Page 68 of Eight for Losing, One for Loving

Epilogue

Three years later…

Dearest Aunt Matilda,

Thank you so much for the gifts you sent for our new arrival. I do hope you will come and visit us soon. The house is finally finished and whilst it has been a labour of love, we are more than content with the results. I do not believe Vi will ever “finish” the garden, which she has become enamoured of, but the results are quite spectacular, and it is a place I never tire of spending time in.

Bella and Bainbridge and their horde are coming to stay with us, arriving today and so Mau and I are spending the last blissful moments of peace in my study before all hell lets loose.

―Excerpt of a letter from Mr Leo Hunt (son of Alice and Nathaniel Hunt) to his aunt, The Most Hon’ble Matilda Barrington, The Marchioness of Montagu).

5th August 1853, Fairhaven House, Tadlow, Cambridgeshire.

“Well, he’s a handsome fellow,” Bainbridge said, gazing down at the tiny babe in his arms. “Takes after Vi, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Leo said wryly.

“May I hold the baby, Father?”

Bainbridge looked down at his son and heir, Aurelius, the Earl of Clivedon. He was eight years old now, with the same deep auburn hair as his father and a light scatter of freckles over his nose. Leo frowned, a little anxious to see his infant son passed into the boy’s hands. Bainbridge noticed and gave a soft laugh.

“Don’t fret, Papa. Aurelius here has had plenty of practice with babies.”

Leo snorted. Well, that was true enough. Bainbridge and Bella’s seventh child, Winnie, was only three months old. So, he watched as Bainbridge carefully handed Charles Nathaniel Hunt into Aurelius’s arms. He and Vi had named the child after both their fathers, but Charlie seemed to be the name he would answer to among the family.

“Oh, Leo, it’s such a beautiful house! I love everything you’ve both done to it, though I know Vi must have chosen most of the furnishings, for she has such exquisite taste.”

Leo and Bainbridge looked up as Bella came into the room with Vi, followed by a trail of children and nursemaids. Leo laughed softly at the sight. Only two of the eight were his and Vi’s: twin girls called Beatrice and Evelyn.

“I have excellent taste,” he replied indignantly.

“In gowns for your wife, I grant you. Furnishings, not so much,” Bella replied firmly.

Leo sighed and his eyes met Vi’s as she came into the room. His heart still lightened at the sight of her. He smiled, seeing the expression reflected at him as his wife carried little Bea into his waiting arms. His daughter looked ruffled and sleepy, having just woken from a nap. She wrapped her chubby arms around Leo’s neck and clung tightly, resting her head on his shoulder. Leo kissed the silken blonde curls atop her head and cuddled the child to him. Kissing his cheek, Vi went to take an equally bleary Evelyn from her nurse and sit down with her.

Bainbridge walked over to Leo, regarding him holding his daughter.

“It's terrifying, isn't it?”" Bainbridge mused, gently reaching out a large hand to stroke the girl's hair. “They’re so precious, so fragile and so very loved, and they look to us for everything, to keep them safe. Then they go out and fall down and out of trees and catch disgusting diseases and do everything they can to scare us half to death. Yet we’d not change it for the world.”

Leo smiled. Whilst he had always regarded Bainbridge as an amiable lunatic, there was no denying he’d been a surprisingly wonderful father and a devoted husband to Bella.

“That about sums it up,” Leo agreed.

Bainbridge nodded and then looked down as one of his daughters tugged at his hand. Rayne had red hair a shade lighter than her mother’s but looked set to be every bit as lovely.

“Papa,” she said urgently. “Ava!”

Apparently, this was enough to have Bainbridge on alert. “Where?”

Rayne pointed and Leo looked across the room to see five-year-old Ava climbing up the bookshelves. She’d attained quite a height already and Leo’s heart jolted with anxiety. Bainbridge said not a word, only moved. He was astonishingly quick for such a large man, but Leo suspected he’d had a good deal of practice. A moment later, he had crossed the room and plucked the child from the shelves. He set her down on the floor, bending down low until he could look her in the eyes.

“No!” he said succinctly, wagging a finger at her.

Ava put a finger in her mouth and sucked, looking back at the shelves wistfully. “Up there.” She took the finger from her mouth and pointed.

Bainbridge shook his head, scowling and attempting to look formidable. Strange, for he was formidable if you were an adult; small children, however, could wrap him about their fingers.

“No, Ava,” he repeated.