Scott released the man from his embrace, but he kept both arms around his father as he looked William in the eye. His father was older, his dark hair had hints of silver in it and his face was a bit more weathered. But to Scott, it was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. This was his father, his hero, the man he loved most in all the world. He smiled at him, teary-eyed.
“Do you know that I was planning on going to Lioncross Abbey to see Will and Tommy?” he asked. “And then I was going to go to Castle Questing to see you, too. There is so much to tell, Papa, I do not even know where to start.”
“Start by telling me about your new wife.”
Scott cocked his head curiously. “How could you know that?”
William wiped the tears from his one good eye. “Because I was in London when Edward received the missive that you had married again,” he said. “Edward sends his congratulations, by the way.”
Scott was surprised by the news. “He was not angry with me?”
William shook his head. “Not really,” he said. “Although there is evidently a Scottish lord somewhere who is demanding another English bride from him. Edward is trying to make an alliance with the Black Douglas, but that is a story for another time. Suffice it to say that he is pleased a de Wolfe is in charge of the Bretherdale Pass and of Castle Canaan. When I heard of your marriage, I knew you would not marry for convenience. You are not the kind. I therefore assumed it was for love and went to Lioncross Abbey to bring Will and Tommy here so they could congratulate you on your marriage and meet your new wife. I am rather curious about her, too.”
It was a concise explanation of his appearance and one that made perfect sense. With his arm still around William, Scott pulled his father and his sons towards one of the feasting tables.
“Please, sit,” he told them. “There is so much to tell about her, not the least of which is the fact that she is a magnificent woman. You will love her, Papa.”
William was handed his cup of wine by Thomas. “I have no doubt,” he said. “If she has been the one to help heal your grief, then she has my undying gratitude.”
Scott poured his own cup of wine from the pitcher the servant had left on the table. “It is more than that,” he said. “She understands me and I understand her. We have both suffered similar losses. And when I first met her, I began to realize that I was not alone in my grief. There was someone else who understood my sorrows. But my entire experience at Canaan has been one that has helped me to understand my selfishness. It has been… life changing.”
William smiled faintly at his son. “I can see that,” he said. “That is what I was hoping to hear. Are you truly happy, lad?”
Scott nodded fervently. “More than I knew I ever could be.”
“Then I am at peace.”
Scott looked around the table; his father, his sons. The men that were the most important figures in his life. Now that the shock and tears of their reunion was over, he felt as if he could talk and talk for days and still not tell them everything he wanted to. But somewhere in the past four years, his family had changed. They’d gotten older and life, for them, had moved on. Especially his boys; they had grown up while he was away. Reaching out, he clasped his eldest son’s hand tightly.
“I cannot begin to tell you how glad I am to see you,” he said. “I feel as if I am living a dream at this moment because you are older now and I feel as if I can be honest with you about the past few years. Those years… there was such darkness. I cannot describe the darkness because, unless you experience it, you cannot know it. All I know now is that I will never exist in such darkness again. I had to learn that I was stronger than the guilt and pain that consumed me. I had to learn what I was made of.”
William was listening closely as Scott spoke to his sons, empathizing what his son had gone through. When the young men didn’t seem to know how to respond, perhaps afraid to respond, William spoke quietly.
“I cannot fully know what you experienced, for I still have my wife,” he said. “All I can do is try to imagine, if I had lost her, the depths of your despair, but we must all grieve in our own way. Your way was to shut everything out. We understood that.”
Scott was feeling guilty because his father and his sons were being so understanding. “Did you never think to hate me for it?”
A flicker of a knowing smile crossed William’s lips. He looked over at Will and Tommy. “Could you hate either one of your sons if he had run away to deal with grief in his own way?”
Scott glanced at his boys as well. “Nay,” he admitted. “Never.”
“Neither could I.”
Scott pondered that grace; a father’s unconditional love for a wayward son. “How is Troy?” he asked.
“He is well. He misses you.”
“I miss him. Has he remarried?”
William grinned. “There is quite a story behind that,” he said. “Will you introduce me to your wife first before I tell you of your brother and his wild adventures?”
Scott could see humor in his father’s eye when it came to his twin. “He did marry, then?”
“He did.”
“Who?”
“A Scots lass that terrorizes him.”
Scott burst out laughing. “Then there is a God,” he exclaimed, watching his father and sons laugh. He reveled in the moment, in the laughter, something he had always hoped to experience again but wasn’t sure he would. “I will summon my wife now. I am anxious for you to meet her. And, so you know, she does not terrorize me.”
He stood up with the intention of going to fetch Avrielle when a big, black puppy suddenly ran into the hall followed by a young boy with a wad of meat in his hand. The dog ran under one of the feasting tables, barking, and Stephen ran straight to Scott.
“Wolfe will not listen to me!” he exclaimed. He held up the meat. “The dog does not want it!”
Scott had to grin at the boy, genuinely distressed with his disobedient dog. “Here, now,” he said, putting a hand on his shoulder and turning him towards the table where his father and sons were. “We will discuss the dog later. I want you to meet some people who will become very important to you.”
