All Things Merry and Bright: A Very Special Christmas Tale Collection

by Kathryn Le Veque

  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

  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 Mag
azine, 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 crafts great adventures of love, battles, passion, and romance in the High Middle Ages. More than that, she writes for both women AND men – an unusual crossover for a romance author – and Kathryn has many male readers who enjoy her stories because of the male perspective, the action, and the adventure.

  On October 29, 2015, Amazon launched Kathryn’s Kindle Worlds Fan Fiction site WORLD OF DE WOLFE PACK. Please visit Kindle Worlds for Kathryn Le Veque’s World of de Wolfe Pack and find many action-packed adventures written by some of the top authors in their genre using Kathryn’s characters from the de Wolfe Pack series. As Kindle World’s FIRST Historical Romance fan fiction world, Kathryn Le Veque’s World of de Wolfe Pack will contain all of the great story-telling you have come to expect.

  Kathryn loves to hear from her readers. Please find Kathryn on Facebook at Kathryn Le Veque, Author, or join her on Twitter @kathrynleveque, and don’t forget to visit her website and sign up for her blog at www.kathrynleveque.com.

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  The Holly and the Ivy

  Tanya Anne Crosby

  The King’s Favorite

  The Holly & the Ivy is a holiday vignette meant to complement The King’s Favorite; it takes place directly after this story. However, it is also connected to The MacKinnon’s Bride. For your best enjoyment, please start with Book 1 of the Highland Brides, MacKinnon’s Bride (FREE at all vendors) and then read The King’s Favorite.

  Also by Tanya Anne Crosby

  Have you read all the Highland Brides, the Guardians of the Stone and the Daughters of Avalon? While it’s not necessary to read all three series to enjoy any one book, all books are related with shared characters.