Chapter Nineteen

January 1787

Life for Robbie Simpkin was nearly perfect. She and her beloved Howard had traveled the kingdom building gardens and herb sheds and anything Howard was hired to create. They worked side by side, ate many a supper in the gardens they created, and had made a home in their carriage house. The hope she had clung to during their time at Brier Hill now wove through every moment of every day. She had her Howard and was living the life she’d barely allowed herself to dream of.

And they were at Brier Hill again, at the invitation of Lord and Lady Jonquil. Adam would be visiting the kindhearted couple, who had sent word to Devonshire, where Robbie and Howard had been. The heavens were kind, and she and Howard had a gap in work that coincided perfectly. They’d finished the job they’d been undertaking, climbed into their movable house, and made directly for Northumberland.

They were waiting in the entryway, Howard standing with his arms around Robbie. They often stood in precisely that position. Robbie hadn’t realized how much she’d wanted to just be held all these years, not until he had come into her life. Their not-actually-Christmas miracle continued to prove itself a blessing.

Lord Jonquil, who had gone to Falstone Castle to fetch their young duke, was expected at any moment. Lady Jonquil paced the entryway, returning repeatedly to the front window, watching for a carriage that had not yet arrived. She held a wee bairn in her arms, one who cooed and gurgled ceaselessly. If Robbie were not mistaken, the newest addition to Brier Hill would grow up to be a very talkative gentleman.

The lady’s eyes met Robbie’s as she passed her once more. “You likely think me an anxious mess.”

“On the contrary, I simply think you’ve missed our tiny duke.”

“Likely almost as much as you have, my dear,” Howard said to Robbie.

“He’s such a dear lad. How could anyone not miss him when separated from him?”

Lady Jonquil sighed. “I have missed him more than I can say. I wish we could see him more often. I worry that the years will pull him further away from us.”

“But he does write to you,” Robbie said. “That’s a fine thing.”

“His letters are as brief and efficient as any I’ve read before,” she said. “How easily I can hear him saying, ‘I do not understand the purpose of long, rambling letters.’”

I do not understand the purpose. The only thing Robbie had heard Adam say more often than that over the years she’d been at Falstone Castle was the word ridiculous . Oh, how she’d missed him.

“He is, without question,” Howard said with a bit of a laugh, “the most efficient child I’ve ever met.”

“I am looking forward to asking him more about this Harry, whom he insists is not his friend but I think very much sounds like one,” Lady Jonquil said.

“I watched them when they were at Falstone Castle months ago,” Robbie said. “Howard was doing work on the gardens there at the time. Adam has a friend in that boy whether he knows it or not.”

“And whether he wants one or not?” Lady Jonquil asked with a laugh.

“I’d wager so, aye.”

The bairn in Lady Jonquil’s arms watched Robbie intently, the most alert three-month-old she’d just about ever seen.

“May I hold Lord Fallowgill?”

“Of course.” As Lady Jonquil set her precious bundle in Robbie’s arms, she warned, “He will snatch at every ribbon or ruffle he can wrap his tiny hands around.”

“A fashion critic?” Howard asked, a chuckle beneath the question.

“Apparently.” Lady Jonquil watched her son fondly.

Robbie met Howard’s eye. “Do you see this wee treasure?”

“I do, my dear.” Howard had shown himself to have a deep affection for children. “He’s a beautiful baby, my lady.”

“He has his father’s golden curls,” Lady Jonquil observed.

“He does at that.” Robbie gently ran her fingers over those wisps.

“I cannot thank you enough for the nursemaid you recommended,” Lady Jonquil said. “She is a dream.”

Robbie tucked the baby up close to her, treasuring the joy of having an infant in her arms again. “And I cannot thank you enough for insisting on the governess chosen for Adam. While I have not met her, knowing you approve of her has given me such peace.”

Howard put his arm around Robbie once more. “Has given both of us peace.”

“And I mean to thank your husband for suggesting Howard work at Falstone Castle for a spell. Being there while Adam was those months ago and before he had a governess meant the boy wasn’t so alone.”

