Yuletide plans were adjusted and changed. Pippin and Diamond would stay by themselves at Crickhollow. Merry and Estella would shorten their stay at Brandy Hall. Pippin took wonderful care of his wife and son, but Merry wanted to make sure Pippin was being looked after as well, and Estella was determined to make certain Diamond did not feel alone.
Estella kept her attentions focused almost solely on Diamond and Faramir over the next several days. She prepared whatever meals were to Diamond's liking, and made her teas and medicines to help with her recovery and increase her milk supply. She changed Faramir's tiny nappies and held him while Diamond rested. She would scold Diamond for trying to get out of bed and was a watchful nurse for both mother and baby.
They had quickly discovered Faramir was not big enough to nurse, but Diamond was not discouraged. She would soak a rag in milk and let him suckle that after trying again to see if he would latch. With every day that passed, everyone grew more hopeful that Faramir would make it.
Six days after he was born, the midwife had finally deemed Diamond well enough to be up and about for a short while if she felt like it. She had taken advantage of this and was sitting out in the parlor when the post arrived. Pippin received a letter from the Great Smials. His face went pale when he read it, and Merry had to ask him twice what was wrong before he responded.
"Mum and Father are coming for Yule," he said. Diamond's eyes grew wide at that news, and Estella thought the poor lass looked terrified. "They're arriving tomorrow," Pippin added softly.
Estella gave Merry a very pointed look and moved from the parlor to the hallway, Merry on her heels. "We cannot go to Brandy Hall for Yule, not if the Tooks are coming," she hissed.
"I know," he whispered back.
"Diamond is in no shape to be playing host to anyone, I cannot believe they'd come unannounced like this! What do we do? Do we invite Esme and my family here?"
Merry shook his head. "No, I think that would be too much for Pip and Di right now. We'll just have to send our regrets and celebrate later."
Estella gave a resolute nod, then marched back into the parlor. "Well, if we have guests coming tomorrow, we need to start preparing for them. What kind of Yule feast will your parents be expecting, Pippin? Will they want a goose or a ham?" she asked.
Diamond was clinging tight to Pippin's hand now, Faramir sleeping in her other arm. "You're staying?" she asked, hope in her voice.
Estella nodded, then placed her hands on her hips. "Yes, we are. We can't very well leave you to play hostess when you've just had a baby. You're not fully recovered yet! And we all know Pippin would be good for entertainment, but not any good at all when it came to the feast."
Pippin and Diamond both began expressing their gratitude, but Merry held up his hands. "None of that, you two. Now, to plan the Yule feast and prepare the house! Di, you and Fari go rest. You're not to lift a finger for anything, understand?"
Estella beamed at her husband. This was how he felt he could best show his love to Pippin and she had come to appreciate and admire his care-giving ways.
It's something I love about him, she thought. She had found herself thinking of similar sentiments often, more and more often. And yet, she still hesitated to speak any of them aloud. She wanted to be certain she meant it. She'd never been in love before and had nothing to compare it to. What if this wasn't truly what love was? Either way, she could feel her affection, her need for Merry growing with every passing day.
Their day was spent at the market and cleaning Crickhollow from top to bottom in preparation for their guests, and repeatedly telling Diamond to go back to bed and rest. The poor lass was nervous and anxious, knowing her in-laws would be in such close proximity. Even when they went to the Great Smials, there was plenty of room for Diamond to get away from them if she needed to. Crickhollow was much closer quarters.
"If you need a break, all you have to do is say Fari needs to be fed," Estella said.
Pippin gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "All of us will be looking out for you, sweeting. Don't worry."
"And I'll be looking out for you," Merry assured Pippin.
The next evening when the elder Tooks arrived, Merry and Estella were the ones to welcome them. They were greeted warmly, and both Eglantine and Paladin seemed glad that they would be joined for Yule by their nephew and his wife.
Pippin and Diamond sat waiting in the parlor room and Estella was pleased to see the gentle embrace Eglantine gave her son when they were shown in. No such affections had been exchanged last year in the Great Smials, at least none that Estella had seen. Even Paladin gave Pippin a smile and a clap on the shoulder when Pippin presented Faramir to them for the first time.
As she watched the broken family coming together over the baby, Estella wondered greatly at how different Paladin was from Esme. He was all bristles, all anger, and harsh words. It was rather un-hobbit-like now that she thought on it.
Esme had a hint of that harshness in her, but it was muted, kept well below the surface, and shown only to those she felt very deserving of it. Estella knew that no matter what she might do that Esme disagreed with, no matter what Merry might do that upset her, she would never go so far as to make them feel as though they were unwanted and unloved, as Paladin had done to Pippin and Diamond.
Estella watched in wonder as the matriarch of the Took family's face melted into the gentlest smile. Paladin too, lost the edge in his eyes when he gazed at his grandson. Eglantine was even tender and complimentary with Diamond, which Estella found doubly strange.
"You must be doing well with him," Eglantine said. "I've never heard of one born so early that's lived past the first day, and here he is, a week old already!"
