AN: Some snowy Christmas fluff to keep you cool through the hot days of summer. (Or perhaps it's cool where you are? At least it is rather hot here, for a change.)

...

On the third of January in the year of 1864, Lady Elizabeth Strallan was sitting in the library at Locksley, admiring her husband who was working at his table. She had a big smile on her face, as she thought back on what must have been the best Christmas of her entire grownup life, and she was already thirty-five. Elizabeth's family had left now, all of them going back to their own homes in London, but the memories of this Christmas would keep her happy for a long time, she knew that.

It had been so nice to have all her family gathered around her. All the Kempells were celebrating Christmas together for the first time in many, many years. There had been fewer and fewer members of the family attending their Christmases in India during the two decades they lived there. All the boys had been sent away to school and then they stayed on in London to make a living for themselves. After that they got married. The last few years there had only been five people from their family celebrating Christmas in India, Elizabeth herself, her parents and her two younger sisters.

The heat in India had never really felt like Christmas to Elizabeth. She had spent her first few Christmases in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, where it was cold and snowy. That was the way a real Christmas should be, Elizabeth thought. Her Swedish mother thought so too, of course, and never failed to point that out when they celebrated Christmas during the hot December days of India.

It had been wonderful to have her family there with her in her new home, Elizabeth thought. She was also happy that they had all got along so well with Jonathan and liked him so much. No surprise, perhaps, Jonathan was kind and funny and friendly. Elizabeth's mother had told her daughter that she thought she had found a wonderful husband, the best one possible. Elizabeth smiled at the thought. She always wanted her mother to approve of what she did.

But the best thing of all that had happened that Christmas took place early on the morning of Christmas Day, and the only two people involved were Jonathan and herself. It had been an enchanted morning, full of wonders and marvels. A real Christmas morning.

And the greatest wonder of them all for Elizabeth was that he was there with her.

...

Jonathan woke Elizabeth up long before dawn on that Christmas Day. But instead of kissing her, as she had perhaps expected, he reached for her slippers and put them on her feet.

"I want to show you your Christmas present now", he whispered. Then he lead her to the window.

She was stunned. The world had changed while she was asleep. The sky was deep black without a single cloud. The stars were bright. The ground was covered with a thick layer of pure white snow. The view outside the window looked like it was taken directly from a fairy tale.

"Did you do this for me?" she asked incredulously, obviously still half asleep. "Just like Christmas in Stockholm. Where did you get all the snow?"

"I wish I had done it, but it just happened", he said with a smile and a loving glance at her. "Oh, Elizabeth, of course I didn't do it! Do you think I can affect the weather?"

"Yes, I'm sure you can, there is no one like you. You would do anything to please me. And you told me you would show me my Christmas present, so I thought this was it", she said, but her smile showed him that she understood now how impossible it would have been.

He laughed at her, thinking that he would like to take her to bed right now. But he didn't have time, he had to show her the gift before the rest of the house got up for breakfast. That special Christmas gift which had cost her so much heartache and agony. He hoped she would be pleased with it, but the snow was really a problem. Because the gift was out there, so they would have to plod through the snow, which looked like it was at least a foot deep.

"You have to put on some clothes, but no crinoline", he told her. "Just some really warm underwear, and then you can put your thickest coat over that. You can't walk through the snow with a crinoline. You can dress properly when we are back in here again. And you will need high boots."

This was sounding more and more like an adventure to Elizabeth. Like sneaking out early and playing in the snow with Henrik, as she had done sometimes in Stockholm when she was little.

"Wait a minute, you can borrow a pair of my trousers, that will keep you warm. You are so tall, it will probably be alright."

He handed her a pair, and she put them on over her woollen underwear. They were a bit too short for her, and in spite of her pregnancy they were also a bit too wide at the waist. With a belt fastened above her still very small protruding tummy and the too wide and too short legs of the trousers she looked like a London street urchin.

"You look gorgeous whatever you wear", he said with admiration in his voice. "Now, let's try to sneak out without being noticed."

He suppressed an urge to abandon the whole expedition and take her to bed instead. There was something alluring in having her wearing his trousers, much more so than having her wearing his shirt, which she sometimes did, grabbing the nearest garment to go to the wash-room when she was naked in bed.

It was only four o'clock in the morning, and if it hadn't been for the snow it would probably have been pitch dark outside. Jonathan was carrying a lantern as he opened the door to the tool-shed to take out a shovel.

"So, where do we go?" Elizabeth asked. She really liked wearing trousers, it was nice with clothes that didn't hinder your stride. She hated the crinolines. Why couldn't women wear something sensible, like this, it would be so much more comfortable? She could walk much faster dressed like this, and she was also warmer. This time of the year it was difficult to stop cold air from coming in under the skirts.

But perhaps that was just it, women were not supposed to be able to move around freely. They were expected to be uncomfortable and helpless. They were supposed to hardly be able to breathe in their tight-laced corsets.

...

"It is up there, on the small hill", Jonathan said. "I have made you a little house."

"A summer-house!" Elizabeth exclaimed with delight when she saw the small building. She saw it for the first time now, the place was not far from their house but it had been covered with tarpaulins for the last two months or so. Now there was a thick layer of snow on the roof of the little house.

"It isn't really a summer-house, it's a winter house", Sir Jonathan said with a broad smile. "Or a house for whatever season you like. I'll show you when we get there."

They climbed the small hill together, plodding through the snow. The little hill was one of the spots at Locksley with the best view over the surrounding landscape.

