Chapter One
1827
“Look at all the children!”
Griffin Merrick glanced up from his book with a start as his mother shook his arm with more force than was perhaps necessary. She held back the curtain on the carriage window, and he looked past her to the outside.
He hadn’t realized they had already come through the gate at the Woodley country estate outside of Idleridge, but they had somehow weaved their way past the large manor house and down the long hill to where two additional homes had been built years ago. They were not quite as large as the estate home, but still impressive.
Outside of one of them stood Griffin’s sister Letty and her husband Jack Blackwood, along with their three children. Everyone was smiling and waving, and Griffin took a deep breath so he could force a smile onto his own face. There was no use bringing the melancholy he’d felt in London out into the country air.
The carriage stopped, but before the footman could climb down to assist, Jack stepped forward to open the carriage door himself.
“Welcome,” he said, his smile wide and friendly. He held out his right hand to Mrs. Merrick first, and Griffin winced as Jack’s other arm trembled. Jack had been injured almost a decade ago and the use of his left arm remained highly restricted.
A fact that was Griffin’s fault. Whenever he saw Jack, it was a reminder of the past he had to overcome, the responsibility he had to take seriously every moment of every day for the rest of his life. He already knew the results of being irresponsible.
“Griffin,” Jack said as he handed off Mrs. Merrick so she could rush forward into the arms of screeching, laughing grandchildren, as well as her daughter.
Griffin stepped down from the carriage and was surprised when Jack drew him in for a bear hug strong enough to show the injured arm didn’t trouble him much. Griffin didn’t know why he was shocked by the action—Jack was never anything but kind and brotherly toward him.
Whether or not he deserved it.
“Come on,” Jack said, slinging his right arm around Griffin’s shoulders. “The children are anxious to see their uncle.”
“They seem very excited,” Griffin said cautiously as they approached the lot of them. The youngest, Adam, who was just two, was leaping up and down with glee while the older two, Gillian and James, were both talking at once.
Jack laughed at his boisterous brood. “They are. All the Woodleys arrived earlier today, so there are slightly more than a dozen children up at the big house right now.”
“I see,” Griffin said, but got to say no more on the subject as his older sister Letty managed to extract herself from her children and mother, and all but floated over to him. She wrapped her arms around him as she pressed a kiss to his cheek.
“Griffin,” she said, her eyes bright with pleasure. “I’m so glad you’re here. It seems like an age since we’ve seen you.”
Griffin frowned slightly. Ithadbeen a long time. After their father’s death a year prior, he had busied himself with all the details surrounding his inheritance, along with visiting estates and managing investments. That and…otherthings he doubted his sister would approve of.
Perhaps that was the real reason he’d stayed away.
“You look wonderful,” he said, and meant it. Letty had blossomed since her marriage to Jack and she looked even more beautiful now than she had as a blushing girl.
She shook her head. “I look like the mother of three very excitable children. Come and see them all, they have been dying to hug you.”
As Letty took Jack’s hand, the two led him the final few steps to where the children were standing with his mother. There were squeals of welcome and hugs all around, and for the moment Griffin forgot everything except for Gillian, James and Adam.
But soon enough, they migrated into the house, and after some pleading the children were allowed to walk up to the manor on the hill to play with their cousins and second cousins, Griffin sighed as quiet enveloped the parlor where the adults had settled once again.
“Are War and Claire already up at the big house, then?” Mrs. Merrick asked as Letty poured and prepared tea for everyone.
Jack smiled in answer. “Yes. When the clan arrived, my brother and Claire and their children headed up to be part of the welcome, but we’ll join them all for supper.”
“And you are here for ten whole days, so you will have plenty of time to catch up with Woodley doings,” Letty said as she brought a cup for their mother. “I’m so glad we decided to have this party.”
Griffin nodded. Normally he avoided a party at all costs. He only went to balls in London when his mother forced the issue. Even then he tried his level best to sneak out early, much to Mrs. Merrick’s chagrin.
“What is the occasion again?” he asked.
Letty and Jack exchanged a laugh and a look that spoke volumes of their love and connection, which had not diminished in the nine years since their marriage. In fact, Griffin would say it had only increased.
“That is hard to nail down,” Letty explained. “The Woodleys and the Blackwoods are such a big clan, especially after all the marriages and babies, if we are all together it’s a party in itself. Someone made the suggestion of inviting others and here we are, a massive country gathering about to happen.”
