In the country, their houses were close, but it wasn’t like she could take a two-minute walk to her brother’s home for breakfast. Nothing—nothing—beat being nearly in the same house. She whistled to her dogs and made her way outside. She had little doubt that Jack was on the way to see Ham, and Vi had no desire for a lonely breakfast.
She strolled through her garden, her dogs at her heels, following the path they made between their two houses, and let herself into the kitchens. Cook greeted Vi as she passed through and said, “He’s up and cursing over a new story in his office with his breakfast. Would you like something too?”
Vi nodded with a grin and then made her way through Victor’s house as comfortably as she did in her own. She pushed the office open and leaned down to greet his dogs while her dogs pawed his perfect suit. Given that they’d just walked through the garden, they left little paw prints that caused him to curse low.
“Good morning, brother.”
He scowled at her, dabbing at his thigh with his handkerchief.
“Someone woke up on the delighted side of this drizzly day,” she observed.
His gaze narrowed on her as he reached out for his coffee. “Why are you so cheery?”
“Why are you so foul?”
“Vivi is as loquacious as yourself and she has a tooth coming in.”
“And Papa couldn’t leave her to the nanny.”
“She was crying ‘Papa’,” he said foully, but Vi caught the smile at the corner of his mouth and the light in his gaze.
“You, sirrah, are a good father.”
She had begun with a tone that said she was going to tease, but the subject wasn’t one she found all that amusing. Her eyes met his and the two of them examined each other. They had the same dark eyes, the same sharp features, the same wit in their expressions. They were, of course, not identical, but they were so similar they were almost reflections of each other.
His eyes darted to the side, and she could see the worry, so she repeated, “Victor, you are a good father. Not at all like our father.”
“Are you so sure?”
“Yes,” she said instantly. “Let’s assume for a moment that something happens to Kate.” His eyes widened in alarm, but she pushed through the panic that thought gave him. “Would you just hand over the twins to me?”
He shook his head. The appalled expression was enough for both of them. They were very different from their father, who had lost their mother and then handed the two of them over to their great aunt. There had been a measure of love in the act because they had responded so well to Aunt Agatha. But, even so, neither of them could fully forgive him for never being a regular part of their life after that.
“That’s the difference, Victor dear.”
He cleared his throat, and she could see the tremble in his lip and loved him more for the emotion she knew he felt.
“So,” she cut in, giving him the opportunity to change the subject as she knew he desperately wanted. “The werewolf-pirate book.”
He lifted his brows and waited and she grinned evilly. “We could publish it under E.A. Allen.”
His shout of shocked laughter echoed in the air. “After Jack’s former fiancé?”
“I dislike her fiercely for so many reasons other than just that.”
Victor snorted. “I like it. Now for the next book—”
They considered what they would write next for much of the morning and stopped only when Rita and Kate appeared in the door of the office. Those two women, along with Lila, were the best of Violet’s friends, and she loved them like sisters.
“Isolde is in town,” Kate announced. “There was a note this morning, which I’m sure she sent to you as well. She suggests shopping, lunch at the Savoy, and a general day of indulgence.”
“Sold,” Violet said, and then buffed her nails on her dress. “I, of course, have already worked so long and hard this morning with my righteous good virtues that it is time for a break.”
“Nothing you just said made sense,” Rita told Violet and then eased into a chair. She leaned down to pet the dogs. “Watson woke me with his nose in my ear. Dogs are to be considered carefully.”
Violet grinned. She had been responsible for Ham’s dogs and the fact that they were slightly tormenting Rita gave them all the more value.
“Ours have abandoned Victor and me for the girls,” Kate said, easing herself and the baby that would be arriving soon onto a chair. It had been far too long since Kate had easily left the house. She’d been terribly ill with the pregnancy with the twins, and then it had taken them too long to find a good nanny. “I don’t really want any clothing given my state,” she gestured to her body, “but I should very much like shrimp on toast and perhaps some new books.”
“Books?” Vi nodded. “It has been too long since we’ve lingered in a bookstore.”
Rita groaned and then winked when both Kate and Vi shot her dark looks. “Fine.”
“You like books,” Kate told Rita. “Get your mind in the book game, Rita dear. While you do, I’ll gather my coat and telephone Lila.” She hesitated before standing, giving her wide girth a scowl as she maneuvered back onto her feet. Victor leaped to help before she’d barely lifted from her seat.
“I’ll call for an auto for you,” Victor said, following his wife from the office. He winked back at Vi and then called the dogs along with him. “That way you won’t have to worry about managing it too.”
Vi rolled her eyes at her brother. “Call Hargreaves. He will drive, I’m sure.”
She finished off her last piece of—now cold—bacon. She then powdered her nose, updated her lipstick, and put her hat on. Replacing her compact
