‘The four of us must live together for a minimum of two years. In that time, we must share custody of Charlotte. At the end of the allotted time, she only need stay with one of us, but we are to agree on future big things together.’ A wry smile broke across his face. ‘I pity the man who wants to marry her; I doubt any of us will find him good enough for her. I am certain none of us will find him worthy.’
Kate couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have one person care about her welfare that much, let alone four men. WhateverEdward was thinking of his niece’s future suitors, she pitied them.
After a moment, he resumed his story. ‘If any one of us breaks those terms, custody will pass to the vile Miss Dunn, and all of us would die before we let that happen.’
‘Why would your brother write his will this way?’ If Miss Dunn had been cruel to Edward and his remaining brothers, something Kate did not want to think about because it made her insides bubble with rage, then she must have acted in the same way to Sebastian. Why would he put his daughter in danger?
‘I ask myself the same question all the time. Whenever I look at Charlotte, I cannot imagine what he was thinking when he made that clause. I suppose he did not think he would die and therefore the terms of the will would never come to fruition. Or maybe he thought it would be funny if we were forced to live together again. Perhaps he thought it would be the incentive we needed to stick with one another and raise his daughter. But part of me hopes he realised the four of us could be close and working together to raise her would repair the bonds of brotherhood.’
‘Is it working?’
His laugh was barely a puff of air. ‘Sometimes, I think it is. Christopher and I would not have spent the better part of this morning crawling around on our hands and knees together if it were not to make Charlotte happy. Seeing Christopher hiding under a bed that was far too small to conceal his large frame was very amusing.’ His grin flashed, his sense of humour finally returning after the shock he’d had that morning. ‘Missing that would have been a shame. Freddie has brought Emily into our lives and watching him become the man he wants to be has been…’ Edward shrugged. ‘I am proud of him, although I beg of you not to tell him. So, yes, on the whole, I think it is beginning to work, although I am not sure about Tobias. He is no differentin the way he acts towards you as he is to me. Perhaps he was alone for too long.’ He pulled himself upright as if realising where he was or at least to whom he was talking. ‘I apologise, I did not mean to ramble.’
Shaking her head, she managed to stop herself from blurting out that she could listen to him talk all day. ‘Do go on.’
‘All this was to say that I am afraid I cannot remember the early days of her arrival. It is a blur of discovering her existence, realising I was capable of love after all and moving my life from my lodgings back to here, a place I swore to only return to for fleeting visits.’
Her heart clenched at the wordlove. He must mean Charlotte, but he did not clarify and she would not ask, even as she burned to ask. ‘I see,’ was all she said instead.
‘Why do you want to know about her understanding of our speech in those early days?’
‘Oh, I…’ She had almost forgotten her original question, but it was still important. ‘I think she probably did understand what you were saying. You would have noticed otherwise. I did not talk to her for long and would need longer with her to know for sure, but it is possible her speech might be a little behind where it should be for her age.’
Edward’s hands tightened on Charlotte. ‘You think there is something wrong with her.’
‘No.’ Kate straightened. ‘I did not say that. I would never say anything of the sort about any child.’
As an unmarried woman, there had not been a lot of options open to Kate when her father had died and a new vicar had taken over the parish and their home. She’d had to become a governess, but that did not mean she did not love being with the children. She would prefer spending her days in the schoolroomthan doing anything else. Children were endlessly fascinating and full of ideas and questions that adults rarely displayed. It baffled her that children of noble families were often confined to the nursery for large parts of their days. If she’d been blessed with children, she did not think she would have been able to be parted from them for very long at all. But she was in her late twenties now and it was looking increasingly unlikely she would have any of her own. Using the wordwrongfor a child was an incredibly upsetting idea and one she would never say.
‘Then what are you saying?’ Edward prompted.
‘What I meant was, I would like to talk to her again, when she is calm and well-rested. If she is behind where I think she should be, I can spend some time with her, encouraging her to talk.’
‘That would be kind of you.’
It would be more of a courtesy to her; it would give her something of value to do. ‘You have all been very hospitable, but I have very little to do with my days and I am used to being very busy. Letting me talk to her would be more of a favour to me than anything else.’
He nodded, dropping his eyes so he was once more looking at his niece. ‘Thank you for the offer. I will discuss it with the others to make sure they all agree, but I am sure we will be grateful for any help you may be able to give.’ Something had changed in his voice; there was something restrained in his demeanour now, something which hadn’t been there when he had been discussing his past.
‘Of course.’ Perhaps she had overstepped with her comment. Or he had taken offence to her criticism of his niece. Either way, he was not as relaxed as he had been only moments before.
‘I will take Charlotte upstairs.’ He stood carefully so as not to jostle the sleeping girl.
The little girl woke enough to murmur, ‘Dolly,’ before snuggling into the broad chest once more.
Kate stepped closer, tucking the soft toy between Charlotte and Edward’s body. ‘Wait,’ she said softly. ‘Are you Teddy?’
The tips of his ears turned adorably pink. ‘You can never call me that.’
She squashed her lips together to stop a smile; there was something incredibly sweet about this large grown man allowing a little girl to call him such a gentle name.
He strode past her to the door. ‘Do not think I cannot see your smile,’ he called back, not turning to look at her.
The smile broke across her face, wide and unfettered.
Chapter Ten
Edward rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hands, trying to get rid of the burning tiredness that stung beneath the lids. It didn’t help; it never did. Once he was holding Lotte safe in his arms yesterday afternoon and watching her sleep, he’d known then the horror of the afternoon would visit him during the night.
