As the Duke spoke German fluently, despite his English accent, he nodded in agreement. “Continue.”
“The matter is as follows. We, that is, the Arenheim family, have given the whole situation a great deal of thought. All of us together.” He waved his hand. “And we have come to the following conclusion.”
The pause was dramatic.
“There seems to be every indication that it is more than likely that Mama, that is, Lena, is indeed your lost duchess.”
Julius crossed his arms.
“Yet she remembers nothing of the fact, of you, of England, of her former life, or of how she came to be here.”
Another dramatic pause.
“If Mama is the lost duchess, it seems more than likely that Hecki, I mean, Hector, is your son.” The boy refused to meet his gaze and stared stubbornly at the vase to his right.
“Regardless of that, he is an Arenheim. As is Mama. No matter who she was before, she is and always will be our Lena. Our Mama.”
The children nodded emphatically.
“We therefore have come to the conclusion that theonly reasonable course of action is to simply see whether or not you are amenable to our family.”
He blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
“We need to see whether you are compatible with our family,” Theo explained as if it were the most logical thing in the world.
“Compatible?” What the devil was the boy babbling about?
“He merely means to say,” Lena finally said, “that since we are strangers, it would seem rather odd for us to be, er, suddenly acquainted, so we would first have to see if we really get along before we decide to pursue the, er, relationship.”
“We?” he echoed. Normally he wasn’t that slow in following a conversation.
“It’s either all of us or none of us,” Hector said belligerently. “You can’t just take Mama and-and me away from our family.” His voice trembled.
Theo glared at the Duke. “We won’t let you take them from us.”
The scales fell from his eyes. The realisation of how much of a threat he was to them struck him like lightning. His claim to Catherine and Hector would mean the disintegration of their family unit. The Duke’s forehead knit together in a deep frown. So that was where the matter stood. Naturally, they were concerned about it. He hadn’t even thought that far. But, good lord. Was he supposed to take on the whole brood?
Looking over at Lena, she nodded while putting an arm around Hector. “We belong together. All of us. I am a mother to these children, whether or not I am yourduchess. My first duty remains to them. If you acknowledge me and Hector as your wife and son, you must know that you are also accepting Theseus, Harmonia, and Achilles. We will not be separated.”
“And Marie,” Les added.
“And Bello and Fips,” Hector chimed in.
“And who are Marie, Bello and Fips?” Julius was entirely out of his depth.
“Our maid, dog, and bird.”
“Good heavens.”
Five pairs of eyes were fixed on him in expectation.
“Let me reiterate this to affirm that I have understood correctly. You expect me to take on the entire family, including the maid, your dog, and your bird.”
The children nodded in unison.
“Yes. You see, we must first see whether you can be a proper father to us before we agree to accept you as one of us.” Hector finally spoke up. He pushed out his lower lip in a stubborn line and met his gaze in a challenge.
For the first time in his entire life, Julius, Duke of Aldingbourne, was speechless.
