Page 46 of The Duke’s Second Bride (Regency Second Chances #4)
SIX MONTHS LATER
“ D on’t run too fast, children!” Ava called after Sophia and Vincent’s daughter and son, Lucy and James, who were playing a rousing game of tag with Luke.
They were back at the country estate for a long week away from the hustle and bustle of London town.
Sophia smiled. “They will be quite all right,” she assured Ava. “Children are sturdy creatures at that age.”
“That is true for certain,” Edith agreed. “When I first married my late husband, the children from his first marriage were just a few years younger than Luke is now. How rowdy they were! And all boys, not even one girl. But they have grown up to be striking young gentlemen.”
Sophia nodded. “You know, Edith,” she remarked, “it seems to me that you have been thriving more than any young widow I know. The whole ton is awash with talk of another one of your balls next week, to raise money for the orphanage.”
Edith nodded. “Charity does help to pass the time,” she said. “Particularly with the boys all grown, and off traveling Europe besides, the house is quite empty with just me.”
Ava turned to look at her friend. “Why, Edith,” she exclaimed. “I believe that was the second time I have ever heard you admit such a thing.”
“You know,” Sophia said, looking at Ava conspiratorially, “I believe there are quite a few handsome and gentlemanly men about the ton who would be quite pleased to court an attractive and accomplished young widow.”
“I can vouch for as much myself,” Ava said teasingly.
Edith laughed, rolling her eyes. “Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “Just because you happened to find love and a happy marriage does not mean the fates are so aligned for everyone. I have plenty to do with my charity work and social outings.”
“Very well,” Ava said, though she could not help but exchange one more additional scheming look with Sophia.
In the past six months, since Christian and Ava’s reconciliation, they had spent even more time than usual with Sophia and Vincent, and in turn, Sophia had become closer to Edith. The three had become a trio of fast friends.
Edith was so warm and loving, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that she would one day long to feel the sort of love she saw her friends receiving.
Ava made a note to herself to keep an eye out for eligible bachelors who might be a good match for her beautiful, brilliant, headstrong friend.
“Ladies,” came a voice. “Not having too much fun and gossip without me, hm?”
It was the dowager duchess. They all rose to their feet to curtsy respectfully to the older woman, and Ava offered up her chair, which the dowager duchess took gratefully.
Just then, a cry was heard across the field.
“Mama!” Luke cried out, running over to them. “Look what James brought!” He had an armful of brightly colored paper squares with strings attached.
Ava took the kite from Luke. “How beautiful!” she exclaimed, then turned to Sophia. “That was very kind,” she said.
“Will you t-teach me how to use it, Mama?” Luke asked.
Ava smiled, then rose to her feet, and began to cross the field with Luke to where James, Lucy, Vincent, and Christian were standing.
Vincent was helping James and Lucy with their kite, while Christian stood with his hands behind his back, smiling at his wife and son as they walked towards him.
“Vincent is the expert,” Christian said, greeting his wife with a peck on the mouth, “but Luke was determined you should be the one to teach him.”
“I’m honored,” Ava said. She bent down to Luke. “You take this string, and give the paper part to your papa.”
Luke obediently handed the kite to Christian, who looked at it. Ava motioned for him to run down the field.
“Go on,” she said, waving at him. “Until the string is nearly pulled taut.”
Christian obeyed. Once the string had been pulled taut, she gestured for him to raise the kite high above his head.
She held the string, letting Luke put his hands over hers. “And now, we shall run this way just as the wind changes. Are you ready?” she asked. Luke nodded, delighted. “And—go!”
They pulled. The wind lifted the kite out of Christian’s hands as they ran, lifting higher and higher into the air until it was floating comfortably next to James and Lucy’s kite.
“It’s working!” Luke exclaimed joyfully. “I’m flying a kite, Mama! L-look!”
Ava looked up at the kite, then back down at the boy. Her heart felt so full it might burst. She rubbed the little boy’s hair, then pressed a kiss to the top of his head.
She and Christian had yet to have a baby together. Ever since that one false alarm, there had not been so much as a hope.
And yet, while Ava knew she would be overjoyed to have a baby in their lives, she no longer felt as though there was an empty space to fill.
The first time Luke had called her Mama, she had cried with joy. It just felt so right. Regardless of his parentage, Luke was every bit her child, and she was his mother.
