Chapter 54

  With a final swipe of the rag, Theodore was done polishing his boots to a matching shine.

  Sitting on the edge of his bed, he placed the left boot with its pair on the floor and folded the rag into the small shoe kit besides. He checked his hands for any smudges, satisfied to find none. It spoke to a job well done.

  He stood and as ever felt his knees protesting more than they had a year ago. The infirmities of aging managed to eke a dismissive frown from Theodore, but that was the extent of annoyance he allowed himself before vanquishing the bout of self-pity.

  Arms akimbo, he observed his ensemble for the evening that was spread neatly on the bed like he would a map of a battlefield.

  With a sigh, he got to it. Dressing just then was more a ritual in preparation than simply putting on clothes.

  Step one was already completed as Theodore had his underclothes on. He then had to painfully part with the most wonderful indulgence of clothing, his favorite bath robe. He put on the pants, checking the seams to be ironed straight. The belt next, the leather and buckle oiled to a shine. Then came the socks and shoes, all proper.

  His hand absently traced his left hip for a sword hilt, only to grasp at nothing in its absence. That he hadn’t carried a ceremonial sword in years was a blessing. He had never liked the frivolous props that made a mockery of a real sword, but right then he would have made do with a fake blade than being entirely unarmed.

  In the process of putting on his shirt, Lauren entered their bedroom.

  Theodore stopped and stared in appreciation of his regal wife dressed up and ready in a regal blue gown with a scarf looping behind her shoulders to twirl on her arms.

  With an endearingly exasperated look, she stepped up to him and began buttoning his shirt.

  Up close, Theodore could name her perfume and remembered the origins of the jewelry that she was wearing. It was the set he had gifted her after the birth of their son. For a moment he wondered about the stories behind the possessions that people often overlooked. More often than not, it was the memories that held a truer value of things than that which was measured in coin.

  It was her face that brought him back to attention. Comfortable and beautiful in her own skin, Lauren was never one for extolling her vanity. She only primped for formal occasions for the sake of matching expectations and following decorum than anything else. To her, cosmetics and dressing gowns were tools of the trade to partaking in high society, akin to armor for heading into battle.

  Personally, Lauren preferred more casual styles that were sensible, comfortable and less pretentious. Regardless, it was always a treat for Theodore when she did dress up.

  As her nimble fingers moved up the buttons of Theodore’s shirt, she raised her chin to stare into his eyes. No words nor actions were needed. She didn’t need to speak any words of comfort. She needn’t do anything to ease his worries. She was there and that was enough. Her presence alone brightened his world.

  Theodore and Lauren shared what could only be had after more than thirty years of love and commitment between a man and a woman who went beyond husband and wife to become partners who couldn’t be defined separately anymore. They were as much a part of each other by as they were themselves individually. They were each other’s mate.

  Buttons done, she tucked in his shirt and proceeded to pass a matching white ribbon through the collar of his shirt. A tie or a bow wouldn’t go with the cropped collar of the dress jacket that Theodore had decided on.

  Checking his cuffs to her satisfaction, Lauren stepped behind Theodore and held his jacket for him to pass his arms through. She returned to face him and button up the jacket as well.

  She brushed his shoulders affectionately and tugged at his sleeves. The final touch was a small splash of cologne at his neck. She rubbed his cheek with the back of her hand to find it shaved smooth. Mustache trimmed nicely, hair combed to military precision.

  Satisfied, she nudged him towards the mirror.

  Theodore scrutinized his reflection and found it all reasonable. Yet he couldn’t help but feel underdressed without a sword by his hip. And his jacket felt bare and confusing without any insignia and merits of rank and distinction.

  His mind went back to his uniform and army days. Two decades ago that was, yet he felt the same now as he did when reporting to a new commanding officer. Hoping and praying for a qualified superior who cared for his people and not an inept fool who had climbed up the ranks on the luck of his birth and the strength of his connections.

  Theodore was hoping the same of his new boss, his liege lord. It was a frail hope to have expectations of a sixteen year old boy to be anything but a child, but this was Duchess Sabina’s son. That woman couldn’t have birthed a fool, could she? Nor would she sponsor anyone unworthy to governance, regardless if they were her own flesh and blood. That was the kind of woman she was.

  “Don’t worry,” Lauren spoke to him as she stepped beside him in the mirror. “Trust what you know and believe,” she chanted, her voice a balm to his confidence.

  “Yes dear,” he spoke as a reflex, the frown lines disappearing from his expression and transforming onto a soft smile.

  Why miss his sword when he had the strength of his wife beside him?

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  With a last inspection, the couple left their room and travelled the small corridor to the balcony of the first floor overlooking the main hall. The children waited for them downstairs beside Mister Brown, their head butler.

  Descending the main stairway, Theodore had sudden burst of appreciation and pride at his lot in life, at his family and his home. “I am a lucky man,” he thought.

  Robert rushed his parents as soon as they were on level floor and Theodore had to intercept his ten year old son lest he cling to his mother and ruffle her dress.

  Robert was torn between laughing as his father lifted him up by his sides and pouting indignantly at being treated like a little kid.

  “Behave, son,” Theodore scolded with a laugh. “Be careful of your mother’s dress. We want to be at our best for the Count, don’t we?”

  The word ‘count’ had Robert obedient like a saint. From the whimsy of fables and his bedtime stories, their son had made out the Count to be someone from his storybooks whom he was desperate to meet.

  A teenager who was a count and lived in a castle. A mage to boot, betrothed to a wizard heiress, and son of the Duchess Sabina. Theodore couldn’t fault his son’s interest. Not only to the fascination of babes, it did all seem straight of out of a storybook even to himself.

