“I know, sweetheart.”
“I miss his laughter,” he said, breaking down. “I miss the way he would grab my head and kiss me and then taunt me when I tried to swat him.”
The tears streamed down his face, and Dustin put her hand to his cheek, trying very hard not to weep right along with him. “Then speak of that,” she said tightly. “Speak of those humorous stories or those annoying stories. Speak of your memories and of the good times. That is how you keep him alive, Roi. As long as you continue to speak of him and remember him, he will never truly die.”
Roi sobbed as the tears kept coming. “I do not understand why this happened,” he said. “I cannot understand why God would take my only son. Were it not for him, I would not have survived Odette’s death.”
Dustin was wiping away his tears with her hand. “There is your answer,” she said. “Don’t you see? He has gone to take care of Odette now. He took care of you all of these years after she left us, and now it is time for him to take care of her. She is no longer alone, Roi. What a joyful moment that must have been in heaven when Beckett appeared to her. She was waiting for him, you know. He’d not seen his mother in fourteen years. Can you imagine her happiness? Can you imagine his?”
Roi shook his head, looking at his mother in a way that utterly broke her heart. “I know he missed her.”
“Of course he did.”
“But I was not ready to lose him.”
Dustin smiled as she continued to wipe his face. “You did not lose him,” she said, putting a hand over his heart. “He is here, with you. He will always be with you. You take a piece of Beckett with you everywhere you go. But now, he shall take care of Odette, and they shall both watch over you from heaven. Instead of one guardian angel, you now have two. Rejoice that they are together, Roi. You will see them someday, but until you do, you must continue to watch over Adalia and Dorian. They need you very much. We all need you very much. You still have great things to accomplish in this life.”
Roi had stopped openly sobbing. Now, he was just standing there as his mother wiped away his tears.
“I have seen forty years and three, Mama,” he said. “I think I have accomplished everything great that I was ever going to accomplish. I always thought of Beckett as my greatest accomplishment, and now that is gone.”
“He is still your accomplishment,” Dustin said. “His death does not take that away.”
Roi took a deep breath, trying to compose himself after his outburst. “I suppose,” he said. “You know, he was to be marriedthis summer. He was very much looking forward to it. Now I must send word to le Bec that there will be no marriage.”
There was a knock on the door, interrupting their conversation, and they both looked up to see Christopher sticking his head in the door.
“May I come in?” he asked.
Roi nodded. “Come in, Papa, please.”
Christopher stepped inside, moving straight to Roi as Dustin held the man’s hands. He essentially pushed her out of the way so he could hug his son tightly.
“Above all else, I love you and your mother loves you,” Christopher murmured into his ear. “We are here to help you, whatever you should need. But know how very sorry we are that we have lost Beckett. He was a remarkable young man.”
Roi was back to tearing up. “Thank you, Papa,” he said as his father released him. “Mama and I were just speaking of Beckett and how he has now gone to Odette. It gives me comfort to think of them together.”
Christopher nodded, his hand still on Roi’s shoulder. “I hope so,” he said. “Odette loved her son deeply, and he loved her. It was very hard on him when she passed on.”
Roi wiped at the remaining moisture around his eyes. “It was hard on all of us,” he said. “But Beckett… Papa, I am not certain I can overcome this. I will try, but right now, I feel as if all hope is lost for me. I feel… empty.”
Christopher simply patted his shoulder, quietly instructing Dustin to sit him down. As Dustin directed Roi into the nearest chair and then sat beside him, Christopher went to the open door and summoned a servant for food. When the servant went running off, he returned to the solar.
“Where is the missive de Nerra sent?” he asked.
Roi pointed to the table, a large table that was neatly arranged except for an open vellum envelope lying on the top.Christopher picked it up and read it carefully, twice, before sighing faintly and setting it down again.
“He says that he is sending Beckett home,” he said quietly. “I would assume he meant immediately, which means he should arrive in a couple of days. He cannot be too far away.”
“I think so,” Roi said. “Papa, may we bury him at Lioncross?”
“You do not wish to bury him with his mother?”
Roi shrugged. “When Odette passed, her father begged to bring her home, and I allowed it,” he said. “I do not wish to be buried in Cumbria, and I do not know why I allowed her to be, only that her father seemed so desperate about it. But Beckett should be buried at Lioncross. It is where he was born.”
“Whatever you wish, of course,” Christopher said. “I will send West back to Lioncross tomorrow to make the arrangements.”
Roi looked at him with as much curiosity as he could muster. “West is here?”
