by Regan Walker
“It is not important,” Matilda said. “I just wanted you to realize that you can have children. As many as you desire.”
“It is important to me,” Nicholas said, “and I believe you know who my mother is.”
“I cannot tell you.”
“Why?” Noelle asked.
“The truth could cause Nicholas more pain, and I’ll not allow anything to do that.”
Nicholas took Matilda’s arms. “Look at me, Matilda.”
Slowly she glanced up at Nicholas, and Noelle wondered what she was going to say.
But it was not Matilda who spoke.
“You are my mother,” Nicholas said, softly.
“I am sorry. I’ve never wanted the truth to cause you trouble. Surely you are disappointed,” she said as a tear trickled down her cheek.
Nicholas stared at Matilda for many long moments. Noelle wasn’t sure that he was going to move. He seemed frozen to the spot.
And then he did something that brought tears to Noelle’s eyes. Nicholas drew Matilda into his arms and said, “How could I not be happy? It is a relief knowing that I was never a part of a woman who hated me. Now I know why she felt as she did. I wish you had told me sooner.”
“Then you would have been labeled a bastard. I did not want that for you,” Matilda murmured. “I shall go now.”
“Nay. You will stay, Mother, and be part of my wedding.”
Matilda shook her head. “Nay. I will not shame you and your lady and have others know that I am your mother. But I will be at the church all the same.” She didn’t wait for Nicholas to say anything else as she scurried off.
“It is not right,” Noelle said.
“I agree,” Nicholas said as he watched his mother disappear into the gathered crowd. “But at the moment, we are expected at the church. That is, if you still want to marry me.”
Noelle swung around and gaped at him. “I have gone to too much trouble to find you and to prepare for this day. Do you think I would beg off now?”
He frowned at her. “Trouble?”
“Aye.” She finally grinned. “It was not easy to capture you.”
Nicholas bent down and kissed Noelle lightly on the lips. “But I thoroughly enjoyed the chase, my love.”
“We will have none of that until after the vows are said,” King Arthur said as he came up behind them.
“The sooner the wedding occurs, the sooner I can breathe easy again.” He chuckled.
Noelle went over and kissed the king on the cheek. “I somehow have an idea that I should thank you for whatever part you played in this wedding.”
“You will never know, my dear, how enjoyable you have made this Christmas season. And since this is a very short engagement, and Nicholas had not the chance to gift you with a ring, I hope you do not mind me presenting you with one.”
King Arthur handed the ring to Nicholas, who nodded his approval. Nicholas took Noelle’s left hand and placed the plain gold band on her finger as he said, “Our names are engraved on the inside. But I didn’t forget the most important ring of all. That one, you’ll receive during the ceremony.”
Noelle looked at the king. “So you knew all along?”
“Guilty.” The king chuckled then motioned for them to precede him. “Your wedding awaits.”
The procession to the church was more like a parade led by a troupe of minstrels playing flutes, viols, and trumpets. Behind them came Nicholas and Noelle, and then everyone else.
The snow crunched beneath their feet as they walked to the church. But Noelle was numb to the cold. She glowed in the warmth of her heart. This was truly the wedding she’d always envisioned and the snow just added to the beauty.
When the grand parade reached the church steps the knights had formed two lines leading up to the steps. The serfs had gathered also to cheer the couple.
Tristan came over and took Noelle’s hand. “I believe it’s my duty to give her to you,” Tristan said to Nicholas.
Dirk, who was dressed in Nicholas’s colors, as were all his men, joined him as best man. “Looks like ye are stuck with me,” Dirk chuckled.
Tristan then escorted the bride to the church steps. As soon as they reached the stairs to the church, the doors were thrown open, and the priest came out bearing the wedding ring.
Tristan stood between Noelle and Nicholas with Dirk on Nicholas’s right.
Father John asked, “Are you old enough to legally marry?”
“Aye,” Nicholas and Noelle answered.
“Do you swear that you are not related in any manner?”
“Aye.”
“Have you published the banns for this marriage?”
“Aye,” Nicholas said, then added, “Thanks to our king.”
“Do you both freely enter into this marriage?”
Nicholas and Noelle looked at each other and smiled as they said, “Aye.”
The priest nodded, and the provost stepped forward and began to read aloud the list of dowry arrangements. Noelle was surprised at Nicholas’s holdings. When the provost had finished, Nicholas handed Noelle a bag of thirteen gold coins, which would be distributed to the poor.
Tristan relinquished his hold on his sister with a kiss on her cheek. Then he gave her right hand to Nicholas. “I give you the most precious gift you have ever had.”
Nicholas smiled and then said when the priest nodded, “I take thee, Noelle, to be my wedded wife, to hold and to have, at bed and at board, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, to death us do part, and thereto I plight my troth,” Nicholas said in a voice full of emotion.
Noelle remained silent as was the custom, but she gave Nicholas the most dazzling smile as the priest delivered a short sermon on the sanctity of marriage.
Father John held up the ring and blessed it before giving it to Nicholas, who took Noelle’s hand and then slipped it, one by one, on the first three fingers of her left hand. As he moved the ring from finger to finger, he said, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, with this ring, I thee wed.”
Tears were brimming in Noelle’s eyes as she looked down at the blood-red ruby that now perched on her finger and proclaimed to all that she belonged to Sir Nicholas the Dragon.
Nicholas placed a finger under her chin and nodded to the small bag of coins that she still had in her hand. Noelle nodded. She turned and walked down the steps to the crowd and distributed the coins to the poor before returning to her husband.
