Part Four:
The Best Christmas of All
It was a cold, bright, and fresh morning, and Dane had just received a snowball on the side of the head, launched with precision by Cort, who was now running for his life as Dane charged after him. Everyone was screaming and laughing as Dane tackled Cort, who slipped on the ice, and the two of them went plowing into a snowdrift.
But Dane wasn’t alone. When next he realized, children were piling on top of him and on top of Cort, egged on by Trenton and Matthieu. It was Matthieu’s four boys who were the first ones to pile on, followed by an assortment of other children. Dane started laughing, so hard that he could barely breathe, but he managed to grab a fistful of show and rub it into Cort’s face.
It was bedlam.
Somehow, Dane made it out of the pile of men and children, wet and covered with snow, but he hardly cared. Christmas morn had dawned bright and beautiful after a storm overnight, and it was a winter wonderland for everyone to play in. Not surprisingly, the first ones out into the snow had been Boden and Gage, and they’d awakened the entire keep by pounding on doors, awakening the children, announcing that it was Christmas morn.
They had taken their lives in their hands doing so.
Matthieu’s sons had been the first ones to join their uncles, joined by more children as the parents couldn’t keep them still. All eleven of Adeliza and Arica’s children emerged, bundled up and ready for the morning, and it was Boden and Gage who herded the children down into the bailey where great piles of fresh snow awaited. Screaming, happy children filled the morning.
Trenton brought his two daughters down soon enough, and Brencis and Cynethryn joined in the fun. They were Lysabel’s daughters from her first marriage, but Trenton had adopted them when he married their mother, and he loved them as if they were his own blood. Lysabel remained in their chamber, feeding their son, but Dane and Grier joined the chaos in the bailey, with Grier staying far out of the way as the brothers de Russe lobbed snowballs at each other.
Unfortunately for Grier, Gage tried to use her as a human shield against her husband, which Dane didn’t take kindly to. As he was demanding Gage release his wife, Trenton came up behind his youngest brother and smashed snow down the back of his coat. Howling, Gage released Grier, who laughingly ran to the safety of her husband as Trenton further punished Gage by dragging the man over to a snowdrift and pushing him into it. It was the older brothers against the younger brothers as the balance of power shifted.
Last to join the fray were Remington and her youngest daughter, Gilliana. Bundled up in furs, they stood on the stoop of the keep entry, watching the madness. Gilliana didn’t want to get cold and wet, but she was pulled away by her nieces and had no choice but to play in the snow. Seeing his mother standing alone on the steps, Dane went to join her.
“Good morn to you, Mother,” he said, kissing her cheek. “A happy and chaotic Christmas to you.”
Remington touched her boy on the cheek. “A happy Christmas to you as well,” she said. “Did you sleep well?”
Dane nodded, watching Grier as Brencis and Cynethryn pulled her out into the snow, trying to convince her to help them build a snow fortress. “I did,” he said. “Shrewsbury Castle may belong to me, but Deverill is home. I feel as if this is where I truly belong.”
Remington smiled. “It is where you truly belong,” she said. “Is Grier happy? Did she sleep well?”
Dane was looking at his wife as she began to help her nieces make a snow fort. “She did,” he said. “Which is normal for her. She can sleep anywhere, any time of day. Being with child has made her exhausted.”
Remington’s eyes flew open wide as she looked to her son in shock. “A baby?” she gasped. Then, she threw her arms around her son. “Dane, I am so thrilled for you! What a glorious Christmas gift!”
Dane hugged his mother. “We were going to surprise Father with it, but I am finding it increasingly difficult not to tell everyone before I tell him,” he said. As his mother released him, he gazed into her eyes. “I have not discussed this with Grier yet, but I am sure she will agree with me. Regardless if the child is male or female, I would like to name my firstborn Rory, after Aunt Rory. You will recall, she was my playmate for many years. I miss the woman with the bright red hair who would do anything I asked of her, up to and including baiting hooks or climbing trees. I have never told you how much I have missed her because I never wanted to add to your sorrow, but I have missed her every single day. I would like to honor her by naming my child after her.”
Remington’s breath caught in her throat and, immediately, she was teary-eyed. “I think that would be wonderful,” she said, a lump in her throat. “She loved you so much, Dane. I know she would be so very touched that you would name your child after her.”
Dane smiled weakly. “Good,” he said. “As I said, I’ve not mentioned it to Grier, but I am sure she will agree.”
Remington held his hand tightly as they spent a moment thinking of Rory, a memory to bring the woman alive after all these years. Trenton, who hadn’t really known Rory, had been listening in on the conversation, absorbing the past sorrows. He knew Arik, of course, his father’s tall and blond friend, not unlike Matthew Wellesbourne. His father was close to both men. But Arik was a Viking, the son of Northmen, and that had seemed both frightening and exotic to Trenton as a young man.
