O Night Divine A Holiday Collection of Spirited Christmas Tales - Kathryn Le Veque Page 0,161

my lady,” she said, with a grin. Less than twenty minutes later, Mary handed her a looking glass and stepped back, encouraging her to look. “’Tis lovely.”

Agatha angled the back of her head and the looking glass in order to see the larger mirror behind her. Charles had shown her the trick. “It is beautiful. Thank you. I need one more thing and I will feel ready to venture downstairs.” She opened the drawer to her vanity and withdrew the silver locket and turned so Mary could fasten the chain about her neck.

“Aye, that is a beautiful locket. Yer ’usband has good taste,” the retainer said, admiring the necklace.

Noise from downstairs, in the front of the house, drew their attention.

“My goodness! It sounds like we have been invaded. Are we expecting anyone?” she asked her maid, not really expecting an answer. The maid shrugged and smiled.

Sounds of giggling and laughter beckoned her to move more quickly. When Agatha rounded the corner at the foot of the stairs, her pulse quickened. Sitting and standing in various places around the festively decorated rooms was her family! All of them.

Seeing her arrive, Walters quickly walked up and announced them. “Lord and Lady Clarendon, their son, Mr. George Thomas, and Lady Romney and her son, Mr. Edward Collins have arrived, my lady,” he announced.

“Thank you, Walters.”

“Hello, Agatha,” Alice said, hugging her sister-in-law.

“Merry Christmas, Alice. I do not know what to say. We had not expected you . . .”

Her husband cleared his throat. “Actually, we have. We all wanted this to be a surprise and have been planning this for weeks.

“I hope everyone plans to stay. I will have Mrs. Stone prepare rooms.”

“Already done,” Charles grinned. “They have moved everything into the rooms.”

“My goodness! It seems that I slept a lot longer than I thought, if you were all able to get that done this morning,” she laughed. “This is perfect! I am thrilled that you are all here. We have gifts for everyone. They are arranged in the . . .”

“Ahem,” Charles cleared his throat and pointed towards the decorated table piled high with gifts. It looked like a much larger mound than she remembered.

“I hope those are all for the children,” she gently chided.

“We have gifts,” Alice spoke up.

“As do we,” Charlotte added.

“There are gifts for everyone,” he chuckled. “It is our first Christmas as husband and wife, and Henry’s first Christmas with us as a family. We all wanted to make sure it was perfect for you.”

Agatha stood there for a moment, feeling a little overwhelmed, before walking over to niece and hugging her. “I do not know what to say, except that I love you all,” she choked out.

“Merry Chrwithsmas!” Henry cried. He had been practicing this for days, it seemed. It was perfect.

Before she could say another word, a knock sounded at the door. Walters opened it and singing started.

“Lady Bentley, you have company awaiting you on the front door,” he said, passing out the pelisses and coats.

As her family emerged through the front door, singing erupted with the sweetest rendition of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” she could remember hearing. Under the sprinkling of soft snowflakes, Mr. Hanson, his wife, and the orphanage children stood dressed in their holiday finery and sang each verse of the song.

When the song ended, Charles herded everyone into the room. “Come! Cook has prepared a special Christmas breakfast for all of us. I fear that she will come and get us if I do not send you her way.”

As the group moved towards the dining room, Charles pulled his wife aside. “Thank you for this life, Agatha,” he said, pointing up at the mistletoe ball above him.

“Thank you, Charles, for believing in me when no one else even liked me,” she said.

“Shush! That was someone else,” he sighed, covering her lips with his. “I love you, Agatha.”

“I love you, my dearest husband. I never thought I would have this . . . not ever! Thank you.”

“I am glad you are wearing your locket. It makes my gift easy to give you. Go ahead, open it,” he encouraged.

Unable to hold back her excitement, she opened her locket and found a picture of the three of them. He had had it crafted in oils when they had had their picture made a month ago. “I love it. I cannot believe you did all of this without my knowledge. But I am happy you did. This is the best Christmas I can ever remember. I