“Let us not forget that I could not have done it alone,” he reminded everyone. “Elizabeth had been there from the beginning, at least during me first few attempts at infiltrating London society. She taught me to deal with people, even when all I wanted to do was to growl and fight. I wanted to demand answers. She and Seth constantly reminded me that intellect and patience should always be above fists.”
“Yet, you still managed to use fists in the end,” Elizabeth said softly.
“Ah, you are right, wife. Still, I tried to be diplomatic until that moment. I also kenned that I had to bait him so that the Bow Street Runners could see just how vicious he could be. How willing to kill. I kenned the truth had resurfaced, but I dinnae want to take chances.”
“I understand that now. I wish that I never left Redmoor when you needed support.”
It was like this with family and friends. There was no need to hide their feelings. People around that dining table were on their side.
“You did everything you could, Lizzie,” Marianne reassured her sister. “I am proud of how you fought for your love and future.”
Elizabeth smiled at Alasdair. “It does not feel like a battle anymore. I am content.”
“Indeed,” Seth agreed. He eyed the rest of the dishes before them. “Meanwhile, I must battle my urges. It looks like I may not fit into my shirts by tomorrow.”
Everyone laughed. Even Dominic surreptitiously checked his belly, much to his wife’s amusement.
“Since our dear sister will likely get married soon, it is probably best to send Daphne to a boarding school,” Victoria suggested.
Her twin sister giggled at that.
“What about you, then?” Alasdair asked the cheeky girl.
“Me? I will run away, of course. I don’t care what people think of me. I don’t know why you all are fussing so much.”
“She has a point,” Alasdair muttered. “Don’t just run away. Ye ken ye can tell me and yer sister.”
“She still has many years to change her mind,” Elizabeth said, laughing.
“It’s a good thing Lady Grisham isn’t here tonight,” Marianne remarked. “Or she would be taking due note of your comments, Little Lady Victoria!”
“She’s keeping her distance,” Elizabeth said. “But I know that she is very much aware of everything.”
“Mother always had eyes at the back of her head,” Victoria complained.
“Father’s too ill to travel and Lady Grisham is taking a little break. You have time to say just whatever you want, Vicky, but you won’t have forever,” Marianne reminded her little sister.
“Father wrote,” Daphne informed the rest of the group. “It’s true that he is a little bit ill and cannot travel for quite some time. I wonder if we’ll ever see him again.”
Silence fell.
Alasdair didn’t personally know what Lord Grisham was to his children, but he had heard terrible stories about the absent patriarch.
After everyone had duly become quiet out of respect for Lord Grisham, Alasdair cleared his throat. He reached for Elizabeth’shands, both of them, and held them up. Their guests looked at the gesture with interest.
“Aye, we invited everyone we love to this wee gatherin’ for two reasons. One, we’ve not had the chance to do it ‘til now. And two…” he stopped and watched his wife.
With all eyes on them, Elizabeth blushed a bright red.
“We are expecting,” she announced, her voice barely above a whisper.
The room, which had only begun to be more solemn, erupted into beautiful chaos: Marianne shrieked, rising from her seat to pull her sister into a hug, Dominic and Seth clapping Alasdair’s back, and Wilhelmina offering to choose their baby’s first books.
The twins started dancing around their brother Daniel who had raised his glass for a toast:
“To the next generation.”
Everyone else toasted.