Chapter Sixteen

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"I 'm quite excited to hear of your triumph, Cassian," Celesse said. "Tell me everything!"

Her old, blue eyes were sparkling. But, then again, they always sparkled when Cassian and Beau showed up.

It was the only thing she had to look forward to anymore.

"I was there, also, Lady St. Albans," Beau reminded her with a grin. "Cassian did not triumph all by himself. He had help."

"Not much help," Cassian said, casting Beau a withering look. "I was magnificent, I admit it, but it was quite a battle. I will concede that."

Celesse was thrilled. She had her knights returned to her this day, men who returned to her as regularly as they could though there were times when it was logistically impossible. They were in Bromley this time, however, and it was very close to London.

They'd come to see her nearly every day for the past week.

These were the days she lived for. When they came to Angel Court, she was Lady St. Albans again. They'd never stopped calling her that. For a few hours, she could pretend she was a great lady again with knights who catered to her every whim. They'd never let her down, not in all these years. Even after Alain died a couple of years earlier, they still kept coming, treating her like the countess that she was.

These few short and precious hours when her world was right again.

"Tell me about the tournament," she said. "Someday, I should like to watch you compete. Do you think I could come?"

Cassian smiled at the very old, very lonely woman. "Possibly," he said. "But I would prefer that you did not come to Bromley because it is very crowded. There are many people, including pickpockets and thieves, and given that Beau and I are competing, we would not be able to properly watch over you. When the games are over, however, we would be honored to escort you to London's marketplace if you would like to shop. You know that we do not like you to go without an escort."

That was his way of making her feel honored, that she still warranted their protection. Usually, he and Beau brought goods and materials with them, like sacks of flour, salted meat, dried peas and beans and the like. It's what they did to keep the woman and her servant from starving to death, and they did it as often as they could. Celesse was nearly infirmed in her old age, so taking her out was not a simple thing. They did it about twice a year because it was all she could stand so, in truth, taking her to the tournament was out of the question. She would never be able to tolerate such a trip.

But neither Cassian nor Beau were going to tell her that. They were determined to leave the woman some dignity when life had reduced her to very little. Even if Celesse knew she couldn't make it out, it was still good for her to dream of the day when her knights would escort her to the marketplace.

Dreams were all she had these days.

"I think I should like that," she said. "I will dress in my fine red silk. Do you remember that garment? His lordship gave it to me for a wedding anniversary. Cassian, do you think I could wear my brooch again? It matches the dress, you know."

Cassian nodded. "Of course, my lady," he said. "I have been keeping it safe all of these years, until you are ready to wear it again."

Celesse smiled. "It is much safer with you," she said. "I would just lose it if you left it here, so thank you for taking such good care of it."

"My pleasure, my lady."

"Will you finish telling me of today's competition?"

"Aye, my lady," Cassian said. "It was the mass competition, as the joust starts tomorrow, so today was the day we were able to beat up on weaker knights."

Celesse was enthralled already. "Who was there?"

Cassian thought on the question. "De Branton and de Chevington," he said. "Do you remember de Chevington, my lady? From Chester, I believe."

Celesse nodded quickly. "De Chevington was a house of men who were short but well-built," she said. "My sister was quite interested in a de Chevington knight many years ago, but he married another. It is a very old house."

"Old and rich," Beau said, his dark eyes glimmering with mirth. "We were able to ransom a de Chevington knight for quite a bit."

"And that reminds me," Cassian interrupted, digging into a pocket in his tunic. He pulled out a small sack of coins, putting them on the table in front of Celesse. "You will hide this money, please. It is enough to keep you well supplied until the next time we can return with winnings."

Celesse looked at the small silk pouch for a moment before moving to open it with one hand. Her other hand, and nearly her entire left side, had been crippled in a stroke last year around the same time her sister had passed away. It had been a brutal year for the sweet Lady de Bambeque.

She opened the pouch and pulled out a couple of the coins.

For a moment, she simply looked at them.

"I do not know what I have done in my life to warrant good men such as you," she said, trying to smile at them when it was obvious that she was sad. "You have sustained Alain and me since that terrible day we left Broxbourne, and even when Alain died, you continue to tend to my every need. I am only a broken old woman. I do not deserve the goodness you two have bestowed upon me."

Cassian's eyes glittered. "You are the Countess of St. Albans," he said. "We are sworn to your husband. If we did not tend you, we would be sorry men, indeed."

Celesse waved him off. "Pah," she said. "You are a good man, Cassian Coleby. You give money to a woman who can never repay you."

"I do not ask for payment," Cassian said. "Someone must take care of you, so it is Beau and me. You are our liege's wife and it is our duty. Now, do you want to keep talking about this or would you like to play a game of Tables?"

