Chapter 31: Christmas 1524 & Life Goes On

Once the members of Sebastian's family who weren't living at the castle returned home following Sadie's birthday, the days and weeks began to pass normally. Months passed while things carried on mostly as they had before. Sadie was constantly growing and expanding her vocabulary from the few words she'd begun to say before her first birthday. While much of the work for the housing for servants at the castle took place during the summer months, by mid-October, the work began to slow down until the following Spring when the work could begin again in warmer weather.

Before long, Christmas was soon upon them once again. Shelby and Sebastian decided that they would again decorate the Great Room as tehy had the year before. However, it was made slightly more difficult as 1 1/2 year old Sadie ran around the room trying to help, but sometimes causing trouble instead of helping. Every time Sadie was caught by her parents, she'd laugh and do it all over again. Despite the trouble she caused while they tried to decorate, Sadie wasn't doing anything to hurt herself or others, so instead of passing her off to Joan or Lucinda, Shelby and Sebastian chose to let her have fun and be a kid.

"Hey Sade," Sebastian called from where he and Shelby stood by the tree they were decorating. "I need help putting this on the bottom of the tree and you're just the right height."

"Me?" the little girl questioned, pointing to herself.

"Of course," Sebastian replied with a smile, getting down closer to her level.

Sadie grinned from ear to ear as she ran over to Sebastian. He caught her in his arms and gave her a hug before setting her down to add a couple small decorations to the bottom of the tree.

Shelby felt her heart swell with happiness as she watched the way Sebastian interacted with Sadie. Every day, she marveled at how different Sebastian was from when she first met him. She would have never expected him to end up being a loving dad, and especially not one to her kid, but every time he played with Sadie, he found a way to make her laugh.

"Do you think the tree has enough decorations?" Sebastian asked Sadie, picking her up after she finished putting the few decorations on the bottom of the tree.

Saide vementaly shook her head. "Needs more."

"All right," Sebastian agreed as they continued to add more decorations to the tree.

Shelby, who had been putting unlit candles in other places around the room, joined them and they soon finished decorating the tree. When they finished decorating the tree, the family was free to relax. Decorating the tree was the last thing they needed to do for their part of decorating, all that was left to do was confirm that everything else was in order for the arrivals of Sebastian's family.

XXX

When the family arrived a few days before Christmas, they were all excited to once again be reunited. Although Forest was spending more time at the castle for training and had stayed with them several times since June along with Davy for shorter and less frequent visits, and Rosalinda lived with Angus, meaning that some of the family had spent time together in the months since Sadie's birthday, this was the first time since then that everyone was together.

For the first time, Elinor failed to mention anything about the additional grandchildren she hoped to have. It seemed that she'd realized she could be content to get to spend time with the grandchild she did have and took every chance she got to take care of Sadie.

On Christmas afternoon, Sadie napped on Shelby's lap while the rest of the family sat around the Great Room relaxing and sharing hushed conversations following the noon feast; it was the first time anyone brought anything up about their family getting bigger.

For a couple days leading up to the arrival of Sebastian's family, Shelby had the feeling that he was keeping something from her. She assumed he would tell her if it was important and or she needed to know, but she couldn't help being curious about what the secret could possibly be. When Rosalinda and Angus got up and moved to the front of the room by the fireplace, Shelby's brow furrowed in confusion. She looked over to Sebastian, who wore a somewhat stupid grin on his face, and Shelby suddenly understood.

"Hi," Angus began, somewhat awkwardly, unsure of how to make sure he had everyone's attention.

"What Angus means to say is that we have news to share," Rosalinda began, pausing for a few seconds to make sure she did have all the attention of her family members. "I'm pregnant!"

"Congratulations," Shelby spoke with a smile as she looked to Sadie on her lap.

"Thank you," Rosalinda smiled.

"That's such wonderful news," Elinor gushed. "By this time next year, there will be two little ones.

The remainder of the family also voiced their congratulations and excitement about the prospect of having another family member the following year. Much of the conversation shifted to the family's excitement for the remainder of the afternoon.

X

"You knew, didn't you?" Shelby asked Sebastian that night as they got ready for bed.

