Until they had a body, there was always hope.
Finally, two horses appeared at a distance. They could see them now, figures on small, shaggy horses making their way towards Lioncross. As they drew closer, Dustin suddenly let out a gasp and took off at a dead run.
She was very fast, as her husband had found out on more than one occasion. Jeffrey, standing in the gatehouse, tried to stop her, but she blew past him and he had no chance to grab her. Out into the snowy road she ran, screaming out when the horses drew closer to her.
“Chris!”
Christopher heard her. He’d been somewhat slumped in the saddle, mostly because his head was killing him and he was still a bit woozy, but her voice was like music to his ears. He’d had his eyes mostly shut because the glare from the snow hurt his head, but his eyes were closed no longer at the sound of her screams. In fact, he slithered off the horse and made his way towards her, slipping in the snow, until he and Dustin came together in a cataclysmic embrace. Christopher lifted her up, out of the snow, holding her tightly against him.
He was home.
“I am all right,” he assured her. “I am sorry we are so late, sweetheart, but with the storm, we had to find shelter and wait it out. But I promise, I will be fine.”
Dustin let him go long enough to look at him, very closely. “Max and Cabot said you fell off of the bridge in Kington,” she said. “What happened, Chris?”
Christopher sighed, watching as Emilie, realizing David had also come home, ran down the road and leapt into her husband’s arms, nearly knocking him to the ground. He could hear the woman weeping with joy.
“Max and Cabot were correct,” he said. “I was knocked into the river and Peter went after me to save me. Marcus and David saw Peter jump in, so they also jumped in to help. The current was so strong that it carried us down river until we were able to climb out. The storm was so bad at that point that we were in danger of freezing, so we had to find shelter.”
Dustin kept her arms around him as if she were afraid he was going to disappear. “And you did,” she said. “But where? There are not many farms south of Kington. Where did you find shelter?”
He put his arm around her shoulder, turning her around for Lioncross. He very much wanted to get inside and sit before a warm fire.
“A manse,” he said. “A woman and her daughter took us in for the night. We left as soon as we could. Speaking of leaving, have Marcus and Peter returned?”
Dustin couldn’t help but notice that he was walking very slowly. She put her arm around his waist, pretending she could give some support to a man of his bulk.
“Nay,” she said. “Were they not with you?”
Christopher didn’t like the fact that Marcus and Peter had not returned yet. He found himself glancing over his shoulder, hoping to see them somewhere on the road behind him.
“They were, for a time,” he said. “But Welshmen also sought shelter at the same manse, so we hid from them most of the night. At one point, they went looking for us and Marcus led them away from where we were hiding. Peter went after him to help him. I have not seen them since last night and was hoping they had returned to Lioncross.”
Dustin could hear the distress in his voice. “It is still early,” she said. “You have only just arrived yourself. I am sure they are coming. Peter has your intelligence and strength, and Marcus is too cunning to let anything happen to him. They will be here.”
Christopher shared her confidence but he was still concerned. “Gabrielle must be worried.”
“She is. But she knows her husband. She knows he will always return to her.”
Christopher fell silent a moment, thinking of the evening before. Of all of the events, from the bump on the head to nearly freezing to death to the story of Ezz and Marwah, the thing that stood out to him was his conversation with Marcus. That, more than anything, meant something to him.
We’ve never talked about what I did those years ago, Chris.
Truth be told, Christopher heard nearly everything Marcus had said, only he’d been so stunned and exhausted with it all that he hadn’t been able to respond. He’d been surprised that Marcus had never gotten over something Christopher had forgiven long ago. The fact that Marcus verbalized what a lesser man couldn’t, or wouldn’t, touched Christopher deeply. The man had been willing to speak on his failings and apologize for them.
Christopher had always considered Marcus his brother.
Always.
But he wouldn’t tell Dustin any of it, at least not today. Although she was involved in the situation, and deeply, he didn’t want to stir up what the years had healed. It had been a particularly difficult time for Dustin and he didn’t want to bring it up, on Christmas of all days. For Christopher, it had been a night of healing in that stable. Healing old hurts, old rifts.
They were gone, forever.
“Look!”
Someone at the gatehouse was shouting again. Christopher and Dustin, and David and Emilie turned to see two lone riders in the distance. They were emerging from a forest to the north, a different road from the one Christopher and David had taken. Everyone stood there, frozen to the spot, waiting for the riders to draw nearer. Was it Marcus and Peter? Or was it no one of note?
So much seemed to hang in the balance for those few tense moments.
Then, Christopher grinned.
“It is Marcus and Peter,” he said. “I’d recognize Marcus anywhere. He rides a horse like he has a stick up his arse. He sits as straight as an arrow.”
Dustin closed her eyes with relief, leaning her head against her husband’s chest. “Thank God,” she murmured. “Oh, thank God. They outwitted the Welsh.”
“Indeed, they did,” Christopher said, a warm glimmer in his eyes. “Come, Wife. Let us greet the men who saved my life.”
Gladly, Dustin did. Peter was the recipient of a motherly hug and Marcus received a kiss on the cheek. All of it, a great show of gratitude for the life of the husband she held so dear.
But for Marcus, it had been a defining moment.
In days past, the kiss to the cheek would have meant something to Marcus. He would have read something into it, perhaps affection from a lady he’d longed for so deeply, and for so long. In days past, his attention would have been on her even if his wife had been present, like she was now.
But since that great confession in the loft, a strange thing happened.
Marcus longed for Dustin no more. He felt friendly fondness for her and nothing else, and when Gabrielle rushed up to him to give him a warm and welcoming hug, he accepted it gratefully. For Marcus, he’d finally given up the pursuit of everything that had nearly ruined his life. He loved his wife, and loved his brothers in Christopher and David, and that was all he ever needed.
All he ever wanted.
Marcus Burton had finally grown up.
As for Peter, he kept his word and returned to Andra and Sianet, bringing with him the horses they had borrowed as well as coinage, food, and a milk cow. The cow was Dustin’s idea, something special to thank the two ladies for saving the lives of the most important men in her life. And it wouldn’t be the last time Peter ever saw Andra again, either.
But that’s a story for another time.
For the de Lohrs, by blood or otherwise, it was a most blessed Christmas, indeed.
* THE END *
About Kathryn Le Veque
Medieval Just Got Real.
KATHRYN LE VEQUE is a USA TODAY Bestselling author, an Amazon All-Star author, and a #1 bestselling, award-winning, multi-published author in Medieval Historical Romance and Historical Fiction. She has been featured in the NEW YORK TIMES and on USA TODAY’s HEA blog. In March 2015, Kathryn was the featured cover story for the March issue of InD’Tale Magazine, the premier Indie author magazine. She was also a quadruple nominee (a record!) for the prestigious RONE awards for 2015.
Kathryn’s Medieval Romance novels have been called ‘detailed’, ‘highly romantic’, and ‘character-rich’. She
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A Blessed de Lohr Christmas (de Lohr Dynasty Book 9) Page 8