Her mother laughed but asked, “Did Jonathan mind?”
“Not at all.He explained to Henry about how better to take care of things.That night, my husband gave us all a lesson in using the stars to know where one is.”
Lise recalled what happened later that night, when she tried to make it up to Jonathan for overriding Nanny.In the privacy of their chamber at an inn, he taught her a thing or two that had her seeing stars.
When they’d all gathered in the drawing room, her father suggested they take the children to the Dodau Forest the next day.“We’ll go part of the way by wagon, and then have a walk to the tree.”
Lise’s heart skipped.“The Great Oak?”She locked gazes with Jonathan.
“I would like that,” he said.“As long as I don’t have to cling to the underside of the wagon.”
The next day, having left Nanny at home, their party of seven went along the familiar forest path.Henry and Charlotte kept running ahead and being told to wait, while Lise’s father carried his little namesake, Peter, on his shoulders.When the toddler squirmed to get down, grandson and grandfather held hands and walked.
Lise and Jonathan strolled behind.
“Many good memories,” her husband said, his voice low enough that only she could hear.She squeezed his hand.
“Yes, my lord.”No need to speak of the bad ones, she thought.
“We proved the magic was real, didn’t we?”he pressed.
“Yes, my lord,” she repeated.
“Are you mocking me?”he asked.“As I recall, you weren’t much of a believer in the legend until I came along and called out your name.”
She shook her head.“I could never allow myself to hope.Not until you entered my life.Even then, when I saw you up in the branches and heard you call my name, I still didn’t believe we could be together forever.”
“Only for that one afternoon of wondrous passion.”
She shushed him and felt her cheeks warm, recalling her first time.
“I believed,” he confessed.“And I was just desperate enough to try to make the tree work for me.”
“Desperate indeed.”She bumped him with her shoulder.
“And bloody exasperated.I had to go and nearly get myself killed to win you over.”
“That’s not how it happened.”
They walked on.The Great Oak came into view, with the others already nearing its base.Henry and Charlotte ran to the trunk, touching it, circling it.It was just as Lise remembered.Massive and ancient, its branches spread wide like welcoming arms.
“The magic tree,” Henry said, sounding awed.
Lise’s father laughed.“Magic?Is that what your mother told you?It’s just very old and very special to the people who live here.”
Jonathan squeezed Lise’s hand again.He would always believe otherwise.
Henry was already trying to reach the lowest branch, while Charlotte asked, “Can we climb?”
Lise looked to her husband, seeing the question in his eyes.She nodded.“With your father.”
“And only the lower branches,” their grandmother chimed in.
The two older children whooped with excitement while Jonathan boosted them up to the lowest branches.Peter, too small for climbing, fussed until his grandfather hoisted him up and onto his shoulders again and stood next to the trunk.
“Mama!”Henry called from his perch about six feet up.“Papa says you’re supposed to yell someone’s name from the tree!”
“Did he now?”Lise shot her husband an amused look.
