his head in confusion. “I am sorry,” he said. “I did not…”
“It is Lady de Wolfe.”
Scott’s eyebrows lifted. Then, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He looked between his son and Chris. “Lady de Wolfe?” he repeated, pointing to Lily. “You married Worcester’s daughter?”
William nodded rapidly. He couldn’t tell if his father was pleased or outraged. “It happened quickly,” he repeated. “She returned from fostering and… well, it just happened.”
Chris was quite obviously overjoyed with the entire situation. “What he is telling you is that he and Lily fell in love and I gave them my blessing,” he said. “What he has not told you is that she is pregnant with your first grandchild. Now, are you truly going to make the mother of the next heir to the House of de Wolfe stand out here in the cold, Scott? Where are your manners?”
Scott was so surprised that, for a moment, he actually couldn’t move. He just stood there looking as if a mere breeze could have blown him right over. Beside him, however, Avrielle was overjoyed with the news and she rushed forward, kissing Lily on both cheeks.
“My darling lady,” she said fervently. “I am so pleased to hear this. Welcome to our family. We are so delighted to hear the good news!”
Lily was smiling weakly as Avrielle moved to William, kissing him on both cheeks as well. As she rushed around hugging everyone she could get her hands on, Scott just stood there looking at his son. His son. Now, to be a father to a son of his own. He tried to speak but he became so choked up that he couldn’t utter a sound. It was the most wonderful news he’d ever heard and, much like Chris, he was truly and utterly delighted. Only he had to overcome his astonishment first. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he moved to William.
William gazed back at his father, seeing the emotion in the man’s face. He’d seen that kind of emotion years ago on that day he’d come to Canaan after having not seen his father for so long. It had been an emotional day but one of the best days of his life. As Avrielle hugged the de Lohrs and excited congratulations went on all around them, he looked at his father and felt rather emotional himself.
“It was not something I wanted to tell you in a missive, Papa,” he said, his throat tight with emotion. “I wanted to tell you personally but Lily has been unable to travel because the pregnancy has made her ill. We came as soon as we could. I hope you are not too angry.”
Truth be told, Scott wasn’t. He cupped his son’s face, gazing into the eyes he loved so well. “I am not angry,” he said hoarsely. “I am overwrought with joy at the situation. Truly… I am speechless.”
William smiled tremulously. “I am glad,” he murmured. “I can only pray that I am as blessed as you were with my mother and as you have been with Avrielle. You have been twice blessed, I think.”
Scott leaned forward, kissing his son on the cheek. “I have been blessed beyond measure,” he murmured, looking to Lily, who was being swallowed up by Avrielle’s embrace. “May you be, as well.”
Putting his arm around his son, Scott walked him into the great hall of Canaan, following Avrielle and the Earl and Countess of Worcester, and a gaggle of children and young people, most of whom were related to the de Lohrs in some way. It seemed as if they had brought their entire household.
In the midst of the excitement, Stephen managed to saunter up to his mother and politely greet her, as he’d been taught, but Avrielle ruined all of that careful coaching by throwing her arms around her son and squeezing him until he nearly suffocated. But it was a joyous moment for all concerned, a Christmas that would never be forgotten, as the House of de Wolfe and the House of de Lohr were not only joined in friendship, but now joined by marriage as well.
Winter passed into spring, and spring into summer. When William de Wolfe finally heard the news, it was the month of June and a missive came from Castle Canaan to announce the birth of not only his first great-grandchild, but his old friend Paris’ great-grandchild as well. Much to their delight, they read the missive from Scott informing them of the birth of William and Lily’s first child, a little girl.
When Paris heard that they’d named the baby Athena, he wept.
* THE END *
Children of Scott and Avrielle de Wolfe
William (with Athena de Norville)
Thomas (with Athena de Norville)
Sophia (daughter of Nathaniel du Rennic)
Stephen (son of Nathaniel du Rennic)
Sorsha (daughter of Nathaniel du Rennic)
Jeremy
Nathaniel
Alexander
Seraphina
Jordan
De Wolfe Pack Series: