Conor put up his hands and backed away as if fearful Kenton was about to throw a punch. “Very well,” he conceded. “Not from the very beginning, but at least since you threw her in the vault. You waited a day or two before completely falling under her spell.”
Kenton growled at him. “Bastard,” he grunted, turning away and still pretending to be miffed. “You know nothing.”
“I know more than you evidently think I did.”
Kenton turned to look at him, fighting off a grin. It was hard not to smile when the subject was Nicola. “Then if you know everything, you should know that I will not wait much longer foryou to send for a priest,” he said. “I promised Warwick we would return to him as soon as possible but I intend to marry Nicola before I go. The sooner the priest, arrives, the better.”
Conor whistled between his teeth, loudly, motioning to one of the soldiers guarding the gatehouse when the man turned to look at him. As the man headed towards him, Conor turned back to Kenton. “Have you told Lady Thorne we will be leaving on the morrow?”
Kenton shook his head. “I have not,” he replied. “I will not tell her until absolutely necessary for the news will certainly upset her.”
“Howmuchare you going to tell her?”
Kenton lifted his eyebrows with great regret. “No more than I must,” he said. “I will not tell her that we are heading towards what is mayhap the final battle with Edward. I do not know all of the intelligence or logistics associated with what we are about to face, but Warwick seemed to think it was to be quite large. This could be the turning point.”
Conor grew serious. “I received that impression as well.”
Kenton scratched his dark head. “I have never had to face this type of situation before,” he muttered. “Telling the woman I love that I am going to war and may not return. This is an entirely new circumstance for me.”
Conor was studying him as he spoke. He’d never seen Kenton so emotional, which was very strange to him. He never knew Kenton was capable of such feelings.
“She is not only the woman you love,” he said quietly. “She will be your wife. I will send for the priest, Kenton, but you make sure that you give her your son this night. Even if you do not make it back to Babylon after this battle is over, your legacy will still live on. She will still have something of you to remember.”
Kenton gazed up to the keep, dark and cold against the night sky, as if seeing Nicola within those walls.A son,he thought.He’d never really thought of his progeny before but with Conor’s advice, he found that it was something that was important to him. He hadn’t even realized it.
“Mayhap you are right,” he said, turning towards the keep. “Send the priest to me as soon as he arrives.”
Leaving Conor to arrange for the messenger, Kenton lumbered towards the keep, mounting the steps.My steps,he thought. He’d never had a home, not ever, not one place that he felt belonged to him or that he belonged to it, but Babylon somehow was filling that role. Because it was Nicola’s, it was his, and he felt more at home here than he’d ever felt anywhere in his life. God, he felt so happy here, so content, that he never wanted to leave it, but that was the sad reality facing him. He didn’t want to go… again.
But he had to.
The hall inside the keep was lit by a blazing hearth and several banks of tallow candles, all dripping fat onto the wood floor. As soon as Kenton entered the keep, he could feel the warmth and hear the boys yelling about something or other. He couldn’t even make out their words, only shouting. By the time he entered the hall, he saw the source of the shouting– Teague and Tiernan had brought one of the lambs into the hall to play with it and Tab was telling them, quite imperiously, to take it outside. But as he watched, the lamb broke free and began cavorting around the room with the three boys chasing after it. The more they would chase, the more it would run, and Kenton ended up coming to a halt just inside the doorway, watching the antics with a big grin on his face.
“I apologize for the chaos, my lord.”
He turned to see Nicola walking up from his left. She had been over near the big feasting table, making sure everything was set for their meal. He held out a hand to her as sheapproached and she eagerly took it, being pulled against his torso as they watched the boys chase the lamb around.
“No need for apologies,” he said. “This is quite entertaining.”
Nicola shook her head with resignation at the frolics of her sons. “Teague and Tiernan are determined to make a pet out of this lamb,” she said. “I haven’t the heart to tell them that, eventually, the animal will end up on our table. I do not think they will like to hear that.”
Kenton laughed softly, watching the lamb as it turned on its pursuers and ended up butting Tab so hard that the boy flew back on his arse. That cause Kenton to guffaw with laughter, and he wasn’t the guffawing type. But he’d never seen anything so funny or so charming. Beside him, Nicola giggled.
“Mayhap I should go and save Tab from the wicked lamb,” she said. “Moreover, it is time to eat. There will be time for play later.”
She broke away from Kenton, instructing the boys to remove the lamb, but they tried to plead and bargain with her. Kenton was more firm about it. He went over to the boys, who by now had corralled the frisky animal, and pointed to the door that led to the kitchen and ultimately out to the yard beyond.
“This may come as a shock to you, but lambs do not belong inside the keep,” he said. “Remove the beast so that we may eat the lovely meal your mother has worked hard to prepare.”
Tab was still on his bottom; he had the lamb around the head so it would not try to butt him again. “He does not want to go outside!” he declared.
Before Kenton could reply, Teague nearly shouted at him. “He can sit nexth to usth!” he said in his terrible lisp. “He will behave, I promith.”
Kenton shook his head and began to direct the lamb towards the door in spite of all of the boys holding on to it. “You cannot guarantee the behavior of the beast, Teague,” he said, pushingthe fuzzy arse along. “Take him outside and back to his mother where he belongs.”
The boys argued somewhat but not too much; they knew, deep down, that the lamb belonged outside. Even Tab, who had originally told his brothers to take it outside, was now reluctant to do so. Sometimes the boys tended to push their mother’s patience just because they knew they could. Kenton, however, seemed immune to their will, a big authority figure in their midst. Kenton helped them scoot the lamb out of the hall, through the kitchens, and then he stood in the doorway to the yard and watched as the three of them took it back to the corral where the other sheep were clustered. As he stood there watching, he could feel a soft hand slip into his big one.
“You will make a fine father someday,” Nicola said, gazing up at him adoringly. “You have always shown great patience and wisdom with my sons, something their father never did.”