Stephen didn’t quite understand what he meant. But he could see three men sitting at the table. Before Scott could introduce them, Stephen looked right at William.
“You have something over your eye,” he said, putting a hand over his own eye to mimic William’s eyepatch. “What is that?”
William grinned at the curious child. “I lost my eye in battle many years ago,” he said. “That is to cover the hole.”
Stephen was both intrigued and frightened by a hole in the face. “You have hole?” he gasped. “Can I see it?”
As William laughed, Scott spoke. “This nosy young man is Stephen du Rennic, my wife’s son,” he said. “Stephen has a dog he is trying to train and you will never meet a more curious or bright little boy. Stephen, these two young men are my sons, William and Thomas. They are your brothers now.”
Stephen was wildly curious about new brothers. He plopped the wad of meat on the table and went straight to young William. “Are you a knight?” he asked.
Young William shook his head. “Not yet,” he said. “But soon.”
Stephen puffed up. “I am going to be a knight,” he said. “Will you fight me?”
Young William laughed, looking at his father for a suggestion on how to answer. “I suppose I could,” he said when Scott shrugged at him. “Where shall we fight?”
Stephen reached out and grasped William’s hand with his dirty hand, the one that had been holding the meat. “I have men and weapons and war machines,” he said, tugging on the young man so that he had no choice but to stand up. “You can build your fortress and I will knock it down. You come, too!”
He was talking to Thomas, who looked at his father for direction on what to do. But, again, Scott simply shrugged. “His grandfather is a marvel with building things,” he said. “He has more toys to play with than any child I ha
ve ever seen, but do not be fooled – his father has schooled him well on how to lay siege to a fortress so if you are not careful, he will defeat you.”
Young William looked at the boy who was pulling on his hand. “Surely he cannot defeat me,” he declared.
Scott snorted. “Many a man has made that same assumption, including me,” he said. But he reached out to stop Stephen from pulling young Williams’ arm off. “Stephen, you can come to know Will and Tommy later. If you ask them politely, I am sure they will play with you. Right now, please go and find your mother. Tell her to come to me in the hall right away.”
Stephen was a surprisingly obedient child. He dropped young William’s hand and promptly scurried out of the hall, heading for the stairs that would take him to the level above. As he ran out and the dog bolted after him, William turned to Scott.
“He seems like a fine boy,” he said.
Scott nodded. “He is,” he said. “He was very close to his father and is, therefore, fearless when it comes to summoning grown men to play his war games with him. My wife also has two daughters, including a newborn.”
William watched his son’s face when he spoke of his new wife; there was a softness there he hadn’t seen in a very long time. God, but it did his heart good to see it. Reaching out, he put his hand on Scott’s face.
“A new son and two new daughters,” he said. “It seems to me that mayhap God has decided you have suffered enough. He has brought back to you the children you lost as well as a new wife.”
Scott nodded as the mood turned softer, perhaps more emotional again. It felt like times of old, when he was free to laugh and free to feel, before the dark days following Athena’s death. Gregarious. That was how William de Wolfe had always described his eldest son and, for the first time in four years, Scott was certain he could be that man again. Gregarious – compassionate – and at peace with his life.
At peace with a good woman to love, and to be loved.
“God has been good, Papa,” he agreed softly. “I am back now. I swear I will never leave you again.”
William believed him. When he finally met Avrielle a short time later, who was very surprised to see Scott’s father, he believed it even more. Instantly, he could see why Scott was so smitten with her. She was beautiful, well-spoken, and gracious, and she was extremely kind to young William and Thomas. The boys responded to her politely and with interest. William could already see that the relationship between them was going to be a good one. He just had that feeling.
But he was far more interested in his observations of the behavior between Scott and Avrielle. It didn’t take long for him to see how deeply in love his son was with the woman. There was something between them, an indefinable something, that was rare between two people. It was love, aye, but there was something more to it – a glow about them, perhaps. A glow that made their love for one another obvious, something as pure as it was powerful.
William knew that kind of love because he had it with his own wife, Jordan, for over forty years. He was well-acquainted with a love so strong that it could move mountains.
Or heal hearts.
Definitely, Scott’s heart had been healed, made even stronger by the love of a good woman. As a father, it was the best possible thing William could have prayed for.
A son who had found peace.
A woman who adored him.
And a love story that was stronger than all of the grief the universe could bring.
EPILOGUE
Christmas, 1281 A.D.
Castle Canaan
He was displeased.
Avrielle could tell simply by looking at her husband that he was displeased and trying not to appear so. In the great hall of Canaan, he was pacing around, distracted by small children when the occasion arose, but he was mostly pacing in thought.
On this day, there was much to think about.
It had been a brutal winter so far this year, with early snows in November that were heavy. They hadn’t let up and as the Christmas season came, the hills surrounding Canaan were solid white with the stuff. The pass from Carlisle to Kendal was mostly blocked because of it, meaning the Christmas celebration that had been planned with the de Wolfe clan was more than likely not going to happen.
