Comfort and Joy by Nicki Bennett

Author:Nicki Bennett [Bennett, Nicki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-64108-704-9
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2023-09-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

IT CONTINUED to snow heavily the next morning, leading the Dowager to remark at breakfast that if it did not stop soon, they might well find themselves snowed in for Christmas. As Cook had enough food stored and preserved to keep the entire household well fed for weeks, this would have been less dire than an inability to gather the greenery, and most importantly, the Yule log, to mark the festive season.

Happily for the Langbourne staff’s decorating plans, by luncheon the swirling fall had begun to taper off, and Marcus decided to take advantage of the lull in the event it should not last. Meaning to go on as he had begun, he invited Justin to join him, to his son’s delight. Moulton harnessed a sturdy draft horse to the cart normally used to take Cook to the local farmer’s market for shopping excursions, Warren secured some hand tools and a small ladder in the bed, and Marcus settled Justin, wrapped in a heavy blanket with a warmed brick beneath his feet, on the seat between him and the groundskeeper before snapping the reins to head into the woods that skirted the formal grounds of the estate.

Warren directed him to a spot where they had harvested foliage the previous year, and before long the bed was filled with enough holly, ivy, and evergreen branches to garland every mantel, staircase, and railing in the Hall. Finding a proper Yule log, however, proved much more challenging.

“No, Papa, that one isn’t big enough!” Justin declared again when Marcus suggested an oak larger than any of the previously rejected trees. “It needs to be large enough to fill the biggest fireplace in the Hall!”

“It needs to be small enough for us to bring down with a handsaw and to fit into the cart,” Warren murmured under his breath, though smiling at the boy’s enthusiasm.

It was also growing colder as the sun dipped in the sky. “We’ll walk on just a bit more,” Marcus said, “but if we don’t find anything else, Justin, we’ll come back for this one.”

As luck would have it, only a short way farther down the path they came upon a felled oak whose trunk was wide enough for even Justin’s discriminating taste. Warren cut a section of log nearly as long as the cart, and Marcus helped him drag it back along the path and hoist it into the bed. Marcus assured Justin’s bliss when he pulled the boy onto his lap and allowed him to hold the reins. Justin chattered happily all the way back to the Hall about how gaily the fire would burn and how next year he would be old enough to drive the cart himself.

On their return, Radford took possession of the greenery and directed several footmen to carry the log to the fireplace in the great hall. Marcus suspected that if the household staff had to work through the night, the decorations would all be in place by the next day.

He had expected

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