“Gabriel?” she said. “Gavin? Listen to me. This is Dada. Do you remember how I read you Dada’s missives? Do you remember how I told you he was fighting a great war? He has come home to see you. You must embrace him and show him that you love him.”
Gabriel wasn’t quite calm enough to grasp what his mother was telling him but Gavin was. He was the more introspective child, one of deep thought and feeling. He peered at Val, going to stand beside his fussing brother and looking Val in the eye. Val’s gaze moved back and forth between the two boys, mirror images of each other, and his heart couldn’t have been more full at the moment. It was joy beyond measure.
“Greetings, Gavin,” he said to the boy who was staring at him. “You are a very big lad. Do you know how to ride a horse yet? Has your mother taught you?”
Vesper moved in close to Val, putting her arms around him and laying her head on his shoulder as he spoke to their sons. The feel of him in her arms threatened to bring tears again but she struggled against them. “I have not,” she said hoarsely. “But my father has put them on ponies and led them about the stable yard.”
The mention of McCloud caught Val off-guard but he didn’t say anything; not now. He was too upswept in the first look at his boys to let anything spoil that.
“I see,” he said. Then, he simply shook his head. “I cannot believe I am actually looking at them. I have prayed for this day since I received your missive telling me that you were with child. I have imagined the faces of my sons a thousand times over inmy mind but it does not compare to the beauty I see before me. They look so much like my father that it is truly astonishing.”
“They look like you,” Vesper whispered, still holding him as she turned to look at him. “Why did you not send word that your arrival was imminent? I have been waiting almost two and a half years for this day and now I can hardly believe it. I always imagined what I would say to you at this moment but now I cannot recall any of it.”
Val took his eyes off of the boys long enough to look at her. “Tell me that you love me as if we have never been apart.”
She snaked her fingers up into his long, shaggy hair, gently caressing his head. “I love you as if we have never been apart.”
“Truly?”
“Truly.”
“And I love you more than I ever have. You are what has kept me alive these many months, Vesper. The thought of returning home to you and our children.”
Vesper pulled him towards her, her forehead coming to rest against his mouth as he tenderly kissed her. It was a gentle and surreal moment, wrought with raw emotion between two people who had missed each other dreadfully.
“Please tell me you are home to stay,” she murmured. “For if you are not, the children and I are returning with you to Ireland. I cannot stand to be away from you for another two and a half years, Val. It would kill me.”
“I am not returning to Ireland,” he said, his cheek on the top of her head as he felt the softness of her hair. “Henry has need of me here in England. It seems that there are rebellions afoot.”
“We have heard that also.”
“I am home to stay, sweetheart. I promise. Be at ease.”
Gabriel took that moment to yank himself away from his father, attempting to run off but being grabbed by his grandmother, who was standing nearby. Val looked up to seeMargaretha standing a few feet away, tears pooling in her eyes as she gazed upon her son. He stood up, smiling wearily at her.
“So, you finally have your grandchildren,” he said as if quite pleased with himself. “Happy?”
Margaretha wasn’t one to show emotion and was embarrassed when she did but, in this case, she made an exception. She accepted Val’s embrace, relishing the feel of her only child. He was safe and whole, and that was all she cared about. God had answered her prayers.
“Your children scream, bite, and run about like wild animals,” she said, sounding as if she was scolding him. But she quickly softened. “They are also brilliant, loving, and quite devilish. They were well worth the wait, Valor. I adore them. And you. Welcome home, my son.”
Val chuckled, kissing his mother on the cheek. As he did so, he noticed that Gavin had followed him and was still looking up at him quite curiously. Gabriel didn’t seem to be interested at all, but Gavin was clearly interested in him. Val smiled down at the lad.
“It has been a long time since I have been here, Gavin,” he said. “Will you show me to the keep?”
Vesper was standing next to Gavin, her gaze moving between Val and Gavin. “Dada must be shown to the hall, Gavin,” she said to the child. “Will you take him? There is food there. Are you hungry?”
Gavin looked as if he was considering both questions. While Margaretha began to head towards the keep with Gabriel howling in her arms, Gavin was seriously mulling over his mother’s request. After a moment, he reached up and took one of Val’s enormous hands.
“Come,” he said simply.
With that, Gavin began to walk towards the keep, leading his father alongside him. Vesper watched them walk away, herheart melting by the sweetness of it as Val turned to look at her, winking with the sheer delight of it. He was thrilled to pieces that he was finally in the company of his sons, or at least one of them, and it showed in every curve and contour of his face.
He was finally home.
Vesper simply wanted to observe for the moment, a sight she had been praying for since the children were born. Val was here and all was right in the world again. There were no words to describe the contentment and pride that was in her heart.
“Val looks as if he has not suffered in Ireland,” McCloud said softly, coming up to stand behind her. He, too, had been watching the reunion, but from a distance as he had not wanted to interfere. “I am glad he has come home, Vesper. Glad for you and the boys.”
