Page 35 of Snowdrops and Winterberry
Adam gave a very regal dip of his head. He was the most duke-like eight-year-old Howard had ever met. Once the boy was grown, he would be formidable.
Lord Jonquil stepped a little closer and, lowering his voice, said, “I’ll make certain the boy doesn’t disrupt your work overly much or put himself in danger, but I do think Miss MacGregor would be less anxious if Adam were more at ease with you.”
That was true as the day was long. His voice at conversational volume, Howard said, “If the two of you don’t mind helping a bit here, we could discuss our plans as we work.”
Adam looked around the garden doubtfully.
“We just finished a little jaunt around the area,” Lord Jonquil said. He motioned to his clothes, simple and made of the rough-spun fabric generally worn by laborers. “So we’re quite well dressed for the undertaking.”
Howard gave Adam a quick look-over. The boy’s clothing up until now had been quite formal, no doubt in deference to his rank. But he was, just now, dressed quite casually. The coat he wore, Howard would guess, actually belonged to one of the servants at Brier Hill. It fit him overly large, and the sleeves were rolled up, but it was too small to have been Lord Jonquil’s.His collar lay open. His trousers were a bit dirty, his hair a bit mussed. The black sash he’d been gifted at their Christmas celebration was tied about his middle, visible beneath the front edge of his coat. It was good for young ones to be able to get a little messy now and then. It was good for people, old and young alike, to spend a little time with the earth.
Howard motioned with his shovel toward a pallet of dirt in which were a few small flowering shrubs. “Those are holly bushes. They’re to be planted two in that section”—he motioned to his right—“and one in that section.” He motioned to the left and just a touch behind himself. “I’ll give you a mark where they’re supposed to go. If you’d start digging holes, that would help a lot.”
Lord Jonquil didn’t need to be asked twice. Howard had had enough conversations with the gentleman to know he was well-versed in the art of cultivating plants and had a love of doing so.
He abandoned, for the moment, the hole he was digging for the rowan tree and moved to the sections of the garden where the hollies were being planted. With the blade of his shovel, he marked very clearx’s in the moist soil to tell his unexpected helpers where to dig.
Lord Jonquil picked out digging implements for the two of them, doing a fine job of selecting the right ones for their relative sizes and abilities. The gentleman took to the work immediately. Adam was far more hesitant.
“The wonderful thing about digging,” Howard said, “is it’s a simple thing to learn. You keep your back firm and strong, bend your knees, put your shoulders into it, and pull out the soil.”
Adam nodded but with lingering uncertainty. Howard suspected the boy wouldn’t appreciate being analyzed as he tried his hand at something new, so he put his attention to his own digging, following his own instructions. He could hear the other two having a discussion. Lord Jonquil had ample praise for hislittle helper. Adam was full of questions. The boy didn’t seem to know whether he liked the feel of damp soil under his feet. He outright said he didn’t want any on his hands.
Lord Jonquil laughed and said he’d always liked getting dirty. That was another odd thing about this lord. All the Quality Howard had interacted with appreciated gardens for their beauty or their abundance, but few had any interest in doing the work themselves.
Once Adam was focused on his digging efforts, Howard opened up the topic they’d come to the garden to discuss. “Has your Nurse Robbie talked to you of the Twelfth Night traditions I shared with her?” he asked.
“She told me it wasn’t fair to require her to make a list when I could just ask you.” That didn’t seem to meet with the young duke’s approval. “She was very stubborn about it.”
Howard thought he understood. Just as Lord Jonquil had brought the boy to the garden in an attempt to broker peace between him and the man he likely feared was stealing his nursemaid away, Robbie was attempting to nudge them toward something of a ceasefire as well.
“I’m happy enough to share with you what we did when I was child,” Howard said.
Adam looked to Lord Jonquil, a question clear in his expression. Lord Jonquil gave him silent encouragement to push forward.
“What is a person meant to do on Twelfth Night?” Adam asked but didn’t deign to look at Howard.
“The wonderful thing about Twelfth Night,” Howard said, “is that the entire purpose is enjoyment. It is the final day of the Christmas season, the last evening of revelry before the new year begins. Twelfth Night is a night for games, merriment, and music. You mentioned you and your father ate cake on Twelfth Night. Cake is a must. This was, in fact, the only day in the entireyear when my family ate cake.”
Adam’s eyes pulled a little wide. “The only one?”
Howard didn’t think this the appropriate time to discuss the realities of poverty, so he wrapped the fact up in a bit of fancy paper. “That made Twelfth Night cake extra special.”
Adam looked to his digging partner. “Did you have cake on Twelfth Night?”
“We most certainly did,” Lord Jonquil said. “And every year I wished ever so hard that I would be the one to find the bean.”
Adam’s confusion grew twentyfold.
“The cake you ate with your father didn’t have a bean?” Howard asked him.
“I’ve never heard of beans in a cake.” Adam had a bit of mud on his hand and eyed it with fiercely drawn brows.
Lord Jonquil mimed flinging the mud off his fingers. Adam did his utmost to manage it. Howard decided to push forward with his explanation of beans in Twelfth Night cakes in an effort to prevent his delighted amusement from showing. Adam had shown himself sensitive about such things.
“Beans in cakes is one of the most specific Twelfth Night traditions.” Howard leaned against the upturned handle of his shovel. “On Twelfth Night, the cake is baked with a bean inside. I have heard some families use dried peas, but ours always used a bean.”
“As did ours,” Lord Jonquil said, continuing to dig with apparent enjoyment.
