Page 16 of The Viscount’s Second Chance (The Lovers’ Arch: Later in Life)
"T hat isn’t fair! Papa! Tell Beth she must return my horse to me!”
“It’s my turn!”
“No! It is my toy!”
Nora fought a smile as her husband leveled a look at their children from over the edge of his newspaper. She marked the page of her book and watched the exchange. Thomas possessed a nearly infinite well of patience with most things, and the children were no different. Still, it amused her to no end that they instinctively knew precisely how to rile him.
Following their more traditional wedding ceremony, she and Thomas had immediately begun working on a family. Jacob had followed eight-and-a-half months later and Beth, a year after him almost to the day. Now, at four and three years of age, respectively, the children were at each other’s throats when they weren’t working in tandem to create as much chaos as possible. Of course, Thomas blamed Nora for their mischievous behavior. Each time, she narrowed her eyes at him, reminding him that he’d been quite the troublemaker in his youth, which he staunchly denied. It wasn’t until Beth and Jacob had formed a short-lived truce to exact revenge upon him that Thomas had—rather sheepishly—admitted that he’d played the same prank with the frogs in his pillowcase on his own father in his youth.
Nora had never been so satisfied.
Well, almost never.
“Didn’t I give you your own horse when you fell in love with Jacob’s, Little Princess?” he asked his daughter. “Where is your horse?”
Beth stuck out her lower lip and looked up at her father from beneath her impossibly long, impossibly dark lashes. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe you should take better care of your things,” Jacob piped in with an air of superiority far beyond his young years.
This immediately launched another battle between the children. Thomas sighed and set aside his paper, as well as the spectacles he’d taken to wearing these last few years. He’d initially resented the need to wear them, but Nora found them achingly handsome—especially when paired with the distinguished silver that had so gradually begun to creep into the rest of his hair from his temples. He remained hale and hardy, strong and fit as ever, her husband. And he made her swoon with his words, actions, touches, and kisses on a daily basis. She subtly masked her mouth with her hand so the children wouldn’t see her smile as she watched Thomas’s efforts at peacemaking. Words were ineffective and he eventually had to settle for hiking a child beneath each arm.
“I will purchase you each a live pony of your own if you cease this instant.” Immediately, the children halted their thrashing and stared adoringly up at their father.
As if summoned by magic, the nanny appeared in the doorway to take the children for their nap. Thomas sighed dramatically and set the children back on their feet. They kissed his cheek, then dashed over to Nora to kiss hers before each took one of Nanny’s hands and quit the room. Thomas dropped into the chair and slouched as the door shut.
“Monsters. Both of them.”
Nora laughed and set down her book. “Would you expect anything less from our offspring?”
He chuffed. “I suppose not.”
“You know, you’re going to have to follow through on that promise. They’ll not forget what you said.”
He groaned. “You don’t think I can bribe them with sweets instead?”
She strode over to her husband, her eyes running up the long expanse of his strong legs where they were crossed at the ankle. “Do you recall the last time that happened?”
He grimaced. “I still don’t think Nanny has forgiven me for the destruction they wreaked. They’re lucky their sweetness outweighs their impishness.”
“They do know how to ingratiate themselves just enough to prevent punishment.” Nora raised her skirts enough to straddle his lap, his large hands instantly going to her hips.
“Well, hello, Princess,” Thomas said warmly, grinning up at her with that brilliant smile of his, the gleam in his ice-blue eyes turning devilish. She brushed his hair from his face and stared down at him, loving his unwavering, solid strength and the way he never failed to look at her as if she were the most splendid being in creation.
“Hello, darling,” she said in return, pressing a kiss to his forehead and smiling warmly into his beloved face. “Despite their penchant for chaos, we do make beautiful children, do we not?”
“When they’re not burning Glen House to the ground, I suppose that is true.” He chuckled when she gently tweaked his ear.
“I wonder what might happen if their playing field was uneven. Another boy might put poor Beth at a disadvantage…but she’d be guarded well after she had her debut. I know, for all his bluster, Jacob adores her.” Thomas gave an understanding bob of his head. “Another girl might drive Jacob mad, though. He’s already been forced to sit through more pretend balls and parties than his little heart can handle…but I think he’d manage being the only boy quite well in a family of sisters.”
“I’ll never understand how your brother manages.” He shook his head dramatically.
“I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.”
“We—what?” Thomas’s sentence died abruptly and his eyes flew to her face. Nora could no longer mask her grin and she took his hand in hers and placed it over her lower abdomen. “But. I thought—truly?”
They’d given up on ever expanding their family further—had believed that Beth’s years of bearing children were over. It had been sobering, but they knew they had a wonderful life, two healthy children, and could be more than content with this lot. More than three months had passed since Nora last experienced her courses. She’d initially believed it to be the death knell of her fertility, but then other familiar symptoms began appearing. Her breasts ached, she was constantly fatigued, and the mere sight of red meat sent her running for the chamber pot. After experiencing a telltale flutter, she’d sent for a physician to confirm her suspicions. That had been two weeks prior and she’d been guarding the precious secret close since then.
“Truly,” she replied, tears of happiness blurring her vision.
The shock took a minute to leave Thomas’s face, but it was soon replaced with blinding joy—the same joy she’d seen on his face the day they’d located the arch in Hyde Park and recited their vows, the day they’d been married before their families, and after each of their children had been born.
Thomas’s hands glided up her body and gently brought her face down to meet his. Eyes closed, he leaned his forehead against hers before their lips met in a slow, lingering kiss that made her body hum despite its chasteness. When Nora leaned back, her husband’s eyes were suspiciously bright.