The Gambler’s Christmas
a story in The Gambler’s Heart Series by Setcheti

Disclaimer: Don’t own ‘em and no one will give ‘em to me for Christmas, so I guess that’s that.

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Ezra woke up to a pounding headache. Even the light filtering through his closed eyelids felt like a spike jabbing directly into his brain, and he groaned softly in complaint. There was a rustle, and then a soft hand touched his cheek; Ezra knew that touch, and he smiled. "Juliet…"

"You’re awake," his wife’s voice said softly. "Ezra, how do you feel?"

He had the feeling that question should be telling him something, but past the pain in his head and the pleasure he felt at hearing his Juliet’s sweet voice he couldn’t really bring any other thoughts to the fore. "Mah head hurts," he murmured, turning his head into her hand with a soft sigh. "Do ah need to get up, darlin’?"

"No, nothing of the sort," she reassured him. The gentle little hand moved up into his hair, fingers combing through it soothingly. "Do you feel sick, mah love?"

He hadn’t really thought about it, but once he did his stomach informed him in no uncertain terms that moving would be a very bad idea indeed. Ezra nodded and swallowed. Hangover? No, it couldn’t be that; he was even more careful now than he had been before not to become inebriated, he simply wouldn’t do that to his wife. The gently stroking fingers were interrupted by something…a bandage? Oh Lord, he’d gotten hurt, that must be it. "Sorry, darlin’," he moaned softly.

The fingers stilled. "Sorry? Whatevah would you have to be sorry for, Ezra?" He felt her fingers trace over the bandage again. "For this? Don’t be silly, ma cher, you didn’t ask those horrid men to shoot at you; ah’m just thankful you ducked."

Ducked? But if he’d ducked, then what… "Ah didn’t…get shot?"

"No! Oh no, nothin’ like that; you fell off Orpheus tryin’ not to, as a mattah of fact, and you hit your head." There was a pause. "Can you open your eyes and look at me, Ezra?"

He felt stupid for not thinking of doing that on his own. He blinked once, then again, ignoring the increased rolling in his stomach that resulted from the movement. "Sorry."

"Stop apologizin’," Juliet ordered softly. "You’ve been unconscious almost thirty hours, I’d only expect you to be confused. Can you see me all right?"

"You’re the most beautiful vision a man can have the good fortune to wake up to," he replied, and was pleased to see her dimples appear when she smiled. His thoughts were starting to feel a little less muddled, although his head still ached abominably. "Much preferable to Mr. Jackson’s dour visage any day."

"Your brains must not be too scrambled if you’ve enough wits about you to flatter me and insult Nathan," she teased. "And you probably would have been seeing him, but he’s still up at the village and we decided it wasn’t necessary to send for him. Now shut your eyes again for a minute, ma cher, and I’ll help you sit up a little so you can have some tea."

"Ah thought Nathan wasn’t here," Ezra groaned, but he followed her instructions and discovered that the motion-triggered nausea was not nearly as bad with his eyes closed. "Even in his absence his odious concoctions appeah to torment me."

"This isn’t one of Nathan’s teas," she reassured him. He left his eyes closed and listened to the ominous clink of the china teapot spout against the dreaded cup, not certain if he should believe her or not and not feeling at all inclined to open his eyes again just yet to find out. Another rustle and the edge of the bed dipped slightly as Juliet sat down on it. The edge of the cup touched his lips, and Ezra raised one shaking hand to wrap around it, covering the smaller hand that was already there. He was already steeling himself—and his unhappy stomach—for whatever noxious concoction was in the cup, so he was surprised, even startled, when the gentle flavors of chamomile, mint and honey flowed over his tongue. "Just sip," his wife warned. "You don’t want to get sick."

"This won’t make me sick," he contradicted happily, but obediently refrained from trying to drink the tea faster than the cautious hand controlling the cup was permitting and instead just allowed himself to enjoy the feeling of his hand wrapped around hers over the warm china. His stomach rolled a little at first and then quieted, and he opened his eyes again when she finally pulled the cup away. "More, please."

"Wait a little," Juliet advised. "Let that settle first and then I’ll get you some more if you want it."

It was when she stood up to put the cup away that Ezra’s eyes were drawn to the window by a glimpse of movement. Something falling…his muddled mind managed to make the connection between things silently falling from the sky and the color white to come up with… "Snow. It’s snowing."

"Yes, it started yesterday," his wife told him. "That’s probably why Nathan isn’t back yet; they tell me the snow is usually worse in the hills than it is down here."