Celesse grinned, knowing that her gratitude made him uncomfortable sometimes. But Cassian and Beau were the reason she could put food on the table and fuel in her fire. Cassian still carried around the brooch her husband gave to him those years ago and he could have very well sold it for the money he was owed, but he never had. He wore it on him as a talisman to bring him luck, though Celesse wasn't sure how much luck the brooch could bring him. It hadn't done her much good.

But it was a sweet illusion he gave her, anyway.

"I would rather play Tables," she said. "Beau, may I ask something of you?"

Beau stood tall, smartly. "Anything, my lady."

"I do believe our kitchen door is broken," she said. "I cannot throw the bolt and neither can Magda, my servant girl, and the neighborhood children have broken in and stolen all of our apples and onions."

Beau frowned, quite unhappy at the prospect of thieving children, before heading to the back of the townhome where there was a kitchen with an enormous, dirty hearth. As Cassian brought out the board game, Beau discovered that the door was not only broken, but had been pried open. The latch, the deadbolt, were twisted. Upon interrogating Magda, the servant, he found out that the children from the house next door had ruined the door and now came into the house at least twice a day to steal food or anything else they could get their hands on. Magda had an entire list of what had been stolen.

Beau brought Cassian into the discussion at that point and a plan was formulated.

They weren't going to take this lying down.

Leaving Celesse to set up the board game, which took time because she moved slowly, Cassian and Beau took Magda to the house next door and kicked down the kitchen door. As Celesse calmly put the game together to the sounds of distant screams, Cassian and Beau plowed through a formerly elegant townhome that was now home to at least four families, all of them with thieves for children.

Cassian was kicking down doors as Beau and Magda would enter and Magda pointed out things that had been stolen from Celesse. This went on for the better part of an hour until all of Celesse's possessions were retrieved and Beau cleaned out the kitchen of every bit of edible sustenance. They ended their adventure with Cassian wrangling all four families into one chamber, stressing to them that he and Beau would come back again and start hacking off fingers should anyone steal from Lady de Bambeque ever again.

He left a shaken group of thieves in his wake.

But that was the intention.

Celesse was just setting up the last of the bone game pieces when Cassian and Beau and Magda returned with a great deal of food and all of the things that had been stolen from Celesse, including pieces of clothing, cloaks, and worn-out shoes. Cassian set down his load inside the kitchen door and left Magda and Beau to organize what they'd brought back. As he headed into the front chamber where he'd left Celesse, he could hear Beau hammering at the back door, undoubtedly fixing the bolt to ensure it could be locked securely once again.

"Ah," Celesse said as Cassian came back into the front chamber. "You've returned. I believe I have the board set correctly. Will you look?"

Cassian pulled up a chair, one of only two in the chamber. He looked around as he did so, seeing how bleak the room was and feeling as if he'd somehow let Celesse down. He felt guilty that he hadn't known about the children next door stealing everything, but he was confident that wasn't going to happen again.

"I will always return, my lady," he said, switching pieces around that hadn't been set up properly. "Surely you know that."

Celesse looked at him over the top of the table. "I know," she said. "You are a good and faithful servant, Cassian."

Cassian was still fussing with his pieces. "I am sworn to your husband, my lady," he said. "He gave me a position when I needed it, so my continued service is in repayment of that kindness. As long as there is breath in my body, I will serve the House of de Bambeque."

Celesse smiled at his declaration, this fine knight who could command the highest position from the greatest lord in the land. Instead, he rode the tournament circuit and served a former countess who was destitute. Somehow, it didn't seem fair to him, but she wouldn't argue with him any longer. She'd tried that, for years, and it got her nowhere.

Cassian was there to stay.

Thank God.

"Tell me," she said. "Do you have my brooch with you?"

He looked at her. "I do," he said. "I always carry it."

"I know you do, but why? Surely it cannot bring you such good fortune."

"I carry it to remind me of what is important in life."

"And what is that?"

He paused. "Duty," he said. "Honor."

"May I see it?"

He shifted so he could dig around in his under tunic, the one he wore against his skin. After a few moments, he pulled forth the pearl "C" with the rubies. He put it in Celesse's hand, gently, and she held it up to the light, inspecting it. It was as beautiful as it was the first time she'd ever seen it.

The joy in her face was evident.

"I remember the first time I saw this," she said. "My father gave it to me before I wed Alain. It had belonged to his mother, whom I was named after. Her name was Celestine. I had always hoped to name a daughter after her and pass this brooch to her, but it was not to be. Cassian, will you do something for me?"

"Of course, my lady."

"Will you give this to a worthy lady?" she said. "The woman you marry? I would like it if you would do that."

Cassian was looking at the game board. "Mayhap someday, my lady."

Celesse looked up from the brooch. "You are young and handsome," she said. "Surely you have a chosen lady?"

