“Then there is no time to waste for my wedding.”
And waste time, they did not. In her traveling clothes and with the King of England in attendance, Lady Vesper d’Avignon married Sir Valor de Nerra at the entrance to Winchester Cathedral that very night as a faint dusting of snow fell from the dark and swollen sky. Once the vows were taken, everyone moved inside for the great mass and the wedding blessing.
It was a night of great rejoicing and happiness, but no one was rejoicing more than Margaretha. Finally, her bachelor son had taken a bride and she couldn’t have been more pleased about it. The entire wedding feast consisted of more talk of grandchildren, at least as far as she was concerned, and when the newly married couple retreated to their borrowed chamber in the keep of Winchester for the night, a slightly-drunk Margaretha made sure they understood that their purpose that night was to conceive a child.
Henry egged her on and poured more wine into her cup as Val rolled his eyes and carried his bride away. Only when he was out of sight did he grin at the sight of his drunken mother demanding grandchildren.
With his wedding night before him, he intended to do his best to obey her.
EPILOGUE
Holystone Castle
May, 1173 A.D.
It was a glorious spring day, abnormally warm this far north, but Vesper wasn’t complaining. The sun felt wonderful on her face as she stood at the edge of the kitchen yard, watching Margaretha stand in the middle of the fowlery where chicken and ducks and their young gathered.
But Margaretha wasn’t standing there simply for something to do. She was watching her grandsons run about, chasing the newly hatched ducks and admonishing the boys to be gentle with the little creatures. Gabriel and Gavin de Nerra, identical twins born nearly nine months after their father had departed for Ireland, were just over a year and a half years of age and, as Margaretha put it, they were wicked personified. They ran around like madmen, ate heartily, hated to be bathed, and generally caused a ruckus around Holystone, which had been a quiet castle until the birth of the two ruffians.
But they were precious ruffians. William de Percy’s two spinster sisters, Lady Arietta and Lady Blossom, had been disturbed by the babies at first but very soon came to tolerate and even love them. Now, they vied for time to tend them with Margaretha, greatly displeasing the woman who had waited so long for them. But the wait had been worth it; she adored the boys who looked much as their father did at that age. Bright, sweet, and spirited, she thanked God daily for their exhausting presence.
But they needed a strong hand, one she was more than willing to lend. Even now, she stood over them as they chased chicks and ducklings, her attentive eye watching their every move.
“Gabriel,” she said imperiously. “Be kind to the ducklings. That’s right; be very gentle. Gentle… nay! Do not kick them!”
Gabriel hadn’t made contact with the duckling but his move had been naughty, naughty enough that Margaretha grasped him by the arm and pulled him away from the ducklings. Terribly unhappy, Gabriel began to wail as his mother came to his rescue and took him from his grandmother.
“It is nearly the nooning meal,” Vesper said, wiping the tears from her son’s face and trying to soothe his crying. “Please bring Gavin. I believe they both need to eat and then rest for a time. Gabriel is only naughty when he is tired.”
Margaretha cocked an eyebrow at the whimpering child. “Gabriel is naughty when he believes he can get away with it,” she said, patting the little boy on the cheek. “Val was much that way. He will outgrow it.”
Vesper simply grinned, carrying her child out of the fowlery as Margaretha followed with the equally unhappy Gavin. Both boys wanted to stay and play with the spring babies but their mother and grandmother had other ideas.
A gentle wind blew through the grounds of Holystone and Vesper tried to distract her crying son, pointing to the birds, the sky, and even the soldiers who were repairing a provisions wagon near the front gates. The castle was too small for a gatehouse but it did have an abnormally tall wall around it, great protection against the marauding Scots who occasionally made their way this far south.
But those instances were rare. In all, Holystone had been a beautiful place to live and Vesper was very happy here with her children and with Margaretha. But one thing was obviously missing.
Her husband.
