“Mine too,” Matilda agreed, though she looked considerably less certain about leaving. She glanced between Charity and Duncan once, and then she followed her sister inside without another word.
Charity told herself that she would go in as well. There was absolutely no reason to linger. The afternoon had been lovely, and it had served its purpose, and now it was simply time to go inside and dress for supper like a reasonable person.
She kept walking, though. Slowly.
“Don’t you wish to join them?” Duncan said, catching up to her. “Or are you waiting for me?”
Her cheeks burned red again.
“Aren’t you tired?” she asked him, deliberately ignoring what he had just said. “You were running around with Matilda all evening.”
“I enjoyed it,” he laughed. “I realize after spending time with her that it wouldn’t be too bad to have younger siblings.”
“I suppose the time for that has passed now, but you can always share mine,” Charity replied.
“Or in time, we can make little children of our own,” he said out of the blue. “And they’ll run around the garden all the same.”
“I….” Charity was stunned speechless. She had not expected him to say something of the sort.
Yes, they had discussed heirs. But never before had the topic been broached so casually, as though it were only a matter of time. It made butterflies explode in her stomach, and there was no hiding the blush on her face.
Duncan smirked, looking at her reaction. Perhaps he knew that she would react like this and only wanted to get a rise out of her.
Once again, she had fallen for his bait.
“Get some rest,” he told her, walking past her as though he hadn’t just turned her insides into mush just by a few words. “And try not to overthink it.”
CHAPTER 17
“Matilda, eat slower, please,” Charity chided her youngest sibling at the breakfast table. “You’ve been scarfing down that plate, and it is just not a proper way to behave.”
It was breakfast time, and the youngest sister had been stuffing her face with eggs at impossible speeds.
Matilda looked back at her sister with a guilty expression.
Matilda stopped, chewed fast, then wiped her mouth with her napkin like she’d remembered manners at the last second. “Sorry,” she said, still not looking very sorry. “I just want to finish.”
“And why,” Charity asked, watching her closely, “do you want to finish so badly?”
“The gardens,” Matilda said, and her whole face changed. “They said I can help again today. The kitchen girl told me there are different ones by the path, and I want to go early. I want to find them before someone trims them.”
“I’m glad you’ve got something you want to do. You haven’t looked this cheerful in ages.”
Matilda nodded, then slowed down on her own.
“It’s begun to feel more like home.”
She turned her head toward Augusta. “And you?”
Augusta lifted one shoulder, as if she wanted to act unimpressed, but Charity could see the change in her face anyway.
“I like it now as well,” Augusta said.
Charity nodded. She knew that was the most that she was going to get from Augusta.
“Good,” she said, then leaned forward slightly, making her voice more serious. “If you need anything, you should come to me.”
“You’re busy with wedding preparations, you hardly have the time.”
