Epilogue
One year later
“You have no reason to deny him,” Wynter said, a baby in her arms. “He is coming and you know what he wants to speak to you about.”
Gage, standing by the lancet windows that overlooked the bailey, had another baby in his arms. He turned to his wife, grinning.
“Of course I know,” he said, gently rocking his son, Brian. Brian’s twin, Thorington – or Thor, as he was known – was in his mother’s arms. “Clark has made it no secret that he wants to marry Summer but has yet to actually ask me. The man has to articulate his wants or I cannot help him.”
Wynter fought off a grin. “He was waiting for Bull and Spring to do something,” she said.
“Or say something. Honestly, Gage, when has Bull become so cowardly? He and Spring have been courting for six months but he will not speak of it. When we see them walking together, he runs the other way and leaves my sister standing alone, pretending that he was not just with her. What on earth is wrong with him?”
Gage started laughing, looking at his dark-haired son, who was grinning up at his father.
Gage kissed the baby on the head. “I could not tell you,” he said.
“He feels he is too old for Spring, I suppose, but that does not stop him from keeping company with her. She has grown up quite a bit under his steady guidance, thank God.”
Wynter sighed heavily. “Meanwhile, Clark waits to ask you about Summer,” she said. “He cannot wait much longer.”
“Why not?”
Wynter realized she had just given something away. She’s promised Summer she would not speak of it but, at some point, Gage would figure it out for himself.
The man knew what a pregnant woman looked like.
“You must promise not to tell Clark that you know,” she said. “I swore I would not tell you, but if I do not, Summer will have a ten-year-old child and Clark will still be afraid to ask for her hand.”
Gage’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Summer is pregnant?”
Wynter nodded. “As you can imagine, she must be married,” she said. “You must tell Clark to marry her right away. But you cannot tell him you know of the child.”
“Why not?”
“Because it is not your secret to reveal,” Wynter said, rather firmly. “You will not say a word. Swear this to me.”
Gage made a face of displeasure. “Very well,” he said. “I swear it.”
“Good,” Wynter said. “And I have it all figured out where they should live.”
He groaned. “God, where?”
“Langley, of course,” she said as if it was obvious. “You keep garrison commanders there, anyway. Why not let Clark and Summer have it for their home?”
He curled his lip at her. “And I suppose I should send Bull and Spring to Septentrion?”
“Where else?”
Gage could see that his wife had her sisters’ lives all planned out without any input from him. “I see,” he said. “So I just kick my garrison commanders out into the cold?”
“They are good commanders, but Bull and Clark are better,” she said. “Don’t you agree?”
He did, but that wasn’t the point. She was ordering him around in his own home. Not that it didn’t happen on a daily basis, but not usually so obviously.
“Of course I agree, which is why I want to keep Clark and Bull here with me,” he said. “Ashleven is the largest castle in my earldom. I want the best with me.”
“You still have Etienne and Dirk.”
He brow furrowed. “Speaking of Etienne,” he said. “He has been spending a good deal of time with Autumn. Can I expect another request for marriage from him anytime soon?”
Wynter smiled coyly. “Possibly,” she said. “Etienne and Autie can have Aunt Sedelia’s manse in Durham someday. Or even Whiteside. It’s a nice little outpost, don’t you think?”
“I don’t,” he said flatly. “It’s a terrible, dirty hovel and as far as your Aunt Sedelia goes, the woman will probably outlive us all, so do not make plans for her property. In any case, Etienne will remain here. I need him. And stop telling me what to do.”
Wynter laughed silently at her husband, a powerful and brilliant earl who had taken the helm of the Ashington domain and turned it into a true force to be reckoned with in the north.
He had the ear of the king, of many other warlords in Northumberland, and of a particular mercenary warlord in Pamplona.
El Viento del Norte had already made quite a name for himself in the short year he’d been in power.
And his wife couldn’t have been prouder.
Even now, Wynter watched him as he smiled at their firstborn son, a beautiful lad with his father’s eyes and his mother’s smile. Brian and his identical twin brother were the real rulers of Ashleven, babies whom their parents doted on.
And everyone else, too.
In fact, as they spent a few tender moments with their children, the door to the solar flew open and Maryann was there with Autumn in tow.
Wherever the twins were, Maryann was not far behind. She fawned and cooed and tended the children as if they were made from solid gold, enamored with them as much as their parents were.
“There you are,” she said, though she meant the babies. “I have been looking for them. It is time for their naps, Wynnie. Aren’t they becoming fussy?”
They both looked over to Gage, making noises to the baby in his arms, who was grinning a toothless grin. Wynter chuckled.
“With Gage to entertain them?” she said. “I think not, but you can take them, anyway.”
She handed Thor over to his grandmother, but when Autumn went to take Brian from Gage, he turned his back on the young woman so she couldn’t claim the baby. The harder she tried, the more he would turn away until they were turning circles and she was giggling with frustration.
“Gage,” Wynter scolded, grinning. “Give Autie the baby. Stop being difficult.”
Unhappily, Gage relinquished his prize to Autumn, who hugged and kissed the baby as she left the chamber after her mother. Wynter watched them go, but by the time she returned to her husband, she could see that he was pouting. She went to him, putting her arms around him.
“Poor man,” she said. “Having a demanding wife. Having children taken from him. However will he survive?”
He sneered at her, but it was a weak gesture. “I ask myself that every day,” he said. “If I did not love you so much, I would rejoin Uncle Varro.”
