“I’ll be the first to do so,” Beatrice said. “But is Sheridan safe now? I assumed no one would prosecute him for Mr. Bonham’s death, but I wasn’t sure. I tried to find out if they had from Joshua, but he didn’t want to talk about it while I was enceinte, and he’s the worst letter writer in the history of letter writing, especially when it comes to writing his sister.”
“The magistrate deemed it a justifiable homicide,” Vanessa said, “since Sheridan was protecting me from almost certain death.”
She would never forget the look of terror in his eyes that night when he’d first seen her in Mr. Bonham’s clutches. His expression had held such stark determination to save her that she’d known he would do whatever he must to rescue her from harm. Remembering that expression on his face still warmed her heart.
“As for the money,” she went on, “that’s all tied up in legal issues, but if there is a settlement in the civil case against Mr. Bonham’s estate, then we may see some financial relief from it, especially since he has no family to inherit. I’m systematically going through the accounts right now to determine where the worst losses are for use in the civil case.” She tied a piece of wire on the end of a mistletoe branch. “Fortunately, Sheridan is convinced that without Mr. Bonham misleading the family, doctoring the books to cover his perfidy, and stealing our money, we can recoup even without a settlement, and I share his optimism.”
Cass surveyed them all. “Do you think Mr. Bonham was really trying to court the dowager duchess? I mean, if there was no one to inherit his ill-gotten gains, why keep on fighting?”
“You weren’t there, Cass.” Vanessa shuddered, remembering Mr. Bonham’s vile words to the dowager duchess. “I think if he could have killed her right there, he would have. He wanted to destroy her and all of her descendants. And if it had taken sucking the financial marrow out of the Armitage family, he would have done so.”
“Then thank heaven he’s gone,” Gwyn said brightly. “And I do not wish to give him any power beyond the grave by discussing this one minute more. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Vanessa said wholeheartedly. “Now, I must hear about the babies. Did you bring them all? Did you bring any?”
“They’re all with us,” Gwyn said, tying a ribbon into a bow about a sprig of cedar, “mostly because both Beatrice and I are doing our own breastfeeding.”
“There will be no wet nurse for little Maurice,” Beatrice said stoutly.
“Nor for little Isabel and Andrew,” Gwyn said. “Even if it kills me to feed two of them. And it just might.”
“They won’t be any trouble, though,” Beatrice said. “We brought our nursemaids.”
“I appreciate that,” Vanessa said. “And that’s why we opened up and thoroughly cleaned the nursery, just in case.”
Olivia marched into the drawing room at that moment. “Vanessa, do you have any aqua regia?” When the group burst into laughter, she paused. “Oh, everyone is here. How lovely!”
“I told you she’d be doing an experiment,” Vanessa said to the others before turning to Olivia. “And what do you mean to do with aqua regia, if I had some, which I don’t?”
“I mean to dissolve gold. Mama doesn’t believe it’s possible.”
“Do you have gold you can spare to dissolve?”
“No, but Mama has a broken chain I could use.” Olivia sighed. “Although actually, it’s probably not wise to do it without laboratory equipment. You don’t have any flasks and such here, do you?”
When that last was said with a hopeful intonation, Vanessa shook her head, trying to contain her amusement. “The only flasks you’ll find on the estate are the ones the men have, filled with brandy and taken for their shooting expedition.”
“How much would you wager that both the flasks and the game bags will be brought back empty?” Beatrice said, nudging Gwyn.
“My husband will bring back a full game bag, I assure you,” Cass said.
“Well, we all know that Thorn won’t have shot anything,” Olivia said and took a seat at the table on the other side of Vanessa, “and he does love a bit of brandy, so I’ll wager one broken gold chain that my husband is the most likely to bring back an empty flask and an empty game bag.”
“I’ll wager one of the twins that Sheridan brings back a full game bag,” Gwyn said.
They gaped at her.
“I’m joking. Well, mostly. Those two don’t even sleep at the same time. And have you ever tried breastfeeding two babes at once? It’s not easy, I’ll tell you that.”
“Is my wife complaining about breastfeeding again?” Joshua said from the doorway.
“Always,” Gwyn said as her husband walked over to kiss her head. “So should we give Olivia her present now?”
“Wait until Thorn is here.”
As if the words had magically conjured him up, Thorn said from the doorway, “Do I hear my name being taken in vain?”
The room instantly filled with men in greatcoats stamping to get blood back into their cold feet and jockeying for position by the fire. Thank goodness Vanessa hadn’t let the servants roll out the good carpet until after the men finished their shooting.
Grey entered in the midst of everything. “Sheridan, where do you keep your brandy?”
“Here, have some of mine,” Thorn said and handed his flask to Grey.
“I guess I am the proud owner of a broken chain,” Gwyn told Olivia.
“Grey hasn’t drunk from it yet,” Olivia said.
Sure enough, he opened it and tipped it back, then scowled at Thorn. “It’s empty.”
“I know,” Thorn said, smirking at his older brother, who threw the flask at him.
Thorn ducked, and the flask hit Sheridan in the back.
“What the hell?” Sheridan cried and tossed the flask back at Thorn, who ducked again.
The flask hit the table, dislodging a half-completed kissing bough. Just then, the dowager duchess came in and cried, “Boys, boys!! Behave yourselves!”
Her sons stopped and then burst into laughter. Meanwhile, their wives just rolled their eyes. Gwyn gave