All shadows of the past, things and people he remembered as a child. But those memories all revolved around his father, a man who was increasingly on Trenton’s mind as the morning went on.
“Mayhap, Dane and I should go and wake Father,” he said to Remington. “Mayhap we can help him dress and bring him down to the bailey to watch his grandchildren play. You know that he can probably already hear them.”
He was pointing upward, to the chambers above them where Gaston was, and Remington glanced upward. She knew that Trenton was right. But there was hesitation in her manner.
“I will go,” she said. “Trenton, Dane… you know your father does not like you to see him in his weakened state. At least let me get him dressed. Give him the dignity of facing you from a chair, or sitting up in bed, not laying on his back like an invalid. I know you mean well, but…”
She was cut off when Brencis, Trenton’s youngest daughter, approached. The child was wailing, rubbing at her eyes, as she headed straight for Trenton, who bent down to pick her up.
“Here, here,” he said gently, surprising from a man of his size and fierceness. “Why do you weep?”
Brencis’ heart was broken. “I-I want to play with Bryant and Braxton and Etienne,” she sobbed, pointing to her older cousins. “But they will not let me!”
Trenton fought off a grin as he looked to his mother. “Excuse me,” he said quietly. “I have some boys to see.”
Remington grinned as she waved him on, watching him lumber out to a group of nephews who were lobbing snowballs that had rocks in them. One of the boys already had a welt on his head. Seeing Uncle Trenton approach caused all activity to cease because the de Russe nephews had a healthy respect for their very big uncle, and it was soon clear that Brencis would be allowed to join their play, sans the rocks. Dane laughed softly at the sight.
“I never thought I would see the day when a young girl had complete power over Trenton,” he said.
Remington snorted. “Wait until Rory is born,” she said. “If it is a girl, I will remind you of this when you go running to her with every little cry she makes.”
Dane shook his head. “Not me,” he said firmly, pretending it wasn’t true. “Here, let us go and say good morn to Grier. You can tell her how happy you are about our coming child.”
Clutching her son’s arm, Remington beamed as she headed out into the snow, where one of her cheeky grandchildren decided to throw a snowball at her. That brought Dane on the run, and he grabbed Adeliza’s daughter, Marguerite, who reminded him a good deal of Rory. She was bold and brassy and redheaded. As he picked her up and tickled her to punish her, the sentries at the gate let up a cry.
As Dane set his niece to the ground, he could see a rider and donkey enter the compound, realizing almost immediately that it was Father de Tormo. As he’d promised yesterday, the priest was making an appearance at Deverill. He lifted a hand to the man, who waved in return. He was about to head in the priest’s direction when he suddenly heard a collective gasp go up around him. Children began running towards the keep, and by the time Dane turned to see what was going on, he caught sight of his father standing on the stoop.
Gaston had finally made an appearance.
But it wasn’t just any appearance. The man was bundled up in woolens, but he was moving differently. Faster. As the children ran at him, he bent down and scooped up two of them, kissing cold cheeks and greeting the ones who were clamoring at his feet. He hadn’t picked up his grandchildren in months. As Dane stood there in shock, he could hear his mother gasp.
“My God,” she hissed. “What is he doing?”
Remington began moving towards him, quickly, as Dane followed. In fact, all of the adults seemed to be moving for Gaston as the grandchildren began tugging on his hands, begging him to come out and play. Remington was the first one to her husband, her expression suggesting that she was panic-stricken with concern.
“Gaston?” she asked, trying to be gentle but not doing a very good job of it. “What… what are you doing out here, my love? How did you come down the stairs all on your own?”
Gaston looked at his wife with a hint of color in his cheeks that she hadn’t seen since his illness had been diagnosed. And his expression… full of love and warmth and joy. It had been months, at the very least, since she’d seen that expression. He moved through the children gathered around him and reached out to pull Remington against him, planting a fairly alluring kiss on her lips.
“Good morn to you, angel,” he said in a tone she hadn’t heard from him in years. “I heard everyone out here and thought I would come and play.”
A chorus went up among the children. Play, play they all cried. Adeliza and Arica were there, pulling the children away from Gaston. They were as confused as the rest of the adults as to why the man was on his feet. In fact, Boden and Gage were on either side of their father as if waiting for him to collapse, but he seemed as strong as a tree. Healthy. Remington was still staring at him, shock in her features.
“But…” she sputtered, reaching up to touch his face as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. “You look… well, Gaston. How do you feel?”
