Page 53 of Captured By the Cold Duke
“I’m so happy for you,” she whispered. “For you and Aidan. And myself, now that I think of it. I’m going to be an aunt!”
“And I know you will be the best aunt in the world,” Cassandra whispered, her eyes filling once more with tears. “I’m so glad we get to be a family like this, Cherie. And I know that whatever happens with the duke?—”
“Hush, let us not talk of the duke,” Cherie said, placing a finger over his friend’s lips. “This moment is about you and my brother. And I have never been so happy as I am for you right now. Our little circle of wallflowers is expanding!”
She looked around at her three friends, and the four of them wrapped their arms around one another in a many-armed hug.
“To think, when we made that pact to help each other get married, that there would soon be a baby on the way!” Cherie said, shaking her head. “We are so lucky.”
“Indeed, we are,” Cassandra said, squeezing her hand. “And no matter what happens—to all of us—we will always have each other.”
Later, after the rest of the wallflowers had left, Cherie found her brother downstairs in his study. The door was open, and she watched him for a few minutes as he wrote something in his ledger, unaware of her presence.
Then she knocked lightly on the door.
Aidan looked up and smiled when he saw her.
“Come in, come in,” he said, standing and coming around the desk. “How are you, Cherie?”
“I’m good,” she whispered, burying her head in his chest. “Cherie told me. Congratulations, Aidan. You’re going to be a father.”
She heard her brother’s laugh rumble against her chest. “So, my wife let the cat out of the bag, did she?”
Cherie laughed and released Aidan. “She let it slip out, really. I don't think she meant to tell us.”
“Oh, I’m sure she meant to tell you,” Aidan said with a chuckle. “She’s been dying to tell her friends ever since she found out.”
“Are you happy?” she asked, peering up at him.
“The happiest I have ever been in my life.” He paused, then laughed. “Although, as I told your husband, it is also the most terrified I’ve ever been.”
“You said that to Thomas?” Cherie asked, surprised and intrigued. “Why?”
“Well, because it is alarming! Being a parent is an awesome responsibility, and it’s not one I take lightly. But I also welcome that responsibility because I love the duchess so dearly and want to build a family with her.”
“That’s beautiful,” Cherie said quietly. She paused, wondering how much more she could ask him, and then inquired, “Was there anything else he said, or you said to him, that might account for why Thomas has become colder than usual the past day?”
“Has he?” Her brother frowned at her. “I’m surprised to hear that.”
“Are you? He has been cold ever since he inherited the duchy.”
“Yes, but I was under the impression that things had improved. And he seemed well enough when he called upon us yesterday. Although a bit distracted, perhaps.”
Cherie tried to keep herself from leaping to conclusions at this tidbit of information. “Things had improved, but they got worse again, and I think it might have something to do with his visit to you yesterday. I suspect that finding out about Cassandra’s condition might have triggered the change in him.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Well, he was very defensive about his father. And when I found him yesterday, he was in the library looking for his mother’s diaries. He seems to have a preoccupation with parenthood right now. And I’m wondering if that has something to do with why… Well, why he isn’t sure he wants to have children.”
Aidan raised his eyebrows. “He said he didn’t want children? Really? But what about heirs?”
Cherie waved a hand as if trying to downplay what she had said. “Of course he wants children, I just feel a certain reticence from him whenever I broach the subject.”
“I’m sure he just wants more time with you,” Aidan said bracingly.
“Perhaps.” Cherie didn’t like keeping the whole truth from her brother, but she also didn’t want to go into everything with him now, when he was so happy about the news of the baby. “I’d just like to figure out how to help make children an event he can look forward to.”
Aidan nodded slowly as if he understood this. “He did say this strange thing to me, about how he always believed children should have to be worthy of their parents. But I told him it’s the other way around: it’s on a father to prove his worth to his son.”