The wedding had been sanctified, but now it was time to enter the church. The bride and groom followed the priest to the front of the church while everyone took their places. Isabelle and Carolyn stood on Noelle’s left, and Dirk stood on Nicholas’s right. As the couple knelt in front of the priest, Isabelle and Dirk opened a large cloth over their heads.
When the Mass was finished, the canopy was removed, and the priest gave the groom the “kiss of peace,” which Nicholas then transferred to his wife, but the kiss to his wife was not on the cheek.
Nicholas gathered Noelle in his arms and kissed her long, to the cheers of his men. When he lifted his lips, he asked her, “Are you happy, my love?”
“Aye,” she said with a smile, “for you are mine, Nicholas the Dragon, and never forget that it is true.”
“I doubt that you would let me, my love,” he said with a grin. “Now let me do one more noble thing this day.”
They both turned and faced the gathered crowd, and received their loud cheers. Then Nicholas held up his hand to quiet the crowd. “We appreciate your best wishes,” Nicholas said. “As you know, I have no parents to help me celebrate, or I thought I did not until his morning when I found out that my mother still lives.”
There was a gasp throughout the gathering. “I am so happy that my mother is not who I thought she was when I was small. My mother is Matilda, and I would like all of you to join in rejoicing with me. Mother, please come forward.”
One of Nicholas’s men took the reluctant Matilda’s arm and escorted
her to the front of the church amongst a lot of whispering. When red-faced Matilda reached Nicholas, he put his arm around the weeping woman.
“Do not do this, Nicholas,” Matilda whispered to her son. “It will bring you nothing but shame.”
“From this day forward, let there be no doubt that I recognize this woman as the mother I never knew when I was small. And I shall honor her until the day that I die,” Nicholas said. He reached down and kissed Matilda on the cheek.
The crowd cheered, and Noelle had never been prouder of her husband. He was truly a very special man. And, thank God, he was now hers. She moved over and gave Matilda a hug, too. “I always knew that you cared a great deal for Nicholas, and now I know why.”
Back in the Great Hall, there was feasting as they celebrated not only Christmas, but the wedding as well. There were two roasted wild boars on each end of the table, and the Yule log burned brightly in the hearth as children gathered around and sang Christmas carols.
King Arthur strode across to the couple. “You know, I have yet to give you my wedding gift.”
Nicholas laughed. “You probably gave us the greatest gift of all, sire. If not for your meddling, we would never have married.”
The king chuckled. “I like to think it was guiding, not meddling, which I must admit gave me great pleasure. However, I want to give one other gift, a gift that Nicholas was willing to give up for you, young lady,” Arthur said as he smiled at Noelle.
“From this day forth, consider Briercliff yours. I do expect that the firstborn be named for me, of course.”
“Of course, sire. And we will have him blessed on Christmas Day as we will once again spend Christmas in Camelot,” Noelle said.
“This is one Christmas I shall never forget,” Arthur said as he bent down and kissed Noelle on the cheek. “Go forth and be happy.”
Nicholas pulled Noelle into his arms. “We will be happy, my love?”
“Aye.”
“And what Christmas gift do you present to me?” Nicholas asked.
“I give you the greatest Christmas present of all. I give you my love, Nicholas,” she said with a sassy smile. “Now let us join the others and celebrate Christmas in Camelot.”
Nicholas still held his lovely bride in his arms, reluctant to let her go. He rubbed his thumb across her chin and said in a very husky voice, “And tonight we will celebrate a beginning of love ... of life ... of happiness.
“I love you, Noelle.”
About the Author
Brenda Jernigan is a bestselling author. Her books have been nominated many awards - Book Seller’s Best Award, The Maggie Award, and The Holt Medallion Award. Publisher’s Weekly said, “Brenda Jernigan writes Romance, Adventure and Magic.”
She grew up living the life of a tomboy – climbing trees, playing ball, and excluding starry-eyed romance from her daily repertoire. Brenda discovered the love of books while taking her son to Story Hour at the local library -- she was hooked. She set an ambitious goal and began work on her first novel. She continued to write six more novels in rapid succession. She figured having the same birthday as Ernest Hemingway couldn’t hurt.
She is a member of RWA, NINC, PAN, PASIC, and Outreach International Romance Writers.
Her books have been printed in several languages and her last book “Southern Seduction” written under the name of Alexandria Scott was printed in Russian.
Contact Brenda
e-mail - [email protected]
webpage -www.brendajbooks.com
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/bkjbooks
Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/bkj1608
Follow me on BookBub - https://www.bookbub.com/authors/brenda-jernigan
Also by Brenda Jernigan
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Merry Christmas! Thank you for spending Christmas with me in my magical kingdom of Camelot. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I really hated to say good-bye to Sir Nicholas the Dragon.
May Christmas bring you the greatest gift of all ... Love.
* * *
The Ladies Series
THE DUKE’S LADY
LOVE ONLY ONCE
THE WICKED LADY
* * *
CHRISTMAS IN CAMELOT
BLACK MAGIC
* * *
The Misfit Series
DANCE ON THE WIND
UNTIL SEPTEMBER
WHISPERS ON THE WIND
* * *
SEPTEMBER STORM
THE CHOICE
DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
* * *
SOUTHERN SEDUCTION
WESTERN SEDUCTION
* * *
THE MISFITS
STORMY PASSION
CHRISTMAS STORIES