Page 14 of Silent Knight: Alexander

“Are you crying?” asked Charlotte.

“They are tears of happiness,” said Summer with a smile. “Hearing you say that, makes me feel that if Peter had lived, mayhap he could have found love in this lifetime as well. Charlotte, I didn’t tell the others, but I really like Alex, too.”

“You do?”

“Aye. I think he looks a lot like Dominick. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but Alex really reminds me of the boy I lost. My son, Peter.”

* * *

Alex was alreadyover the drawbridge when he heard someone shouting his name.

“Alex, Alex, wait up.”

He turned around to see Dominick riding up to greet him. “Good morning,” said Alex with a nod of his head. “You are Dominick – Lady Summer’s son, aren’t you?”

“I am,” he said, slowing his horse and riding next to Alex. “Are you leaving so soon? We haven’t even eaten the Christmas goose yet.”

“I think it is time that I am on my way.” Alex kept his eyes forward as he spoke. He couldn’t look at Dominick since they looked so much alike, only Dominick had blond hair.

“My mother requests your presence during the rest of the festivities.”

“Tell her thank you, but it is time I leave.”

“I don’t know why she is so insistent on it, but if you leave I know she is going to have me follow you and bring you back. And by the looks of that old nag, unless it sprouts wings, you are not going to outride me.”

Alex smiled, liking Dominick’s humor. He was still going to object until he heard Dominick’s next words.

“The girls seem to like you and want you back as well. Especially Lady Charlotte.”

“Really?” His head snapped around in surprise. “Are you sure?”

“Lady Charlotte said she has grown fond of you, but my sisters say she is smitten. Claire and Regina like you, too, but they said they don’t want to marry you because you are more like a brother.”

“Marry?” The idea caught Alex off guard. So did the word brother. A feeling lodged in Alex’s heart. If what Crandell said was true, then Alex was walking away from his true family. When he woke up this morning, he decided it would be too hard to accept if he told everyone he was Peter and then they dug up the grave to find the bones of the stillborn. If that were to happen, Alex would be devastated and not know what to do. Then again, if it turned out to be true, his whole life would change forever. He’d have a mother and a stepfather as well as two half-sisters and a brother. He would even be an uncle to little Robert. How could he walk away from all this? And the thing that hurt the most is that he didn’t want to leave Charlotte. But Charlotte was a beautiful noblewoman who deserved someone better. He didn’t want to doom her to a life with a man who didn’t even have two good legs.

“What are you waiting for?” asked Dominick as the bells from the chapel rang out, signaling that the Christmas mass had begun. Alex swallowed the lump in his throat and confided in Dominick.

“I think I have feelings for Lady Charlotte although I just met her. She doesn’t judge me like the others.”

“You mean like that pompous ass, Sir Dreyfis. If I were you, I would stand up to the man before he starts rumors that you are naught but a coward.”

He was a coward where matters of the heart were concerned. But he was also not willing to walk away from a challenge, just like Dominick said.

“I’m not a coward,” he said.

“I’m sure you’re not.”

“I’m a mercenary, and so was my father.”

Dominick’s mouth dropped open. “I was just a lad when Crandell lived at Framlingham, but from what I remember, he was a loyal man, not someone who would hire out his sword.”

“Something happened that I don’t understand. My father was banished.”

“Banished?” asked Dominick, his brows dipping. “I don’t think so. I heard he left Framlingham to travel with his family.”

“We did travel,” said Alex. “But on my father’s deathbed, he told me something . . . something that I want to believe but, at the same time, it frightens me out of my mind.”

“What is it? You can tell me.”