*
“You are pregnant?”Jasmine gasped loudly.
Remington shushed her harshly as Mary played at their feet. “Not a word, Jassy. Promise me. No one knows but Gaston and I.”
Jasmine, her eyes wide as the sky, nodded with disbelief. “Oh, Remi… I am so happy for you. But….”
“But what?” Remington demanded.
Jasmine looked as if her eyes were going to pop from her skull. “I am pregnant, too.”
“What?” Remington exploded.
“And so is Skye.”
“What?” Remington found herself screaming.
“Remi!” Jasmine yelled back, pleadingly.
Remington collapsed on the bed behind her, her face glazed with shock, “You? Skye? My baby sisters?”
Jasmine nodded unsteadily, measuring her sister’s reaction. Remington was as shocked as she had ever seen her, her beautiful face pale and her eyes wide. Then, suddenly, she bubbled out a choke of laughter. “And I was worried about the serving wenches,” she said lamely. “I was worried about all of the bastards we would have come spring, and look at us. ’Tis us I should have worried over.”
Jasmine smiled timidly, watching her sister as she shook her head in disbelief. “Antonius has been praying for a son ever since he found out. What about Gaston?”
Remington shook her head, still dazed. “I do not know. When he spoke of the baby, he referred to it as his son. Of course he wants a son.”
“Skye is frightened, which is why she did not tell you,” Jasmine said. “Not even Nicolas knows.”
Remington looked sharply at her sister. “He does not? She must tell him.”
“She will,” Jasmine said quietly. “But I promised her that I would break the news to you.”
Remington stood up. The supper hour was growing near and soon they would be required in the grand hall. She went to her wardrobe and drew forth a beautiful surcoat of scarlet silk as her little niece toddled after her. When she laid the surcoat on the bed, the baby pulled it down on the floor and rolled around in it.
“Mary.” Jasmine extracted her daughter from the surcoat as Remington undid the stays of her dress.
“Leave her be, Jassy,” she said with a faint smile. “We must become used to young ones around here again. By summer, there will be three more to add.”
Jasmine smiled as Mary began to tug on the coverlet, trying to pull it down on the floor as well. “I am so happy, Remi. Happier than I have ever been in my whole life.”
“I can tell,” Remington gazed fondly at her sister as she lifted the scarlet dress over her head. “It shows on your face.”
Jasmine helped her with the surcoat. “When are you leaving for London?”
Remington lost her smile and her mood. She had told her sisters everything, of course, and the women were devastated. No one had mentioned the subject in almost a week.
“The envoy wants to leave tomorrow,” she said softly. “Gaston said he would speak with him.”
Her eyes met with her sister’s, fear and terror and apprehension passing between them. “I am scared for you, Remi,” Jasmine whispered. “What if Gaston is unable to keep you from Guy?”
“He won’t let Guy near me, I promise you,” Remington said with more confidence than she felt. “He is the Dark Knight, is he not? The king will grant him anything he asks.”
Mary began to fuss and Jasmine swept her daughter into her arms. “She’s hungry. I must take her to her nurse,” she moved for the door, pausing in the archway. “Remi… you shall come home soon, won’t you? You won’t stay in London long?”
“Long enough to obtain an annulment,” Remington replied.
“Do not worry, Jassy. You shall see your nephew before he grows old enough to foster.”