She would never erase Isabel’s memory from their family, of course. She encouraged Christian to finally open up and talk to the boy about his mother, and to answer any questions Luke may have had.
Grief would never disappear entirely, she knew. But it helped to talk about it.
They had even done a family picnic at St. George’s on the anniversary of Isabel’s death, and both Luke and Christian had agreed to make a yearly family tradition of it.
It seemed like the final wall around Christian had fallen.
And with his guilt about Isabel no longer hanging around his neck, he was finally free to love both Ava and Luke with full abandon, and with no fears of the future.
Ava let her gaze drink in Christian’s manly figure as he walked back towards them. Happiness had brought out an inner glow that only served to highlight the delicious masculinity of his features.
He approached them with a spring in his step that seemed new and delightful, and that smile on his face that Ava loved.
Loved .
What a relief, to be able to say the word out loud without any fear of shame or embarrassment. What an even greater relief, to say the word and have it reciprocated without any caveats or doubts.
Christian loved her, as she loved him. She had never felt more certain of any single fact in her entire life, as she was of this one now. She had finally found what she was looking for.
She was home.
“So that’s how you launch one,” Christian remarked casually as he looked up at Luke’s kite.
Ava stared at him. “Do you mean to tell me you have never flown a kite before?”
Christian immediately flushed a deep red. “Well…there just wasn’t—my parents never—” He sighed, after a moment, putting his hands in his pockets and avoiding her gaze.
“Ah, don’t be so shy, Christian!” Vincent called over from a few feet away. “There’s no shame in being worse at a toy than your twelve-year-old son!”
Christian shot the other man a glare as Ava and all of the children laughed.
“Oh, come now,” Ava said gently, giving her husband a kiss on the cheek, deepening his flush even further. “Luke, would you like to help me teach your papa how to fly a kite?”
“Yes!” Luke said, clearly thrilled by the idea. He stuck out a hand, offering the spindle and rolled end of the kite string to Christian.
Christian took it reluctantly. “Well,” he said. “I suppose it can’t be that difficult.”
The kite dipped in the sky. He pulled at the string, trying to get it to tense once more against the wind, but it didn’t seem to work.
“Try running against it,” Ava suggested. “That ought to get the wind beneath it properly, so that it can sail once more.”
Christian followed the suggestion, running backwards. But soon the wind changed direction, and he found himself having to run nearly in a circle.
As he ran backward, the wind gusted sideways, jerking the kite at an odd angle. The string slackened and whipped around his ankle, sending him sprawling. He rolled down a small decline in the field, landing at last with the string entirely tangled around him.
Vincent was laughing so hard he nearly fell over as well, grabbing his stomach as though he were suffering from gastric pains.
The children laughed, as well. Even Ava could not help but giggle at the sight of her surly, stoic husband tangled in a kite string, particularly when the kite itself fluttered to a stop atop his head like a bright blue paper hat.
She and Luke ran over to help him detangle himself.
“The wind was being difficult,” Christian grumbled as he stood up, brushing the dirt from himself.
Though he wore a scowl, it was clear he was also somewhat amused by the mishap.
“Yes,” Ava said, still unable to hold back her laughter entirely. “Yes, I’m certain that was it.”
“D-don’t worry, Papa,” Luke said assuringly, taking the kite from his father and beginning to help untangle the knots in the string. “Sometimes you just need to practice. Practice makes p-perfect, isn’t that right, Mama? It’s all right not to get everything right on the first try.”
“Indeed,” Ava said, looking at Christian to find him looking at her too, his scowl completely melted into an adoring look.
“You are quite right, both of you,” he said, pecking Ava’s mouth gently and patting Luke on the head. He looked at Ava again, his eyes practically glittering with love and joy and affection. “Sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right.”
Ava grinned and kissed him again.
“All that said,” Christian continued, once he had pulled away from the kiss, “I think I am quite bruised and battered for one day. My future attempts with a kite shall have to wait.”
“May I continue flying with Lucy and James?” Luke asked. Both of his parents nodded.
With the string carefully detangled, he ran back to join the children, enlisting James to help him get his kite back in the air.
Ava and Christian watched him as they walked back to join the other ladies in the shade, by the refreshments.
“A good effort, young man,” the dowager duchess remarked, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.