Page 108

EPILOGUE

Dunster Castle

June, 1210 A.D.

“L ady Forbes?” Kevin de Lara called down from the battlements. “I finally see them. They are approaching.”

Emberley gazed up at the knight, high on the walls of Dunster, shielding her eyes from the nooning sun. It was a cool but bright day, a snappy breeze blowing in from the sea. She couldn’t help the smile from her face.

“Are you sure?” she called back.

Kevin nodded. “I can see the banners,” he told her. “Baron Buckland returns.”

Her grin broadened and she turned to the children around her.

“Lacy,” she called to her daughter. “Bring the children. Your brothers are home.”

Lacy de Moyon, now eight years of age and an exquisite blond beauty like her mother, squealed with delight. “Is Dada with them?”

Emberley nodded. “Of course, sweetheart,” she replied. “Did you think he would not return with them? He went to collect them from Lioncross Abbey, after all.”

Lacy shrugged. “Sometimes the earl makes him stay because he needs his war counsel.”

Emberley stroked her daughter’s soft hair. “Not this time,” she said softly. “He has returned to you, I promise. Now, please help me round up the children so we may greet the returning heroes properly.”

Lacy promptly hustled to capture her younger siblings. Five-year-old Brydon was fairly easy to capture because he was more obedient than the rest, a calm and intelligent boy who resembled his father a great deal in both appearance and demeanor. He was a proud Forbes son.

The bigger problem were the twins, Elizabeth and Emmaline– at nearly three years of age, they were blond, bright, beautiful and extremely aggressive. They were very vocal about their wants and dislikes, and they greatly disliked being corralled by their older sister. Lacy held her baby sisters’ hands, attempting to pacify them as they cried.

Emberley watched the scene, bending over to soothe her unhappy daughters but stopping short of picking them up to comfort them. At nine months pregnant with a very large child, the physic had forbidden her from lifting anything, including her children, for fear that she would harm herself and the babe she carried.

So she bent over to whisper sweetly to her children, even as the great gates of Dunster began to open and welcome the first members of the Buckland party. As more riders entered and the bailey became loud and busy, she stood straight, rubbing furiously at her back to ease the strained muscles as she spied two of her three returning sons.

She waved happily at Brendt and Orin, now ten and twelve years respectively, who were heading straight for their mother astride the new warmblood geldings that their father had given them.

Romney, now thirteen and six feet tall, came roaring in behind them aboard the new charger he had received for his last birthday. It was a big animal the color of chalk and rumor had it that Romney loved the beast so much that he slept with it in its stall at Lioncross Abbey Castle. At least, that was the story that Gart had told her between giggles.

Emberley’s heart swelled with happiness as her three oldest children approached. Brendt jumped off his horse and ran to his mother, hugging her tightly. Orin was directly behind him, both boys hugging their mother and overwhelming her. Even though they were growing up now, older boys who were learning to be knights, they still were not beyond showing their mother affection. Emberley hugged them gleefully until a loud, deep voice interrupted their reunion.

“Gently, young men, gently,” Gart was pointing at them as he rode up on his dancing charger. In full armor, he looked terrifying and imposing. “If you squash the woman, you will have me to deal with.”

The boys grinned while the younger children began to squeal and jump with excitement. Gart flipped up the visor on his helm, a smile on his face as he viewed his entire family, together for the first time in months. With the older boys off to foster with the Earl of Hereford, times like this were few and far between. He relished the moment with great joy.

He dismounted his black and white destrier and handed him over to a groom. He hadn’t taken two steps when the little ones rushed at him, screaming his name. He grunted as they ran into him, pretending to teeter off balance.

“Good Christ,” he grunted again as Brydon jumped up and latched on to him. He picked the boy up, his first born son, and hugged the lad tightly. “Brydon, you have grown by a head since last I saw you. Are you ready to go and foster with your brothers?”

Brydon had his little arms wrapped around his father’s neck, grinning.

“I am ready, Dada,” he said confidently.

As Gart kissed the boy’s cheek again and set him to the ground, the twins were howling at his feet and he scooped them up, one little girl in each arm. Kissing rosy cheeks, he approached his wife and bent down, kissing her sweetly on the lips.

“Greetings, kitten,” he murmured, kissing her again. “How are you feeling?”

Emberley smiled at him, cupping his face between her two hands. “Very well,” she said, kissing him yet again because she was so glad to see him. “But I will admit that I am ready for this child to be born.”

“Is everything all right?”

“Everything is fine. I am simply ready to be done with it.”

He nodded in sympathy, watching as Romney approached his mother. Emberley embraced young Baron Buckland, having inherited his title from his father and Dunster Castle along with it. Romney had grown up tall and handsome, favoring his mother’s blond attractiveness tremendously.