Diamond nodded shyly, reaching for Pippin on instinct, but did not speak. Eglantine, for her part, chose to ignore it. Estella was thankful, and she could see Pippin was too.
Paladin's gaze turned towards her and Merry then, and the gentleness baby Faramir had brought forth moments ago was now gone. "Now why aren't you two expecting a wee bairn yet?" he asked. His gaze was fixed pointedly on Estella, and Estella knew why. It was always assumed to be a problem with the lass when a young couple had no children. She felt Merry's arm come around her shoulders protectively.
"Father!" Pippin exclaimed. "It's none of your concern. You never asked me and Di before Fari."
Estella interrupted before Paladin could speak, fearing something unkind would be said about Diamond, for she knew that was the reason no inquiries about babes had been made before. "Merry and I are simply taking our time to decide whether or not we want children," she said. "Faramir is giving us a good idea of what it might be like to have a little one about. But for now, we enjoy handing him back to his parents when he cries!"
Eglantine's shock was plain on her face. "Well, you're duty bound to produce an heir for Meriadoc," she said, voice growing shrill. "The very idea that you could simply choose to not have children!"
Merry's fingers were tight on her shoulder, but she gave him a confident look, letting him know the words had not hurt her. "No one in this house is much for following traditional conventions, wouldn't you agree, Mrs. Took?" she said.
Eglantine seemed highly dissatisfied with this reply, but a cry from Faramir mercifully diverted her attention from all else for the moment.
There was much fussing over the little one, and Eglantine had brought with her one of Pippin's baby bonnets as a gift. The significance of this was not lost on Estella. Gifting such an heirloom to Faramir was an attempt to build bridges. Eglantine was well aware that Diamond was the gateway to her grandchildren, and it seemed she had decided that despite her own opinion of the lass, despite Paladin's threats to name Pearl's husband the next Thain, she would not be denied a relationship with Faramir.
Preparations for supper pulled Estella out of the parlor soon enough, but she knew Pippin and Merry would do well making sure Diamond and Faramir could escape to their bedroom if need be.
Supper was a cordial enough affair, and though Eglantine did attempt to bring up the topic of Brandybuck children once more, Merry shut her down quickly and easily enough. Diamond even managed a bit of conversation with her mother-in-law about how she was going about feeding Faramir, and Eglantine was gracious to her, not offering advice she had no place to, and not pushing when Diamond grew quiet.
Night fell, and an exhausted Diamond at last found her voice for long enough to say it was well past time for she and Faramir to go to bed, and Pippin insisted he accompany his wife and son. Paladin and Eglantine had retired soon after that, leaving Merry and Estella to finish the tidying up from supper.
As the last dish was dried and put away, Merry told Estella,
"Close your eyes."
She looked at him suspiciously, unsure if he had some sort of prank up his sleeve, but he smiled at her and shook his head. "It's your Yuletide gift, that's all," he assured.
Estella then readily closed her eyes and waited, listening closely to see if she could discern any hint of what it might be.
"Alright," his voice was near again, and she opened her eyes. In his hands, Merry held a book bound with a stiff cover in one hand. The other held a small collection of sheepskin pencils and charcoals.
"What's this then?" she wondered, taking both the book and the pencils from him. She found all the pages in the book blank.
"I've seen the drawings you do in the margins of your penmanship work and they're quite good. I thought you might like a book meant only for that. Your birch trees have been getting quite life-like!"
"Oh, thank you, Merry, this is lovely."
He grinned at her and kissed her forehead. "I have to admit I have a very selfish motive in giving it to you."
Estella raised a single brow and held the sketchbook close to her chest. "And that would be?"
Bringing his hands together and raising them to his chin, Merry explained, "You know I've been thinking of writing a book on the various pipeweed of the Shire." She nodded and he continued. "I think I might expand the project; write a book on all the herblore the Shire has to offer. I thought if you wanted, you could use this to practice, and do all the illustrations for me. We could write a book for the libraries of Bucklebury together."
Now she laughed. "Well, I doubt if my drawings will ever be good enough for a venture like that, but it does bring to mind the gift I got for you. Wait here a moment, will you?" Dashing away to their room, she opened the wardrobe and picked up the small box that had been sitting in plain sight for weeks.
When she brought it back to Merry and watched him open it to reveal the fine new quill and ink well, he met her eyes with a smile. "Seems we both had my book on our minds this year, didn't we, Stella?"
"I suppose so. I hope you'll like it. I'm no good at gift-giving, you know."
"Nor am I, but I think this is perfect. And I hope you'll like yours as well."
She embraced him then, arms tight about his middle. "Happy Yule, Merry."
They stayed that way for several moments, enjoying the quiet of the house and the company of each other before Estella drew away. "We should be off to bed. I'm determined to have this visit go well and I'll need to be up preparing breakfast well before the sun."
"I think it's already gone better than Pip or Di expected it to," Merry said as they moved towards their rooms. "Faramir is a strong little lad indeed if he can bring Pippin and Uncle Paladin back to good terms."
