Page 40 of Snowdrops and Winterberry
“There’ll be time enough,” Robbie said. “We needn’t make any special decorations or gather presents. Twelfth Night does nae call for any. It is, in fact, traditionally when the Christmas greenery is removed.”
That angled Adam’s dark brow with disappointment. “Do we have to take it down? Since it isn’t the real Twelfth Night?”
Robbie set a hand on his shoulder. “Would you like to have the greenery remain?”
In a voice a bit smaller and a little less certain than he often employed, Adam said, “I like it. It smells nice.”
“Evergreens and herbs and flowers smell divine,” Howard said. “It’s one of the things I like best about gardens.”
“Maybe that is why Lord Jonquil likes gardens,” Adam said.
“Perhaps,” Robbie said. “Gardens are very peaceful. I think many people like them because they help when we’re sad or overwhelmed or sorrowing.”
Adam seemed to ponder that.
“What would you like to tackle first?” Howard asked. “We can begin with the crown, or we can begin with the shovegroat board.”
“Can Nurse Robbie help us with the board?”
“Of course,” he said. “I don’t think either of us would want to do something she wasn’t part of.”
Adam didn’t seem to know whether he approved of that sentiment. Howard hoped he was making some headway in convincing the child to trust him and accept that he hoped to be part of Robbie’s life even as she was becoming less a part of Adam’s.
The boy climbed into the armchair beside the side table where they would be undertaking their tasks. He was drowned by its size, and yet, somehow, he didn’t seem out of place. He was an odd combination of child and grown-up.
Howard offered Robbie the other chair. At first, she seemed as if she meant to object, but he did not relent.
“I spend my days standing and walking about,” he said. “I like it. Given the choice between sitting and being on my feet, I always choose the latter.”
That seemed to convince her, and she sat.
“These are the tools we’re going to need to make ourshovegroat board.” He slid over to them the lead pencil, paint, and paintbrush he’d brought. “Are you familiar with shovegroat, Robbie?”
She nodded. “A family I worked for ten years ago or more enjoyed the game. You chose well.”
He tossed her a mischievous look. “I know.”
Her eyes met his, a warmth filling them. “It seems we both have good taste.”
“Can the board have more than just lines and numbers?” Adam asked, studying the blank surface.
“It surely can,” Howard said.
“We should paint holly and ivy on it,” Adam said. “Since it is for our Twelfth Night celebration.”
“A bonnie idea, that,” Robbie said.
She helped Adam undertake the task of creating the shovegroat board. He was quite happy to draw the lines on the board using the pencil but initially resisted the task of painting until Robbie made him do it grudgingly. Howard hoped that someday Adam would find enough confidence in himself to take up new and unfamiliar things more willingly.
It was a pleasant half an hour creating the board. He felt certain that if any of the adults were crowned monarch of Twelfth Night, he or she would choose this game so their little duke could enjoy the fruits of his labor.
Once the board was finished, Robbie set it very carefully atop the tallboy, where it could safely dry. She then gathered the supplies for making the crown, the greenery they’d gathered with Lord Jonquil that afternoon. Pressing work in the garden had prevented Howard from accompanying her in the task, and his heart had dropped completely into his boots as searing disappointment had filled his chest at losing the opportunity for a few extra minutes with her. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt discontented while surrounded by nature.
“You managed to procure some twine,” he said as Robbie set the supplies on the table.
“Lord Jonquil and I stole it,” Adam said. “We pretended we were highwaymen. We had to be very stealthy to get it. And I wore my black sash.”
It was good to hear the boy talk about being imaginative and a touch silly. The look of relief on Robbie’s face told Howard she, too, was grateful to see her dear duke being a child.
