The gardens were loud this particular early spring afternoon. Not that the noise bothered Jin and Theresa. He was seated on the bench by the pond with her on his lap, and they were kissing as if they hadn’t seen each other in months.
“Hey, knock it off! There are kids here, ya know!” Luke shouted down at them from a nearby tree.
A strawberry blonde boy struggling to climb that same tree turned around to look at Jin and Theresa, and he fell to the ground. “Ew! Gross! Uncle Jin and Aunt Theresa are making out again!”
Jin waved him off. “How do you think you got here?”
Theresa giggled. “Speaking of which, where are our kids?”
A surprised shout from across the gardens echoed through the air.
“That’ll be them.” Jin grinned up at Theresa’s sparkling green eyes. “I told them to find their Uncle Clavis.”
“Oh, we’re in trouble.” She leaned in and kissed him again.
Elsewhere, Yves was tangled in a net suspended from a tree, glaring down at Clavis and the five freckle-faced, red-headed children giggling beneath him.
“We got you, Uncle Yves!”
“You never saw it coming!”
“Very good.” Clavis applauded the unruly bunch. “Next, we’ll move on to pit traps.”
“Clavis, I swear, when I get down—”
“Oh, Yves,” interrupted a soft, feminine voice.
He flushed, his deep blue eyes widening as he twisted around to see the black-haired, blue-eyed woman looking up at him, her hand covering her mouth to hide her smile. “Grace! Th-this isn’t what it looks like! I was just—this was—”
“Relax, Yves,” Clavis said, laughing. “She already married you. You don’t need to impress her anymore.”
“Clavis!”
His predicament had Yves too flustered and angry to say anything more. He twisted and squirmed in the net, and the branch above snapped, dropping him to the ground with a thud. The five children scattered in different directions, laughing and squealing.
One little girl ran straight into Leon’s leg and fell backwards.
“Hey now, what’s this?” He turned around and scooped her up. “You weren’t getting into trouble, were you?”
“We caught Uncle Yves in a net!”
“Like this?” He turned her upside-down, holding her by her ankles.
“No!”
He carried the giggling girl to her parents and dangled her above them. “You want this back?”
The pair glanced up at her. Jin shrugged. “Well, I guess she’s kind of cute.”
“Daddy!”
“She’s pretty dirty, though,” Theresa commented.
Leon’s smile widened. “Wanna go for a swim?”
“I can’t swim, Uncle Leon!”
He flipped her right-side-up and set her on his shoulder as he headed for the pond. “Then it’s time to learn.”
“Leon, don’t you dare take that child into that cold water,” scolded a green-eyed blonde sitting on a nearby blanket. She was bouncing a giggling baby on her knee.
Leon gave her a sheepish grin. “I wasn’t actually gonna do it…”
“Put me down!”
“Fine.” He sighed and squatted down, setting the little Theresa look-alike on the grass. She barreled over to the blanket, only to be caught again, this time by Arianna.
“Careful of the little ones.”
The girl took off in another direction.
Arianna watched her go with a tired smile and turned her attention back to the four babies crawling around on the blanket. “I wish I had that much energy.”
“Agreed,” the other blonde said. “This one still isn’t sleeping through the night. I would give anything for a nap.”
“Anything?” Leon came up behind her and kissed her cheek.
She smiled at him. “Almost anything.”
“If you want to go now, I can take over here.”
“Aunt Melissa!” The strawberry blonde boy raced over to the blanket, collapsing in a heap beside her. “Aunt Melissa, can you teach me how to climb a tree?”
She laughed. “I just had a baby. Why don’t you ask your father?”
“Luke!” Arianna called toward the tree. “Get down here and help your son!”
“My son? Isn’t he yours, too?”
“Dad!”
“Okay, okay, but you’d better catch me if I fall, Leon.” Melissa passed him the baby in her arms and stood. “I’m not dressed for this,” she grumbled, reaching down to grab the back hem of her skirt. She pulled it between her legs and tucked it into the front of her belt, forming strange pantaloons, and then she kicked her shoes off and headed for the tree. “Are you watching? I won’t do this twice.”
“I’m watching!”
“You just need to find a good handhold and foothold to get you started, and then…” She felt along the tree, and suddenly she was scurrying up the trunk like a squirrel, ending up perched on a branch below Luke. “Got it?”
Leon handed the baby off to Arianna and approached the tree. “Okay, you’d better get down now. I’m not sure the doctor would approve of this.” The pride in his amber eyes and his smile said he didn’t mind, though.
Then a stampede of silver- and brown-headed children tore across the grass between the blanket and the tree, drowning out any further conversation as Melissa dropped into Leon’s arms.
