Page 86 of The Duke's Impossible Deal
“I do know a little bit of swordplay, Georgie. Besides, Alistair does need to finish his homework.”
“It is not fair!” Georgie glowered. “Alistair tricked me. He said he was going to do his homework, and if I had known?—”
“I didn’t trick you; I am doing my homework,” Alistair cut her off. “Besides, I want to spend time with Father.”
His words hit Tobias like a punch to the gut, driving all the wind from his lungs. He gripped the desk to steady himself.
He called me Father.
“But you spent all of yesterday with him.” Georgie folded her arms over her chest. “It is my turn.”
Tobias knew that he should intervene, that he should correct Alistair, but his mouth would not obey him.
The twins continued squabbling, apparently unaware of the impact of their words.
“No, I didn’t.” Alistair shook his head.
“You did.” Georgie tugged on Tobias’s sleeve again. “I want to spend time with Father too, and I do not want to do boring maths.”
It was a second blow. Tobias’s stomach churned violently.Father.A part of him knew that he should stop the children from arguing, but how?
Do I correct them first? Do I stop the fight? What is the right thing to do?
He wished his mind were less clouded.
They called me Father.
Alistair stamped his foot. “I don’t care.”
“It’s my turn.” Georgie leapt off the desk and attempted to tug Tobias towards the door. “And I say we are going fencing.”
“No, it isn’t.” Alistair grabbed hold of her hand, clearly attempting to peel her fingers off Tobias. “I have to do my homework, and he agreed to help me first.”
“I think, darlings, that you might want to ask what Tobias wishes to do? There is more than enough of him to go around.” Rowen’s face was half in shadow, and Tobias thought he could hear amusement in her voice. “If you keep tugging on him like that, you might pull him apart.”
She moved towards them, and every muscle in Tobias’s body tensed.
Will she correct them? What kind of coward am I that I expect her to do it for me?
“I am not that fragile.” Tobias swallowed and looked down at the twins. “Though my shirt looks a little worse for wear.”
Georgie and Alistair hastily released his sleeve, their cheeks flushing scarlet. He thought he heard Rowen let out an amused laugh, but could not be sure.
“Sorry,” Georgie and Alistair chorused.
“I understand you are both excited, and I promise, we can all spend some time together.” Tobias tried to keep his voice light and even.
His heart thundered in his chest. The world around him seemed to be spinning. He glanced at Rowen, wondering if it was the moment to correct the children. Then, he looked at the hopeful expressions on Georgie and Alistair’s faces.
“But Alistair does not even need help. He knows how to do all of this! He is lying,” Georgie blurted.
“Is that true?” Tobias looked at Alistair.
The boy flushed and looked down at his feet. “I’m sorry. I thought maybe if I came to you with a problem to solve, then we could spend more time together. I’m not as chatty as Georgie, and I didn’t want you to get bored with me, so I thought if we were doing things together, that would be better.”
“You’re not boring, Alistair!” Georgie took her brother’s hand. “You’re just quiet.”
Tobias thought of all the times over the last few weeks that Alistair had appeared with a problem he needed help solving.
