Because yes, Louis had now set down his fork, and he was staring at him. Both of the twins were staring at Archer, leveling their accusatory gazes at their father.
But the thing was, they werelookingat him. Not shying away, not dipping their gazes. But actually looking.
And Archer wasn’t shying away from it either. He was allowing them to look, allowing them to be angry at him, and to speak to him, and to not worry only about their studies and nothing else.
They felt like a family, for the very first time. And Archer had a feeling in the very pit of his stomach that Emilie was mostly the reason for it.
“Why did ye do it, Faither?” Louis asked, his voice soft and hesitant, but accusatory all the same. “Why did ye tell her to leave? Why could ye nae just let her be our maither?”
Archer was silent for a moment, his gaze darting back and forth between his children.
“Ye want her back?” he asked finally, the question answered immediately with enthusiastic nods.
He sat back a little in his chair, a thousand thoughts whirling through his mind. But there was only one solution that he could see. Only one thing that he could do to make all of their pain go away.
“All right then,” Archer agreed. “I’ll go to the abbey in the mornin’, I’ll get Emilie, and I will bring her home to us.”
The twins’ eyes went wide, clearly in disbelief for a few moments.
“Ye mean it?” Louis asked with a wide grin slowly spreading across his face.
“Aye,” Archer answered honestly. “Ye want her to be yer maither? Well, I do, too. I’ll go and I’ll get her.”
The twins jumped up, cheers filling the dining room as they began to celebrate.
“We should make her a welcome home present,” Aurora cheered, immediately reaching forward and grabbing Louis’ arm.
Louis quickly agreed, the pair of them not sparing Archer a second glance before they turned and sprinted out of the room, their cheering slowly fading into the background.
Amusement flickered through him, happy that the twins finally seemed happy. He would need to tell Marcus, although he was certain that his man-at-arms would never let him hear the end of it.
It would be relatively easy for him to get to the abbey, and relatively easy for her to be moved back into the castle. She had taken hardly anything with her, after all.
What he didn’t know, however, and what was arguably the most important thing, was that if he showed up at that abbey tomorrow and asked her to return with him, Archer had no idea if she actually would.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
“Do ye have everythin’ ye need?” Laura asked, standing in front of the abbey as the morning sun shone down on them.
The rest of the girls, as well as a couple of the nuns, were standing around them as well, staring at Emilie with soft, encouraging smiles.
As soon as Emilie had woken up that morning, she’d told everyone of her plans to return. Since she had been so clearly unhappy the past few days at the abbey, everyone had been more than excited to assist her in her efforts to return.
The nuns had even supplied her with a horse, which was currently waiting, laden with snacks and going-away gifts in its saddlebags.
“I have everythin’ and more,” Emilie said, giving everyone around her a soft, gentle smile. “Thank ye all for helpin’ me this mornin’. And, if I’m nae successful, ye’ll be seein’ me soon.”
Whinnying sounded behind her, and, at first, Emilie figured it was only the horse that she’d been given by the nuns. But then she realized it was too far away.
She glanced at Laura, who Emilie only now noticed was staring far beyond her shoulder, eyes dancing with mirth as they focused on something in the distance.
Whirling, Emilie spotted a carriage riding up the dirt road that led to the abbey. As it drew closer, she realized that the carriage was familiar, and Emilie’s heart began to pound.
“What is this?” she whispered to herself, stepping forward without thinking about it.
She waited with bated breath as the carriage approached, finally rolling to a stop. The door opened immediately, and Emilie sucked in a gasp as Archer stepped out.
His gray eyes lit with confusion at the scene in front of him, sweeping over the horse and all the women unexpectedly standing around him. But then, those alluring gray eyes landed on her, and all the confusion began to fade.