“Hey, don’t—”
The splash came before Lydia could finish. She shook her head and seated herself on the blanket, leaning in to pat two of the babies on their heads.
“I’m so glad these are girls.”
“Please tell me you’re not having any more kids,” Arianna said, giving Lydia a sympathetic look.
“Oh, absolutely not.”
“You said you liked twins,” Nokto said, standing over her with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the six boys splashing in the pond.
“Yeah, but I didn’t expect to have four sets of them!” She picked up one of her girls and cooed, “Don’t you worry. Mommy’s never letting Daddy touch her again.”
“Aw, Lydia…” Nokto squatted down and picked up his other daughter. “But they’re so cute.”
“Don’t let him sweet talk you,” Licht warned her as he walked up to them.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. I think I’ll get a chastity belt and wear it for the next twenty years or so.”
Nokto sighed and faked a pout. “If you want Nadia to be any fun, you’ll keep her away from this one,” he told Licht.
“I don’t think she’s gonna be any fun for a while,” Leon commented, laughing.
Lydia groaned. “More twins. Now, listen carefully,” she said to the baby in her arms. “If you want to live a long, happy life, you’ll stay far away from any man who is a twin. Okay?”
“Look! It’s Uncle Licht!” shouted one of the boys splashing around in the pond.
“Away from the babies!” Arianna shouted. “Now!”
Licht laughed and took several large steps away just before six soaking wet, laughing boys tackled him to the ground. He didn’t stand a chance. They tickled him without mercy as the others watched.
“Okay, I see your point,” Nokto said to Lydia.
Everybody seemed to be having fun—everybody except for the birthday girl. She stood away from the others, her arms crossed over her pale blue dress, her long blonde hair pulled back in a braid, her crystal blue eyes narrowed in frustration.
“Where are they?” she snapped, turning to look up at Julius.
“They’re coming.” He winced as the little black-haired, green-eyed girl in his arms tucked a rose into a gap in his armor.
“Ava, you’re forgetting about the thorns,” Evelyn scolded.
Ava’s eyes widened, and she pulled the rose out. “Sorry, Mister Julius.”
“It’s okay. Why don’t you go play with the others?”
She shook her head and wrapped her little arms around his neck. “They’re too loud.”
Evelyn turned her scowl back to the palace. “It’s my birthday. My tenth birthday. Why are they taking so long?”
Inside the palace, Ivetta smiled as she looked through her bedroom window at her grumpy daughter. “Chevalier, we’d better get out there. Evelyn is getting angry.”
He finished lacing up Ivetta's dress and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, then he kissed her neck. “You’re still tired.”
“Yes, well, that’s to be expected.” Ivetta sighed. “Olivia’s first night in her own room, and a thunderstorm brings Evelyn and Ava in here with us.”
“Come.” He took Ivetta’s hand and pulled her away from the window.
She watched him reach for the miniature sword on his desk and shook her head. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.”
“It’s what she wanted.”
“Still, it’s a sword. Just because she wants to be like you—”
He leaned in and kissed Ivetta on the cheek. “She’s responsible enough.”
“Responsibility has nothing to do with it.”
“We already had this discussion.”
“I know.” Ivetta sighed.
Chevalier looked as cold and imposing as ever as he walked out to the gardens, even with his petite, smiling wife on his arm. His aristocratic bearing, impassionate expression, and piercing blue eyes were enough to intimidate anybody, with or without the sword belted at his hip.
Anybody except his daughters.
“Daddy!” Ava’s green eyes lit up.
Julius set her down, and she raced across the lawn to greet Chevalier, but Evelyn shot her a cold glare that stopped her in her tracks. Then the blonde girl who barely reached her father’s waist turned her glare on him.
“You’re late.”
“Evelyn,” Ivetta said, her voice soft but carrying a warning.
“But it’s my birthday, and I’ve been waiting with all these children,” Evelyn complained, emphasizing the word ‘children’ as if she found the entire concept distasteful.
“Perhaps you’d prefer we do this another day,” Chevalier said, his voice cool. “When you haven’t kept your mother up late.”
Evelyn’s lips pursed into a pout, but she held her tongue.
“Can I see Daddy now?” Ava asked, chewing the tip of her index finger.
“Yes, you can see Daddy,” Ivetta told her.
Ava’s face lit up again. She ran past her big sister to be swept into Chevalier’s arms, and his icy façade cracked and shattered in an instant.
“How’s my little Ava?” he asked, kissing her on the cheek.
“Here.” She held out the rose to him with a shy smile.
“For me? But it would look so much better in your hair.”
