Page 68

“Must we go to bed, Mother?” Margaret asked, pleading for more time.

“Yes,” Rebecca nodded tenderly.

“But we have to search for fairies!” Henry whined, but that whine was followed by a yawn, and everyone knew what time it was.

“You’ll do it tomorrow and then, when I see you again, you’ll tell me how it all went,” Ciara assured them, and after her words, the children seemed pacified.

“All right,” Margaret nodded. “We know what to do.”

“I have no doubt about that,” Ciara replied as they bid everyone goodnight, leaving the dining hall.

“You have a wonderful way with children, Ciara,” Rebecca told her after she returned from putting her children to bed.

Archie and Jonathan seemed immersed in their own conversation, while the two women turned to each other.

Ciara smiled, her heart swelling at those words. “I simply adore them. They remind us of the joy and innocence in the world.”

Their conversation continued from there after which it was time for Ciara and Jonathan to bid them farewell and head home in their carriage.

“I had such a lovely time,” Ciara gushed as they hopped off the carriage and entered Silverbrook Manor.

“I have promised the children that I would come for another visit, and it will be so lovely to see them again,” she added as they ascended the grand staircase.

“Ah yes, the children,” he nodded without much interest although he loved the sight of his wife beaming in such a manner. However, the topic of children did not interest him.

To be quite honest, he didn’t think there would be a need for it. Their marriage was one of convenience although the lines of their arrangement were now somewhat blurred. But there were certain things he was adamant about, and those were children.

Or better yet, the lack thereof.

They entered his chambers. After he closed the door behind him, he took off his shoes, his thoughts jumping to the ways he could take off each article of clothing that she wore.

“They are so sweet and well-behaved,” she mused, fidgeting her fingers, obviously unable to remain still with excitement. “Do you think ours will be the same?”

He stood still in front of her.

“Our what?” he asked, missing the point as his eyes were still half-focused on the clothes before him.

She locked eyes with him, beaming like the moon in the darkest of nights. “Our children, of course.”

Jonathan felt his throat go dry, and he had to clear it more than once to feel comfortable again.

He needed to clarify a few things to her, things that they had never discussed before because he didn’t think they needed to. Up to now.

“What do you meanourchildren?” he asked, frowning.

Her smile immediately disappeared. She sounded confused, perplexed. “Well, I… I thought that since things are different between us now, I only assumed that you would want to have children with me, not to mention an heir.”

“No,” he snapped much more angrily and loudly than he had intended to. “I do not want to have children with you or with any other woman for that matter.”

She still had that confused, astonished look in her eyes. But hope held her in its grip hard. “I understand it may seem daunting right now. We can discuss this at a later point. Maybe in the future?”

“No,” he cut her off again. “Not now, not ever.”

“But… why?” she asked, her voice on the verge of breaking.

“The world doesn’t need another descendant of my father.”

“I do not know how your father was exactly,” she started pleading. “I understand what having… difficult parents may do to someone, but that doesn’t mean that you should deny yourself the happiness that children can bring. You don’t know?—”