Cassian looked at her. The entire time he'd served her and Alain, they had only known him as Cassian Coleby. That was what Beau knew him as, too, although he'd alluded to Beau that it wasn't his real name. Beau didn't much care, nor did Celesse, but these were people who were an integral part of his life. They loved him and trusted him, and he loved and trusted them in return. Celesse, that sweet old woman, was the grandmother he'd never had and, in many ways, the only female influence he'd had in his life for years. He valued that. He supposed it really didn't matter if she knew his real name or not.

Perhaps it was time to let her in, just a little.

"In fact, I do," he finally said. "I have since I was about twelve years of age."

Celesse looked at him in surprise. "You are married and I did not know this?"

He shook his head. "Not married," he said. "But we were betrothed."

" Were? "

He sighed faintly, looking at his hands. "I did something very stupid," he said. "I was an arrogant young man years ago. I thought I knew everything. I thought everyone should do as I said. I asked for my lady's hand, but my father– and her father– insisted that I wasn't mature enough yet to be a husband. I took offense to that, of course, and… and suffice it to say that I was horrible to my father, a man I loved more than anyone else in the world save my lady. I said things I should not have said to him. My father perished in battle before I was able to make amends."

By this time, Celesse was listening seriously. This was the most Cassian had ever opened up to her and she was understandably surprised and interested.

"I am sorry, Cass," she said softly. "When did this happen?"

"Less than a year before I came into your service," he said. "In fact, I had been wandering for months after my father died, too guilty to go home, too torn and confused and idiotic to return to my lady and beg her to take me back. You see, I just left her behind. I left everyone behind after my father died, convinced that they would be better off without me. I did not even bid them a farewell."

Celesse was coming to see something about Cassian that she had never seen before– vulnerability. "But that was not true, was it?" she said. "They were not better off without you."

He smiled humorlessly. "I suppose not," he said. "I never told you or his lordship my story because it did not matter. But in a sense, I was ashamed to tell it. I did not want you to think I was a lesser man."

Celesse shook her head. "We would never think that," she said. "But we knew you were a troubled man. We knew it from the first. Alain often wished you would confide in him, but you never did. I am glad you feel as if you can confide in me."

Cassian looked at the woman. "I am confiding in you because you brought up giving the brooch to my special lady," he said. "I saw her for the first time in seven years yesterday. She is as beautiful and brilliant as she was the last time I saw her, only more. My feelings for her are still there, still as strong as ever."

Celesse's eyes took on a glimmer of warmth. "I am glad," she said. "And she feels the same?"

"I believe so."

"Will you return to her, then?"

Cassian shrugged. "I do not know," he said. "I hope so. I will never love another woman, so if not her, there will be no one. But there is something else between us now, something… new."

"What is it?"

Cassian took a long, if not somewhat, reluctant breath. "She bore my child after I left her," he said. "I did not know she was pregnant, else I would have never gone away, so I have a son I did not know of. He looks just like my father."

Celesse smiled. "What a blessing, Cass," she said, but then she quickly sobered, as if she'd said something wrong. "It is, isn't it? Or did she marry someone else to give the lad a father?"

He shook his head. "She is unmarried," he said. "I would like to have my family back, but she is… hesitant. I do not blame her. She does not know the man I have become, but I intend to show her. I wronged her once. I shall not do it again."

"Of course you shall not," Celesse said. "You will make a fine husband and a fine father, Cassian. If your dedication to me and Alain is any indication of your sense of duty, then your lady and your son will be very fortunate to have you."

Cassian smiled faintly. "Thank you, my lady," he said. "I can always count on you to give me confidence."

Celesse extended the brooch to him. "You do not need it," she said. "But you will give this to her as a peace offering. Mayhap it will warm her to you, just a little."

Cassian looked at the brooch before reluctantly taking it. "This is yours, my lady," he said. "It will always be yours. If I give it to anyone, it will be to return it to you."

"Nonsense," Celesse said. "I told you that I have no children to give it to, so I want you to give it to your lady. Then, when you see her wear it, mayhap you will remember the gratitude of an old couple who were very fond of you."

Cassian knew it wouldn't do any good to argue with her, but he set the brooch on the table so they could both look at it. He thought she might like to hold it just a little while longer. "I will remember you, anyway," he said. The moment was growing too sentimental for comfort, so he focused on the game in front of him. "Now, my lady, are you ready for a beating?"

Celesse was delighted. "Do your worst, Cassian," she said. "But I'll not make an easy target."

"We shall see, my lady."

"Cheeky devil."

As Cassian and Celesse engaged in a vicious game of Tables, also known as backgammon, Beau repaired the kitchen door sufficiently and Magda cooked a fine meal of pork and the reclaimed onions and apples. When all was said and done and the evening came to a conclusion, Cassian lost the game intentionally much to Celesse's joy. He left the brooch on the table in payment for the great debt he now owed her as a result of losing several rounds of Tables to her, but he wouldn't take it back. Even when she tried to force him. He left it for her.

That night, she slept with it clutched to her chest.