Page 4 of The Twelve Days of Love

“Lord Mayfield!” Mrs. Stinch called out.

Her sister, Mrs. Baker looked up from where she was showing the children how to dust powdered sugar on a sweet. “Ah, my lord. So good to see you and the children.”

“I need to spend a little time with Mr. Stinch. Do you mind if the mob keeps you company?”

“Papa!” protested Lucy.

He ruffled her hair. “Lucy, you are in charge. Make certain the other three behave.”

“Why does she get to, Papa?” asked Edgar. “I want to be in charge. I am the boy.”

“Boys aren’t always in charge,” Luke told his son. “Besides, Lucy is the oldest. How about Lucy keeps the peace in the tearoom and you can watch over everyone once you adjourn to the bookshop?”

Satisfied with the compromise, Edgar nodded.

“Go along, my lord,” Mrs. Stinch urged. “We will be fine. Bessie and I will show them how to ice a cake.”

“Wait until I return before you show them how to eat a cake,” he teased.

“Papa, we know how to eat cake,” Cora pointed out.

He grinned. “That you do, little one.”

Luke left the kitchen and made his way to Stinch’s office, seeing the door to Mr. Walton’s office was closed. That was good because he didn’t want Caroline to know what he was up to.

Reaching Stinch’s office, he stepped inside and closed the door.

The manager opened a drawer and took out two books, handing them to Luke.

“The first is... similar... to what you have requested before,” Stinch said, his ears turning quite red.

Luke opened it, flipping through the pages, which were heavy on illustrations. He smiled. This was a companion book to one Rachel had stumbled upon a few years ago and shared with Caroline. They had called it their naughty book because it was filled with pictures of lovers demonstrating various positions. They had worked their way through the book before giving it back to Rachel, who had eagerly tried out portions of the book with Evan. Luke didn’t know if Rachel had passed the book along to anyone else in the family but he had always wanted to have a copy for him and Caroline to consult. Now, they finally did. Already, as he paged through it quickly, wonderful memories stirred. He also saw a few things they had practiced and subsequently forgotten.

It would be good to explore the book again together. At length.

He set the volume on the desk and opened the other, pausing on the title page.

“Mirth Without Mischief,” he said aloud. “Containing The Twelve Days of Christmas; The Play of the Gaping Wide-Mouthed-Wadling Frog; Love and Hatred; The Art of Talking with the Fingers; and Nimble Ned’s Alphabet and Figures.”

“Yes, my lord,” Stinch said eagerly, his color returning to normal. “It took a while to find it since this was the first and only edition.”

“I see here it was printed in London, circa 1780.”

Again, he flipped through the pages, seeing numerous woodcut illustrations. A few of the pages had slight tears and a bit of soiling but it seemed in decent condition. He closed it, noting the spine was well worn.

“Thank you for locating it, Stinch.”

Caroline had mentioned this book to Luke before, wishing she could locate a copy since she had one previously when she had lived in Boston with her Aunt Evie, whom she’d named the bookshop after. She had told him about The Twelve Days of Christmas, in particular, which was a chant about the many gifts a lover presented to his sweetheart.

Ever since she had talked about the book, Luke had been on the lookout for it. He had told Stinch and several other booksellers in London of his need to purchase a volume. That had been three years ago and this was the first time anyone had ever found a copy.

“Not a word to Lady Mayfield,” he warned. “I plan to give this to her on Christmas Day this year. I think I will even teach the chant she has mentioned to our children so that they might perform it for her. She said children in Boston used to memorize and say the rhyme during the holidays.”

“I will wrap it—and your other volume—up, my lord. You can retrieve it from my desk before you leave today.”

“Thank you for locating it, Stinch. It will mean a great deal to Lady Mayfield. I will be sure she knows you are the one who found it. Would you let the other area booksellers know that I have a copy of it now?”

“I will do so, my lord.”

Luke left the manager’s office, wanting not only to give Caroline the volume on Christmas Day, but also thinking he might need to find her a present for each of those twelve days of Christmas.

He would turn them into twelve days of love.

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