A Christmas Rose: A Dusk Gate Chronicles Novella (Book 4 1/2) (7 page)

Thomas knew that the last few weeks had been difficult on Quinn. It was obvious that she was trying to hold it together and put on a happy front with everyone, but something had changed when she’d had to miss Linnea’s wedding altogether.

To make matters worse, she’d only ever had a few small contractions after that one at the party, and after a full two more weeks of barely being allowed out of a chair, William and Nathaniel had finally decided she could return to doing normal things, because the baby would most likely be safe now if it did come.

That had been two weeks ago. Now it seemed like the baby had decided to change its mind completely and never come.

William had told him that with every day that passed with no baby, he felt guiltier for making Quinn miss the party, although she, of course didn’t blame him.

“Wouldn’t you feel worse if you had let her go down, and something bad had happened?” Thomas had asked.

“Yes. But knowing that doesn’t help much now. I don’t think that’s the real thing she’s sad about, anyway, Thomas. This baby
will
be here soon, and I know she’s starting to get scared, now that the reality is sinking in. And she doesn’t have her own mom … I just feel bad that the wedding was the one big, happy thing she was looking forward to before the baby, and then she didn’t even get to have it.”

Thomas didn’t know what to say; he just hugged his brother and did as much as he could to make things easier.

He was sitting in the common room, playing a game with Quinn, William, and Mia one day when he glanced out the window and gasped.

Everyone’s head snapped up, and they all followed him to the window.

After the snowstorm that had caused all of the trouble in the first place, the weather had changed back to its normal pattern for this time of the cycle – a little chilly some days, maybe, a few days of rain here and there, but mostly sunny and nice.

Now, though, giant snowflakes drifted past the window, fluffy as cotton. Already, the grass looked like it had grown patchy white fur.

They all stared out the window, watching it for several minutes, surprised, but awed at the pretty crystals.

Everyone except Quinn, anyway. When Thomas turned to smile at her, she wasn’t there.

“Where did Quinn go?”

William frowned, looking just as confused as Thomas had been. “She was standing right here.”

“I saw her go,” Mia said quietly. “She looked upset, but I don’t know why. I don’t think she wanted anyone to follow her right away.”

William sighed. “I think it’s the snow. When she sees it, it reminds her too much of home, and holidays she’s not going to get to celebrate with her family. She doesn’t think she really has the right to be upset about it, so she tries not to be, but…”

“But it has to be hard on her. That’s not something small, the way she’s pretending it is.” Thomas said.

“No, but try convincing
her
of that. I don’t know what to do to help her.”

“I have an idea.”

*

Owen was sitting curled in his favorite armchair when she entered the room. He wasn’t reading, like he usually was, he was just sitting and staring at the tree, but he turned when he heard her come in.

“Isn’t it pretty, Quinn?”

“It’s beautiful, Owen.”

The tree itself was different every year. The first weekend in December, her mom and Jeff would load all of them into the car, and they would drive out into the middle of the forest somewhere and start looking for their tree. It often took hours of trudging through the snow until they found the “perfect” one. They stayed warm, though, bundled in their winter coats, sipping her mother’s creamy hot chocolate from a giant thermos.

There was always more hot chocolate when they got home, too, and warm chocolate-chip cookies to eat after a dinner of piping-hot baked potato soup and fresh rolls.

The day would wear all of them out too much to do anything except set the tree in its stand, water it, and then snuggle on the couch in front of the fireplace, watching the first Christmas movies of the season.

The next night was when the decorations would come out. Tubs and tubs of them, hauled up from the basement.

Yes, the tree was different, but the ornaments were the same, with the small exceptions of the new ones they added each year, one for each member of the family.

Under the tree was the miniature Christmas train Jeff had brought with them when he’d joined the family. Annie and Owen could never get enough of watching it circle the track, listening to its whistle. That’s what Owen had been looking at when she came into the room.

Owen stood now, coming over to Quinn and rubbing her belly. “I haven’t found the right ornament yet, but I put up a stocking for the baby – and one for William, too.” He pointed over to the fireplace, and sure enough, there were two new stockings, next to the five that had always hung there.

She looked down, startled. She’d forgotten. Slowly, she realized she was dreaming. “I wish you really knew about the baby, Owen.”

He looked up at her, blinking, keeping his hand right over the spot where the baby moved and pushed against her. “What makes you think I don’t, Quinn?”

“This is only a dream, Owen. It’s not real.”

Nuzzling into her, setting his ear against her belly, he sighed happily. “Yes, it’s a dream. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t real.”

She ruffled his soft hair with her fingers. It certainly felt real, silky and smooth, smelling just like she remembered it. “I’d like to think that it is.”

“I’m real, Quinn. Our family is real. Love is real. Christmas is real. Just because you can no longer see it when you’re awake, doesn’t mean it went away.”

She looked over at the Christmas tree again. “We don’t even have Christmas in Deusterros, Owen. The baby can’t have a stocking or an ornament.”

Owen frowned. “Aren’t you the queen?”

She blinked. “Yes.”

“I think maybe when a kingdom gets a new queen, it should get some new traditions to go along with her.”

“It’s not the same there, Owen. Christmas wouldn’t mean the same thing.”

