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thought.
    My mother interrupted our silence. “There the two of you are! Happy birthday, my very good sir! Come, wash up, dinner is ready.”
    I had forgotten.
    I grinned from ear to ear and ran right past her as she swatted at my backside. She had a bucket of water and soap waiting for me on the bench that rested beside the door. I laid my pole against the house and hurriedly began to clean myself.
    “Bram!” My mother greeted him affectionately. “It is so good to see you. Robert and I didn’t know what to do with ourselves while you were away. We expected you to show up at our door every morning and evening, and were greatly disappointed when you never did. The next time you feel it necessary to leave, please, don’t let it be for quite so long.”
    Bram returned my mother’s embrace and greeted her with a kiss eac h of her cheeks. “Ah, Carine, you think too much of this old man. But I am still vain enough to be pleased to hear that I have been missed. Where is your husband? Would you like me to collect him before our supper gets cold?”
    “Yes! Please! You know how absorbed Robert gets when working on a new project,” my mother allowed.
    Bram nodded, his hand going up to tip the rim of the forest-green felt hat that I hadn’t noticed he was wearing. He hurried off to remind my father that there was a birthday celebration waiting entirely on him.
    I finished up washing and I heard my father and Bram coming toward the house. Apparently my mother did too, and she hurried into the house . The sound of plates being placed on the table was soon coming from the door.
    My father and Bram walked up the flagstone walkway to our door. Stooping down to rough me up a bit, my father mussed my hair and then quickly worked his way down to pinch my neck. I giggled freely. Of c ourse my laughter just encouraged further assault, and he tickled my ribs with abandon. Through my laughter, I heard him roughly wonder, as he worked my sides over, “Did you catch any fish, Daine?”
    “No,” I gasped out between giggles.
    He smacked my bottom lightly. “That’s all right. Maybe you’ll have better luck the next time. Quick, let’s get in the house, I’m starved,” he said with a smile.
    I ran into the house with my father and Bram following just behind.
    My mother had made a wonderful meal of lemon sage hen, watermelon, roasted potatoes, green beans, and even—to my surprise—a small chocolate cake. We feasted in companionable conversation and company, the warm summer day giving way to a mild summer’s night.
    After we had eaten, my mother stood in the kitchen cleaning the dishes and my father, Bram, and I continued to sit at the table. The lamps had been lit, and the warm glow added to our contentment. Father and Bram talked of nothing but Bram’s trip to Paris. We’d just learned that was where he had been, and as he’d just announced, he’d brought gifts. At Bram’s insistence, Mother left her pots and pans and joined us at the table. 
    From a leather satchel that had been hidden beneath his coat, Bram removed a large paper-covered parcel wrapped with twine. His mouth bore an amused smile as he caught sight of my parents attempting to mask their curiosity with mature indifference. He cut the twine with his iron dagger, the wrapping fell away revealing three other similarly wrapped packets, each of varying size and shape. These he divvied out.
    The package he placed on the table before me was quite small, but I paid little mind to that fact as I made quick work of the fastening and pa per. Once opened, I stared wide-eyed at what lay before me.
    Inside of the wrapping were two unexpected things.
    A large—meaning both in mass and that it would fit a man well—and heavy, metal ring. The entirety of which was ornately carved with connecting Celtic knots and almost nonexistent symbols that I couldn’t decipher let alone be sure were actually there. On what was to be the front of it, a substantial, oblong sapphire had