Gaston grinned; he looked a little tired, perhaps a little elderly, but for the most part, he looked completely healthy. His dark hair, now mostly gone to gray, had been combed, and there was an energy to his movements that hadn’t been seen from the man in ages.
“I feel remarkable,” he said. “I woke up this morning feeling better than I have in quite some time.”
“Father?” Dane was there, looking at the man with his mouth hanging open. “Are you sure you are feeling well? Mayhap, you should let Boden and Gage take you back inside so that you may rest.”
Gaston looked to his blond son, a glimmer in his smoky gray eyes. “I do not need to rest,” he said. “The physic you sent to me has done something no physic has been able to do. Whatever the man had me drink last night has worked wonders. My throat is still a bit sore, but no coughing. No blood. I woke up this morning feeling better than I have in a very long while.”
Dane was vastly confused. “The physic I sent to you?”
Gaston nodded. “The one from Shrewsbury. The one dressed in white; tall, pale, and blond? Surely you know the man. He said you sent him.”
Dane had no idea who he was talking about. “Father, I didn’t bring a physic with me from Shrewsbury,” he said with concern. “Who came to you and told you I had sent them?”
The children were tugging at Gaston, pulling at him, and it was increasingly difficult to resist. Adeliza and Arica couldn’t keep them away, so they finally gave up because Gaston was going along with it.
“He said his name was Raphael,” Gaston said. “He gave me something to drink. Holy water, he said, but it must have been much more than that. Whatever medicines he gave me, they have worked a miracle. It is the best Christmas gift you could have ever given me, Dane. To thank you doesn’t seem quite enough.”
With that, the lure of playing with his grandchildren took hold and he headed out with the group of them, still followed closely by Gage and Boden, still waiting for their father to collapse. But he didn’t. He let himself be pelted by snowballs by eager little hands and it was the most glorious thing he could have hoped for. He was still old, that was true, but the illness that had been leeching away his life seemed, for a moment, to have faded away. Standing before them was the Gaston de Russe they all knew and loved, a man of strength and with a lust for life.
It was the most astonishing thing any of the adults had ever seen.
Trenton turned to Dane.
“Who is this physic he is speaking of?” he demanded softly. “Did someone come to him last night that we did not know about?”
Neither Dane nor Remington had any answers for him. “I only left him for a short while,” Remington insisted. “When I came down to greet Dane. And you know that I did not stay very long. When I returned to his chamber, he was quite alone and asleep.”
Dane was at a loss. Watching his father as the man played with his grandchildren was the most dumbfounding thing he’d ever seen. Nothing the man had said made any sense to him but, clearly, something had happened.
For a brief and wonderful moment, Gaston de Russe’s health had returned.
He was the man they all remembered.
“A blessed Christmas, Lady de Russe.”
Father de Tormo was walking up on the group, trying not to slip in the snow. He opened his mouth to say something more when he caught sight of Gaston standing in the center of a group of frolicking children. Eyes wide, he pointed to him.
“What… Sweet Mary, what is he doing?” he gasped. “I thought he could not leave his bed!”
Trenton and Dane were shaking their heads in unison, hardly able to grasp the sight. They reflected the priest’s shock and then some.
“He says someone visited him last night and gave him a potion,” Dane said. “He said the man identified himself as being sent by me, but I sent no one.”
“God,” Trenton groaned, hand to his face. “Is it possible he has gone mad? Is it possible that he has simply lost his mind?”
By this time, Cort had joined the group as they all stood there and watched Gaston with his grandchildren. Cort came up to his mother and put his arm around her shoulders.
“He’s possessed,” Cort said flatly. “He must be. Yesterday, he had not the strength to move but today, he is standing and playing? He is possessed, I say!”
Remington wasn’t sure how to respond. She was so worried that she could hardly stand it, but Gaston didn’t look like he was in any distress. In fact, this was the man she knew from years ago, the strong and healthy husband, and that realization brought tears to her eyes. Now that she was over the shock of his appearance, something was abundantly clear to her – something miraculous had, indeed, happened, and the warmth of an overwhelming feeling of faith washed over her like nothing she’d ever experienced before. Not a religious woman, it was something Remington had never felt before. Choked with emotion, she could barely speak.
“Nay,” she breathed. “He is not possessed.”
“But – how?” Cort demanded.
Remington could only shake her head. “You know I have struggled with my faith,” she whispered. “My prayers have never been answered, so when your father became ill, I did not bother with prayer because I knew I would be ignored. But… but at this moment, I have never felt faith more strongly or purely in my life. Mayhap, I am living a dream. Mayhap, we are all living a dream for, certainly, this is what I see when I dream – I see Gaston as I remember him. I see him as he is meant to be. I do not care what has happened to him, or why he has suddenly regained his health, but I am not going to question it. Mayhap that is what is means to have faith and, today, I am full of it. Blindly full of it. I am going to enjoy every moment and be grateful for it.”
