“Why are you here?” he asked, and then looked at Paul and Hector. “And when did they arrive, for I have not sent for them yet.”
“I sent for them after you spoke to Lord Gryffin,” said Giles. “I was afraid one of you might do something to ruin this and thought I might need help.”
“Your confidence in your father’s skill at hooking a bride deeply touches me,” Orion drawled and was a little surprised when even Alwyn grinned at his sarcastic words.
“Well? I am thinking you did it right.”
“Ah, of course. I have had some practice.” Orion winced when he got a good pinch under the covers for saying something so risqué in front of the boys, although Hector and Giles hooted with laughter.
“I think we should make them tell us what is so funny,” Paul said to Alwyn.
“No, we still will not really understand,” said Alwyn. “Things are funnier when you understand. Papa agrees.”
“Oh, is Aeddon back then?” Catryn asked as she sat up and tried to tidy her mussed hair.
“He went away?” asked Orion.
“He needed to rest,” answered Alwyn. “It made him very weak to be inside you like that.”
“Alwyn, why is he still here anyway?” Catryn asked. “He was here to keep you safe, but Morris is now gone. I doubt the man will come within miles of us.”
“Papa says he has nothing better to do and wants to watch me for a little while more.”
“Does he not trust his own kinsman to do so?”
“Yes, but he wants to help.”
“As he wishes, but I hope he has no more plans to leap into Orion. It made him quite ill.”
“He is not answering that.”
“Which is an answer in itself,” muttered Orion. “Well, it is a little early for Hector and Paul to be here, and I’m not certain the rooms are readied, but we can manage. Cody and Pugh Three will be back soon. I will let them know we need the beds made and all.”
“Pugh Three?” Catryn asked.
“My butler. He is the grandson of my grandfather’s butler. Same first name. Since at one time they were all in the same house, he became Pugh Three—or just Three.”
“Do you know, I begin to think your various gifts might not be all that is odd about your family,” she murmured, and laughed when he gave her a light punitive tug on her hair.
“So when do you get married?” asked Giles. “I will need some fine new clothes.”
Deciding to ignore the hint for new clothes, something Giles had more than enough of already, Orion replied, “As soon as we can arrange it.” He looked at Catryn. “Unless you wish something very fancy. Then we could wait.”
His tone told her that he would not like waiting at all. “No, soon is fine with me. I am a widow after all. I believe another large wedding might be considered a little improper.”
“Good.” Giles nodded as did the other three boys. “You should get married as quick as possible so we can all be a family, all legal and the like.”
Paul walked around the bed to stand next to Catryn and handed her a small missive. “This is from Pen. She says it will help you in the mornings. She will be happy you are getting married soon as she said you did not have much time to wait.”
“Why do I not have much time to wait?” She opened the missive and discovered advice on how to settle a stomach upset by a child growing in one’s womb.
Before she could fold it up and put it away, Orion snatched it out of her hand. She grimaced as his eyes widened and then he stared at her. It was hard to tell if he was just surprised or if he was horrified. The man probably had a right to some sense of impending doom since there were already four children to care for and they had not even discussed children of their own.
“You are carrying my child?” he asked.
“It appears so, although I am curious as to how Penelope knew, since I did not think her gift was the sight.”
“It is not,” said Paul, “but Aunt Olympia heard from Lady Alethea, who does have the sight. She knew my father was to marry and that he would have five children within the year.” He looked at the other boys. “Well, here are four.”
“You are carrying my child?”
Catryn looked at Orion again. “Yes.”
“Why did I not see it? Why did you not tell me? We could have been married weeks ago.”
“I actually did not realize it myself until I had to stay in bed for an extra hour the other day because getting up would have meant vomiting into a bucket for a while.” She squeaked when he hugged her. “I suspect you did not see it because you have not seen me for three weeks.”
“When were you going to tell me?”
“As I said, I only just found out for myself. I was thinking of giving you another week. It was either that or slipping off to some obscure village on the Continent where I would form an improper attachment, marry, and then have the ill luck to be tragically widowed a month or so after the child was born.” She smiled when he laughed. “I know. No one really believes those tales but very, very few have the ill manners to question them.”
The boys climbed on the bed, after obeying Orion’s hasty instructions to remove their shoes, and Paul asked, “Do you want to know what the baby will be?”
“I assume it will be a boy. If I were a betting person, that is the bet I would make.”
“Do you want to know?”
“Paul”—Orion looked at the boy—“do you know what we will have?”
“Yes, because Ezra told me. I do not usually see good things, but Ezra sees them sometimes. He told me but said that Lady Catryn might not wish to know.”
Catryn thought about it for a moment. She had already had one child whose sex was much discussed, constantly guessed at and worried over, and she did not really want to go through that again. Fortunately, she knew Orion would not care. Yet, if she knew, she could be so much better prepared, could even have the pleasure of knowing just what she was preparing for, girl or boy. She looked over to find Orion staring at her. “Do you want to know?”
“I will go with what you want, as it does not trouble me one way or the other.”
“Then, yes, Paul, I would like to know what Ezra had to say.”
“You are going to have a girl, and Ezra says she will have a very fine gift, but he was not exactly sure what it was as the image was not clear to him. Do you want a girl?”
“Yes, I want a girl. I have four boys. A girl would be nice.”
The boys all cheered and scrambled off the bed to re-don their shoes. Hector was the first to do so and he watched the others, acting very much the oldest, even though he was only a year or so older than Giles. Then, when everyone had their shoes on, he started out of the room, pausing in the doorway to look back at his father.
“Aunt Olympia says to expect her soon.”
“Why?” asked Orion.
“Because she says you are to expect her soon.”
“Thank you, Hector.”
“I think I can hear Three and Cody, so I will tell them we need the beds made,” he said. “Can we decide how we wish to split up, since we are to be two to a room?”
“I think that would be a very good idea,” said Orion.
Hector nodded, walked out, and shut the door, the others following him. Catryn frowned as she heard Hector say, “And we are going to have to get busy learning how to fight like men.”
“Why?” Giles asked. “I can fight good now.”
“Because we are going to have a sister, and we need to watch over her like the ones at Radmoor are watching over Juno.”
Their voices faded away and Catryn looked at Orion. “Oh dear.”
He laughed and pulled her into his arms. “I noticed that same attitude amongst the boys at Radmoor.”
“Well, I hope your daughter is a strong girl. This Aunt Olympia, she just tells you she will come for a visit?”
“Yes. She is not even thirty yet and has somehow managed to set herself up as a sort of matriarch of the family. You would be surprised how many tremble in fear when she says she is coming to visit.”
“I see. Well, I will not tremble, but I will do my best to be cordial.”
“Ah, you will like her, love. She is a very strong woman, has had to be, but none has a bigger heart. She cares for all of us, even if we sometimes wish she would not.”
“But I do not want to sleep in the same room as Paul. He farts. A lot!”
Catryn recognized her son’s voice and gasped. “I should go and sort that out.”
Orion grabbed her and pulled her into his arms just as Paul bellowed, “Well, sleeping with you is no rose garden, either.”
Orion laughed even as he kissed her, a kiss interrupted when there was a very brief knock on the door before it was flung open and Alwyn said, “Mama, since you are having a girl, Papa was thinking you might name her Catherine.”
“Why would he want me to do that?” Catryn asked.
“Because he says he has some very fond memories of her. He says she was the first woman he ever . . .” Alwyn’s last words were muffled by Giles’s hand.
Giles smiled at them even as he dragged Alwyn out of the doorway. “I will have a word with him about repeating everything that rogue says. Do not worry.” He slammed the door shut.
Catryn was still gaping at the door when a laughing Orion pulled her back down onto the bed with him. “Oh, love, we are going to have such a very interesting life.”
She started to laugh. “Yes, yes we are, and I am so looking forward to it.”