“I’ll do it.” Ivetta took the rose and wrapped it into Ava’s braid with practiced hands.
Evelyn watched, her resolve wavering in her eyes, until the little girl inside finally won out. She ran toward Chevalier and tugged on his cloak. “Me, too, Daddy!”
He passed Ava off to Ivetta and scooped Evelyn up, kissing her on the cheek as her face broke into a big smile.
“Happy birthday, Princess.”
“Hey, looks like we’re just in time!”
They turned to see Rio and Belle coming down the cobblestone path, their own brood of blondes and brunettes in tow, and one very different child in Belle’s arms.
“Maria!” Evelyn shouted. “Daddy, put me down!”
He complied, and Ivetta set Ava down, too. Maria, a brunette about the same age as Evelyn, ran to meet the blonde girl with a big hug. Ava hung back, clutching at Chevalier’s cloak.
“It’s okay, Ava,” Ivetta reassured her daughter. “Don’t you remember Uncle Rio and Aunt Belle?”
“Uh huh.” Ava chewed at the tip of her index finger, her green eyes nervous.
“Look how much you’ve grown!” Rio squatted in front of her. “The last time I saw you, you were this high!”
She gave him a shy smile, but she didn’t look away from his warm blue eyes to the spot he marked in the air with his hand. “Really?”
“Really. I bet you’re taller than my Lizzie now. Why don’t we see?”
He offered her his hand, and she looked up at Chevalier.
“Go on,” her father encouraged her.
She looked back at Rio and nodded. He led her over to his kids while Belle crushed Ivetta, and the child in her arms, in a bear hug.
“Oh, I missed you!”
“I missed you, too. Is that you, Dante?” Ivetta asked the shy little boy with milk chocolate skin, thick black curls, and bright blue eyes. “You’ve gotten so big!”
“You’re telling me.” Belle shifted him in her arms. “Why don’t you go play with your cousins?”
Unlike Ava, he didn’t need more persuasion than that. He was in motion as soon as his feet hit the ground.
“I still can’t get over the fact that Silvio had to go overseas to find the right woman,” Ivetta said, giggling.
Belle giggled, too. “Aisha’s due any day now, so I volunteered to bring Dante and give them a break. What have I missed?”
“Is that my present?” Evelyn interrupted, looking with wide eyes at the miniature sword in Chevalier’s hand.
Belle looked at it, too, and her brown eyes widened. “You’re kidding.”
“It’s from your father,” Ivetta said, shooting a glance at Belle.
He squatted in front of Evelyn and belted it around her waist. “This was my first sword. I don’t want you to even unsheathe it unless I’m with you. Do you understand?”
She nodded, her blue eyes eager. “Yes. When are you going to teach me how to use it?”
“Tomorrow.”
She clapped her hands together and hugged him around the neck. “I’ll beat that Edward von Obsidian the next time he comes to visit.”
Ivetta pursed her lips and motioned to Belle to follow her a short distance away.
“A sword? Really?” Belle asked.
“She’ll be the queen of Rhodolite, and that means she needs to learn to use a sword, just like her daddy,” Ivetta replied, mimicking her daughter’s words. “Edward got a sword for his eighth birthday, and since she’s two years older than him, she should get a sword, too.”
Belle giggled, looking over Ivetta’s shoulder at Evelyn, who was prancing around the gardens and showing off the sword belted to her side to her cousins. “She and Edward really get along well, don’t they?”
“They’re always together whenever they get to see each other, and they write back and forth, too. They're either best friends or bitter rivals, nothing in between. Have you seen Gilbert and Elise together? They’re getting along well, too.”
Belle smiled. “Not all arranged marriages have to be loveless. They definitely seem to be getting closer all the time. And what about Keith and Janet?”
“That’s an interesting pairing. Did you know she was one of Nokto’s lovers?”
Belle snorted. “What Rhodolitian noblewoman between the ages of thirty and fifty wasn't?”
“True. I guess I just would never have thought they’d work out. He’s so shy, and she’s so… not.” Ivetta was unsure how to describe the bold, sensuous woman who’d zoned in on Keith at a previous goodwill gala.
“Well, opposites attract. So, how are you doing? The last time I saw you, you and Olivia were at death’s door.”
“That was six months ago. Olivia had a rough start, but she caught up quickly to where she was supposed to be. She’s on the blanket over there with Lydia, Arianna, and Melissa.”
“Ah, yes. I’m surprised Sarah isn’t there. Unless…”
Ivetta nodded, sadness filling her green eyes. “She miscarried again. Chevalier gave Sariel some time off.”
Belle sighed. “I was afraid of that. I know they really want to have children, but don’t you think it’s about time they started looking into adoption?”
