He rumbled with laughter, unable to keep from it. “Indeed. I have often wondered that myself.” He propped himself up on hisforearms and smiled down at her. “We are now one, my lady. In every sense of the word.”
She reached up and pushed his wild hair back from his face. “I can’t possibly imagine life without you.”
“Good, my love. Because I can’t possibly imagine life without you either.”
Epilogue
Wolfebourne Lodge
Binnocksbourne, England
April 1823
“They look thesame to me,” Connor said. He pointed at the cradle to the right and then at the one to the left. “I bet the dogs don’t even know which is which.”
“The ribbon on that headboard plainly saysRemus Jamison,” Sissy said, “and that one saysGwyneth Jennette.”
“Dogs can’t very well read, now can they?”
“They don’t have to read. The babies smell different. Grace said so.”
Wolfe knew if he didn’t quiet those two, his beloved infants would soon scream their displeasure at being disturbed to all of England. Then poor Grace would have yet another nap interrupted, since she had yet to find a nurse or nanny she trusted. He hurried into the nursery and caught hold of his brother and sister by the shoulders. “If you two awaken the little ones, I shall inform Mrs. Perridone that you volunteered to help the maids scrub the chamber pots.”
The twins stared at him in horror, then Connor pointed at the crowd of dogs with their noses propped on the cradles, avidly watching the babies sleep. “What about them?” he asked in a loud whisper.
“They help Remy and Gwynnie sleep,” Grace said from the doorway, “because they make them feel safe.”
“Gads alive, my love.” Wolfe hurried to wrap an arm around his exhausted wife so she might lean against him. “Forgive us for waking you.”
“You didn’t wake me.” She meandered closer to the cradles and smiled down at her children. “I’ll need to feed them soon.Thatis what woke me.”
“Does your stomach growl or something when theirs gets empty?” Connor asked.
“Something like that,” Grace told the child while giving Wolfe a pointed look.
“Why don’t you two run along now?” he suggested, taking her hint to heart. “See if Lady Merry’s carriage is anywhere in sight. Her letter said she should arrive today to see the babies and also bring along a prospective nurse and a nanny Lady Fortuity found for us to interview. A nurse and nanny that successfully survived the Broadmere gauntlet.”
“Last one to the gate is a warty old toad,” Connor said before shooting out the door.
Sissy rolled her eyes. “Since we have Remy now, can we please send Connor off to boarding school? I truly believe he needs it.”
“No one is sending anyone off,” Wolfe said as he escorted her out and closed the door behind her. Turning back to Grace, he asked, “Are you certain we didn’t wake you?”
She had already stretched out on the sofa in front of the windows beside the cradles. “You didn’t wake me. This uncomfortable fullness did. Hand me Remy. He’s already wolfish with hunger, working his little feet back and forth and getting red in the face.” She loosened the ties on the makeshift robe she’d had the village seamstress create for her.
Wolfe picked up his squirming son. “Hush now, young man. Don’t wake your sister if you wish to eat your fill first.”
The baby grunted and growled even louder, making Wolfe laugh. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so content, complete, or exhausted.
“While I know you enjoy being unconventional,” he said as he settled the babe in Grace’s arms, “a wet nurse would be a godsend for you. Don’t you agree? Doesn’t an entire night of uninterrupted sleep sound absolutely decadent?”
“It does.”
But Wolfe could tell by her tone that she was not yet ready to hand off the feeding of her babies to another, no matter how socially expected it was for her to do so. “It’s entirely your decision, my love. Whenever you are ready.”
She hitched with a jaw-cracking yawn, then smiled at the babe rooting at her breast. “Soon, perhaps. When they are a little older. Two weeks just seems so early.” She patted the cushions beside her. “Come sit with us before Gwynnie needs you or Gastric beats you to the spot.”
Wolfe eased down beside her, then rubbed a finger across the velvety softness of his son’s dark hair. “I believe he’s doubled in size since he came into the world.”
