Genevieve shot Kendrick a look. “Have you been telling him more stories?”
“It was a tangent fromSigestan.”
“You’ve been reading? Without me?” she teased.
“We can’t resist a good tale.” He smiled and led her into the parlor.
Sally had set a fire in the fireplace and lit the candles placed on the tree—with a handy bucket of water nearby, Genevieve noted. The children’s cut-out ornaments and strung popcorn and paper chains festooned the tree, which smelled strongly of evergreen. Much like the church.
“Is it time for presents?” Hannah whispered.
“I think Kendrick and I would like to see you open the presents from us,” Genevieve said with a smile.
“Mum’s presents are tomorrow,” Peter said, looking very serious with his hair slicked down over his face.
“How wonderful, to have Christmas twice!” Elspeth said, alighting on a small stool. Robbie followed her into the room and put his free hand on her shoulder.
“Peter, would you like to hand out the gifts?” Kendrick asked.
The boy obediently handed colorfully wrapped packages to Hannah and Fletcher and his mother, ending with one in front of him. Genevieve nearly beamed with pride watching how he hadn’t hesitated over the letters.
At a nod from Kendrick, the children pulled the paper free from their gifts. Hannah gasped at the porcelain doll in a silk dress. Peter exclaimed over a set of toy soldiers and immediately began setting them up on the rug, and they chorused ‘thank you’ when prompted by their mother. Wulfric was very interested in the pitched battle that soon began over the floral rosettes in the rug.
Fletcher looked up from unwrapping his long and skinny gift in wonder. “A real sword?” he breathed.
“It’s a practice foil, so it isn’t sharp,” Genevieve hastened to say. She had stipulated that it not be sharp when Kendrick had suggested the idea of giving the boy his own sword. “And you’ll have to learn when it is appropriate to use and when not.”
“A real sword,” Fletcher repeated. He hadn’t heard a word, eyes eating up the practice foil and sword belt with sheaths for both the foil and the silvered knife that Kendrick had passed to all the human members of the household a few days before. Most regarded the bequest with puzzlement. Fletcher was the only one who wished to keep his knife on his person. Genevieve chose to regard that as a quirk of his history rather than an indictment of their household.
Kendrick set his hand over Fletcher’s. “The first thing a man learns is how to respect that he holds a weapon and not a toy. This isn’t for chasing someone through hallways or hacking at innocent bannisters. But if you promise to use it well, I will teach you how to fence with it.”
“I promise, guv,” Fletcher swore fervently.
“Good lad.”
“He’s still going to do those things,” Genevieve murmured at a register Fletcher wouldn’t be able to hear.
“He will,” Kendrick acknowledged. “But now he will do them less often.”
“Now you, Mummy,” Hannah said, stroking her doll’s hair.
“I already had my gift, missus. You didn’t need to get me anything else,” Sally said, flushing at the package Peter pushed towards her.
“This is more a joint gift from Elspeth and me,” Genevieve assured her. “You run the house for half the day, Sally. That’s no small task, and we appreciate you looking after it. After us,” she amended.
Sally unwrapped the paper and exclaimed over the fine lace collar that Genevieve had commissioned Elspeth to make. “I’ve never had anything so fine! Thank you.” She showed it to her children, and Hannah reached out a hand to stroke the tiny stitches.
Looking up from the enchanted daze his foil and its accompanying sword belt had put him in, Fletcher stood up and bowed to Genevieve and Kendrick. “I didn’t have anything to get you, missus, but I reckon if you’re still wanting to teach me to read…that would be all right.”
Genevieve beamed. “I wouldloveto teach you, Fletcher. What a wonderful Christmas this is.”
“And you haven’t even gotten to the end of your presents yet,” Kendrick said, smirking. He set a small, flat box in her lap. “And before you tell me I didn’t need to give you anything—it gives me pleasure to see you happy.”
Genevieve opened the box and breathed out a shaky breath, staring down at the circular, golden brooch with the raised figure of a fox head surrounded by ivy leaves. “Is it…?”
“As near an approximation I could find,” Kendrick said.
Genevieve lifted it out of the plush satin and cradled it in her hands. “I won’t say you shouldn’t have,” she murmured, “because I love it.”
