"Tragic!" echoed Eleanor and Oliver in unison.
"They wanted me to wed some dull aristocrat instead. So on the eve of my wedding, I fled."
He threw out one arm dramatically.
"I discarded my shoes, and I ran off into the night. My love had promised to meet me here, in this very county. Until then, I bide my time among these kind people, hoping not to be discovered."
"Brava, Lady Theodore! What a romantic rebel you are," Alethea nodded.
The storytelling came to an end. Alethea made a move to stand in order to return to her chambers, but the duke stopped her.
"Where are you going?"
"I thought that we were done with the festivities of the night," she said, sheepishly. "Are we not?"
"We will all sleep here tonight," he announced.
It appeared they all knew the routine intimately. Clara slid off Alethea's lap, toward Eleanor. Theodore moved about gathering stray blankets with the help of the servants.
"Is that also mandatory?" she asked. Part of her wondered if she ought to excuse herself to her own chambers now that the games were done. Was it truly proper for her, a grown woman, to sleep on the floor like a child among them?
"Don't tell me our fearsome ghost is planning to vanish at the stroke of midnight," Oliver teased, "We'd much rather you haunt us till dawn, Alethea."
Her cheeks warmed at his choice of words.He wanted her to stay.
"If I won't be intruding, I would like to remain," she admitted softly. "This is all quite new to me, but it has been wonderful."
"Of course you're not intruding," Oliver assured her. With that, he handed her a folded quilt from the stack. "Make yourself a comfortable spot."
Alethea accepted the quilt gratefully. She spread it out over the rug, and where Oliver had begun arranging the others into a large, informal bed of sorts.
Soon Eleanor and Clara wriggled into the bedding together, with Theodore plopping down on the other side of Eleanor.
Alethea carefully removed the sheet. She hesitated, then folded it and set it at the edge of the makeshift bedding area, uncertain if she should keep it as a blanket. But Oliver noticed and with an amused smile, he reached to pluck the sheet from her hands. He balled it up and tossed it aside without ceremony.
"Take a proper blanket," Oliver told her.
Before she could protest, he draped another soft quilt around her shoulders like a shawl.
So many little kindnesses,she thought,does he even realize what they mean to me?
"Thank you," she whispered instead.
She moved gingerly to settle at one end of the spread of quilts, lowering herself to lie on her side. She propped a pillow under her head that Theodore slid over in her direction.
"All set?" Theodore asked, his voice already drowsy.
"Yes, thank you," Alethea whispered back.
Oliver lay down on the other side of her—so that Alethea found herself between Oliver and the young girls, with Theodore beyond them. She could not help but note how Oliver had wordlessly placed himself right next to her.
He was close enough that when he stretched out on his back, one of his broad shoulders just brushed her arm through the covers. Alethea's breath hitched. She lay as still as possible, suddenly hyper-aware of every inch of her own body in relation to his.
"Good night everyone..." Eleanor announced.
"Good night," Clara echoed sleepily.
"Good night," Alethea murmured in return, though her heart was not remotely ready to slow down for sleep.
