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“It is not I,” Ben said, gentle as the breeze that brushed their skin. “Despite my nickname, it is no mistake I was called Garben. When the time comes, I will be your Gamma.”
“Well, who, then?” Arthur kicked at the bed of the stream and stubbed his toe on a larger-than-expected stone. “That fox? Not bloody likely.”
Ben pulled himself up onto the bank and backtracked to gather up as much fish as he could carry. “I suggest,” he muttered, “looking directly beneath your nose.”
Thirteen
Beatrice watched the children clatter and scamper down the stairs. “Tomorrow we shall learn how to descend with decorum.”
“Bernie was not wrong. I know little of proper manners.” Charlotte resumed her good-natured acceptance of her shortcomings. “I had no come-out nor a reason to prepare for one, and many of the finer points of civilized behavior are beyond me.”
“Charlie.” Beatrice stopped her mid-step. “Those children are loved and wanted and encouraged to be themselves with no thought but for what games they will play and how better to battle their mother in their bid never to consume a vegetable. They are free in ways that cannot be taken for granted.” Tarben threw himself over the banister.
“No!” Charlotte bellowed with an authority that would not be denied. Her son slid his leg back down and slipped back onto the stairs as if that had been his intention all along.
The moment lasted a little over a heartbeat, and yet it was a revelation. “Does it come naturally, being a…a mother?”
Charlotte slipped her arm through Beatrice’s. “It is not without its hesitations and fears, but you will be wonderful. You have clear authority and a warm heart.”
“It remains to be seen if I am indeed able.” She took a deep breath and dared a question. “Does the seed take at once, or does it require repeated attempts?”
“What did your husband say?”
Her husband. “That like many things in life it may require diligence and application.”
“Oh, diligence.” Charlotte giggled. “Andapplication. Yes, indeed.”
They watched as Ursella wandered into the footstool room. “What Ursella said, about Castleton…”
“Not being your mate? Yes, she would know.”
“I do not understand how she might.”
“Omegas are precious amongst us,” Charlotte said. “You are aware ofversipellianhierarchy?”
“I have heard the terms Beta and Gamma.” Bernadette and Tarben raced each other after their sister, and shouting commenced. Beatrice judged it harmless, as did Charlotte.
“The Omega was, in history, considered the least among us,” Charlotte explained. “They were perceived to be weak due to their quiet and self-effacing ways, which are contrary toversipelliannature. Yet the first clan that allowed its Omega’s gifts to develop prospered in ways unknown before. They have recourse to profound wisdom and an ability to calm and manage the emotions of a group without removing free will. They allow the clan to respond rather than react out of feral instinct and fear.”
“And to know what cannot be known?”
“To know what is rather than what is thought to be.” They paused in the foyer and watched the children wrestle one another off the footstool; even Ursella gave as good as she got.
A great clamor sounded from the back of the house and drew their attention as the women reached the foyer. “Come,” Beatrice said. “Let us see what the commotion is.”
***
If it was not one thing, it was another. Furious, Arthur turned in the hall to be greeted by two of the hardier footmen, the cubs and their mother, the duchess in the lead. Ben, arms full of trout, headed for the larder, Mrs. Porter on his tail.
“Madam.” The children rushed to stand before him and treated their uncle to a sardonic flurry of curtsying and one exceedingly condescending bow.
“Well done, children,” their instructor commended, her eyes smiling. “Yes, Osborn? Is aught amiss?”
He brandished the sticks he held. “I’ll have you know the kitchen garden is in rag order.”
“Is it?” Her skirts swirled as she turned for the kitchens, while the rest fell into place behind her like a brace of ducklings. “It ought not to be so, as Mr. Todd informed us this morning.”
She collected Glynis and Ciara in her wake as well as Brosnyn and three more Lowell footmen.