“Yes it would. It might not look exactly the same, Quinn. Maybe there would be parts of it you don’t have there, or new parts there that we don’t have here, but it would still be the same. It would still be love. It would still be Christmas.”

“How do you always see things so clearly?”

He shrugged. “I see you. I love you, Quinn.”

“I love you too, Owen.” She held him tight in her arms until he started fading away, until she could no longer feel him anywhere except in her heart.

*

“Quinn! Wake up, love.”

She had to blink several times before she could get her eyes to stay open. When they finally did, she realized it was still dark. “Oh no. What’s wrong?” she asked.

But William was smiling. “Nothing’s wrong. I just couldn’t wait anymore for you to wake up.”

“You’ve been badgering me for nine months to sleep
more
. Why do you suddenly want me awake now?” This was the first time in those whole nine months when she wished he would leave her alone and let her sleep – she’d been having the best dream…

“Come on.”

“Where are we going? I’m not even dressed – you’re not even dressed.”

He handed her robe to her as he pulled her out of the bed. “Just come. Your slippers are right here.”

The hallways were dark and empty as he led her through them, but she somehow knew she and William weren’t the only ones awake. When they turned a corner and she saw light pouring into the hall from the common room, she frowned up at him. “What is going on?”

It couldn’t have been much later than five in the morning, and her husband was grinning from ear to ear with barely concealed excitement.
What in the…

A few steps before they reached the common room, he stepped behind her, and put his hands over her eyes.

“Will!”

She couldn’t see anything, but she could feel him steering her through the door.

It was mostly quiet, but she could hear the breathing and soft movement of several other people. She was starting to get a little concerned when William suddenly leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Merry Christmas.”

Almost as soon as he pulled his hands away from her eyes, tears started pouring out of them.

The whole common room had been transformed. Every surface had been hung with evergreen branches and red and green ribbons. More handmade stockings than she could immediately count were hanging on – and near – the mantle. Most breathtaking of all was the giant tree in front of the big windows at the end of the room. She didn’t even know where they’d gotten it, or how they’d managed to bring it inside.

Presents were stacked under it – seemingly hundreds of them, wrapped in cloth instead of paper, but otherwise looking the same as Christmas morning in her world.

“What … when did you … how?”

William wrapped his arms around her. “Well, we’ve been planning it all and getting it ready for a couple of days … but most of this was after you were asleep last night.”

Her jaw dropped, and she looked around at everyone in the room – Will’s family,
her
family. Stephen and Charlotte were there, and so were Nathaniel, Simon and Evelyn, Maxwell, Rebecca and Howard, Thomas and Mia, Linnea and Ben, Joshua, and Daniel. “You must have all been up all night.”

“We were, sweetheart. But you’re worth it,” Thomas said, coming over and handing her a handkerchief. That was when she realized that the tears were still streaming down her face.

“All of this…why?”

“Nothing wrong with starting new traditions,” Charlotte said. “We always did send you Christmas presents while you were growing up, even though we didn’t celebrate it here. We thought it would be nice for once to celebrate with you and watch you open them.”

“Where are the children?” she asked, looking around. The only children in the room were the tiniest babies – the two who didn’t yet sleep through the night, curled in Evelyn’s and Rebecca’s arms. “We can’t have Christmas morning without them.”

“We didn’t wake them yet,” William said. “We all thought you’d like to be here to watch them – and maybe to help fill the stockings first?”

She’d almost had her tears under control until he said that. “You remember everything I say, don’t you?” she whispered.

“Of course I do, love. You’re mine.” And he held her close, turning her so he could kiss her gently on the lips.

When they did bring the children in, it was the loudest, craziest, busiest, and most wonderful Christmas morning Quinn had ever participated in. It didn’t matter at all that none of the children believed in Santa Claus – finding stockings full of surprises and gifts from their family was just as magical to them, and Quinn delighted in watching their faces.

There were plenty of presents for her, too, and she loved all of them, but it was more than enough for Quinn that they had all taken the time to do this for her.

“I feel bad that I don’t have anything for you,” she said to William during a semi-quiet moment when the children had paused to enjoy their breakfast of sweet rolls, fruit, and hot chocolate.

“Are you kidding me? The look on your face when I brought you in here was worth all of this and more, love. Besides,
my
big gift is still coming.” He leaned down and kissed her belly.

And come it did. What started out as a backache that Quinn thought was from getting on and off the floor to help the children with their new puzzles and games gradually became a regular, rhythmic tightening and releasing of her abdomen.

It wasn’t until the first actually painful one that she realized what was happening. She steadied herself, meaning to go and tell William, who was across the room putting together some kind of model something with Thomas and Simon, but as she started to walk, her water broke.

“Quinn’s going to have the baby!” Emma yelled – apparently quite familiar with this kind of occurrence, even at the ripe old age of seven.

Although Quinn had been terrified of this part, especially about giving birth in a world with no real options besides just getting through it, somehow, nine hours later, she was holding her tiny, perfect son in her arms.

The fuzzy little tuft of hair on his head was the same nearly black color as William’s, and his eyes were already the same gray as both of theirs.

As was tradition in this world, as soon as Nathaniel and William were sure that the baby was healthy, and Quinn was doing well, everyone disappeared, leaving the new parents alone to get to know the little one.

William was snuggled up next to Quinn on the bed, one arm around her, and the other hand on the baby as she held him.