  Chelsea waited patiently for as they walked up to her and Theodore smiled with pride at his daughter. Proud for the woman she had become. To the plight of fathers everywhere, to Theodore it seemed only yesterday she was a wee babe and had grown overnight.

  “You look lovely,” he complimented.

  Chelsea smiled prettily and Theodore was relieved to see her without her signature frown that had been her resting expression for the past weeks.

  Chelsea’s attitude had been a conundrum for Theodore and he feared it was one that he was ill equipped to handle. Ever since she had come to know of Sabina’s son being made Count of Roheim, she had been in a perpetual foul mood.

  Full of anger, resentment and denial, Chelsea had been a capricious sort for the past two months and not the most pleasant company. Yet Theodore found her all more precious for it because she was angry on her father’s behalf. For him.

  How could he find fault with that? How could he not love his daughter all the more for it?

  He gave her a side hug, careful of not stepping on the frock of her pink gown. He thought about saying something to set her mind at ease, but refrained. Lauren had asked him not to interfere and leave the matter of their daughter to her mother. Lauren had explained that should Theodore try to reason with Chelsea or attempt to allay her anger, it would make their opinionated daughter all the more stubborn and vehement in her grievance against the Count. And that was a very dangerous notion.

  Surrounded by his family at the threshold of his home, Theodore felt a stronger pull of the same feeling of fulfillment for what he had. Yet there was the lingering fear of it all coming down like a house of cards because someone had to needlessly keep stacking more cards at the top.

  Suffice to say Theodore preferred things as they had been and could do without the intrusion of outsiders meddling. Local politics were a bane enough as they were. Rather, any and all kinds of politics had a tendency to make things worse and bring about their own problems where there weren’t any to begin with.

  As was the case in Roheim. Everything was fine and dandy, everyone happy as they were. Only for those malcontents in power not to let good thing be and impose reforms that no one had asked for, nor needed.

  And along came the troubles. Dumped at Theodore’s feet as the troublemakers walked away, leaving Theodore to face the consequences.

  On a timetable, the family hailed their carriage and were soon on their way. It was rare for Theodore to travel by carriage, alone or otherwise. He much preferred horseback and it was usually his wife who got the most use out of the carriage in her day to day.

  Theodore couldn’t recall the last time all of them had occupied the cabin as on the few occasions they did travel together, he would usually sit with the coachman up front or be the one driving.

  On the day however, the Williams travelled reservedly so to maintain their nice getups and arrive in a manner befitting of their station.

  Throughout the ride, the three eldest Williams were subdued and lost to their thoughts. Chelsea was frowning again, while a distracted Lauren had her hands full keeping her spirited son to behave despite his restless energy. Theodore brooded over detestable politics.

  If not for the excited boy who was naively unaware of the mood and guileless to the concerns of adults, the journey would have been one of gloom and silence. As it were, Robert was peppy enough to lift all their spirits and distract them with his childish antics.

  Before they knew it, the carriage emerged past the town outskirts and the horses were pulling the carriage up an incline towards the fort.

  A resolute seriousness settled in the cabin as the adults shook themselves to attention. Lauren sent a silent look her daughter’s way reminding her of what was at stake. Prepared and forewarned of what was to come, Chelsea deferred to her mother and obeyed.

  In the upcoming encounter, Chelsea had her part to play and her actions would reflect on her family. For their sakes, she couldn’t be selfish and come across as aggrieved or petulant. As much as she detested the Count, it would be a disaster if her intentions spilled out in the open. Her mother had made that abundantly clear.

  So while it was difficult and infuriating, and it went without saying that she was inherently against it, Chelsea mustered all of her restraint to suspend her outrage and grievances in favor of familial solidarity. Lest she be a burden, Chelsea had to behave demurely and hide her intentions to stand united with her family and carry her weight.

  Waved through by the guards on duty, they entered the fort without stopping at the gates. Theodore disapproved of the lax security, but he reasoned that there could be many reasons as to why they weren’t stopped and searched. The most likely scenario would be that the Count was being courteous and inviting them openly into his domain without fear of treachery.

  Theodore made a note of the guards who were all natives and familiar faces. He knew a few of them by name, but mostly by associations in town.

  The carriage circled the courtyard to align parallel with the steps leading up to the keep. As they came to a halt, Theodore centered his resolve. Looking to his family to find them ready, he rapped his knuckles on the roof.

  At the signal, the carriage door was opened by a footman. Theodore disembarked first and held out his hand to assist Lauren, followed by Chelsea who held Robert’s hand, guiding him along.

  The Williams family assembled in the courtyard and had a gander. All of them had visited the fort at one point or another in the past when it had been abandoned and rather decrepit. Even little Robert had explored the fort with his father as a small adventure.

  Besides Theodore, who had regularly visited the fort recently, the others were taken by surprise at the transformation.

  The fort had been renovated to its former glory. Though the structure remained of a somewhat simple and plain design, without the usual embellishments and panache that one usually expected with such things, the fort retained a quality of grandeur, importance and authority.

  The Williams family couldn’t help but take in their surroundings, impressed as they compared the restorations to the once old ruin of a fort.

  They weren’t given much time to sightsee as a man in a suit stood waiting on them. At their attention, he greeted, “Welcome, Mayor Williams, Missus Williams, Miss Williams, and Young Master Robert. Welcome,” he repeated with a shallow bow. “Head Steward, Earnest Wicks. At your service,” he introduced for the benefit of Lauren and Chelsea. Theodore and Earnest already knew one another.

  “A pleasure to have you. If you would follow me,” Earnest gestured promptly towards the keep entrance, “My Lord is looking forward to your company.”