Ezra nodded gingerly in agreement but continued to watch the snow fall past the window. Something about the snow… "It’s winter, then?"

Juliet froze; her husband, fixated on the lazily spiraling flakes, failed to see the alarmed expression that crossed her face. "Yes, Ezra," she said slowly. "It is winter." Coming back to his side, she sat down again and in doing so blocked his view of the window. Her hand went first to his forehead and then to the bandage. "Ma cher, can you see me all right? I don’t look blurry to you, do I?"

"You look as lovely as evah," he smiled up at her. "Ah should certainly be complainin’ if anythin’ were preventin’ me from seein’ you clearly." A thought came to him, and he frowned over her shoulder at the window he couldn’t see. "That is snow, correct?"

"Yes, it’s snow - and it’s winter," she assured him quickly. Her fingers went back to combing gently through his hair. "Your head is hurting quite badly, isn’t it?"

"Yes," Ezra sighed, letting his eyes fall closed again. "You’re certain ah don’t have to get up now, cherie?"

"Quite certain," Juliet told him. "Why don’t you go back to sleep, Ezra? Ah’m sure your head will hurt less when ah wake you up in a few hours, and then you can have more tea. All right?"

"Anythin’ for you, darlin," he murmured, and was almost immediately asleep again.

Juliet continued to sit beside her sleeping husband for several long moments, just looking at him. Finally she stood and, tucking the blankets in more closely around the sleeping man, went to the window to look out at the falling snow. The streets below were busy in spite of the weather, and she bit her lip as she watched the inhabitants of Four Corners scurry in and out of the town’s shops laden with parcels. She leaned her forehead against the cold glass, closing her eyes. "He remembers himself, he remembers me…he’ll be all right," she whispered. A shudder ran through her slender body, then another, and several drops of mingled fear and relief glittered as they fell toward the carpet in heavy imitation of the snowflakes outside. "He has to be all right."

In spite of having Juliet wake him every few hours over the course of the day and for a good part of that night, Ezra woke up with very little urging the next morning and smiled when he saw his wife leaning over him. "There could be no more lovely sight to wake up to, ah’m certain."

She gave him the kiss he was expecting and then pulled back, running a loving hand through his disordered hair. "Why don’t we get you dressed and go downstairs?" she suggested. "You’ll feel bettah once you’re up and around, and I’ve a surprise waiting for you as well."

"A surprise?" He sat up, then paused to let the room settle back into stillness before pushing back the blankets and turning to sit on the side of the bed. Juliet quickly stripped off his nightshirt and helped him clean himself up with warm water from the washbasin; Ezra sighed both in appreciation of those soft hands on his skin and also in chagrin that he didn’t really feel up to taking advantage of the situation. The thought must have been plain on his face because his little wife was still blushing when she took the basin away and brought back his clothes, helping him don a freshly pressed shirt and pants which were then covered with an elegant dressing gown of crimson silk. A pair of slippers was already there, warmed and waiting, and he slid his feet into them with another appreciative sigh. "You are spoilin’ me dreadfully, darlin’."

"It’s no more than you deserve," she countered, smoothing the silk with her hands before tying the tassled sash around his waist. She then picked up his hairbrush from the dressing table and began putting his hair back in order - the bandage had come off during the night and she hadn’t seen any reason to replace it. "And ah enjoy it, so there."

Ezra found that his thoughts were a little more clear than they had been before, and something about the dressing gown was bothering him - rather like the snow had the day before - but trying to puzzle it out made his head hurt so he let it go. He waited until his wife was done with the brush before pulling her to him and kissing her soundly. "You," he growled softly. "Are the most wonderful woman in the world."

Juliet blushed again. "It looks like that head injury has made you delusional," she scolded, but her smile grew dimples. "Now that you’re presentable, let me help you downstairs before what I’ve got in the oven burns to a cinder."

It was slow going and Ezra was almost ashamed of how relieved he was when the stairs were finally behind him and his little wife was fussily settling him on the sofa with a plethora of pillows at his back, a blanket across his lap and a steaming cup of tea for him to drink. It was while he was sipping at the tea that he noticed the screen blocking off one corner of the room. "Darlin’, what’s that over there?"

"Part of your surprise." Finished settling him to her satisfaction, Juliet dropped a kiss on his cheek and then slipped away from him before he could detain her again. "You just stay put, now; I’ll be back."

And then she was gone. Ezra blinked at the door in confusion, then blinked again when the door opened moments later and Josiah came in, dressed for church and carrying a tray. "Morning, son," he said heartily. "Good to see you out of bed. Brought your breakfast." The older man carefully deposited the tray on a small table pulled up near the couch and whisked the tea towel off of it to reveal a plate of scones still warm from the oven. "Hope you don’t mind sharin’."

