Epilogue
Christmas in Freyview was always a joyous occasion, but with the war for independence won and everyone home again, spirits seemed far brighter, and hearts all the warmer.
With Clara’s help, Josiah actually decorated that year.
Small evergreen tree branches were hung on the walls, wax ornaments were placed upon the dining room table, and a simple evergreen wreath graced the front door.
The reverend was never much for decorating, and even less so after Daniel’s death, yet with all his dearest loved ones under the same roof, it had been easy for Clara to convince him.
Bustling about in the dining room, Josiah, Amos, and Clara prepared for their evening meal.
The latter set two plates in honor of her sisters, neither of whom could join them since after England’s loss, the Boyds packed up and moved to London.
Clara missed her sisters terribly, yet only Catherine wrote her.
Charlotte very much disapproved of her elopement.
Despite her heartache over the rebuff, she had faith her sister would one day forgive her.
In the way of her parents, they also objected and wrote her out of the will. She didn’t want their riches anyway. For the first time in her life, she had everything she needed right within her very heart.
Speaking of which… With a frown, Clara realized two very important people were missing.
“Excuse me a moment,” she said, gathering up her skirts and leaving the room. All around the house, she began her search, first on one side of the old saltbox, and then the other, before she heard her husband’s playful, singsong voice coming from his old bedroom.
Clara moved to the door and poked her head inside. There, creeping throughout the space was Benjamin, the cozy, flickering dance of firelight illuminating his path as he heavily limped along. His cane was propped in the corner, just in case he tired out.
“Now where could he be?” Benjamin asked, feigning exasperation. “I can’t seem to find him…”
A giggle arose from underneath the bed, and grinning, Benjamin limped toward the noise with the pretense of searching. Once he stopped, he slowly, carefully lowered himself to the floor.
“That’s funny,” he said, “I could’ve sworn Daniel was here somewhere…” The giggling started up again, and with a playful growl, Benjamin swooped underneath the bed and grabbed his son, who screamed in delight and burst into spritely, unrestrained laughter.
“Papa, no!” he cried.
Dragging the three-year-old from his hiding spot, Benjamin lifted him to perch onto his hip, then warmly tapped his nose.
“I think you mean, ‘Papa, please, please take me to supper so I can spend time with my wonderful family.’” When his son pouted, he reminded him, “If we don’t eat, I’ll be forced to sup upon your fingers… and I’m very hungry.”
Without warning, he nibbled on Daniel’s hand, who shrieked and pushed at Benjamin’s face.
“Don’t eat!” he scolded. “Don’t!”
“Don’t?” Benjamin echoed, chuckling. “Now you sound like your mother…” Setting Daniel onto the floor, he encouraged, “Come along then. Help me find the most beautiful woman in all the world.”
A clearing throat came from the doorway, and both turned to find Clara wearing a bright, tender smile.
With a chipper gasp, Daniel rushed forward and latched onto her skirts, exclaiming, “I found her, I found her!”
“Who, the most beautiful woman in all the world?” Benjamin asked, straightening to behold his wife. When she met his gaze and that smile was suddenly all for him, a strong flutter bloomed within his chest. “You most certainly did,” he whispered.
Pressing a hand to her swollen belly, Clara simpered. “And is all this flattery genuine, or a deflection for keeping everyone waiting?”
“You’ve never kept anyone waiting?” Benjamin challenged.
“Women are expected to, because the visual feast is always worth it. Men, on the other hand…” Here, she fondly lifted Daniel into her arms, kissing his cheek while stroking his strawberry-blond curls. “They are only forgiven the offense when very young.”
“And as your obedient husband, I will keep that in mind,” Benjamin replied, his smile lopsided and warm. “Am I allowed a kiss, or am I still in trouble?”
Clara laughed, her eyes shining with the firelight. “When has flattery ever worked on me?”
“Never, but I am still willing to try.” Lifting a hand, Benjamin brushed his fingertips against her cheek. “Was that a yes or a no?”