At thirteen years of age, he was wise beyond his years and although he remembered his real father, he considered Gart the only father he had ever had. He and Gart were inordinately close and Gart could not have been prouder of the boy. With Gart’s guidance and calm, fair manner, all three of Julian’s boys were growing into fine, strong, young men. To them, Julian was just a bad memory.

“Greetings, Mother,” Romney kissed his mother on the cheek. “It is good to be home.”

Emberley smiled. He was growing up, sounding so formal in greeting. “It is good to have you home again,” she said. “Lacy and the children have missed you.”

As if on cue, Brydon jumped on his older brother and Romney grunted as the child hit him in the gut. He picked the little boy up and swung him around in circles, listening to him giggle. Then Brendt and Orin jumped in, tickling the little boy, and Brydon squealed with delight as his three older brothers gently teased him.

Gart and Emberley watched as the four boys dashed for the keep, setting Brydon to his feet and encouraging the boy to chase them. Brydon did so happily, following them up the stone steps into the enormous keep of Dunster.

Emberley shook her head at the humor of the scene, turning to look at Gart just as the boys disappeared into the keep.

“Poor Brydon has been so lonely without them,” she said, wrapping her hands around her husband’s elbow. “He has only had girls to play with.”

Gart had his daughters in his arms, sweet, little faces that reminded him so much of his wife, and he kissed them again as they hugged their father in tandem. He then noticed Lacy standing beside him and he set Emmaline to her feet so he could hug his oldest daughter.

“I rather like girls,” Gart said as he kissed Lacy on the top of the head. “I have missed mine.”

Emberley smiled up at him. “We have missed you as well,” she said, taking Emmaline by the hand and moving towards the keep in the wake of the loud boys. “Now, tell me all of the news from Lioncross and mind you, do not leave anything out.”

Gart took her command seriously. “The earl’s wife just had another baby, a boy,” he dutifully told her. “His name is Henry and he has blond hair and big blue eyes just like the rest of the earl’s brood.”

Emberley lifted her eyebrows. “That makes four boys now, does it not?”

Gart nodded. “Emilie is also due to give birth very soon, just as you are,” he told her. “David is convinced it is a son.”

Emberley giggled softly. “After three girls, the man is desperate for a son. He told me that if Emilie has another girl, he may try to trade the baby for one of our boys.”

Gart grinned as they reached the stone steps leading up to the keep. “He cannot have any of them,” he said flatly, setting Elizabeth to her feet so she could take the stairs by herself. “I will keep my sons. He will have to produce his own.”

Emberley chuckled softly, falling in to the rear as the three girls mounted the steps. Gart had Emberley by the arm to make sure she was steady while simultaneously shepherding the toddlers up the stone. He didn’t want anyone slipping and falling.

By the time they reached the entry with the squirrely little girls, he puffed out his cheeks wearily and came to a halt. Lacy took the twins inside as Emberley paused beside her husband.

“Exhausted?” she asked, a twinkle in her eye.

He shrugged. “A little,” he admitted, reaching out to take her hand. “We rode hard to make it home as quickly as we could. Three weeks is too long to be away from you and the children.”

“It was long, but now you are here,” she said softly, reaching up to touch his face and watching him kiss her palm. “In fact, the girls have planned a special meal for your return. Shall we go inside and enjoy it?”

Gart turned towards the darkened entry, started to move, and then abruptly came to a halt. He turned to Emberley with a smirk on his face.

“You would not want to go in first, would you?” he asked.

She burst out into soft laughter. “Not a chance,” she told him. “Go inside. Show your courage, Forbes.”

He shook his head. “The odds are not in my favor.”

“You will survive.”

He knew what was waiting for him in the darkened entry. “Do you suppose they could resist just this once?”

“Nay.”

Gart took a deep breath, puffed out his cheeks again, and forged ahead into the darkened entry. Emberley followed, standing in the doorway to watch Brydon, Orin and Brendt attack Gart and try to put him to the ground. The boys were yelling encouragement at each other, having no real luck at toppling Gart until Romney emerged from underneath the spiral stairs and took him out by the knees.

Gart went down with four boys on top of him, Brydon making the demands for money at the prompting of Brendt and Orin. Gart refused and they tried to strip him of his helm and anything else of value he had strapped to his body. Gart got the upper hand before they could strip him completely and tried to get away, up the stairs, but the four of them latched on to him again and pulled him down to his knees.

There was laughing and giggles going on, which led Emberley to believe that it was not a real robbery. Moreover, Gart could get away if he really wanted to. She stood there and chuckled, watching the thievery without thought to stopping it. It reminded her of the first time she ever saw Gart at Dunster, being robbed by three young boys and not realizing what impact he was about to have on a family that very much needed a miracle.

The Archangel Gabriel had heard their prayers. He’d given them everything. He’d given them heaven.

* THE END *