“What shall we do about Christmas?”
Gordon looked up from adding more wood to the fire. He and Fiona were relaxing with a glass of wine. The children were all in bed, if not all asleep. The wind was blowing snow crystals against the glass of the house’s windows and all was well with the world, or so he thought until his wife introduced the subject of Christmas.
He went back to his place on the couch where Fiona was sitting, wrapped in a wool shawl with her feet up and looking pleasantly sleepy.
“Sweetheart! Are you mad? We are doing nothing at all about Christmas this year. I am still recovering from that Summer Festival extravaganza you lured me into. Oh, now don’t start! I know it made good profits for the estate coffers but it was an enormous amount of time and work for all of us.
Don’t you think we deserve a quiet, family day, just the five of us together here?
Remember, my darling wife, we still have the Jansen wedding in the castle in a week or two.”
“Oh, that’s a small affair, nothing to worry about. It’s all organized already. Ashley brought her wedding dress home when she returned from Canada. She’s been ready for months.”
Fiona shuffled around on the couch so that her husband could snuggle into her back and rest his chin on her head.
“Are you turning into a business tycoon, Fiona Campbell, always searching for another opportunity to capitalize on our estate’s advantages? I am not sure that is what I expected when we married.”
Fiona thrust a well-placed elbow backward into her husband’s side and ignored his cry of surprise.
“Are you suggesting that would be a bad thing, Gordon Campbell, Laird of Glenmorie? We have three growing children to support, in addition to everything else around here.”
“I know! I know! I am only teasing you.”
“Well, you know how I feel about teasing. You hear me telling the children often enough.”
“I do. I apologize. You know I truly believe you are a Scottish version of Wonder Woman.”
He accompanied the compliment with a rain of kisses on her neck that worked well to calm her down again. The fire crackled for a few minutes without any more said by either Campbell.
“I’ve been thinking,” said Gordon. He was not sure if Fiona had succumbed to sleep so he spoke quietly.
“In the spring, we could take a family trip to the Borders to visit my mother and my sisters and all their broods of girls. They think you are amazing for producing the first boys in a generation and they all want to see Fergus and Neil, as well as Shona, of course!
What do you think, Wonder Woman?”
Fiona was indeed drifting off to sleep and she pretended she had not heard this plan. It was not a useful strategy to give a man, even one as magnificent as Gordon Campbell, everything he asked for at the first asking. If she were to agree to entering the Borders Country’s lions’ den, she would require some concessions. This would need some thinking about.
But not now.
Definitely, not now with the peace of the countryside around them, the children asleep, the fire burning brightly and all well with the world as far as she could see.
Fiona of Glenmorie knew better than to disturb a perfect moment with thoughts of the future.