"Knew what?" he questioned innocently.

"Don't pretend like you don't know. I saw your expression when Rosalinda and Angus stood to make their announcement. You already knew Rosalinda was pregnant."

"Oh that. I did know that," Sebastian acknowledged.

"Why did you know?"

"Well, Angus is my best friend and Rosalinda is my sister."

"That doesn't explain anything."

"They came to me when they had their suspicions. The doctors who visited were the same ones who visited when we suspected you were pregnant. They confirmed that Rosalinda was," Sebastian explained.

"Okay. See now that does explain it."

Sebastian offered a cocky grin to Shelby, who in turn, rolled her eyes. "You know," Sebastian began as they lay down in bed a few minutes later when the room was dark except for the candles on either side of the bed and the moonlight from the window. "Rosalinda and Angus' baby doesn't need to be the only new addition to the family next year," he teased.

"Another night," Shelby replied. "I'm pretty tired."

"All right," he agreed. The two shared a tender kiss before they lay down and soon fell asleep.

XXX

With Sadie sleeping through the night and since they didn't need to worry about her during the night as much as they did when she was a baby, on New Year's Eve, Shelby and Sebastian decided to do the same thing as they did the previous two years. They checked in on Sadie at the time they normally would have gone to sleep and waited a little while longer until most everyone else would be asleep to put their plan into action.

As they started through the halls, they made sure they were cautious as they always were when sneaking through the castle halls. Though it was highly unlikely they could get in trouble, sneaking around added to the fun of it.

Shelby and Sebastian were able to make it to the kitchens without seeing anyone else. They quickly gathered the food and drinks they wanted before beginning back towards their room.

"I'm pretty sure it was around here that we've seen someone before," Shelby commented on their way back.

"I'll check," Sebastian replied, stopping and then much more cautiously making his way down the hall. He stopped every few steps to listen for anyone else walking the halls. "Clear for now," he replied, turning back to Shelby.

They took a few more steps down the hall together before Sebastian held his arm out to stop Shelby from continuing. "What?" she questioned, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Did you hear that?" Sebastian asked.

"Hear what?"

"That noise. It sounded like footsteps, but it stopped."

"No. How far away were they?"

"Not very. We better hide against the wall in case they're coming this way." Sebastian shifted so Shelby had her back against the wall and their chests just barely touched so he was practically shielding her from any onlookers.

The worry and nervousness Shelby felt drained from her body when she noticed the teasing glint in Sebastian's eyes. "There's no one out there, is there?"

"There could be, but I didn't hear anything."

Shelby scoffed. "I was worried someone was actually there and I couldn't hear it!" she exclaimed in a whisper.

"Sorry," Sebastian replied. "But I have something in mind that might help you forgive me."

"What?"

The question was barely out of Shelby's mouth when Sebastian leaned down to capture her lips in a kiss. The kiss, like many the two now shared, was slow and tender—the kind that made Shelby's heart melt for the man Sebastian had become. They broke apart a few moments later when they remembered where they were and that they had food and drinks to take back to their room.

Sebastian looked around while they listened closely for a minute to make sure no one was coming. When they found that the coast was clear, they made their way to their room.

When they returned to their room, the two remained fairly quiet to make sure no one walking past would hear that they were still awake and raise any questions about why they were weren't asleep. They spent the next few hours eating, drinking, and joking around while they waited for the new year to arrive.

Although she could have had an alcoholic beverage if she wanted, since she planned to wait until her 21st birthday in the 21st century, Shelby decided to abstain from those drinks. Instead, she and Sebastian drank water. As the clock struck midnight, they toasted their glasses of water and shared a kiss since it was tradition. "Do you think anyone would notice or mind if we just hid everything and took care of it tomorrow?" Shelby asked.

"I think we took everything back the last couple years. We'll have to hide everything well," Sebastian reasoned.

"Does anyone ever look under the bed or in the drawers of the bedside tables?" Shelby suggested.

"No one should look in the drawers. Good idea." There wasn't much left that Shelby and Sebastian hadn't eaten or drank, so it was easy to store the remaining things where it wouldn't be discovered.

"Good night," Shelby said a little while later once all the torches were put out.

