He squeezed her hand. “It is good practice for our own children,” he said. “I expect at least a dozen, by the way.”
Nicola rolled her eyes. “God’s Bones, le Bec,” she said. “A dozen?”
He nodded. “That would be my preference, aye.”
She rolled her eyes again, this time laughing as well. “You are a madman,” she said, releasing his hand and turning away. “Come and let us eat. Mayhap it is the lack of food that is causing these great fantasies you seem to have.”
He grinned broadly as he followed her from the kitchen, hearing the boys coming up behind them. “Is that so?” he said. “We shall see.”
“Aye, we shall.”
They entered the hall with smiles on their faces and the three boys ran around them, making a mad dash for the table where Janet and Raven were pouring wine into cups. The hall was empty this night, with just the family to feed, because everyoneelse was out on guard duty. Kenton made sure to relay orders to the servants to take food outside to the men, which they rushed to prepare. As the servants went off to tend to their tasks, Nicola, the three boys, and Kenton sat at the feasting table and delved into the steaming food.
Boiled mutton with garlic and onions was the main bill of fare along with fresh bread, apples with cinnamon, and boiled beans. Kenton sat between Tab and Nicola, eating heartily, helping Tab butter his bread, and grinning at Nicola as she tried to keep the twins off the table. Instead of asking for something to be passed to them, like the butter, they would simply climb upon the table to get it, prompting their mother to grab a little leg and pull them back down. It came to the point where the twins gravitated towards Kenton because he wasn’t apt to pull them off the table, so Nicola finished her meal with no one on her right side and everyone to her left as the boys crowded around Kenton.
But it was more than simply the fact that he seemed more lenient with them; it was the mere fact that he had returned and the boys were thrilled to see him. Nicola finished her meal with a smile on her face, watching Kenton and her sons interact, so incredibly appreciative of his presence. He seemed to bring out the best in all of them, the man who had once been their captor but who was now quickly becoming the center of their world. It made all of those lonely, fearful nights for Nicola fade from memory, recent nights where she had been unable to sleep, so very fearful of Kenton’s fate. Now, his fate was here, at Babylon, as if he had always belonged here. He was theirs and they were his. She couldn’t explain the joy, the contentment, any other way.
As she watched Teague and Tiernan tussle over wanting the same piece of bread, the door of a closet in the entryway slowly creaked open. Nicola caught movement out of the corner of hereye, turning to see the mad, old woman emerge from her cave and begin her nightly dance. Kenton, too, saw the movement as the old woman flitted about in the entry hall, just outside of the reach of the light. He could see her silhouette in the darkness, moving about. The twins, naturally, were frightened and climbed upon Kenton for protection, while Tab stood up from his seat, moving around his mother so he could have an unobstructed view of the dancing woman.
Tab had seen the old woman many times in his life but when he came to realize she was not a ghost, as Kenton and the other knights had explained to him, he began to be more curious about her. Most nights she came forth but, as of late, her appearances were less and less frequent. Even her dancing seemed to be slower and less energetic. But to Tab, she was of increasing interest now that he was more aware of her. As the woman danced in the darkness just beyond the hall, Tab turned to his mother.
“Mam,” he said, pointing to the woman. “Who is the ghost?”
Nicola looked at Tab, surprised to hear the question. He’d known of the “ghost” for years but had never shown much interest in her, so his question naturally had his mother surprised. He was almost six years old now and as Nicola thought on his question, she presumed he had a right to know the truth. He was old enough and certainly becoming more curious and aware about things. Her little boy was growing up.
“That is Lady Aspasia Thorne,” she said, putting her hand on Tab’s shoulder. “She is your father’s mother. She is your grandmother.”
Tab continued to watch the woman, now with his brow furrowed. “Sheis?” he asked with some awe in his tone. “Then why does she do that? Why does she live in the closet?”
Nicola squeezed his shoulder. “It is sad to say that she is not in her right mind,” she said. “She has not been in her rightmind since I came to live here many years ago. Your father made her live in the closet because she was not fit to be around other people, so she has lived in that closet so long I do not believe she knows anything else. You know that she will not harm you as long as you leave her alone.”
Tab was rather rocked by the information that the woman in the closet was his grandmother. “It was not right for Papa to make her live in the closet,” he said. “She should not be there.”
“She likes to be there, Tab. As long as she is content, then you must leave her alone.”
Tab wasn’t so sure. Something in his young, growing mind felt sorry for the woman, feeling empathy his father never had. The woman was evidently his family, after all, and he was coming to understand a good deal about family and taking care of those he loved. He never understood that so much as when Kenton started to take interest in him and his brothers, and now the man had returned to them. He had learned a great deal from Kenton in the short time he’d known him. He was a man that Tab wanted to emulate.
His father had never been kind. He had always known that. He never regretted stabbing the man when he had been taking his fists to his mother on that terrible night, stabbing him with a sword he had stolen off of one of the old, drunk soldiers. His father had been ill after that and then he had died, so Tab had always suspected that perhaps he had killed his father. He’d never told his mother his suspicions, however, because he didn’t want to upset her. Maybe she didn’t realize that what he did had caused his father’s illness and eventually killed him, so he didn’t want to tell her. Let her believe that his father simply died and that was the end of it, because to Tab, itwasthe end. Gaylord Thorne, the man who had fathered him, had finally ceased to exist.
And then came Kenton.
Kenton had been the enemy but he had shown them all more attention and affection than Gaylord Thorne could have ever dreamed of. Nay, Tab wasn’t sorry at all for what he’d done. In his view, he’d had to do it. He had to protect his mother from his father. But he did not have to protect her from Kenton. Watching the gray-haired old woman dance around in the dark, Tab was coming to think there was one more woman who had needed protection from his father, only Tab hadn’t realized that until now. Maybe he could help her somehow. Picking up a piece of bread from the table, Tab made his way towards the old woman spinning in the dark.
Nicola, puzzled, opened her mouth to stop her son but Kenton put a hand on her shoulder, quieting her when she turned to look at him quizzically. Together, they watched Tab as the boy walked slowly and carefully towards the mad, old woman. He continued through the doorway and into the darkened entry, and when the woman saw him, she came to an abrupt halt and hissed at him. Tab jumped but he didn’t walk away. He simply extended the bread to her.
The old woman stopped her hissing, looking at the bread very curiously. Since she ate only what she could steal, scraps from the dogs or rubbish to be burned, the concept of fresh bread was foreign to her. She sniffed the air in the direction of the bread and, realizing it was quite appetizing, timidly reached for it. Tab held it out, steadily, until she finally snatched it and ran off, disappearing back into her closet and slamming the door. Tab went up to the closed door and tried to listen, to hear what was going on inside. All he could hear was rustling and grunting.
“I shall bring you more bread tomorrow, Grandmother,” he said loudly. “My… my name is Tab. I will bring you more food tomorrow.”
With that, he turned around and headed back into the hall, where Nicola was quickly wiping tears away at the compassionate gesture from her young son. She knew, without a doubt, that Kenton was to thank for it. Through his compassion and honor, her boys were learning the same. They were learning traits they would have never learned from their own father and it was yet one more thing to thank Kenton for.
“That was very kind of you, Tab,” she said as her son resumed his seat next to Kenton. “I am sure she appreciates your gesture.”
Tab shrugged, picking at his cinnamon apples. “I will bring her more tomorrow.”
Nicola smiled. “I am sure she will appreciate that.”
Kenton interjected. “That was a very gracious thing to do, Tab,” he said. “I am proud to have witnessed it.”
