Six years later

“On the count of five, you will both be down here, or I will come up there!” Nigel called up the stairs, smiling as he tapped his foot impatiently. “One…”

“Pa! We’re coming!” A cry from at the top of the stairs echoed through the house.

“Not quickly enough,” he laughed, staring up to the landing and seeing a little face peering through the banister down at him. “Two…”

“Pa!” a second voice wailed, prompting the face that had been looking down at Nigel to turn back and look at someone else across the landing. “Five more minutes!”

“Three…” Nigel continued, with his voice persistent.

“Pa!” Both voices cried at the same time. Nigel tried to stop himself from laughing but was struggling.

How can I not laugh when faced with their mischief?

“Four…”

“We’re coming.” The face that had been looking through the posts of the banister railing appeared now standing at the top of the stairs.

“Samuel,” Nigel offered a warning tone, despite his smirk. “Where are your shoes?”

The small boy looked down at his stocking-clad feet, then raised his gaze back to his father with a mischievous smile.

“I hid them somewhere.” He swayed from side to side.

“Five…” Nigel completed the count. “Right, that’s it. If you two will not come down, then I will have to come up and get you!” As Nigel pointed up the stairs, his son ran away.

“No, Pa!” The boy laughed and ran away across the landing. Nigel took two steps at a time in his haste to get up the staircase. He ran after the boy and grabbed him easily around the waist, holding him up in the air to the point that young Samuel squealed. Nigel tickled the boy under the arms, making the boy squeal even more. “Put me down!”

“Are you going to find your shoes?” Nigel protested, still holding him in the air as he walked off in search of the second child who had refused to come down the stairs.

“If you put me down,” the boy laughed.

“Hmm, I do not trust you.” He tickled the boy a second time, making him squeal again. “Where is your sister?”

“Hiding…”

“In the same place as your shoes?”

“Maybe…”

“Why couldn’t you two have taken after your mother instead of me, hmm?” He laughed as he raised the boy in his arms until he was sat on his hip. “I reckon it would have made for an easier life. Where is your sister?”

The boy put upon a look of innocence, but as Nigel walked the two of them into Samuel’s chamber, the boy’s eyes slid away, betraying her location. Nigel moved to the door of the wardrobe with a smirk and offered a gentle knock on the wood.

“Anabelle, do you want to come out voluntarily or not?”

No sound followed for a moment, but a few seconds later a low giggle emerged from behind the door.

“You two have more mischief than I ever had, I swear!” Nigel said to Samuel who laughed in response. He looked back to the wardrobe and opened the door. Below the hung-up clothes, Samuel’s twin sister was sat, holding her brother’s shoes in her lap. Where Samuel had Gloria’s green eyes and Nigel’s dark hair, Anabelle had the opposite, possessing Nigel’s startling blue eyes and Gloria’s golden hair. She looked up to him with the same appearance of innocence Samuel had worn. “Are you going to come out?” Nigel asked.

Anabelle shook her head, smiling widely.

“That’s it, then I’m coming in there after you.”

“No, Pa!” Anabelle tried to scramble away, but she was too slow. Nigel managed to lift her up with his other arm.

He carried the two of them out of the room, and back down the stairs, with the two of them complaining all the way. He struggled with them for a moment as he reached the bottom step. Samuel was trying to tickle him back in revenge and Anabelle was pulling on the lapel of his jacket with all her might.

“What is happening here?” The sound of Gloria’s voice made them all stop in their frenzy. Nigel lifted his eyes to see Gloria standing in the doorway to the music room from nearby. In her arms, she had their youngest child. Not yet one year old, baby Stephen had a toy in his mouth that he was chewing on profusely.

Gloria’s beautiful green eyes looked between Nigel and the twins.

“Samuel started it,” Anabelle claimed, pointing across Nigel’s chest.

“I did not!”

“They refused to come downstairs.” Nigel smiled at her. “What choice did I have, love?” She laughed at him.

“You have the same false look of innocence they wear.” She pointed at his face as she walked toward him. “It is like living with a pack of cubs instead of a family, you know.”

“Cubs?” he repeated with a smile. “I do not think a pack of wild cats could keep up with these two.” As if in proof to his point, Anabelle pulled on his cravat, making the material tumble loose. “Anabelle…” He warned and she smiled innocently.

“Right you two, time to behave, or you will not see your cousin, Henry,” Gloria warned them with her hand outstretched. “Anabelle give Samuel his shoes. I want you standing by the door and ready to go in thirty seconds. Yes?”

“Yes, Ma,” they said in unison. Nigel placed them on their feet, and they hurried to do her bidding as Nigel moved toward her.

He wrapped his arm around Gloria’s back and brought her into his side, so that baby Stephen was cradled between them. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead, enjoying the peace and intimacy of the moment before the twins could cause any more mischief.

“I love you,” he murmured to her.

“I love you, too.” She looked back up to him with a smile, one that always took his breath. His golden goddess had not only given him a family that he adored but a life that he loved too.

“Ready for the picnic?” she asked, clearly unaware of the depth of his thoughts at that moment.

