The sun was setting and the air was heavy as he retreated to the second floor in search of Remington. He had a tremendous desire to hold her, to feel her, to love her. His conversation with Ripley had been enlightening and heart wrenching at the same time.
He was aware of her voice, soft and melodious, as he approached her open bedchamber door. Curious as to whom she was talking with, he entered the room to find Trenton and Dane lying on her bed. Both boys were resting their hands on her lap and her soft hands gently caressed their hair.
His initial reaction was anger, for he had explicitly told her to stay away from her son. But that emotion was dashed by a warm, compassionate tenderness as he saw his own son cradled in her lap; his handsome face listening to her intently. Trenton had known little maternal love and the sight melted Gaston; only Remington could break through to the bitter, confused boy with her gentleness and caring.
“But was Osiris a great warrior?” Trenton asked.
“Osiris was indeed a great warrior, but he was more king than soldier. He was the wisest king Egypt ever had, and his wife loved him dearly, which is why she went to great lengths to preserve his body for the afterlife,” Remington said softly.
“But why did he marry his sister?” Dane mumbled, his eyes closed and nearly asleep.
“Because brothers and sisters sometimes married in ancient times,” Remington replied. “After Osiris’ brother, Seth, killed him and dismembered his body, Isis went to great lengths to find the pieces and restore them with her magic. Posthumously, she conceived a son and her son, Horus, went on to defeat his evil Uncle Seth and thereby avenge his father’s death.”
“You can’t conceive a babe from a dead man,” Trenton scoffed.
“How do you know?” Dane’s eyes rolled open, fighting sleep. “You do not even know how a babe is conceived.”
“I do so!” Trenton snapped. “A man sleeps in the same bed with a woman and begets a babe.”
“Uh-uh.” Dane twisted in his mother’s lap to better see Trenton. “There’s more to it than that. He has to touch her, too.Thenshe gets a babe.”
“Could you get a babe from Arik now that he is dead?” Trenton wondered aloud, looking up at Remington.
Horrified with the turn the conversation had taken, Remington opened her mouth to reply when, suddenly, Gaston lowered himself onto the mattress beside her.
“I do not think so,” he said seriously. “I do not think she would want to try.”
Remington felt guilty that she had been caught with the boys, but she smiled at Gaston anyway. “Good eve, my lord.”
To her surprise, he smiled back. “Good eve, my lady.” He then proceeded to peck her on the cheek.
The boys saw the whole exchange, but neither one said a word. In fact, they acted as if it were the most natural thing on earth as they gazed up from their vantage point on Remington’s lap.
“More glory tales, I see,” he looked down at the two faces. “Who were we discussing? Osiris and Seth?”
“Aye,” Trenton nodded. “One brother killed the other.”
“So I have been told,” Gaston replied. “But his wife loved him so much that she did everything she could to help him. That, I believe, is the point of the story.”
“But how did he cut him up?” Dane asked. “With a sword? Or a saw? Did he chop him into lots of pieces or just cut off his arms and legs?”
Remington made a distasteful face at her son’s question and looked to Gaston to answer it. The corners of his mouth twitched. “Dane, you have an unhealthy preoccupation with gore. Is it not sufficient to know that he was cut into pieces? Must you know howmanypieces?”
“Aye,” Dane insisted. “How many pieces means how much he hated him. Did he hate him a little or a lot?”
Remington and Gaston looked at each other, shaking their heads. Trenton looked thoughtful.
“If my father slept in the same bed with you, would you conceive?”
Remington’s eyes widened at the question, but she kept her mouth shut. She would let Gaston deal with his son.
“That depends on a great many things, Trenton,” he said steadily. “Did your mother never speak to you on the ways of men and women?”
Trenton shook his head. “Not… not really. What ways?”
Remington slanted Gaston a glance and looked away, aware that she was suddenly fighting off giggles. She liked to see him put on the spot.
Gaston scratched his chin. “We shall get into that later, but not now. The evening meal is approaching and I believe you two have duties to attend to.”