With that, she went to her husband as he stood in the center of their grandchildren. When he saw her coming, he opened up an arm to her and she went to him, collapsing against him as he pulled her into an embrace.
It was enough to drive Dane and Trenton to tears.
“Is this really happening?” Dane finally asked, deeply moved. “God, I prayed for this moment. When I lit the candle yesterday at St. Denys, this is exactly what I prayed for. And that physic that my father spoke of? Was it possible that he dreamed the man, like some kind of miraculous healer?”
“Miraculous healer?” Cort repeated. He hadn’t heard what Gaston had said about the situation, so this was new information to him. “He said he dreamed of a physic?”
Dane nodded. “He said someone came to him last night and told him that I had sent him, from Shrewsbury, presumably. But I sent no one from Shrewsbury.”
Cort’s gaze lingered on his brother a moment before returning his attention to his father. “Did he describe the man?” he asked.
“He said he was dressed in white, tall and blond.” Dane suddenly paused as a thought occurred to him. “In fact, I saw such a man yesterday as I was leaving St. Denys. Father de Tormo, did you see the man? He came into the church after I left.”
Father de Tormo nodded without hesitation. “I did, indeed, see him,” he said. “In fact, I thought he was you because as I came back into the church, he was standing by the candles, where it was shadowed. I did not get a good look at him at first. He asked where Gaston de Russe lived and I directed him to Deverill Castle.”
As Dane looked at the priest curiously, Cort spoke. “A man in white was here last night,” he said. “I did not think much of it until you mentioned him, but I was checking the posts this morning and the sentries from the night watch told me of the man in white who had left just as they were sealing the gates. They called to him and told him to come back, but he disappeared into the night.”
Dane was starting to piece things together. “So the man who went to St. Denys last night came to Deverill and told my father that I had sent him,” he said, looking between the priest and Trenton. “Why? Why would he do that?”
The more Dane and the others pondered the situation, the more Father de Tormo had an outlandish idea occur to him. He was a priest; his life was built on faith. He’d seen so much strife in this world, but he’d also seen the good of it. He’d seen many, many people light prayer candles, but had he actually seen prayers answered? He thought so. What had he told Dane last night?
Your love for the man will cause God to hear you loudly.
Perhaps, that had been true. Perhaps, he’d been more correct than he realized. In looking at Gaston this morning, de Tormo was willing to go on that faith.
“Dane,” he muttered, his gaze on Gaston. “Did your father’s mysterious physic have a name?”
Dane nodded. “He said his name was Raphael.”
De Tormo’s breath caught in his throat. “The archangel of physics and healing.”
Dane looked at him curiously. “What did you say?”
De Tormo looked at him. “I said that Raphael is the archangel of physics and healing,” he said. “Mayhap, God listened to your prayers, after all. It would be easy to doubt such a thing. But considering that your father is on his feet and looking better than he has in years, you may want to consider that God, in fact, heard your prayers and He answered them.”
Dane looked at the man in shock. It would have been simple to discount him, a fantasy of a zealot. But somehow, given what he was seeing before him in his father’s healthy stance, Dane couldn’t think of any other explanation, either. Oddly enough, what de Tormo said made a hell of a lot of sense.
“My father told me that Raphael said I had sent him,” he said. Then, his eyes widened. “I summoned him with my prayers?”
De Tormo smiled; he couldn’t help it. “It is as good an explanation as any,” he said. “They say that Christmas Eve is when angels walk the earth. Mayhap, we have been witness to such an event. In any case, we should not question it. We should rejoice and give thanks that your father has lived to see another day.”
Dane, Trenton, and Cort couldn’t have agreed more. As de Tormo headed over to greet Gaston, the three of them watched as the priest was pelted by some well-aimed snowballs. It was a great mystery to them all, perhaps the greatest mystery they had ever faced. But as de Tormo said, it was not up to them to question why. Perhaps a miracle had, indeed, occurred and they would, indeed, give thanks and rejoice that their father lived to see another day.
In the years to come, the children of Gaston de Russe, Dane and Trenton included, would speak of that Christmas Day when their father was given the greatest gift of all – a true and righteous miracle that all of the physics in London couldn’t explain away. Gaston’s cancerous throat had somehow gone into remission, and no one seemed to know how or why.
But Dane and Trenton knew.
It was a matter of a little faith… and, perhaps, a wish upon that bright and shining Christmas star on a night when angels walked the earth.
The End