“You’re having ababy?”Aunty Cait’s eldest son burst out.“After all this time?”He exchanged glances with his brothers.All three of them seemed in shock.“How did that happen?”
“Honestly, Griffin?”the youngest, Jamie, scoffed.He was fourteen.“EvenIknow howthathappened.”
General laughter broke out, followed by a hubbub of questions and congratulations.But all of that abruptly ceased when the plum pudding was brought in flaming and they began singing “Sir Christèmas,” a tradition that Violet had brought to the family long ago.
“Nowell, nowell, nowell, nowell
Who is there that singeth so: Nowell, nowell?
I am here, Sir Christèmas.
Welcome, my lord Sir Christèmas!
Welcome to all, both more and less!
Come near, come near.
Nowell, nowell.”
To Jewel, the room felt magical with all of their voices raised in melodious song.The fathomless darkness beyond the windows seemed to magnify the soft, warm candlelight inside and the brighter flames that danced around the lit pudding.
“Dieu vous garde, beaux sieurs, tidings I you bring:
A maid hath borne a child full young,
Which causeth you to sing: Nowell, nowell.
Christ is now born of a pure maid;
In an ox-stall he is laid,
Wherefore sing we at abrayde: Nowell, nowell.
Buvez bien, buvez bien par toute la compagnie.
Make good cheer and be right merry,
And sing with us now joyfully: Nowell, nowell.
Nowell.”
As the verse came to an end, a hush fell over the chamber.Jewel savored the comfortable silence for the brief time it lasted, until a footman stepped forward to take the pudding to be sliced and served.
“Now it feels like Christmas is really here,” she declared.
“It truly does,” Rowan agreed, the sparkle in his deep green eyes annoying her for some reason she couldn’t fathom.“Did you know that Christmas pudding was banned by Oliver Cromwell?He believed the ritual of flaming harked back to pagan celebrations of the winter solstice.My parents met during that time, when celebrating Christmas wasn’t allowed.Not that that stopped my mother,” he added with a flirtatious wink.
She tried to glance away, but he was still looking at her, clearly expecting her to say something.Vexed, she shifted on her seat.“Thank you for the history lesson,” she muttered ungraciously.
A puzzled frown crossed Elspeth’s features before she turned to him and touched his arm.“What did your mother do?”she asked brightly, drawing his attention.
Which was fine with Jewel.She wanted nothing to do with Rowan.
Why was that?
Once upon a time, she’d have been thrilled to have him flirt with her.While he regaled his adoring audience with his mother’s antics during the time Christmas was outlawed, she tried to figure out why he aggravated her now.
Many years ago he’d hurt her, but at twenty-one, she was old enough to know he hadn’t hurt her on purpose.What had felt like cruel rejection at ten had been no more than a boy being a boy, and a rather typical boy, at that—she’d watched her own brothers behave the same way at that age, after all.That Rowan hadn’t remembered the incident shouldn’t have come as a surprise, given how little it had meant to him.And although she’d been terribly rude to him from the moment he’d walked in the door, he was being perfectly nice to her.