Val had been in Ireland for almost two and a half years, the longest years in Vesper’s life. She’d known him so short a time before he departed that, in some ways, he was like a dream to her, something from her memory during one of the most turbulent but happiest times in her life. Nightly, she closed her eyes and tried to picture his face or hear his voice, but with time, those memories had faded. It was difficult to remember what he looked like or the sound of his voice, but that didn’t matter – her love for him was just as strong as it had ever been. Time hadn’t been able to erase the powerful bond between them.
Every time she looked at her boys, she could imagine what Val looked like. Sometimes, they would smile in a way that would jog her memory and she would think how much they looked like him. Margaretha commented on it constantly. Ever since Val had left for Ireland, they had been companions. And they had become very close with each other. Vesper couldn’t remember much of her own mother and Margaretha filled a big void for her, something she appreciated deeply. Yet, as far as a fatherly void, she’d never really had one.
McCloud had been with her all along.
“Why is my grandson weeping?”
Coming from behind the wagon that the soldiers were repairing, McCloud appeared with a tool in his hand. He’d been helping the men level off the broken wagon but Gabriel’s cries had lured him away. He tossed the tool aside and headed for Vesper as she tried to soothe her grumpy, weepy son.
“It is time for his nooning meal and a nap,” Vesper told her father. “There is nothing wrong with him that food and sleep will not cure.”
McCloud wasn’t convinced. He pulled Gabriel out of Vesper’s arms and began to rock the boy, singing to him and gently swinging him around to distract him. Gabriel’s cries turned to giggles as McCloud turned circles with him in the bailey. Vesper couldn’t help but smile; her father was really quite good with the boys, attentive and kind. This was the man she’d remembered from her childhood before poverty and hopelessness had turned him into someone else.
She knew that now.
But she almost hadn’t. She had no contact with her father until after the twins were born and, even then, it had been at Margaretha’s insistence. Vesper had spent months after the birth of her boys in a depressed state and she’d lamented more than once the loss of her father and how she missed the chance to forgive him when he’d begged it of her.
At first, Margaretha hadn’t been sympathetic. But over time, she encouraged Vesper to ease things with McCloud, especially now that he had grandsons. So, Vesper had sent a missive to him all the way in Durley. She had told him of the births, and of her life, and McCloud’s reply had been to come to Holystone to see his grandsons. Not even a bad winter that year could have kept him away and he appeared one evening, nearly frozen to death, demanding to see his grandchildren.
He never went home after that.
Now, McCloud was a fixture at Holystone. The relationship with Vesper that had been so terribly damaged by his lies had slowly been repaired. It had taken time for him to earn her trust again, and Margaretha’s trust even, but he’d work hard at it. He was fully aware of what he’d nearly lost. Nowadays, the father/daughter relationship was better than it had ever been and Vesper was grateful for his presence. He was a very wise man and, many a time, he’d give her comfort and advice on Val’s long absence. Slowly but surely, more trust – and a stronger relationship – was built.
Therefore, she appreciated moments like this because her life could have so easily been different. As McCloud entertained Gabriel, Margaretha walked up leading Gavin by the hand, Gavin was rubbing his eyes and whining. Margaretha
picked the boy up, soothing his irritation.
“The cook says that it will rain later today,” she said. “More’s the pity. It has been a beautiful two days since the last storm. Any more rain and I shall become waterlogged myself.”
Vesper glanced up to the sky with not a cloud in it. “I do not know how she knows, but she is always correct,” she said. “This has been a very wet spring.”
The five of them began to move towards the keep, a squat, square-shaped structure that was powerfully built. Holystone didn’t have a great hall but the entry level of the keep was one big chamber that served as their hall. The spinster sisters kept it very clean, with no dogs and a thrice-daily sweep. This hall was their destination since that was where they ate their meals.
“I am weary of so much rain,” Margaretha commented as Gavin struggled to get out of her arms. “It is unfortunate because when the weather is good as it is now, the children can run and run until they collapse. When they are kept inside the keep because of the weather, I am not sure who goes more insane – me or them.”