“Of course.” He smiled. “How about we swap duties for a little while? I will take well-behaved Stephen and you look out for the twins?” he teased.

“No chance.” She smirked and walked out of the door with the twins following behind her. He followed, too, thinking he was exactly where he always wanted to be.

***

The family had gone to see Ariella, Daniel, and Henry for a picnic. With the sun high in the sky and a great variety of food on offer, the event was a pleasant meeting, with all the children playing games and eating together, in a park bordered with oak trees and a beautiful lake.

Gloria was quite certain she had not stopped smiling since she had woken up that morning. As she passed baby Stephen into Nigel’s arms, he winked at her, sharing a private moment with her amongst the rowdy picnic.

To think I had once been so offended by his propensity to wink!

“Gloria, come with me,” Ariella beckoned her to her feet. “Let us steal a few minutes of peace.”

“You are just leaving us with the hard work,” Nigel said, gesturing to the two of them as baby Stephen rested his head on Nigel’s chest, ready for sleep. “Don’t think we do not know what you are doing.”

“You are quite right, we are!” Gloria teased. “Keep a watchful eye on them.” She jumped to her feet and walked away with her sister.

“I take it you have not heard the news about Lord Crampton?” Ariella whispered to her as they sidled away from the picnic for a moment’s walk along the side of the lake.

“News? What news?” Gloria asked in curiosity, trying to push away the memory of Lord Crampton from the ball where he had assaulted her. Still, that memory could fill her with fear.

“It seems in a rather drunken stupor, after a night at a gaming hall, Lord Crampton picked a fight with another Duke. This one better connected than himself,” Ariella whispered with glee. “The result is that Lord Crampton has been charged and is to be sent away to the Americas.”

“It is true?” Gloria stopped their walk and looked to Ariella with sincerity and hope.

“It is true. The man will be gone within the fortnight, I have been told.”

Gloria was amazed at the relief that washed over her. She had barely seen Lord Crampton since the night he had attempted to force himself on her, but the memory of what had happened had not faded. Once she and Nigel had seen Lord Crampton at an assembly, where in a drunken state Lord Crampton had approached the two of them and made all sorts of horrid comments… the thought of it made her shiver. The result of Crampton’s words had been Nigel nearly striking Lord Crampton in front of the whole assembly, for all to see. Gloria managed to restrain him though, and they had left the assembly quickly.

We will never have to hide out of fear of seeing him again. He is out of our lives!

“Thank goodness for that.” Gloria smiled and looked back to their family having a picnic by the oak tree. “It seems everything has fallen into place.”

“Not quite everything,” Ariella said, with a smirk playing on her lips.

“You are thinking something,” Gloria observed, pointing to her sister’s smirk. “What has amused you?”

“I was just thinking how once upon a time the purpose of your life was to be a duchess!” Ariella said in a mocking tone, prompting Gloria to laugh. “I am pleased to see you abandoned that goal. Nigel makes a much better father than any Duke I have met would have done.”

“To be a duchess, why did I ever want such a thing in the first place?” Gloria laughed at herself.

“Was it fortune? Or status?” Ariella teased.

“You are cruel,” Gloria elbowed her. “Advancement, I suppose. Oh well, it was not my destiny, but it could be another’s. Perhaps my Anabelle will someday be a duchess instead?”

Ariella laughed, chuckling heartily at Gloria’s jest.

“She will have to grow up a little first.” Ariella pointed to the picnic. “Your children are raucous these days.” Ariella laughed and shook her head at the uproar the twins were causing. So much so, that Nigel and Daniel had to separate the two of them. “We should probably take pity and help our husbands.”

“They can cope for a few minutes more.” Gloria linked her arm with Ariella’s, enjoying their conversation too much to part from it so soon.

“They are sweet kids, though they are like Nigel in temperament. What is worse is that they are influencing Henry!” Ariella complained. “Henry has started pulling pranks! Our poor butler was very startled to find a frog week.”

“Oh dear, they like having playmates. That is all. They will have another playmate on the way soon…” Gloria let her meaning hang in the air. In response, Ariella’s eyes widened, and she looked down to Gloria’s stomach.

“Do you mean?”

“It seems likely, yes.” Gloria had never known so many smiles as she had worn over the last few years.

“Congratulations.” Ariella smirked. “You and Nigel do not seem capable of staying away from each other.”

Gloria laughed in response.

Since the night she had threatened to leave Nigel, their world had changed forever. What had been fear and cold distance before, mingled with passion, became devoted love, with somehow a much greater passion built in. The arrival of the twins and baby Stephen had only brought them even more happiness. Ariella was right, the two of them could not stay away from one another!

Gloria’s eyes danced across to Nigel who currently had baby Stephen in his arms as he leaned against the oak tree in the park. He was telling a grand tale to the twins and their cousin Henry, one of heroics, with plenty of mishaps built in that made them chuckle every few seconds.

My Nigel is an excellent father, indeed.

She rested a hand on her stomach, overjoyed to know that they would have another little cub to care for soon.

Me, the tiger, and all our cubs together!

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