Page 53 of Tempting Fate
It wouldn’t do to have Effie take information of a frightening-looking gentleman back to the Morleys.
Thankfully, Mrs. Pickering rushed forward and handed Effie some warm bread and provisions to take into the cold.
Gareth, still gripping the wriggling, squalling child beneath both armpits, offered her to the housekeeper, who simply chucked the infant under her chins. “Their teeth are still coming in, poor mites. We’ve two boiled bottles and a wee bit of goat’s milk for them to suckle.”
The thunderstruck look of desperation on Gareth’s face as the woman disappeared down the hall would be locked in Felicity’s vault of amusing memories henceforth and forever.
“Look here.” She tucked the baby against her chest, pulling the blanket into a makeshift swaddle and patting her little bum as she cradled and bounced her. “Just like this, watch her head, and don’t jostle her over much. She’ll calm down in a bit.”
With slow, painful movements, he mimicked her hold, but it didn’t seem to have the effect it should, as little Charlotte only became more upset.
He made a face. “I don’t think I—”
“No, you’re doing fine, just put your arm beneath her. Yes, like that. Let’s go through to the parlor.”
She turned away from him, needing a moment to compose herself after the sight of him with a drooling, chubby infant caused an explosion of butterfly wings in the vicinity of her womb.
She went to the settee and sat, rocking the quieting child in her arms as she cooed to it. “There you are, little one.” She caressed the girl’s tiny brow, ran her fingertip along the bridge of her nose. “You’re out of the cold now. You’re with Aunt Felicity, what fun we shall have.”
Instead of taking up his regular seat across the way, Gareth sank down beside her. Watching her carefully and imitating her every move.
“What’s it doing now?” The note of uncharacteristic distress in his voice had her fighting a smile.
“Just untangle the blanket so she can move,” Felicity gently corrected. “And it is aher,andhername is Charlotte.”
He laid the baby longways on his lap, supporting her head between his knees as he unwrapped her busy limbs. As small fists windmilled and little feet kicked out in grateful freedom, he glanced from baby to baby with stern consternation. “How can you tell them apart?”
“You might not know this, butIam a twin. That makes me extra qualified, I imagine.”
“You don’t say.”
She couldn’t be certain, but it seemed he very studiously avoided her gaze.
“I mentioned my sister Mercy. The one who is traveling.” The twinge of sadness took her by surprise. She missed Mercy every day, but this evening, their separation was like a physical ache.
What would Mercy think of Gareth Severand?
“You do not like that she’s with her husband?” he asked alertly.
She shook her head as Caroline’s little fist closed over her finger. “I don’t like that he took her from my side. But I told her to go. She’s so happy. She’s having all the adventures she yearned for since we were young. And I’m glad of it.”
“And her marriage? Her husband? Are you glad of that?”
She glanced over to see him holding his hands out as little pads for Charlotte’s strong kicks. The baby seemed delighted with this, and was instantly cheerful.
“I can’t say I know him well,” Felicity admitted, attracted in every way by the sight of him with a child in his lap. Soothed by his presence. By the fact that they sat so close. “I’ll be honest, I have my concerns. He was a— well, an infamously unscrupulous man most of his life. But I believed him when he said he loved her. I don’t think I’ve ever believed anything so much as that.”
In fact, she always wished a man would look at her like Raphael Sauvageau looked at Mercy.
Like she was his greatest treasure.
“And… does your sister return his love?” He seemed more interested in the answer than she suspected he would be. How nice, to have a man pay such good attention to a conversation not about himself.
“Oh yes, she’s nigh gone for him.”
“How do you know if you are not together?”
Felicity snorted. “Her letters are mostly swooning, elated stanzas of praise for him. And I’m glad of it.”
