“I will,” she said. Then, she eyed him. “Are you going to tell me who sent the missive you received this morning?”
He glanced at her. “You saw that, did you?”
She smirked. “We were just leaving for the mountain when it came. I saw the rider, but I do not recognize who it was from.”
Caius shifted Calix as the boy lay his head on his massive shoulder. “It was from Warstone Castle,” he said. “Edward de Wolfe has passed away. I have been asked to attend a mass in his honor, but I do not want to go anywhere until this baby is born.”
Emelisse was saddened to hear of the earl’s death, a man who had become their good friend. “That is terrible news,” she said. “We knew he was ill, but it did not seem too terribly.”
“Apparently, it was worse than he wanted people to know.”
She shook her head sadly. “He was a good man,” she said. “It is only a few more weeks until this child is born, but you should go to his mass. His eldest son is the new earl now, but as I recall, his sons are not terribly old.”
Caius shook his head. “Robert is the new earl and he has seen twenty-one years,” he said. “He will make an excellent earl. I will send him my condolences as well as my support.”
“That is a good idea,” she said. “Surely William will be attending his father’s mass. It was a sad day when he left us those years ago. I know you would like to see him again.”
Caius held her hand as they moved down a particularly slippery part of the path. “I would,” he said. “But Edward wanted him to train at Northwood Castle and have the experience of an active border castle, and that is where he has been for the past six years. From all accounts, William has turned into a magnificent knight. Edward swore there has never been anyone like him.”
Emelisse smiled at him. “He learned from the best,” she said. “He learned a great deal from you. Did the missive say when the mass would be?”
Caius shrugged. “In two weeks and I want to be here when our child is born. It’s our first girl.”
She had to laugh at him. The man had been positive the child was a girl from nearly the moment of conception and it had been a running joke between them.
“Still certain of that, are you?”
“I am.”
“Had your fill of boys?”
He kissed her hand. “Nay,” he told her. “But I’m excited for my first daughter. I hope she looks just like her mother.”
Emelisse laughed softly, watching Rupert and Atticus duke it out with their sticks up ahead. “Rupert is the spitting image of you. Atticus and Calix look like me, so mayhap the chances are that this one will look like you.”
He squeezed her hand again, watching his sons play. “I hope not,” he said. “I’d much rather have a daughter with your features.”
“I will settle for a healthy baby with ten fingers and ten toes.”
“As will I, whatever the sex.”
The conversation faded for a moment as Rupert and Atticus grew bored with their sticks and began jumping in muddy puddles. Emelisse watched them get absolutely filthy, knowing she was going to have to wrestle a pair of little boys into a bath when they reached home. But it didn’t distress her; wrestling little boys was all part of the fun of life at Hawkstone these days.
“You know what I was thinking?” she asked softly.
He glanced at her. “What is that, sweet?”
She watched the boys kick water on each other. “I’ve been thinking I’d like to name our daughter something Alice would like. She has been such a great friend and I would like to honor her somehow.”
He squeezed her hand, knowing they were venturing onto a somber subject. Alice and Hallam, happily married all of these years, had not been successful in having live children. Alice had given birth twice to dead daughters, something that had been tremendously upsetting to everyone.
But Alice had been strong; so very strong, as Hallam had wept in secret. Caius knew because he had seen the man break down. Emelisse has effortlessly given birth to three boys, and now the imminent birth of a fourth child, and Alice had been thrilled for her friend every time. She had even attended the births, helping the midwives, and it had been Alice who had told Caius each time that a son had been safely delivered.
Alice and Hallam had turned out to be a wonderful couple and the most generous, giving friends Caius and Emelisse could have asked for.
At the moment, however, Alice was pregnant again and it was more than likely her last chance. She was into her fourth decade now and the pregnancy had been extremely taxing on her. The midwives had put her on bedrest and that was where she hadbeen for seven long months. As Emelisse actively attended not only Hawkstone, but Richmond when they were in residence, Alice had been forced to remain in the keep of Hawkstone, on the floor of private chambers she shared with Hallam, in the hopes that this child would live.
It was something Emelisse prayed for daily.