"Not at all." Ezra frowned, looking at him. "Today is Sunday, then?"

"Nope." Josiah helped himself to a scone and surreptitiously watched the younger man sip his tea. The door opened again and Vin walked in wearing a blue shirt and missing his buckskin jacket. "Morning, Brother Vin."

"Mornin’, Josiah. Ez, you’re lookin’ a sight better than the last time I seen ya."

"Thank you, I think." Ezra gestured to the heaped plate and watched Vin happily dig in. From the front of the house he heard more voices and frowned, recognizing Chris, Buck and JD. "What brings you all here this mornin’?"

"Your surprise," Josiah answered with a grin that was somehow secretive and sad at the same time. "Now eat your breakfast, son; you know how much Brother Buck loves scones..."

The little sitting room was quite full and the plate that had held the scones quite empty by the time Juliet came back in, but a hush fell over the room at her entrance; she had changed into a dress as red as her husband’s fine dressing gown and woven the braid that was coiled into a coronet around her head with red satin ribbons. She swept gracefully over to Ezra’s side and perched beside him on the sofa. Her cheeks were flushed and her indigo eyes were sparkling with excitement. Catching his hands in hers, she nodded to Buck and JD, who jumped up to remove the screen from the corner of the room, revealing… "Merry Christmas, Ezra!"

The tree wasn’t very big and it was rooted in a largish pot full of soil; the slender branches were decorated with paper snowflakes and red ribbons and tiny net bags of sweetmeats. Beside the tree sat a table covered with a green cloth and absolutely loaded with gifts. Ezra’s mouth opened and closed several times before any words came out. "Good Lord, ah…ah had forgotten," he whispered.

"We know," Chris told him gently. "But we didn’t. Merry Christmas, Ez."

"You’d been so excited about our first Christmas together," Juliet explained. "But you didn’t remember it after the accident and we were afraid…well, we didn’t want to worry you."

"So we all thought it would be a pretty nice surprise for you if we did it this way," Buck finished for her. "And from the look on your face I’d have to say we were right. Happy Christmas to ya, Ez."

"We were hoping Brother Nathan would have returned by now, but the snow must have delayed him," Josiah said. "And I believe Miss Janey and little Emmeline will be joining all of us for dinner."

That made Ezra smile; he’d grown to be as fond of Emmeline as he was of the Potter twins. "And who procured this charmin’ little tree for the occasion?"

The men all looked at each other, not sure what to say. "You did, Ezra," Juliet answered matter-of-factly, smiling back at him. "You brought it home last week. Now I’d say we should get on with openin’ these presents, ah shall have to get back to the kitchen soon or there won’t be any dinner."

"A tragedy of epic proportions," Ezra replied lightly, but the shadow of a frown flashed across his green eyes and was just as quickly gone. "In that case you must certainly open yours first, darlin’."

"Ah got mine early," she said softly, giving the tasseled sash of the dressing gown a playful tug. "Ah wrapped it myself this mornin’ - and ah have no plans to unwrap it in front of company, so there."

Ezra captured her hand and lifted it to his lips. "Cherie, just because ah briefly forgot what day it was does not mean ah had nevah known it - or that ah have forgotten everything about it, either. Vin, would you mind goin’ to the hall cupboard and retrievin’ the package on the top shelf?" The tracker nodded once and disappeared, returning moments later with a small package wrapped in red paper and tied with golden ribbon. Ezra took it from him with a quiet thank you and turned it over in his hands before giving it to Juliet with a smile. "You need have no fears about unwrappin’ this gift in front of the others, ah assure you."

Slender, trembling fingers carefully undid the gold ribbon and set it aside; the red paper blossomed open in her hands to reveal the plain white box underneath. Juliet lifted off the lid of the box…and smiled. "It’s beautiful, Ezra," she told him, holding up the gold locket on its fine chain for everyone to see. "Ah shall have to get a picture to put in it…"

"Several, but not for some time, ah believe," he interrupted, eyes sparkling with mischief. "And there is already one picture inside; you must look and tell me if it is one you would have chosen for yourself."

Cocking a puzzled eyebrow at him, Juliet opened the locket…and gasped, looking from the miniature inside to her hopefully smiling husband in complete wonderment. "Ezra, it’s…it’s…"

"Unforgivably arrogant of me, ah know," he said. "But ah have several times heard you bemoan the lack of acceptable photography in this era, so ah took it upon myself to provide you with an alternative that might be more to your liking."

