And so he stood there and felt awkward and did neither.
She leaned her forehead against the window, pressing her hands against the glass, staring down into the darkness of the empty courtyard. “He would not allow me to say farewell, that morn when he left.” Her voice was hollow. “He made light of my concern. He said, ‘It is but a tourney, Avril, an amusement. I will be home before you have time to miss me.’ ” Her hands slid down the glass. “Before you ... have time ... to miss me,” she repeated softly.
Gaston took a deep breath, swallowing hard against the cold lump of pain that filled his own throat, closing his eyes against the strange burning in them. “Avril ... a memory cannot protect you. Or hold your lands. Or be a father to your child.”
“You blame me,” she said suddenly, tearfully. “Do not deny it. I know that you blame me somehow for his death! But ask yourself this, beau-frère: Where were you when he most needed you? You with all your battle-skill? Why were you not there that day? Why did you break your word?”
***
Celine let out an exclamation at that. She had been there for several minutes, standing just inside the door of the darkened solar, unsure exactly how to interrupt the shouting match. The servants had suggested that she play peacemaker when it became obvious from the volume that things were not going well between Gaston and his sister-in-law.
Poor choice on the servants’ part, she thought miserably. Because she made a lousy referee, and Gaston and Avril had both just turned to stare at her.
“How long have you been standing there, wife?” Gaston demanded angrily.
“I ... I’m sorry. I thought ...”
He took a step toward her. “I trust you have found it all entertaining,” he snapped.
“It’s hard to ignore you when you can both be heard halfway into the great hall,” she replied hotly. “The servants thought they’d better send in someone to raise a white flag. They wondered whether the two of you might not care to continue your conversation over supper. I don’t know about you, but some of us are starving.”
“You are the Fontaine woman?” Avril asked curiously. She nodded in Gaston’s general direction. “His new wife?”
“Yes. I’m sorry about all this, Lady Avril. I didn’t mean to listen in. My name is Celine.”
“You have my condolences, Lady Celine.”
“Uh ...” It took a moment for Celine to understand that Avril was not offering condolences on her name, but on her marriage to Gaston. “Thank you.”
Avril laughed at Celine’s response, then dabbed at her eyes. “Tell me, how do you withstand this irksome tyrannical streak of his?”
“Actually, it’s only irksome some of the time. The rest of the time it’s almost tolerable.” Celine paid no attention to Gaston’s quelling glower. “It’s his opinions of women that are really annoying.”
“Indeed, I have always thought so,” Avril concurred, ignoring the glower when it was turned her way. “It would seem you have come to know him well already. Have you any advice on how I might better manage?”
“Well, the first thing you have to learn to deal with is his arrogance,” Celine offered with the beginnings of a smile. “His main problem is that he thinks he’s always right. Then there’s his temper—”
“And his suspicious nature,” Avril added, warming to the subject. “We must not forget the way that he refuses to trust people.”
“Yes, that, too. And then there’s—”
“Enough!” Gaston thundered. “Mayhap the two of you would prefer to be left alone to amuse yourselves over my countless faults?”
Both of them gave him looks of wide-eyed innocence.
“Actually, that might not be a bad idea,” Celine said.
“Aye,” Avril agreed. “Off with you, beau-frère. I am certain there is something somewhere that needs to be hacked or trampled or shouted at or boiled in oil, or that would otherwise benefit from your attentions.”
Gaston scowled at each of them in turn, muttering a mixture of oaths and adjectives that Celine was grateful she couldn’t quite make out. As he turned on his heel and stalked past her toward the door, though, she thought she caught a mumbled prayer that Avril’s baby be a boy.
“Good eventide, wife,” he said coolly. “And to you, Avril. I am certain the two of you will enjoy yourselves to no end. No doubt you will understand one another far better than I understand either of you.”
He shut the door behind him with enough force to make the hinges rattle. Celine found herself still gazing at the spot where he had last been, feeling a little sheepish and sorry that they had teased him so mercilessly. But mostly she felt relief.