Page 25 of Snowdrops and Winterberry
She smiled and nodded. “I have enjoyed them since I was a little girl.”
“What is your decision, my wee Adam?” Nurse Robbie asked. “Are we to have a special Christmas celebration?”
He wanted to simply jump into the festivities, to eagerly embrace the possibility of something so joyful. But what if he were disappointed? What if they got partway through and everyone else decided they didn’t want to keep going? He didn’t want to get his hopes up only to have them dashed to pieces.
“It is probably ridiculous to have Christmas in April,” he said.
Lady Jonquil gave him one of her soft smiles. “There is nothing ridiculous about Christmas. And celebrating it is a wonderful thing, no matter when that celebration occurs.”
“We should begin with the presents,” Lord Jonquil suggested, wiggling his eyebrows. “Don’t you think so, Adam?”
Presents. Oh dear. “I didn’t get presents for anyone.”
Lady Jonquil motioned him to the fireplace and the table near it with wrapped parcels atop. “The presents were never meant to befromyou, butforyou.”
“They’re all for me?” He’d never have imagined such a thing.
Lord Jonquil sat on the floor, much as he had when they’d played with tops after Adam first arrived. He tapped the floornear him. “Have a seat.”
“On the floor?” He’d never sat on the floor during Christmas at the castle.
“Where else would a highwayman sit?” Lord Jonquil didn’t hide his grin.
Adam felt a smile pull at his own lips. “Are we being highwaymen tonight?”
Lord Jonquil shrugged. “Maybe a little. We’d best retain some dignity, on account of the both of us being very fine and titled gentlemen.”
“We can be highwaymen when we’re walking on the mountain,” Adam suggested.
“Excellent idea.”
Adam sat on the floor, watching the people around him, both confused and excited.
Lady Jonquil handed him a present shaped precisely like a book. He removed the paper around it to discover it was, in fact, a book. But not just any book. It wasThe History of Little Goody Two-Shoes, the book he’d been reading with her.
“We’ll continue reading it while you’re here, of course,” she said. “But you are enjoying it so much that I want you to have it forever and ever.”
He wanted to ask if he could bring it back with him when he visited. He wanted to ask so he would know if they meant to allow him to return. But he didn’t dare. He didn’t want to be sad on a night when they were going to celebrate Christmas.
Lord Jonquil gave him another wrapped present. It was soft. The outside wasn’t paper but black fabric. Presents weren’t usually wrapped in black.
Adam untied the ribbon around it, and the wrapping unrolled into a long, narrow strip of fabric.
“You needed a highwayman sash to tie about your waist,” Lord Jonquil said in that tone he used when he was being funnybut pretending to be very serious.
“And it has to be black so people know I’m still sad about my father.” Adam would have to keep wearing black for months and months. It was the rules. His heart was very sad, so he didn’t mind wearing sad colors. It would have been ridiculous not to.
“After you are no longer required to wear black,” Lord Jonquil said, “you can still use it as your pirate sash because it will be very intimidating.”
Adam liked that. “I would be a very frightening highwayman.”
“And every highwayman would be afraid of crossing you.” Lord Jonquil looked like he thought that a fine thing.
“I could drive about with my ducal arms on the carriage and flags flying, and all the highwaymen would hide instead of robbing me.” That was the way a duke ought to ride about the kingdom. “And then, because they were afraid of me, I could sneak people away from them so those people wouldn’t get hurt. And the highwaymen would have to stop hurting people.”
Lady Jonquil sat on the floor beside him, the sides of her blue silk dress bubbling up beside her. She pulled him into a hug. “Oh, my brave Adam. You have the best and bravest heart of any boy I’ve ever known.”
He didn’t always like to be hugged, but he liked it then. He leaned up against her and smiled.
