Chapter Twenty-Two #2
Mattie lost the battle against the tears and she wiped them away quickly. “My parents still do not know,” she said. “Your grandfather was going to send them word, but he has been in battle. I think that I should tell them myself when I bring Maksim home.”
Gar was struggling to sit up. “Of course you should,” he said. “And I will go with you.”
Paris had to put his hands on Gar to keep him from moving too much. “Easy, lad,” he said. “I’ve warned you against tearing the stitches.”
Gar wasn’t listening. “Then help me sit up,” he said. “Please, Uncle Paris.”
Paris wasn’t happy about it, but he complied.
He pulled Gar into an upright position as Jordan packed pillows behind him.
It was enough support that it didn’t put any strain on the wound site, but Gar was holding out his hand to Mattie, silently begging her to come to him.
In spite of the uncovered injury that made Mattie sick to look at, she did.
She crossed the floor and sat down on the bed beside Gar as he pulled her into his powerful embrace.
For her brother, she wept in his arms.
Paris and Jordan stepped away, realizing this was an intensely private moment for Gar and Mattie.
As they left the chamber and quietly closed the door, Mattie sobbed for Maksim, this time with Gar’s comfort.
But she also sobbed because Gar was able to give her comfort.
Up until the man’s fever broke, she wasn’t sure that would ever happen again. But it had.
It was a bittersweet moment.
“He just wanted to belong,” she wept. “He was so happy at the prospect of serving here, with you.”
Gar had his mouth on her forehead. “He was a fine knight and a good friend,” he said softly. “I will miss him.”
“As will I,” Mattie said. But then, she raised her head and looked at him. “He always looked out for me, you know. I think the main reason he came to Gleann na Fola with us was to make sure you treated me well. He was here to protect me.”
Gar smoothed the hair away from her face, gently. “And I shall happily continue that duty,” he said. “He will be well remembered, Queenie. I promise you.”
“I will not name our firstborn after Paris, but I will name him after my brother.”
Gar grinned. “I think that is an excellent suggestion.”
“Truly?”
“Truly.”
Mattie gazed into his eyes, reaching up to caress his stubbled face. “The past several days have shown me something,” she said softly.
“What is that?”
“It is difficult to put into words,” she said. “Mostly, it has shown me a glimpse of the life I’d always hoped for. I spent years dreaming about our marriage, Gar. Dreaming of what it would be like, what you would be like. That young man who saved me from a bully was the only dream I ever had.”
A smile crept across his lips. “Are you sure the last few days haven’t been a nightmare instead?” he said. “I can only imagine what you’ve gone through. I’m so terribly sorry you had to go through it.”
But Mattie shook her head. “This will sound strange, but I’m glad I did,” she said.
“Not for Maksim’s death, of course, but for the experience of watching you as a garrison commander.
Of watching you as you dealt with your men and your friends and your family.
If I knew nothing else about you prior to these moments, the way the people around you respect and honor you would have told me everything I needed to know.
The bond you share with them is something not even my dreams could have imagined.
You are more than I could have imagined, Gar.
And I am very thankful that you agreed to marry me.
Even if my dog did destroy your breeches. ”
She turned a beautiful moment into a humorous one and Gar started to laugh, wrapping her up in his embrace once more and hugging her as tightly as he could without compromising his stitches.
They pained him when he moved, but he didn’t care.
He felt weak and drained, but it didn’t matter.
All of it was a small price to pay for having his wife in his arms.
His wife.
The wife he’d never wanted.
The wife he now couldn’t live without.
“Your dog destroying my clothing was the best thing that could have happened to me,” he said.
“It introduced me to a woman I am not worthy of, but a woman I love with all my heart. I will strive for the rest of my life to be worthy of you, Queenie. Thank God I was able to marry the most remarkable woman I have ever met.”
Mattie smiled at him, her hands on his face as he gently kissed her. It was a deeply intimate moment, one with a depth of emotion that neither one of them had ever experienced. As they reveled in the tenderness, someone knocked swiftly on the door before throwing it open.
“Gar!” It was Caria. “Poppy has returned with the army! Matha has gone to greet him, but she says I must make you stay here. She does not want you getting out of bed and she will bring Poppy to you.”
Gar snorted as Caria swept into the chamber and ran right for the lancet window so she could watch the returning army enter the gatehouse.
“I do believe I am hardly able to get out of bed,” Gar said. “Even if I could, I have nothing to wear. Where are my breeches, Queenie?”
Mattie chuckled, pointing to the infamous patchwork breeches draped over the back of a chair near the hearth. When Gar saw them, he sighed with satisfaction.
“Ah,” he said. “It is good to see my old friend. Thank you for not burning them while I was incapacitated.”
Mattie’s laughter grew. “I had other things on my mind, Gar,” she said. “Burning those terrible breeches was not among them.”
“Terrible? You made them for me.”
“An action I sorely regret, as I’ve told you.”
He scowled at her, but he didn’t mean it. “So long as you did not do anything to them,” he said threateningly. But he caught Caria snickering and he frowned at her. “And you—I’m curious to know how you intend to keep me here should I desire to leave.”
Caria’s answer was to rush over to the bed and lie across his legs.
She giggled uncontrollably as the dog jumped on the bed and licked her in the face before moving over to Gar and licking him in the face, too.
Gar found himself petting the dog, who was now incredibly friendly, as Caria was repeatedly hit in the face by the wagging tail.
All of it, joyful chaos.
And it was a moment he would remember for the rest of his life.
Eventually, Jordan did bring William to Gar’s chamber so that William could see for himself that his grandson was going to recover.
Troy wasn’t far behind him, as were Andreas, Reed, Corey, and a host of other de Wolfe cousins, uncles, and relatives, all of them crowding into that large chamber, all of them having the opportunity to speak to Gar, shake his hand, or hug him.
That young, capable knight who had worked so hard against a common enemy, who had fought the good fight, and who was now on the road to recovery.
In the weeks to follow, Maksim was escorted home by Gar, when he was well enough to move, as well as William and twelve more de Wolfe knights.
Mattie was among the escort, too, informing her parents of Maksim’s valiant deeds and ultimate sacrifice, and stood beside them as their only son was buried in the family chapel.
As difficult as it was for the de Reyne family, they took comfort in Maksim’s heroic last actions.
They took even more comfort when, eleven months later, Mattie delivered a healthy son.
A son she named Maksim.
Unfortunately, William did not live to see his great-grandson born, but Gar felt his presence that night.
He was in Jordan’s very existence, in his son’s first cries, and in the love that Gar had for his wife.
William de Wolfe, a knight of legend, was in every touch, every breath, every word his family spoke, in that moment and every moment thereafter.
But when it came down to William’s final moments on earth, on a warm August night with his family all around him, Kieran’s words came to ring true.
If you want to fight, then fight. But if you want to rest, then rest. You have earned the right to choose. Do not let others do it for you.
In the end, William didn’t. He chose for himself.
And that was the way he wanted it.