Disclaimer: I neither own Reign, nor profit from this story.

Ch 10 - The Making of a Family

Henry, Charles, and Little Henry were all heading back from their expedition. It was nice that he boys were now old enough to accompany him on such endeavors while being both helpful and needing a little less supervision.

Little Henry was still a bit too energetic to be helpful with the art of catching fish, and with Charles it depended on his mood, so Henry had set them to gathering berries and mushrooms near where he had settled to cast his line. Once they were on their way home the gathering aspect of their expedition proved to be a bit more fruitful, but it was an enjoyable time none the less.

The two boys had amusingly active imaginations. As they each came back to place their findings in a basket, Henry decided it best kept it next to him as he sat with his pole, a story came with them.

In totally Henry believed they had managed five separate tales this time, each one with either a damsel in distress and gallant prince, or a victorious king returning from battle, or a curious peasant who helped to rescue an errant prince on an ill conceived expedition.

Francis and Mary were much the same at this age. Though not the traditional brother and sister duo, they certainly got along well and seemed to enjoy each other as companions.

Henry sometimes felt badly for Francis as he was the only male sibling for quite a while, but the boy did not seem to mind. Indeed he had found a kindred spirit in Mary and the two of them became fast friends at an age when children begin to seek out such relationships.

It was not even a question in Henry's mind that they they should adopt her on that fateful day when the truth about her parents had been revealed. Though she had already become an extended part of their family, it seemed a most natural transition for her to become a more permanent fixture in their little brood.

And Catherine certainly had a heart big enough for all of them.

As they were nearing the house, Henry could see the rest of his children also returning. He was certainly not sorry that he would have help in skinning and cleaning the fish, and it would appear that Bash was with them as well.

Another testament to size of his wife's heart.

Indeed his hesitation to take the boy on as an apprentice had nothing to do with who he was or his character.

It make him more than a little uncomfortable putting himself in a position where he might end up seeing more of Diane. He knew that Bash was a hard worker, and that the men he worked under were not the easiest masters. As such he would consider it more than he had led Diane to believe, and in the mean time was happily to offer the boy a makeshift shelter and family should he need it.

Though he would likely refuse, Henry would once again invite Bash to stay for dinner. He knew that Francis would appreciate the company despite the fact that he would never say anything.

As he had gone through life, Henry came to the the conclusion that nothing happened without a reason.

If offering a meal and a roof to a boy without the most stable home life was a gift that he could give, then he would gladly do it. Life could be fickle and calloused, and Henry was happy to provide what little shelter he could from it's torrents and twists, especially to one who was in the process of developing into a man.

As he and Mary crossed paths he handed the basket of berries and mushrooms to her to bring inside to his wife.

They brought back enough for a small feast, just one more thing that he couldn't be more grateful for.

-/-/-/-

Catherine enjoyed many things about being a wife and mother. Caring for her family, watching her children grow into the men and women they would be, and living life moment to moment with her husband by her side were just a few of them.

Among her favorites was to see from the outside their smiling faces and hear from afar the peals of their laughter.

As the soup started to come together that was exactly what she began to see and hear.

Not long after she was alerted to their present, Mary, Claude, and Elisabeth came in with Hercule and Margot, berries and mushrooms along with them. The girls settled into making final preparations for dinner and getting the littlest ones settled in until the food was served.

Looking outside for confirmation she could see that Bash had indeed accompanied them and was assisting Henry and Francis in preparing the final portion of their dinner.

If Henry acquired fish for a meal he liked to prepare it himself. He prided himself in keeping his own set-aside cooking fire for such occasions, and should they be having any number of guests over it was also helpful to be able to spread out the area upon which the meal could be made.

Catherine happily accepted the foraged vegetation and began making final preparations as it would not take long for the fish to cook once the fire was properly lit.

The fish that were most readily available were not very big, but they sufficed for filling the stomaches of her family so she would never complain.

Just then Little Henry and Charles came bounding in the door and had already begun regaling her of the adventures they had had while with their father, real and imagined. If the joy and energy of a child could be bottled, they wouldn't need to acquire wood for weeks at a time. It never ceased to amaze her.

Once they too had settled in near Margot, Catherine returned her gaze to the outside.

Watching Henry teach and then supervise the two remaining boys brought another kind of smile to her face.

This was a smile of pride and of appreciation for her dear husband.

He was not a natural teacher, but his care and compassion for the boys was evident in the patience he exhibited during his instruction.

Neither needed much coaxing or teaching, but it certainly helped to strengthen their relationships and provided a good model of what a man could be when given the choice.

Just then Henry looked up and caught her gaze through the window. Smiling at her as he'd been smiling at him she found herself wishing ever so briefly that they were alone. That she cold enjoy her husband's presence and simply bask in the man she had come to love so many years ago.

Though it was not an exact form of communication, something that the two of them had become quite practiced at was speaking their mind through their looks.

Their children all learned form an early age 'the look' of when they were being just a bit too cheeky or had gone just a step to far. But she and Henry's varied far more broadly. But each in expense were a shorthand of three basic elements. The first being a seeking out of the other, whether it be for strength or for the simple sense of being acknowledged. The second was of the foremost emotion on their minds. The last was of their love and a promise of shelter, from either the world or from themselves.

A marriage based on love was so rare that it still astounded her sometimes, especially considering how their marriage began.

Never in a million year could she have guessed that this was how it would turn out.

Never would she have believed that a life like this was real.