Page 46 of The Lady and the Lion (Victorian Outcasts #9)

One year later

S amuel had seen many people with odd or extraordinary skills during his years with the circus. But Lady Huntington’s ability to keep an eye on twenty…maybe twenty-three children all at once was something he’d never thought possible.

Hell, he wasn’t even sure how many children were scattered around the garden, running, playing, and yelling.

Every time he counted them, he found someone new.

Vivienne’s brothers and sisters were visiting their parents and had brought all their children, he laughed, and maybe even their neighbours’ children.

It wasn’t the first complete reunion of the family in years, but he and Vivienne had been so busy travelling around the Mediterranean Sea, he hadn’t had many opportunities to meet her brothers and sisters and their families.

One of the children—John, James?—did cartwheels across the garden.

“Did you see that, Grandmama?” the child asked enthusiastically.

Lady Huntington laughed, her green gown complementing her fair complexion. “That was wonderful, Liam.”

Liam? He signed slowly because his mother-in-law had recently learnt sign language. “Is that Liam? I thought it was John.”

“No, darling.” She touched his arm. “We have two children named John, actually. The eldest John is twelve. He’s Eleanor’s son. The other one we call Johnny, and he’s ten and Albert’s son. This one is Liam, Charlotte and Oliver’s son.”

Who the hell were Charlotte and Oliver? He scrubbed the back of his neck.

“Charlotte is my niece,” Lady Huntington said.

Oh, right.

Lady Huntington laughed again as Liam performed another cartwheel. He’d never realised how similar the countess’s laughter was to Vivienne’s. Watching Lady Huntington laughing and smiling, her face rosy and full, was a pleasure after the years she’d spent grieving.

Vivienne walked over to them, smiling. Her body had flourished fully in the past year, and no trace of her ordeal had remained in her beautiful soul and body.

“We need to go, darling.”

“Come tomorrow.” Lady Huntington kissed Vivienne’s cheek. “The children are organising a play for us.”

There were so many of them they could set up an entire production plus the audience.

“We will,” he signed.

They hugged and kissed countless children on their way out; some of them had hands sticky with obscure substances.

Lord Huntington surveyed the small army of children with a proud smile.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Father.” Vivienne hugged him.

Lord Huntington hugged Samuel. “Thank you for being here. There’s nothing I love more than my house filled with children and grandchildren.”

Yes, Samuel too would love to have such a big family.

As he climbed into the carriage, he paused to look at the oak tree under Vivienne’s window. It’d grown to its former glory, its leafy branches thick and strong with life.

When he arrived home, Captain Jackson waved an envelope in front of Vivienne. “We must talk.”

“About what?” Samuel signed.

“I’ll tell you later.” Vivienne kissed him on the lips before following the captain to the sitting room.

Samuel retired to his study, but he couldn’t focus on reading as constant chatter came from the corridor.

Murdock’s conviction had triggered a series of formal complaints from people who had been swindled by him to finance his non-existent clinic.

Samuel wanted to do everything to help those in need. But he’d underestimated the amount of work required.

Some people were as deceitful as Murdock and filed formal complaints in the hope of receiving compensation for a wrong they’d never suffered.

While Samuel had set up a fund to compensate true victims, determining who was lying was a chore.

He’d hired a group of people to take care of that, but he liked to be involved in every decision.

“Sir, I’m coming.” Potter entered the study. “Mrs. Foster told me you wanted to talk to me about next week’s dinner.” He offered Samuel his palm.

Samuel used his index finger to write his answer on Potter’s palm. The type of sign language he used with Potter was different from the one he used with others, but Potter had learnt quickly to recognise the words.

“Excellent choice, sir.” Potter nodded. “Nothing better to celebrate your anniversary than the same cake I baked one year ago for your wedding.”

“Thank you,” he signed on the cook’s palm again.

“Sir.” Potter bowed and guided by one of the ropes, left the study.

Samuel tried to focus, ignoring the voices. Silence dropped quickly, which was suspicious.

He raised his gaze from the papers and tilted his head.

Since the captain was engaged to Dobkins, arguments and loud voices had become common, but not between Vivienne and the captain.

He drummed his fingers, wondering if he should intervene.

They were arguing and talking over each other, and he could grasp only a few words.

“…a big surprise,” Vivienne said.

“No, we straight-up tell him everything,” Captain Jackson rebuked.

He rose from his chair and walked out of the study, only to bump into Captain Jackson.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“I think this requires tact,” Vivienne said, at the same time as Captain Jackson said, “Let’s get it over with as soon as possible.”

Then they started talking together, accusing each other of being a coward, and he didn’t understand anything.

He waved his arms to get their attention. “Tell me.”

“We have—” Captain Jackson started, but Vivienne swatted his shoulder.

“He’s my husband. I’ll tell him.” She brushed a curl of hair from her face.

“We didn’t tell you anything because we didn’t want to give you false hopes, but we hired an entire team of investigators to search for your family.

” She handed him an envelope. “They found something. We didn’t read the letter. ”

Samuel hesitated before taking the envelope.

“Hurry up, mate.” Captain Jackson urged him. “I want to know.”

He opened it slowly and unfolded the letter. He skimmed over the greetings from the chief investigator to what he’d found.

Mr. Samuel Lyon’s real name is …

Sean. His real name was Sean McEvoy. His parents, Matilda and Harry, died of influenza when he was three years old. But his sister, Brigid, and his brother, Arthur, were alive and living in Edinburgh. They were both married with children.

“Well?” Vivienne prompted. “Good news?”

“My brother and sister are alive. I have siblings, and I am an uncle!” He signed so quickly the letter fell from his hand.

“What did you say?” Vivienne asked. “You were too fast.”

Captain Jackson picked up the letter. “He has a sister and a brother in Edinburgh. His name is Sean!”

Cheers erupted, and even though he couldn’t produce any sounds, he opened his mouth and shouted his happiness anyway.

“What are we waiting for?” Vivienne threw her arms around him and kissed him. “We’re going to Scotland to meet your family.”