“What do you think?”
Beaming, Benjamin leaned down to kiss her, but Daniel gasped and quickly thrust up his hands, placing his chubby fingers over Benjamin’s mouth and shoving. “No!” he whined. “Nooo.”
Laughing, Benjamin pulled back with a faux pout. “You wound me, Danny. Don’t you like seeing your parents in love?”
“Yuck!”
Sharing a conspiratorial grin, Benjamin and Clara dove in and kissed the boy’s cheeks, poor Daniel squealing as he squirmed between his parents’ affectionate assault.
“Down!” he pleaded. “Down!”
Avoiding his flailing limbs, Clara acquiesced and urged, “Run along then, you little beast. Grandpapa Hoskin has a special dessert for you, and a few hugs, so be sure to say thank you.”
Eager for the promised treat, though perhaps not so much for the hugs, Daniel scurried off, leaving Benjamin and Clara alone in his bedroom.
“That’s your influence, you know,” he teased.
“Me? I’m the more insatiable of us, so I hardly ever say no,” Clara countered, adjusting his cravat.
“In fact…” Here, she reached into her side seam pocket, then withdrew a sprig of mistletoe.
“Your father wouldn’t let me hang this up.
I suppose he wasn’t keen on the possibility of kissing Amos.
I held onto it in case of an emergency.”
“How thoughtful of you,” Benjamin quipped, coiling a loosened lock of her hair around his finger.
“Unfortunately, you’re not quite tall enough to make this work.
” Taking the sprig from her outstretched hand, he held it above their heads with a smirk, his nose brushing hers as he whispered, “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Hoskin.”
Mirroring his bright smile, Clara lifted on tiptoe and edged her mouth into his, gripping his lapels as he deepened their kiss with a slow, fervent roll of his tongue.
He moved to properly embrace her, but Clara laughed and withdrew, breathless and pink cheeked. “What are you trying to do to me, darling? I am already with child.”
“Perhaps I want to make sure of it,” Benjamin murmured, edging his forehead into hers. “Should we join everyone before they start to talk?”
She snorted. “Is it truly a party unless at least one rumor is started?”
He chuckled, moving to shut the door. “You’re right,” he agreed. “We can surely delay things a few minutes more.”
“I’ll bet you can even finish in two,” Clara replied, her eyes twinkling.
Ignoring the playful barb, Benjamin grinned and pulled her into his arms, muffling her shriek with a kiss as they stumbled and fell upon his bed.
Approximately two minutes and thirty seconds later, they waited a few minutes more before returning to the dining area, where Josiah and Amos were entertaining Daniel with a game.
“C’mon, lad,” the latter coaxed. “Which hand’ll it be?”
The boy stuck out his tongue in thought, his pretty, large, hazel eyes shining before he pointed to his left.
“Right’cha are, lad!” Amos exclaimed, opening his hand to reveal a couple shillings. “Save these for when you’re older, Danny-boy, ’cause you’ll get swept up by some sweet young thing, and she’ll bleed’ja dry.”
Handing the coins to the eager child, Amos glanced at Benjamin and Clara with a smirk. “And how was the bed, eh? Still as sturdy as y’both remember?”
Josiah cleared his throat, unamused.
“Oi! I meant to sit upon! Whaddaya take me for, Reverend?”
Benjamin’s cheeks grew bright pink, but Clara, unruffled as ever, sat across from Josiah while Benjamin took the chair to her right.
Scooping up Daniel, she placed him into her lap and brushed her fingers through his soft, unruly curls.
“We were looking for one of Daniel’s toys,” she replied, her knack for deception perfect as always.
“He was playing in Benjamin’s room earlier this afternoon. ”
Amos flashed them a knowing sneer. “Uh-huh. And did’ja find it?”
“Yes,” she replied. “We put it in Benjamin’s valise.”
“I’ll bet’cha Moony filled up your valise, as well.”