“You mean the man who is trying to court my mother?”
Gage stiffened. “He is not trying to court her,” he said. “He is simply being kind.”
“By writing her scandalous poetry?”
Gage didn’t have an answer to that and tried to push her away, but she wouldn’t go. She followed him, squeezing him tightly.
“But you do love me, don’t you?”
“Madly and deeply.”
“A year ago, did you ever imagine your life would be like this in one short year?”
He shook his head, relaxing his harsh stance against her. “Never,” he said. “This past year… it has been heaven, Wynnie. There is no other way to put it.”
Wynter hugged him again as he finally put his arms around her, strong and enormous arms, his right arm that was almost fully healed after the injury he’d suffered last year. It was as if that time in his life was just a bad memory, with every day since then becoming something to cherish.
It was the best time of their lives.
“I know Papa would have been so happy,” she said. “I didn’t tell you this, but when I was laboring to bring forth the twins, I think I saw him in the chamber with me.”
He looked at her. “You never told me,” he said. “What do you mean that you saw him?”
Wynter thought back to that time, when she had taken two long days to bring forth her children.
“Do you remember when Flush told you that one child was blocking the other one from being born?” she said.
“I had been having pains for two days and I was exhausted, and Flush told you that the children weren’t in a good position to be born. ”
Gage lost all of his humor then. It had easily been the most terrifying moment of his life, thinking he might lose his wife in childbirth. “I recall,” he said. “How could I not? But I do not want to think of that time, Wynnie. Our children are healthy and you are safe. That is all I care about.”
“I know,” she said. “But the point is that as I lay there, half-dreaming because Flush’s poppy potion to take away the pain made me feel woozy and sleepy, I swear to you that I saw my father standing at the end of the bed, smiling at me.
But I blinked and he was gone. Brian was born shortly afterwards and Thor right after him. ”
“So you think your father had a hand in the births of our children?”
Wynter nodded, blinking away tears at a very emotional recollection. “Aye,” she said. “I think he is my guardian angel. And that’s why I say that he would be very happy for us. I think he’s still here, lingering, making sure everything is well.”
Gage hugged her tightly, kissing the top of her head.
“I hope so, my darling,” he said. “I truly do. It’s ironic you should say that because after Boothe’s death during the winter, I thought I saw your father, too.
Just for a moment, from the corner of my eye, but I would swear it was him.
Mayhap he was simply glad the whole nasty business with Boothe was over, from beginning to end. ”
“Mayhap,” she agreed. “In any case, we are moving forward with the most wonderful life imaginable, aren’t we, El Norte?”
She teased him with that every once in a while. He swatted her lightly on the behind before releasing her.
“Cheeky wench,” he said. “Now, you must leave me or I will not get anything done. You’ve taken enough of my time with our magnificent sons and your spectacular beauty.”
Wynter kissed him on the cheek before heading to the door, respectful as always of his time. “Do not forget that Gilbert d’Umfraville from Prudhoe will be our guest tomorrow,” she said. “He is bringing his wife and young children to feast with us.”
The mood of the chamber was swinging back to business, back to the heart of the Ashington empire, and Gage nodded. “I remember,” he said. “It is my intention to make Prudhoe stronger allies. D’Umfraville is a decent fellow and I hope to make a friend of him, eventually.”
“Good,” Wynter said. “I would like to…”
She was cut off when there was a knock at the door. Clark opened the panel, looking between Wynter and Gage.
“My lord,” he said. “I am sorry to interrupt. May… may I have a word with you if you are not else occupied?”
Fighting off a smirk, Wynter slipped to the door. “I was just leaving, Clark,” she said. “You may speak to his lordship about anything. Anything at all.”
Gage knew what she meant, the little minx. She was trying to hint to Clark about her sister. Gage went over to his table, the one containing all of the things required to administer his earldom, as Wynter shut the door behind her.
“Come in,” he said. “What can I do for you today?”
Clark cleared his throat softly. “I hope you will not be disappointed, my lord,” he said. “This is of a personal nature.”
Gage knew what it was before Clark even elaborated. The man had been working up to it for days, as they all knew, and the time was apparently right. With a sigh, he stopped what he was doing and gave Clark his full attention.
“Regarding?” he asked.
Clark was trying hard to be calm. And brave. “Lady Summer,” he said.
Gage’s lips twitched with a smile. “I see,” he said. “Then my answer is yes.”
Clark faltered. “What do you mean, my lord?”
“I mean that you have my permission. Hurry up and marry the woman before I grow old and die.”
Clark blinked, so shocked that he couldn’t come up with a swift reply.
In fact, he just started laughing. He and Gage laughed until there were tears streaming down their cheeks, a joyful moment in a rich association between the two of them that would see more moments like this to come.
A true brotherhood between men who would soon be related by marriage but joined by honor.
In six months’ time, little Cal de Vries joined his cousins Brian and Thor in the nursery of Ashington, and life just became sweeter from there.
The homeless knight, the wandering brother, had found a home and hearth and family more valuable than anything the mercenary, El Viento del Norte, could have ever dreamed of.
It didn’t come in the form of the Ashington titles and lands, but through the wealth of the love for the family that owned it.
Through his wife, Gage learned what it meant to truly love and be loved, with a warmth of happiness that he would carry with him until his dying day.
The cold Wynter’s knight was cold no more.
* THE END *