Placated, Aurora scooted over by her, looking over Emilie’s shoulder as she searched through the berries until she found the perfect one.
“This one will be splendid,” Emilie chimed, plucking the berry out and extending it to Aurora.
The young girl took the fruit from Emilie’s slender fingers, turning it back and forth as she inspected it.
Despite the fact that Aurora had warmed up to Emilie greatly, there were still moments like this one, where Aurora still seemed skeptical of whatever her new mother was providing.
Eventually, though, she seemed to deem the berry worthy, and she brought it to her lips, happily chomping down on it as peace was restored.
Emilie smiled at the twins, happy to be spending time with them.
Aside from Catherine, the children were the only people with whom Emilie had interacted much in the last few days. She was woefully behind on her plans to force an annulment, and she knew that she couldn’t put off interacting with Archer for much longer.
But she’d been enjoying her time with the twins. And, if she was being honest with herself, she wasn’t entirely sure if she trusted her control if she was to find herself face to face with Archer again.
Memories of the kiss floated into her mind, almost as if it were happening all over again. She sighed, trying her best to push the images out of her mind, but they would not go.
Is it such a bad thing? To enjoy kissin’ yer own husband?
Immediately, her mind clamped down on the thought. Thoughts like these had been plaguing her since the kiss three days ago. Thoughts that tried to rationalize what had happened while they mingled with her guilt and shame, that kept her darting away from Archer and avoiding him at all costs.
“Emilie,” Aurora’s voice broke through her spiraling thoughts, and Emilie blinked rapidly.
Both twins were staring up at her. Their mouths were stained with berry juice, and she couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Yes, darlings,” Emilie asked, quickly producing a handkerchief for them to wipe themselves off with.
“We were wonderin’ if ye could read us a story?” Louis asked, pointing to the book that rested on the far corner of the picnic blanket.
Emilie nodded, immediately plucking the book from where it lay and opening it up to the first page.
The twins shifted across the blanket, nestling into Emilie on either side of her as she slowly began to read.
Emilie allowed the story to take hold of her, focusing on the words and bringing them to life for the two children curled up on either side of her. Making sure that her thoughts were far away from her husband, and any potential nefarious things that they could be getting up to.
She cannae keep ignorin’ me like this.
Archer grumbled under his own breath, careful that the sound didn’t carry to Marcus, who was working alongside him in the training yard.
There had been a large storm the night before, one that had sent a bolt of lightning crashing into their sparring ring. And, it had caused a big portion of the brick-lined barrier to fall.
He and Marcus had been out here for half a morning cleaning up the debris and repairing the wall. But now, they were laying their final layer of brick, and Archer’s mind had begun to wander.
“Ye’ve been quiet today, Arch,” Marcus mused, grabbing Archer’s attention.
They hadn’t spoken about the conversation they’d had the other night when Marcus and Paisly came into Archer’s study. If they had talked about it, then Archer would have had to admit that Emilie was still ignoring him.
After the first day following their kiss, Archer had been ready to hash it out with her. He had been ready to explain that a kiss like the one they’d previously shared could not happen again.
But he had not seen her at all.
The only time he’d been even vaguely aware of her presence had been late at night, when she crept into their bedroom long after he’d fallen asleep.
By the time she had crawled in next to him, Archer had been so exhausted and delirious with slumber, he’d barely been able to roll over to make room for her. Let alone have a conversation.
I’ll need to find her soon. I daenae want to keep livin’ like this.
“Nae a lot for me to say,” Archer grumbled, laying another brick and then smoothing the mortar over.