“I know! I know!” he said. “We have been gone far longer than we expected. But we had a wonderful time touring all of the grand stables in Ireland. At first we were delayed, waiting for the birth of a special foal.” He lit up. “Wait until you see him go,” he told his friends. “I’m going to train him up right. He’ll be a sensation on the track and then I’ll build my stud around him—”
“Kes!” Lady Tensford objected. “Less horse talk for now, please!”
He looked sheepish. “Yes, yes. In any case, we discovered Glory’s news just as we meant to leave. There was some difficulty, early on. It scared us right through and we were advised to stay until this little nugget had safely arrived.” He ran a hand over his daughter’s head.
“It was my fault,” Lady Keswick confessed. “I didn’t want to tell anyone, not while we still faced the danger. We didn’t know what might happen and it was easier on me, knowing that no one was worrying, over here.” She sent her sister a look of apology.
“I’m sure I’ll be vastly annoyed once I’ve had time to think on it.” Lady Tensford sat close to her sister with her husband on her other side and her own infant asleep in her lap. “Right now, though, I’m just so glad to see all of you . . .” She squeezed her sister’s hand. “I want to hear everything! Everything you never wrote.”
The talk continued, and eventually the group separated. The men stood in a corner, drinks in hand and smiles on their faces. The women clustered around the sisters and their children. Charlotte listened to the talk of babies with half an ear, but found her attention straying to her husband.
How relaxed and happy he looked. He caught her eye and gave her a smile of happiness and promise. And she felt something inside of her shift.
Chester was right. Gabriel had suffered. All of these men had. She thought of how pressed and desperate she’d felt when she arrived in London. They had all struggled to reach this point. There would be hardships ahead. Life remained a balance. But they all had each other now, and she counted herself among them.
They had struggled. They had survived.
Now, at last, it was time to thrive.
The coquettish look she tossed back at her husband was just the first step.
