A Brother's Love - Book 3 - The Frencolian Chronicles (complete)

Chapter Fourteen

When Elissa and Louis were alone, Elissa quoted, as accurately as she could, the words that Leopold had told her to pass on to her 'juvenile husband'...

"He said he'll honor his promise that Jobyna has one year with us, here. He said that you've foiled him before when he chose Jobyna as a companion for his daughter, Estella; but, he said, this is to be obeyed. Jobyna is to go to Frencberg on her thirteenth birthday and her betrothal will be announced. Oh, Louis, you shouldn't have gone off with the children! Leopold was very upset! But, what can we do?"

The baron shrugged boyishly, as he had seen Luke do. Then he smiled. Suddenly it did not seem to matter. "We will trust God," he said, taking her in his arms and kissing her affectionately.

Elissa tried to push her husband away, gasping, "But... how can you say that... we must do something!"

"We must do nothing but trust. Oh, Elissa, we must pray and ask God to help us to trust him. I'm striving to give up my meddling. So help me, my love, or I shall meddle again and make everything worse!" He kissed her again before he murmured in her ear, "Remember... you told me once, your special prayer... God's will be done."

Elissa surrendered to his embraces for a moment; then she whispered in his ear, "I love you, Louis Chatelain. You are my chosen love. But our dinner will be spoiling. Everyone will think we're quarrelling!"

"Let them think! Dinner can spoil a minute more!" The baron grappled playfully with her but she wriggled free. He chased her down the stairs as though he was a young lad in love. At the sound of his close pursuit, she laughed like a young girl. As she smoothed her hair at the doors to the great hall, he grasped her and embraced her. She lifted her arms up around his neck.

Sabin hitched the doors open and an enthusiastic cheer emerged as everyone saw them. To Jobyna's delight, her father kissed her mother right on the lips. She couldn't remember such an event before, in fact, she was sure she had never seen anyone kiss like this. She stood and clapped loudly. Luke joined her, supporting the bump at his waist upon the table. Shadow was asleep in his tunic, but the small orphaned creature awoke at the pounding applause. The smell of food made the pup want to scramble out and partake of the source of the aroma, but Luke restricted his movements tightly.

"I'll send you some down, Shadow—on the outside of my stomach for you and on the inside for me."

Neither Luke nor Jobyna did true justice to the meal that evening; and Elissa couldn't understand the way Luke's stomach kept growling.

It was two days before she learned about 'Shadow'. Jobyna had dared Luke to see how long he could keep the small puppy a secret from their mother and Chatelain had agreed to go along with their child-like prank.

The mother's first realization of the pet was the feel of wetness through her slipper; she had stepped in a small puddle on the floor of the small hall.

The arrival of the beagle mutt marked a month of relative calm for the Chatelains; a time of adjustment after the long winter which had been climaxed by Louis Junior's death.

Jobyna speculated for some time before announcing her decision; her desire for a gift which she considered to be pleasurable for them all, nothing like riches, and not in her thinking as difficult to impart as a 'half-share of her father's kingdom'.

"I thought and thought, Papa. I want to do something, instead of receive something!" Jobyna turned her expressive eyes to look wistfully into her father's. "Is it all right if I ask you to do something with me, Papa? It's something our whole family can do together."

She waited, trying to conceal her excitement, looking from her mother, back to her father, then at Luke. "I would like us to be together for my birthday... all of our family."