"It’s such perfect likeness…" Indigo eyes sparkled and then overflowed, and Juliet threw her arms around her husband’s neck. "It’s perfect, Ezra; it’s exactly what ah wanted. Thank you evah so much!"

Ezra returned the hug with tears in his own eyes. "We shall have to get your miniature done as well, so that ah might have it to carry about with me. Ah’m guessin’ that this lovely dressin’ gown ah’m wearin’ is your gift to me?"

She pulled back, her face alight. "You remember?"

"That ah didn’t own such an article before? Yes, it bothered me earlier but ah put the problem aside in the interest of gettin’ downstairs to see mah surprise - it didn’t occur to me at that moment that ah was wearin’ part of it." He wiped away a lingering tear from her cheek. "As ah said before, you are spoilin’ me dreadfully."

"And as ah said before, you deserve it and ah enjoy it," Juliet rebutted, her smile returning. "But ah wasn’t joking about needin’ to get back to the kitchen sooner rather than later, so we’d best postpone the rest of this discussion for another time. Now if some of you gentlemen would like to start distributin’ the presents we might be able to actually eat our dinner today…"

Once the gifts had all been opened and thoroughly exclaimed over Juliet disappeared back into the kitchen and the six men all settled back in their seats to sip coffee - or, in Ezra’s case, tea - and just enjoy the holiday. It was Buck who finally broke the comfortable silence. "Think maybe one of us should ride out a ways to see if there’s any sign of Nathan?"

"Been wonderin’ about that myself," Chris agreed. "Don’t think he’d have let the snow keep him up there unless it was blowin’ up a blizzard, not with what’s gone on with him and Rain. I was kind of surprised he went, thought he might ask one of us to go with him, at least."

"I offered to go in his place, since it was just to deliver more supplies for the winter," Josiah said, shaking his head. "But he told me he wasn’t backing out on the promise he made to help the tribe just because Rain decided not to wait for him."

"Three years is an awful long time to wait," was Vin’s dry comment. "’Specially when the fella lives right down the road. Nate just held back too long, is what he did."

"He should have fought for her," Ezra observed thoughtfully. "When that first young man at the village began to seek the lady’s favor last year, Mr. Jackson should have made his stand then and there and that would have put an end to it." He sighed and shook his head. "Unfortunately at the time he was not disposed to accept mah advice."

"That’s one way to put it," Chris said slowly; he hadn’t missed the flash of emotion that had passed across the Southerner’s face at the memory of that abortive conversation in the saloon. Then something else occurred to him. "Hey, Ezra, you actually remember that?"

Green eyes lifted from their focus on the past to look at him with slightly offended puzzlement. "Certainly ah do, it was little more than a year ago that Rosa May came to visit…" Then he took in the hopeful and relieved expressions of the other men and frowned in irritation. "Gentlemen, just because some of mah memories are slightly foggy does not mean that all of them are. Your concern is appreciated but unnecessary."

"We’ll stop being concerned when your wife does, son," Josiah rumbled. "You’d best just…" A knocking at the front door interrupted him and he smiled. "Well, it looks like no one will need to go searching for our missing brother after all."

Sure enough, Nathan’s deep voice in counterpoint to Juliet’s high one could be heard in the entryway, and a few moments later the man himself came through the door with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand and a slightly sheepish expression on his face. "Sorry I’m late, y’all; snow was pretty deep on the trail, it was slow goin’."

"We’re just glad you made it back okay," Chris replied. "We were just talkin’ about sendin’ someone out to look for you."

"Glad you didn’t, probably would have missed each other in the snow," Nathan said with a smile. He found a seat near Buck and a little distance from Ezra and settled into it with a sigh. "Feels nice to be gettin’ warm, finally."

There was a general murmur of agreement and JD brought the healer his gifts…and then everyone waited. Nathan opened the gifts one at a time with evident pleasure, but aside from thanking Ezra for the warm woolen scarf he’d given him he appeared to be paying no special attention to the injured gambler at all. Suddenly Vin broke into a broad grin. "Threatened ya, didn’t she?"

Nathan nodded without looking up from his coffee. "If I so much as look at him too hard I’m gonna be findin’ my own Christmas dinner. I could smell all them good things clear out into the street, so I ain’t even gonna take a chance." He glanced up then and caught the surprised gambler’s eye. "Merry Christmas, Ez."

The mischievous twinkle in the brown eyes startled Ezra; then he sank a little further into his pillows, chuckling. "A very merry Christmas indeed, Nathan, very merry indeed."

-30-