Page 132 of The Splendor of Fire
Gabriel screwed up his little face and thought, tapping a finger to his chin. “Puis-je t'appeler Maman?”
The words needed no translation. Aileen’s aqua eyes blinked rapidly, trying to keep emotion away and she mouthed her response.Oui, sil te plaît.
A grin spread over Gabriel’s face. “Maman et Papa.” He repeated the short phrase over and over. And then, after a few seconds he paused. “Where will we live, Papa? In a big nest?”
The first genuine belly laugh Léo had in long months burst through him, and he shook his head and wiped his eyes, then signed. “No, we will not live in a big nest.”
Aileen’s shoulders shook with laughter.That sounds very fun.
Léo ruffled the downy-soft brown waves of hair on Gabriel’s head. “I was hoping that you and Maman would come back to Skye with me. I have been made chief of my clan by a king and will need to stay near them. Maman and I are building a new home that looks out over the sea near where Maman grew up—where lots of trees grow so she has a place to fly, and so she may teach you how to fly too. Wewill keep our home here in France and come to visit in the winter and see your Mémé, uncles, and cousins. What do you think of that?”
Gabriel’s face screwed up again and he tapped his chin with the same pondering finger. “I need to pack my trunk!” He jumped up and ran inside the house and Mémé followed close behind.
Aileen’s eyebrows shot up and she shook her head in silent laughter.Where did he go?
“To pack.”
Leaning forward, Léo took Aileen’s hand and spun the band of gold on her ring finger and kissed her, feeling happier than he had ever been in his whole life.
He cupped her cheek. “When did you sketch me?”
Just before I came to Cràdh to sketch Gabriel. I climbed a tree to sketch, but your image was all I could think of at the top of the world. When you gave me the letter the following week, I knew that Gabriel should have his own likeness of you so he would know you. I sent it with the messenger to Calais. I wished to see my Da when I was small, but I couldn’t remember what he looked like. I couldn’t let Gabriel forget you.
He put his hands to her neck and pulled her into his mouth, kissing her with the love bursting from his heart. “You have given me everything, Aileen. Everything.”
She smoothed her hand over his cheek and read the happiness in his expression.What is it?
The words of a psalm written upon his heart and mind in the depths of Cràdh came to his mind. “Turn, O my soul, into thy rest: for the Lord hath been bountiful to thee. For he hath delivered my soul from death: my eyes from tears, my feet from falling.”
She smiled.He never leaves us, even when we’re swept far away to unfamiliar places. Because he remembers us, we’re never forgotten.
Aileen kissed him again and he touched her cheek. “Oui, mon petit oiselle.”
Gabriel plonked back through the front door and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Maman, Papa! Come on! I need help!”
Léo laughed. “He needs our help.”
Aileen got to her feet and turned cartwheels toward Gabriel. Gabriel watched her tumble and turn, jumping up and down, shouting withexcitement. A stream of curious questions followed her inside the house.
Léo got to his feet. Tears of deep gratitude filled his eyes and spilled down his cheeks, and his heart burst with sudden understanding. “You, Lord, remembered me.”
The End.