“Yes, but it’s not my decision to make.”
There was an awkward silence between the two women until Chevalier rejoined them. He took in their long faces and slipped a comforting arm around Ivetta’s waist. “Have you told her the good news?”
“Oh, you’re right. Licht’s wife, Nadia, just gave birth a few days ago—to twins.”
“Oh, my!” Belle covered her smile with her hand.
“I know. It’s already impossible to keep track of Nokto’s. And there are a few new babies around since the last time you were here. Leon and Melissa had their first, Luke and Arianna had their second, and poor Lydia had her fourth set of twins. Yves just married Grace, the noblewoman from Obsidian—her husband died, and Yves didn’t waste any time proposing to her. She’s around here somewhere. But the big surprise is Clavis.”
“Oh, no. Don’t tell me he and Regina are engaged.”
“Not quite. They’ve been on again, off again for a while, and she’s been his partner in crime quite a lot recently, but she pulled the ultimate prank on him when she ended up pregnant.”
Belle’s eyes widened. She rolled her lips inward, trying not to laugh. “You’re kidding.”
“Afraid not. They eloped, but I haven’t seen her around today, which worries me. She’s probably helping him set up something big.”
“Sorry to interrupt, but somebody’s getting fussy,” Leon said, walking up to the little group with a squirming baby in his arms.
“I’ll take her,” Chevalier volunteered.
“No, it’s fine,” Ivetta said, taking the baby first. “You just make sure your daughter doesn’t accidentally stab somebody.”
He chuckled and gave Ivetta a quick peck on the cheek. “I’ll teach her to dance, too.”
“Without the sword,” Ivetta called after him as he walked away. “He’s such a pushover with his girls.”
“Well, since that includes you, I don’t think you have too much room to complain,” Belle replied. She leaned over to look at the baby. “So, this is Olivia? I think you have another Chevalier here.”
Ivetta shook her head. “His hair, but my eyes. You can’t see them now because she’s overdue for a nap.”
“Mommy,” Ava said, tugging on Ivetta’s skirt.
“What is it, Ava?”
“The cake is here!” Leon bellowed, his voice echoing around the gardens.
All scattered children converged on a single point while the adults looked on and called the occasional name in warning. Almost all scattered children, anyway. Ava was chewing on the tip of her index finger again, peeking around Ivetta’s skirt to watch the crowd with a worried expression.
“Oh, Ava.” Ivetta squatted down to look her nervous little girl in the eye. “Don’t worry. You’ll get some cake, too.”
“Here, Ava,” Evelyn called, carrying two plates with her. Ava’s face broke into a big smile, and she ran to her older sister to get her plate.
“Is that really what you were like as a child?” Belle asked.
“That’s exactly what I was like as a child. You’d better get some cake before it’s all gone.”
Chevalier came to Ivetta’s side again as Belle left. He brushed the long black hair back from her face and gave her a soft kiss. “Would you like to go to Benitoite for your birthday?”
“Couldn’t we go sooner? Without the children?” she pleaded, smiling up at him.
“Nokto was already planning a trip to Benitoite. He has agreed to stay here so we can go. It should be easy enough to move it up.”
Ivetta shook her head. “Oh, I couldn’t do that to Lydia! The poor woman has eight kids. I only have three.”
Chevalier smirked. “She wasn’t going anyway.”
“He was going to leave her alone with that bunch? In that case, let’s go, and please make sure to leave him lots of extra work.”
“Consider it done.” Chevalier wrapped his arms around Ivetta’s waist and pulled her close.
“Careful,” she warned him, looking down at Olivia’s sleeping face between them.
“I know.” He leaned over the baby to kiss his wife again. “You need a break.”
Ivetta sighed. “I just need to sleep undisturbed through the night.”
“Every night?”
She blushed. “Well, maybe not every night.” She looked down at Olivia again, and a sad smile touched her lips. “It’s too bad she’s our last one.”
“The doctor nearly had to operate. You and Olivia were under twenty-four-hour care for a week.”
“Yes, but it was worth it.”
Ivetta looked up at Chevalier, her green eyes shining as they met his. There were a few fine lines on his face that hadn’t been there ten years ago, but his crystal blue eyes were as clear and his embrace as secure as they had always been.
“It’s all been worth it,” she repeated.
“I agree.” He kissed her and pressed his forehead to hers. “I love you, Ivetta.”
“I love you, Chevalier.”
The gardens were loud that afternoon, filled with numerous children and tired adults, but in one little corner, there was just enough peace and quiet for Chevalier and Ivetta to enjoy a few uninterrupted moments together.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfS2YzhW8lp