"Georgina Jarvis gave me the idea, that was what we were talking about that time when you got so sad, the secret I wouldn't tell you. But now you know. She said that when you have a little baby or a small child it is not so easy to walk around everywhere. So it is nice to have a little summer-house to sit in when it rains. Or just to have somewhere to go that isn't too far off."

"So that was what you were doing up there!" Elizabeth said with a small hint of irritation. "You said it was some tryout of new farming equipment! I think you know me too well, you know exactly what to say to make me lose interest completely. I haven't even thought of going up there in all this time, I didn't want to disturb the people I saw working there."

"I wasn't really lying, either", Jonathan said with a new broad smile. "Because we did try out some new tools and some new building techniques when we made this little house."

...

"I told Georgina some months ago that I find it difficult to choose gifts for you", Jonathan said later that day. "That's when she came up with this wonderful idea. And after that I made a drawing for it together with Jonson, our carpenter. It has taken many weeks to build, I'm so glad that you liked it."

At first all Elizabeth could answer to that was: "Oh!"

But then she said: "Liked it! I didn't like it, I loved it! I must remember to thank Lady Georgina for giving you the idea. And you are the most wonderful man in the whole world and I have done nothing whatsoever to deserve you."

"Done nothing!" he said in disbelief. "Don't you remember what you have in that cute little belly of yours? You are about to give me the most wonderful gift I will ever receive."

"Yes, perhaps, but I'm doing that for myself as well as for you. And you have done your part to let me have this baby, by marrying me and loving me."

Then she added, after some moments of thought: "I'm not difficult to please, I honestly don't think I am. I love all the gifts you have ever given to me."

"But you didn't let me buy anything for you at that jeweler's shop in Paris", he grumbled.

"That was different, it wasn't a gift you had thought out, you just wanted to spend money on me. You had already bought me so many things on that trip, and I really wanted to go and get some books. Honestly, Jonathan, I don't think I'm fussy. And I really appreciate all the things you are doing for me. You are a wonderful man and I love you so very much."

...

When they got up to the house Elizabeth held the lantern while Jonathan used the shovel to take away the snow outside the door of the house. He usually had people doing things for him, but he wasn't afraid of work. He didn't think it below his dignity to help his employees or tenants out now and then when it was necessary with an extra pair of hands and he happened to be present.

After he had taken away the snow he opened the door and held it out for her as they entered the house.

"I wanted to give you a special Christmas gift this first year of our marriage", he said softly, as he closed the door behind them. "Because I know you have given up much more to marry me than I have given up to marry you."

"How can you say that when every single thing I eat and all new things I wear is provided by you?"

"That is not the point. You have given up living with your family, I know how much they mean to you. And you have moved here with me, giving me everything. I live like I always have done, only so much better because I have you to keep me company and make love to me."

"It is you who have given me everything!" she answered with a mischievous laugh. "I'm even wearing your trousers now!"

...

The house was only lit up by the lantern that Elizabeth put down on a little table while Jonathan lighted the fire that he had asked one of the servants to put into the stove in the middle of the octagonal building.

"You will be warm in here any time of the year", he said with a smile, obviously very pleased with himself. "It is very solidly built, not like those flimsy summer-houses most people have. This is a real house. As you know I think whatever is worth doing is worth doing well."

After that he started to describe all the marvellous things about the little house. It was built on a solid ground, just like a real house. It even had central heating, with radiators, which were a fairly recent invention.

There were eight windows in all, one in each wall. Four of them were covered by thick wooden shutters.

"This time of the year it is best to have them covered. But you can still look out in four directions. In spring you can have the shutters taken away and open the windows."

There was a small dinner-table with four chairs, and also couple of wicker-chairs and a sofa. This was a place were it was possible both to have a simple meal, to study and to relax. There was also a small book-shelf, but no books in it.

Elizabeth loved it all.

"I havent put in any cushions or blankets or curtains or suchlike. I think it is for you to decide what colours you want to have. And you can choose yourself what books to put in that bookshelf."

"I guess it will be children's books soon enough", Elizabeth said with a happy smile.

There was also a swing in there, or rather two swings. One was a usual swing for a bigger child or an adult. The other one was a little cradle, for the baby.

"When it get's big enough to sit up, we can exchange that for a small chair, with supports on all sides to prevent the child from falling out. We designed one of those also, but decided it was a little too early. It is a little too early for the cradle as well, of course, but soon..."

...

"Don't expect to get this kind of Christmas present every year", Jonathan said a little later, anxious not to disappoint her. "There is no way to keep up something like this. So I will probably just buy you a book or something like that for next Christmas."

"That will be very nice, I'm already looking forward to it. You know how much I love books. Besides, Christmas presents are mainly for children, aren't they? Next Christmas we will have a little child of our own to spoil. Isn't that marvellous? And we will still have this wonderful little house to go to."

So he bent forward and put his hands to her cheeks and kissed her, for the very first time in this enchanted place. There would be many more times for kisses there during all the happy years they had ahead of them.

...

AN: Thank you for reading! Thank you so very much for the lovely comments!

...

The winter of 1863 to 1864 was really very severe in England. There were many heavy snowfalls in January of 1864. I have moved one of them to late Christmas Eve, 1863, for the sake of the story. I have no idea what the weather was really like that night.

...

I have borrowed the idea of a summer-house at Locksley from some other E/A-writer/writers. I hope it is alright!