Vesper grinned. “Summer will be here very soon and then they can run outside to their heart’s content,” she said as the steps to the keep came near. “But I do hope Val returns home before they are too much older. I had so hoped he would get to see his sons when they were small.”
They’d wandered to the subject of Val’s absence, which was a frequent subject these days. Vesper’s longing for her husband had been intense and they were all aware of the fact.
“His last message to you said that he had hoped to come home soon,” Margaretha reminded her. “That was back in March. It is quite possible that he is already on his way here.”
“And it is equally possible that Henry will keep him in Ireland,” McCloud said, putting Gabriel on his feet because the boy was squirming so. “I have heard the soldiers speaking of what is happening in Ireland and they say that Henry has taken on a large-scale building project of many castles to keep the Irish lords at bay. Val and I were in France for four years before we returned to England, so it is possible that Val will spend more time in Ireland.”
Vesper didn’t like that thought. But she knew her father was only being pragmatic about the situation. Still, there were days when she didn’t want to be pragmatic. She wanted to take the boys and travel to Ireland to find her husband. It was tragic that her children hadn’t even met their father yet, something that very much hurt her heart. He was missing out on so much of their lives.
Without anything to say to her father, she began to take the steps to the keep only to come to a halt when Gabriel escaped McCloud’s clutches and ran off screaming. Vesper and Margaretha watched McCloud as the man tried to corral the squirrely little boy, but Gabriel had no intention of being captured by his grandfather. He began to run around the wagon that was being repaired in the bailey, much to the amusement of the soldiers.
Because he was being so fussy, Margaretha set Gavin to his feet as well, holding tight to his little hand so she wouldn’t be in the same position that McCloud was, but Gavin had learned a trick with his grandmother – if he bit her fingers, she would release him, so he clamped down with his baby teeth, forcing a yelp from his grandmother but she most definitely released him. He was off like a shot, running into the bailey and screaming with glee.
“That little beast!” Margaretha said, rubbing the spot where he’d nipped her. “He bit me! Again!”
Vesper couldn’t help but grin at her naughty boys. “They are very clever, both of them,” she said. “Would you not say so?”
Margaretha shook her head. “Naughty little beasts.”
Vesper began to laugh. “I am sure Val will be very proud of their resourcefulness.”
“If I do not beat it out of them before he knows what devil spawns he has fathered.”
Vesper continued to laugh, turning to put her hand on Margaretha in a gesture of pity only to see that Margaretha was smiling, too.
“You are the one who wanted grandchildren,” she reminded her.
“I must have been mad.”
Still chuckling, Vesper headed off after Gavin, who tended to be the faster of the two. Margaretha didn’t run these days as McCloud did, so chasing down the twins fell to Vesper and her father. As they tried to run down the two little boys, over by the main entrance, the men threw the big iron bolt across the gate and began pulling the gates open.
The old gates creaked and groaned on their hinges as they were opened. Seeing daylight beyond the gate, Gavin switched course and began to run for the opening. Vesper picked up her pace after him, reaching him just about the time the gates opened enough to admit men on horseback.
Vesper wasn’t paying any attention to the men who had entered Holystone; she was more concerned about her sons who very much needed to eat and sleep. Gavin was screaming in her ear as she walked away from the gates, so much so that she barely heard someone shout her name. In fact, the shout came twice before she turned around to see who was calling her.
A very big knight had entered at the head of a large contingent of men, all of them looking seasoned and, quite frankly, weary and beaten. Mail was damaged, tunics were dirty, and horses were shaggy from a brutal winter. As Vesper peered at the men curiously, because some of them were still coming in through the gate, the big knight ripped his helm off.
“Vesper!”
It was Val.