Josiah cleared his throat again, yet far more loudly this time. “Shall we offer a few words before we say grace?”
“Good thinkin’, Reverend,” Amos agreed. “This house definitely needs the Lord after dealin’ with these two.”
Despite his friend’s playful ribbing, Benjamin rose and commanded their attention. “I, uh…I’d like to say something,” he announced, lifting his cup of ale.
Josiah nodded fondly at his son. “Go ahead, Benjamin.”
All eyes turned to him, and Benjamin exhaled, a ribbon of warmth stitching through his heart as he looked at Clara and his son.
“These past few years have been some of the hardest, yet most rewarding of my life,” he began.
“I learned to walk again, to hope, to yearn, to live… And in the very midst of war, I joined my life with the one person who overlooked all my ugliness.” With a tearful smile, Benjamin lifted his cup in a salute.
“Before your love, I was broken, Clara…shattered and useless, and then you made me whole. You made me somebody loved and with a purpose. In short, you saved my life.”
Clara opened and closed her mouth, her eyes welling as Daniel squirmed in her arms. “Ben…”
“I love you,” he said. “All four of you. Without your love and support, I know I never would’ve been able to lend my aid in this war…
to pull through and survive, and fight for the principles I believe in.
” Raising his arm into a proper toast, he concluded, “Here’s to those we have lost, and all we’ve gained along the way. ”
Everyone lifted their own cups of ale, their faces pensive as the past several years flashed behind their eyes, the pains, the triumphs, the loss, the reward.
After setting aside her drink, Clara rose with Daniel in her arms, her gaze wet as she regarded Benjamin with a lump in her throat.
Caring little for their audience, she embraced him and buried her face into his chest, their son caught between them as Benjamin wrapped his arms around her just as strongly.
“I don’t know how to live without you,” he whispered, “and I pray I’ll never find out.”
“You won’t,” she promised, whimpering. “Not ever.”
Squirming against her middle, Daniel exclaimed, “Don’t squish the baby!”
Laughing amidst her tears, Clara withdrew and promised, “Of course we won’t, darling. And we won’t squish you, either.”
“Oi!” Amos called over to them. “Are we gonna eat, or what?”
“‘If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience,’” Josiah quoted.
The cabinetmaker scoffed. “That’s some mighty nice scripture there, Reverend, but I think you’ve got it a little backwards. I do see the food. My question is, why aren’t we eatin’ it?”
Taking Amos’s hand, Josiah reached across the table for Clara, who quickly wiped her eyes and reclaimed her seat, drawing her son back into her lap.
When she and Josiah clasped hands, Benjamin sat and took Daniel’s, who looked at him with an excited grin over the prospect of finally eating boiled beef, beans, and the promised apple tart.
Once everyone bowed their heads, the boy perked up and leaned toward Clara’s belly. “It’s prayer time, brother,” he whispered.
Clara opened one eye with a smile. “And why are you so certain it’s a boy, Daniel?”
“I want a brother,” he replied as if it were obvious.
Expression fond, Benjamin murmured, “I hope you get a brother too, Danny. It’s one of the greatest joys in all the world.”
Josiah began their prayers, and tenderly, Clara curled her free hand over her son and husband’s interlocked fingers, squeezing them until Benjamin lifted his head to spare her a warm smile.
This was it, he thought, the affection, the belonging, the sense of completion he’d sought long before he’d even known what he was seeking.
And as he held his wife’s and son’s hands, he believed himself invincible.
They were his heart, his life, his very breath, and the perpetual answer to all his prayers.
“Amen,” everyone spoke, yet Clara didn’t release his hand.
Daniel drew away from them, eager for his plate, but the couple moved their hands under the table and remained entwined, their hearts full and their smiles bright as the chatter around the table melded into a warm, glowing symphony of good cheer.
And as Clara’s laughter joined in akin to silvery, tinkling bells, Benjamin found himself wishing to be in this moment forever, to be endlessly bound to her in hope, awe, and love.