Page 57

It was fine spring day, cool and crisp. Puffy white clouds dappled a pale blue sky. A soft breeze played over the river Derwent, casting ripples over the water and whispering through the trees.

As they did on most Sunday afternoons, Caden and Anna enjoyed a picnic atop a blanket they’d laid out on a grassy knoll overlooking the river.

They ate their lunch beneath the shade of an old yew tree, the very tree where Caden, not quite a man, but no longer a child, bestowed the fateful kiss on his stolen Princess Anna, marking him as forever hers.

He lounged with his back against the tree trunk, long legs stretched out. Anna nestled between his legs, leaning into his chest, half dozing as he caressed her growing belly with leisurely strokes.

“I rather enjoyed today’s fare better than last week’s, madame wife,” he mused. “Fried potato slices dipped in melted chocolate. Who’d have thought the two foods would make such a flavorful combination. ”

Anna chuckled. “Your babe, evidently. I never imagined eating anything of the sort before this pregnancy.”

“It certainly went down better than the orange slices and malt you concocted last week.”

“Yet you still managed not to leave so much as a spoonful,” she said, a smile evident in her voice.

He arched a brow. “True. At this rate, I stand to gain all of your baby weight. That’s hardly fair.”

“According to the doctor Kitty recommended, I am eating for two. But one of us is only the size of a thimble.” She chuckled briefly. “But you and I both know I’m as big as a house already. Kitty’s bump is barely visible even though she’s two months further along than I.”

“I know nothing of the sort. You’re perfect as you are.”

She pulled his hand briefly from her belly to press a kiss to his palm. “Are you very upset over Kitty and Zeke claiming first rights to the earl’s name for their babe should he be a boy?”

Caden considered that. “No. They can have Horace. I have a few other names in mind.” He paused. “The truth is, I’m rather hoping for a girl with her mother’s eyes.”

“Are you?”

“Mm hm.”

“Do you have a name in mind for her, as well?”

“I do.”

When he didn’t immediately offer it, she turned in his arms to swat his chest before twining her arms around his neck. “Tell me this instant.”

He traced a finger over her cheek. “I was thinking we’d call her Evelyn,” he said softly.

Wonder filled her eyes. “You want to name her after my grandmother? ”

He nodded.

“Caden Thurgood, you are the sweetest, most thoughtful husband—”

He laughed, cutting her off. “Stop right there. There’s nothing thoughtful about my choice.

I credit her with bringing you back to me.

Without her machinations—meant to entrap me, I might add—I never would have found you again.

The mere thought of not having you as my wife is enough to give me nightmares.

” He shivered for dramatic effect, then sobered.

“I owe her more than I can say. I love you, Anna.”

“I love you more,” she choked and sank against him, nuzzling her face into the crook of his shoulder.

“You’re crying?” he asked after a moment.

She sniffled. “I never cry.”

If the Slipper Fits, Mrs. Jones, he thought, but only said, “Of course not,” and hugged her close, allowing her happy tears to soak the front of his shirt—again.

The End