"Good night," Sebastian replied, leaning forward so the two could share a quick kiss. "Happy New Year," he repeated. They soon drifted off to sleep, Sebastian's arm draped gently over Shelby's waist.

XXX

The following morning, Shelby and Sebastian remained asleep through the insistent knocking on the door. Eventually, Lucinda gave up knocking and entered the room without a reply holding Sadie on her hip.

"Sleeping," Sadie noted, pointing towards her parents.

"They are sleeping, aren't they."

Sadie nodded in response. "Up."

"Up?" Lucinda questioned. "I'm holding you already."

"Mama Dada up," Sadie spoke.

"You want to wake your parents up?" Sadie nodded enthusiastically so Lucinda brought Sadie to the bed and set her down so she could attempt to wake Shelby and Sebastian up.

"Mama, wake up," Sadie practically demanded, shaking Shelby's shoulder.

"Wha—?" Shelby questioned as she began to wake up. "Sadie? How are you?" she trailed off and saw Lucinda. "Oh."

"I tried knocking and went to get Sadie when you didn't reply. Since you still weren't up, Sadie wanted to wake you up."

"Sorry," Shelby replied, sitting up more and taking Sadie into her arms. "We stayed up later than usual last night."

"There's no need to explain. However, you will be expected at breakfast soon."

"Right." Shelby turned to Sebastian as Sadie gently shook him awake. Once Sadie was safely in Sebastian's arms, Shelby went to get dressed. It only took a few minutes to get Shelby dressed and her hair done so she could take Sadie while Sebastian got dressed and Lucinda left to check on breakfast and make sure Sebastian's family was all awake.

After getting themselves ready, Shelby and Sebastian briefly returned to Sadie's room to get her dressed, and before long they were joining the rest of Sebastian's family for breakfast. "Since we've been inside so much lately, we were thinking we could maybe go for a walk on the grounds today," Sebastian began as everyone ate. "How does that sound?"

"I'd love to," Davy answered, a smile on his face. The rest of the family voiced their agreement and it was decided they'd go after breakfast. At the conclusion of the meal, everyone returned to their rooms to retrieve their coats, and they planned to meet at the door they normally exited through when they went to walk the grounds.

For a little while, they first walked through the gardens which were covered in a fresh dusting of snow. Since Sadie was with them, they decided to forgo any potential snowball fight. Instead, it was suggested that they build a snowman—something Sadie found incredibly fun and entertaining.

After they finished their walk through the gardens, the family decided to head to the stables. Once there, as they normally would, they greeted Midnight and Ace and spent a little while brushing and petting the horses.

"I can't wait to have a horse when I'm a knight," Davy said.

"Taking care of your own horse is a big responsibility," Sebastian reminded his youngest brother.

"I know. But if you help teach me, I can do it."

"That's the spirit," Shelby smiled. "And even though it takes a lot of work, it's also a lot of fun to have a horse."

"So I'll work hard to take care of my horse, but not mind it because it will be fun to have a horse," Davy simply concluded.

"Yes you will," Sebastian agreed, placing a hand on Davy's shoulder.

For a little while longer, the family remained by the horses, visiting them and taking care of them. When it was determined that everyone was beginning to feel the cold setting it, they decided to head back to the castle. Once there, everyone sat around the fire to warm up together. The remainder of the time everyone was together was spent enjoying their time together. Soon, those who lived in the castle were bidding the rest of the family goodbye.

A/N: So this is starting to get into the part where there are more and bigger timeskips. I don't really have anything more to say, other than I'm looking forward to sharing the next chapter. Hopefully I keep myself motivated enough to type it up and share it soon. As always, I'd love to know your thoughts on the chapter. Thanks for reading.

Reviews:

sweetsimplegirl: I hope you enjoyed the additional if brief family moments between Shelby, Sebastian, and Sadie as well as the continued growing relationship between Shelbastian.

Ansy: I absolutely adore Sadie, completely meant for her to be the most adorable child ever and Elinor to be the most annoying adult. While Sadie's not going to be a big sister quite yet, she is going to be a big cousin, and a sibling's coming. . . eventually.