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With a wide smile on his face, Des moved into the drawing room, his arms wide. He captured Elle first, his arms wrapping her in a rib-cracking hug as she kissed his cheek. “Apologies—I was down at the stables. You two arrived early.” He set her free and moved to Rune, clamping his hand along Rune’s shoulder.
Rune nodded. “We did—good roads for a change.”
“Come, sit.” Jules motioned to the two dark blue damasked settees that faced each other. “You two must be exhausted after the journey.”
Elle followed Rune as he moved to the settee, her hand unconsciously lifting to settle into the middle of his back. She would never tire of touching him, of reassuring herself that her life wasn’t just a dream.
She sat as Jules did the same across from her, and Rune settled in beside her, stretching his arm to rest along her shoulders as he tucked her into his side.
“It was actually a pleasant journey back to England. This one can fall asleep anywhere.” Rune pointed down, tapping her collarbone with his right forefinger. “In a hammock, on the ground, on my lap. The bigger bed we had put into theFirefoxwas the most luxury we’ve had in a long time.”
Her hand went onto Rune’s knee. “Except for the room we stayed in at New York—Weston’s family does not do things in an understated way and the house they’re living in on the family complex is a marvel.”
“You stopped in New York?” Jules asked.
“We did. We had gone up the coast to the Carolinas, so it made sense to travel to New York before sailing east. Weston and Laney send their love, of course.”
“How are they getting on?” Des handed Rune a glass of brandy he’d just poured and then sat down next to his wife, pulling his right leg up to rest atop his knee. “Laney writes often and has described all of Wes’s many cousins—it sounds like bedlam.”
Elle chuckled. “It does have that sense about it—we met many of the cousins and there are a few…ah…interesting characters. But they both adore living there amongst all the family. Laney beams when she talks about all of them. And she was quite plump with babe when we visited—they’re both excited to add to their brood. It is quite clear they’ve found their true home.”
“Drat. Well, that doesn’t bode well for visits from them.” Jules frowned, her hand flipping up into the air. “Letters will just have to suffice.”
Little bare feet pitter-pattered along the hallway, getting closer. They definitely took after their father in that regard. In the next moment, the whirlwind of Tarrence and Susannah came bursting into the room and they both shot onto their parents’ laps, landing in a mess of tangled arms and legs.
Tarrence squirmed like a little fish on its side, flipping himself toward Elle and looking at her with huge hazel eyes. Streaks of chocolate lined the edges of his lips. “Auntie Elle, Papa says you are mighty explorers. Are you? I thought you would be bigger and stronger.”
Elle chuckled, leaning forward so she was eye level with him. “I don’t know about mighty, but we are explorers.”
His eyes went even rounder. “What do you find?”
Elle glanced over her shoulder at Rune, then looked to Tarrence while she pointed over her shoulder at her husband. “You should ask your Uncle Rune what we find.”
Tarrence squirmed some more, yanking his legs free from under his sister and off of Des’s lap, then sat upright half on, half off of his mother’s lap. He looked to Rune. “What do you find, sir?”
Rune straightened, placing his drink on the side table. He scooted to the edge of the settee and leaned forward, setting his forearms on his thighs. “We find many things. Pretty jewels. Cracked bowls. Bones. Writings from long, long ago. But on our last adventure we found something very interesting and we brought you and your sister back something very special.”
His eyes aglow, the biggest smile cracked across Tarrence’s face and he started to hop up and down, bouncing on the edge of the settee. “Truly?”
Seeing her brother perk up, Susannah popped her head up from where she had buried it against Des’s chest, and she turned to Rune, suddenly interested in what he was saying. Even at one, she looked exactly like her mother.
Rune chuckled. “Oh, yes.” He reached into his pocket and pulled free two little red silk bags with a ribbon holding the top closed. He stood slightly to hand one to Tarrence and one to Susannah.
Tarrence ripped the ribbon of his open. Susannah tried with little success and finally lifted it up to Des. Des yanked the ribbon free for her.
Both of the children sent chubby fingers into the bags, pulling free ancient gold coins.
Tarrence held his up and the sunlight streaming in from the window hit the gold, making it sparkle. He jumped to his feet, humming and dancing about the room with it, in and out of the rays of sun.
Jules laughed, giving Elle a scolding look. “A bit much for one- and three-year-olds, no? What are they?”
Elle ignored her niece’s look. “Gold coins we excavated from a site in the Yucatán. Mayan, and you can see the thin lines of the sun god etched on them.”
Susannah instantly put the edge of her coin into her mouth. Jules reached over to pull it free, but let her continue to play with it.
“Yes, probably best not to eat them, they are quite old,” Elle said. “And maybe best not to let them lose them, as they may come in handy for them one day. The rest are at the British Museum.”
“The British museum?” Des’s eyebrows lifted. “They didn’t want these two? They do like their collections complete.”