The north of England, from what they’d heard, was socked in with snow as well and Scott had been certain that his elderly father and mother, as well as various brothers and sisters, would not want to travel in such weather. This year, they had all planned to converge on Canaan because Scott had wanted to host the holiday in his southernmost property where the weather was usually better than it was in the north. But the weather gods were not smiling upon him this year. Therefore, Scott was certain he would not see his family during the holidays. Not that he blamed them.
But it was more than an abundance of snow and the lack of seeing his parents and siblings. There was something else happening, something that had Scott pacing around as his children played at his feet. William and Thomas were due to arrive from Lioncross Abbey where they had both been serving.
At twenty years and one, William had been knighted last year by his grandfather and namesake. It had been a proud moment for William to be knighted by the Wolfe of the Border. Thomas, bigger and taller than his older brother, was on the verge of being knighted as well and, according to the Earl of Worcester, his liege, the young man already fought better than most knights. Paris de Norville, his mother’s father, had claimed credit for Thomas’ overachievements while William held the fact that he would knight the lad over his head. It was a good-natured rivalry between men who had been the best of friends for decades, but Scott and his brothers wondered if, in private, that rivalry hadn’t come to blows at times. Nothing like old men beating each other up just for the privilege of claiming victory.
And it was young William in particular where Scott’s troubles lay on this cold and blustery day. It had all started when he received a missive from the Earl of Worcester, Chris de Lohr, that Stephen du Rennic was given permission to come home for the holidays. Stephen had been fostering at Lioncross Abbey Castle for two years and, according to the earl, was doing very well in his studies and positively brilliant in military tactics. But that wasn’t the concerning part; the concerning part came when the earl went on to say in his message that the lad would be escorted home by his brother William and his new wife. The man went on to offer a hearty congratulations on the marriage.
A marriage that Scott knew nothing about.
Avrielle knew that Scott was deeply troubled by the fact that young William hadn’t bothered to tell him that he’d married. Scott had no idea to whom, or the circumstances, and more than anything he was hurt by the lack of communication from a son he’d been close to for the last seven years. A marriage was a terribly big thing and certainly too big not to discuss.
Therefore, Scott paced as Avrielle watched. They were in the great hall with their children, over near the hearth and away from the soldiers who had come in to get warm. Raymond was out on watch but Milo was in the hall with his wife of two years, a merchant’s daughter from Kendal, as was Stanley. Stanley didn’t seem to want a wife but he had no shortage of women in his bed, much to Avrielle’s annoyance. She didn’t like the man bringing women in and out of Canaan when her daughter, Sorsha, and her sons with Scott, Jeremy and Nathaniel, were old enough to wonder who the strange women were.
The children were naturally curious, of course. Sorsha had seen seven years, a sweet girl who was very attached to Scott, whom she called Father. Having never known Nathaniel, Avrielle and Scott had decided early on that she would know Scott as her father, although when she was old enough they planned to tell her the truth. There was no use in doing so now because it would simply confuse her.
Born when Sorsha was two years of age, Jeremy de Wolfe was the exact image of his father, followed a year later by Nathaniel de Wolfe, who was also the image of his father. Alexander de Wolfe was born two and a half years later, a dark-eyed brunette who looked
a good deal like Gordon. With Scott’s two eldest boys already men, and Sophia and Stephen off to foster, there was no shortage of children in the de Wolfe household these days and, even now, as Scott paced around near the hearth, the three boys were torn between following him around and playing with an army of wooden soldiers that Gordon had made for them. In fact, they played with the same set of toys that Gordon had made for Stephen those years ago and now it looked like a mob read to take over the very castle.
“Dada!” Nathaniel called to Scott. “Build us a castle! Please, Dada!”
Scott stopped puttering around and looked at his son. He wasn’t in the mood to build castles but Nathaniel wouldn’t understand that. When he hesitated, Avrielle spoke.
“Build them a castle, Dada,” she said encouragingly. “It will give you something to do other than wear a hole in the floor.”
Scott looked at his wife; radiant, elegant, and gorgeous were the words that came to mind every time he looked at her. She seemed to grow more beautiful with age. Sitting in a chair near the hearth, she was knitting a blanket, appropriate in these freezing temperatures. With all of the good wool from Kendal, she had an endless supply.
“I am not wearing a hole in the floor,” he told her, rather annoyed, but he nonetheless moved to the kindling box to pick out pieces of wood with which to build a castle. “And I thought you would show more concern about this.”
Avrielle glanced up from her knitting. “About what?”
Scott frowned. “Do you seriously mean to ask that question?”
Avrielle fought off a grin. “I am not sure why you are fretting,” she said. “We have been through this many times as of late. William is a grown man. If he wishes to take a wife, then he can make that choice.”
Scott shook his head as if she knew absolutely nothing about the workings of the world. “He is a de Wolfe,” he said. “More than that, he is the eldest son of the heir to the House of de Wolfe. The woman he marries is very important. Politically, it is important and you know it.”
Avrielle sighed, trying to show some patience with this subject. They’d been discussing it since the missive from the House of de Lohr came the previous month. In fact, Scott wouldn’t shut up about it and she was ready to stuff her knitting into his mouth simply to quiet him.
The Original de Wolfe Pack Complete Set: Including Sons of de Wolfe Page 209