Page 69 of Eight for Losing, One for Loving

Ava pouted. “Want to go up!” she said forcefully.

Bainbridge sighed and got to his knees. “If you go up there,” he said carefully. “You will fall down here, with a bump, and you will cry, and then Papa will cry because you are hurt.”

Ava considered this. She patted her father’s shoulder gently. “Don’t cry, Papa,” she said, and walked away from the shelves, no doubt to find some other way of turning her father’s hair grey.

Bainbridge got to his feet and went to rejoin Leo. The noise in the room was becoming quite deafening and Leo wondered at his son still sleeping peacefully in Aurelius’s arms. The boy’s twin sister, Marie-Ann, had come to sit beside him and reached over, stroking Charlie’s downy head.

“Nicely done,” Leo said with a smile.

Bainbridge snorted. “That one gives me nightmares. We’re a nursemaid short because of that little devil. I’m thinking of locking her up until she’s forty. I dread to think what kind of young woman she’ll be when— Ava! Ava, don’t do that!”

Leo jumped and Bea clung to him tighter as Bainbridge’s voice bellowed across the room.

“Excuse me,” Bainbridge said with a sigh and hurried off.

Bella came to stand next to him and leaned in to kiss her niece. Bea smiled at her auntie but did not let go of Leo’s neck.

“Fatherhood suits you,” his sister told him with approval. “I’ve never seen you look so well.”

Leo snorted. “I can’t think why, I’ve not slept in weeks! Vi refuses to let the nursemaids see to the babies at night.”

“I never could, either. Well, until we had the second set of twins,” Bella admitted. “I had to give in then or I’d never have survived. But you do look well, Leo. Yes, tired, I can see that, but you’re happy, settled.”

Leo nodded at his sister. “I am, Bella. I’m happier than any fellow has the right to be, I think. I’m a lucky dog.”

“You’ve every right to be happy, brother dear,” Bella said affectionately, leaning into him. “But you are a lucky dog. I hope you remember to say such things to your wife at regular intervals. We need to hear such things often, especially in the months after having a baby.”

“I know that,” Leo said in exasperation. “Honestly, Bella, you and Bainbridge think I’m a complete fool.”

Bella laughed at that, shaking her head. “We think nothing of the sort, but I became used to fretting over you when you were forever out doing reckless things, and it is a hard habit to break.”

Leo frowned, never having considered that his sister had been as worried for him as his mother and Vi had been. He looked down at Bea in his arms, at Evelyn cuddled with her mother, and at his baby son, sleeping peacefully. What if they grew up and indulged in mad curricle races and leaping off cliffs into the sea, and boxing matches? Whilst it was unlikely his daughters might do such rash things, his son might well hear of his father’s exploits and decide to follow suit. Leo felt the colour leave his face in a rush.

Bella chuckled, a soft sound, part amusement, part pity. He turned to see her watching him with interest. “I think the penny has finally dropped,” she said with a smile, patting his arm. “My work here is done.”

Leo let out a shaky breath as Vi got to her feet now Evelyn had woken up and gone to play with her cousins. “What’s wrong?” she asked him in concern.

“It’s just occurred to me how much worry I caused my parents and sister, and you,” he added, staring across at Charlie. “What if our son decides to be as stupidly reckless as I was?”

Vi shrugged, sliding her hand through his arm. “Then you will teach him the difference between skill and recklessness, and we shall love him and worry over him and guide him the best we can. If he is anything like his father, he will learn the lessons life has to give and be a wonderful man of whom we will both be very proud.”

Leo smiled ruefully and leaned over to kiss Vi.

“I think, for all my exploits and ridiculous adventures, you are the bravest of the two of us, for you loved me despite the pain I caused you.”

“Not pain, never that,” Vi said softly. “Only fear. And I was not brave enough, Leo, not until you reminded me of the girl I really was.”

“The girl I love,” he murmured, gazing at her and wondering if anyone would notice if he escaped with his wife for a couple of hours and left the children with his sister and Bainbridge and the army of nursemaids.

“Miaow!”

Leo looked down to see a large pair of yellow eyes glaring at him accusingly.

“Oh, Mau, darling. What happened to you?” Vi exclaimed, scooping the cat up into her arms and untying the dozens of colourful ribbons that had been tied about his middle.

“Ava,” Leo guessed with a sigh.

“Poor darling,” Vi crooned.