Realization hit Vesper so hard that her knees nearly buckled. In fact, she almost stumbled with the baby in her arms but she caught herself, astonished to the bone as Val vaulted from his horse and began running in her direction. Vesper could hardly believe it; all she could do was stand there and gasp. He was here! God, how many times had she dreamed of this moment? It seemed like a million, at the very least. But when the moment finally came, it came so subtly that she found she was hardly prepared.
Was it a dream?
Was he truly here?
He called her name again, snapping her out of her shock. With a cry, Vesper forced her legs to work, running towards Val only to be intercepted by Gabriel, who had escaped McCloud and was running for parts unknown. She managed to reach out and grab her other son, who threw himself onto the ground and began to scream.
Now, she had two screaming boys in her arms as she tried to run to Val but she simply couldn’t do it. Too much struggle, perhaps too much shock, had her stumbling to her knees. It didn’t matter, however. Val was on her so quickly that she could hardly draw a breath before he was kissing her furiously, his arms going around both her and their screaming sons. After the first few eager kisses, Val began to roar with laughter at the first sights and sounds of his children.
His sons.
“God’s Bones,” he said, his white teeth gleaming beneath his dark and heavy beard. “I have dreamt of this moment. My God, I cannot tell you how much I have dreamt of this moment and when it finally comes, it is pure chaos.”
Vesper was weeping with joy, laughing with Val in spite of herself. “My sweet darling,” she murmured, kissing him as he kissed her in return. “This is not how I dreamt it, either. I cannot even put my arms around you because if I let go of them, they will run off and we will lose them both.”
Val had tears in his eyes as he pulled Gabriel from his mother, holding the boy in front of him and looking into a handsome little face that looked very much like his own. Gabriel, however, had no idea who the strange man was and didn’t take kindly to him, so he tried to kick and push him away.
But it made no difference to Val. He was instantly, and completely, in love with his child. Seeing that little face satisfied something deep within his soul.
“Which one is he?” he asked Vesper. “Gabriel or Gavin?”
“Gabriel,” Vesper said, wiping the tears from her face as she watched Val gaze upon his son for the first time. “He is your second born. Gavin was first. You can tell Gabriel from Gavin because he has a big dimple in his left cheek. See it when he opens his mouth?”
Val could
, indeed, see it. “Gabriel,” he repeated reverently. “See how strong he is! And big! I did not imagine them to be so big!”
He said it with awe as the child tried to pull away. But Vesper forced Gavin to his feet and she took hold of Gabriel’s arm, forcing the boy to stand as well even though Val still had his hands on him. She spoke firmly but softly to her sons.
“Gabriel?” she said. “Gavin? Listen to me. This is Dada. Do you remember how I read you Dada’s missives? Do you remember how I told you he was fighting a great war? He has come home to see you. You must embrace him and show him that you love him.”
Gabriel wasn’t quite calm enough to grasp what his mother was telling him but Gavin was. He was the more introspective child, one of deep thought and feeling. He peered at Val, going to stand beside his fussing brother and looking Val in the eye. Val’s gaze moved back and forth between the two boys, mirror images of each other, and his heart couldn’t have been more full at the moment. It was joy beyond measure.
“Greetings, Gavin,” he said to the boy who was staring at him. “You are a very big lad. Do you know how to ride a horse yet? Has your mother taught you?”
Vesper moved in close to Val, putting her arms around him and laying her head on his shoulder as he spoke to their sons. The feel of him in her arms threatened to bring tears again but she struggled against them. “I have not,” she said hoarsely. “But my father has put them on ponies and led them about the stable yard.”
The mention of McCloud caught Val off-guard but he didn’t say anything; not now. He was too upswept in the first look at his boys to let anything spoil that.
“I see,” he said. Then, he simply shook his head. “I cannot believe I am actually looking at them. I have prayed for this day since I received your missive telling me that you were with child. I have imagined the faces of my sons a thousand times over in my mind but it does not compare to the beauty I see before me. They look so much like my father that it is truly astonishing.”