Whatever response Lady Jonquil might have made was cut off by the sound of hooves and carriage wheels outside. “They’ve arrived at last!”

Without any of the decorum common to those of her rank, Lady Jonquil threw open the front door and rushed outside. Robbie and Howard followed close behind.

Lord Jonquil was the first to emerge from the traveling carriage. The passing months hadn’t dampened his barely controlled energy. He literally hopped down onto the ground, grinning at them all.

“Have you brought him?” Lady Jonquil asked.

“Brought whom?” He made quite a show of being confused.

Behind him, a wee boy, dressed in the solemn and very correct clothing of a young aristocrat, stepped regally from the carriage, his gaze finding Lady Jonquil before anyone else, allowing Robbie to study him without him knowing she was. His black hair was pulled back in a ribbon matching his coat. His shoes were polished to a high shine. His appearance was impeccable and far closer to that of a forty-nine-year-old than an almost-nine-year-old. There was no mistaking her little Adam. He was a bit taller, a bit older, appeared a bit more solemn, but he was still himself.

“Oh, my Adam!” Lady Jonquil rushed to him and pulled him into a fierce embrace. “My dear, brave Adam! You are here at last.”

“Lucas refused to ask the driver to go faster.” The accusation was offered quite seriously, but Lord Jonquil’s grin told anyone witnessing the moment that Adam was teasing him.

“Oh, Lucas, do fetch Philip,” Lady Jonquil said. “I want Adam to meet him.”

Lord Jonquil crossed to Robbie, blocking her view of her wee Adam. He indicated his son in her arms. “I know he’s difficult to give up, but do you mind if I steal this little peapod from you?”

“Promise I can hold him again,” she said, “and I won’t kick up a fuss.”

“You have my solemn vow.”

Lord Jonquil took his son and moved back toward his wife and the little boy they had all but adopted, who was turned away from Robbie, fully consumed in the greetings he was receiving from this generous couple.

Howard pulled Robbie into a tender and affectionate embrace. “He looks happy, Robbie. And he seems quite sure of himself. More so than when we last saw him.”

She leaned against her beloved husband. “He is growing up.”

“No longer as tiny as a thistle.”

“He is also no longer alone,” she said. “And neither am I.”

“Life’s been good to us, my Robbie.”

Across the way, Adam was eyeing the infant Lord Jonquil held. He didn’t seem to know what to say or do with a baby, but he was quite content to lean against “Mother Julia” and listen to all she had to say about tiny Philip, Lord Fallowgill.

“Now, Adam, I will set aside my motherly gushing and suggest you make the ‘good day’ that is several months in the making.”

He looked up at Lady Jonquil, clearly confused.

“There is someone standing not far from here, watching all this,” she said. “We’ve kept you so distracted that you haven’t spotted her yet.” Lady Jonquil motioned to where Robbie and Howard stood.

Adam turned and looked in the direction Lady Jonquil had indicated. His greeting would, Robbie didn’t doubt, be very sedate and proper. That had been very much his way when they’d last parted. It appeared to be even more so now.

To her delighted shock, he grinned and ran directly to her, calling out, “Nurse Robbie!”

In an instant, she was holding her beloved boy to her, clutching him tight, and silently blessing the heavens for moments like these.

From within her embrace, Adam said, “Mr. Simpkin, you’re here as well.” And he sounded truly pleased.

“I’d not miss seeing you for all the world, Your Grace.” Howard set a hand on Adam’s back and his other arm around Robbie. “It wouldn’t be a Twelfth Night celebration without you here.”

Adam leaned back and looked into Robbie’s eyes, excitement dancing in his. “Is it Twelfth Night?”

“Tomorrow,” she said. “We have plans to decorate the house in greenery, gather all the games we can think of—”

“Wassail the tree?” Adam asked eagerly.

“Of course,” Howard answered.

“And eat cake,” Lord Jonquil added, he and his family having joined them.

“And crown a monarch,” Lady Jonquil said.

Adam looked at all of them, smiling and happy and, at last, hopeful. “And we’ll be together. That is the best part of Christmas. The very best part.”

Their Christmas miracle continued to be a blessing, and life was, indeed, very, very good.