First at Last

Epilogue

"Mother, when will they get here?" Charlotte whined for what felt like the hundredth time that hour.

"Soon, Lottie. They will be here soon." I replied to my four-year-old daughter.

We were sitting in William's chambers on Christmas Eve, waiting on dinner and guests. William was sitting by the fireplace, reading, taking up some of the little free time he had these days. He was almost always busy with work lately, so he liked to read when he wasn't working.

After another several minutes, there was a sharp knock on the door. The door was opened by a guard stationed outside and then Alice appeared, along with her husband, Gabriel, and their two daughters, Lilliana, six-years-old, and Sophia, who had just turned four.

"Erika!" Alice exclaimed, hurrying over and wrapping me in a tight hug. "Merry Christmas!"

I laughed at her enthusiasm. "Merry Christmas, Alice."

William stood and greeted Gabriel and Alice. After exchanging hugs, Charlotte went off to play with Liliana and Sophia, while my six-year-old son, Isaac, sat in the corner by the Christmas tree, not wanting to play with the girls. A common topic of discussion he brought up whenever Alice's family came over, was that he was the only boy and had no one to play with.

"Isaac," William called, and Isaac came over to greet Alice and Gabriel. "Go play with your cousins." A smile turned up the corner of William's mouth. He knew how much Isaac preferred his own company to the girls, who played with dolls and dressed up for entertainment. But we wanted him to learn to be kind to his cousins and to want to play with them.

Isaac narrowed his crystal blue eyes at his father and shook his head. "I do not want to play with them, father. I do not like the same things they do."

"You don't know that because you have never tried to enjoy it. Go join them and see what happens." William replied, motioning toward the corner of the room where the three girls danced around, giggling excitedly.

Grumbling bitterly, Isaac begrudgingly marched over and asked to join their game. I smiled at William, and then turned to speak with Alice and Gabriel.

I had not seen my sister in quite a while, so it was nice to catch up. I learned that they were expecting another child and hoping it would be a boy. Gabriel really wanted a boy whom he could teach to sword fight and teach to hunt, instead of two girls, who preferred needlework and wearing fancy, frilly dresses.

Soon enough, the servants rushed in, carrying platters of food. They set our dinner on the table and we all sat down to eat. The food was amazing and we had plenty of things to talk about over dinner. I looked out the window and was very pleased to find that it was snowing. White snowflakes swirled and danced outside, making it nearly impossible to see through the glass. But it just made our warm, cozy room seem so much more inviting.

After we finished eating, we sat before the fireplace, telling stories of Saint Nicholas and stories of Christmas. This was the children's favorite part of Christmas Eve. They loved the stories.

Charlotte and Isaac were curled up with Liliana and Sophia, as they all listened to what Gabriel was saying. He was telling of a Christmas when he was little, where his family had been visiting Orvale. They had been staying in the palace with his royal family. And on Christmas Eve, his father had gone to every child in the castle, pretending to be Saint Nicholas, and had given them presents.

By the time he had finished his story, the four children were asleep on the floor, curled up under a blanket they'd taken from the sofa. We all picked up our little ones and brought them to the bed that they always slept in when Alice and her family came to visit. They were all still small enough that they could easily fit in the same bed, which was convenient.