“Indeed, indeed, and I’m sure we can all toast to that. Oh dear, look at him. I am quite afraid he will be consumed by the crowd.”
Victor craned his neck. Agatha, glittering with jewels, was surrounded by old friends and their descendants. For one more day she was the diamond of the Season again, and this time Theodore got to escort her. He had a dazzling smile, but Theodore had never been one to assert himself, and so people were barging into him, perhaps not quite realizing that he was the groom.
“Perhaps we should offer assistance,” Victor murmured.
They were about to move, but then Agatha pulled Theodore closer and scolded those around her, telling them to calm down and give them some space.
“Well, there we go. He has someone to help him after all,” Harry observed.
Victor chuckled at this.
“We are all made better by our wives,” he said.
“We are indeed. Speaking of which, where is yours?” Harry asked.
“I think she is with her siblings outside. By the way, I wanted to say that fatherhood is suiting you, as is life in the country.”
Harry smiled.
“Thank you for saying that, brother. See, this is what I meant earlier. Before this, you never would have said anything like that. I doubt you would have even thought it.”
“I would have thought it,” Victor said, although Harry gave him a disbelieving look. Victor didn’t try to assert this point of view either as he wasn’t sure how it would stand up to scrutiny. “And how is Juliet?”
“She is well, but I think she does miss treading the boards. I’m sure we will return to London at some point when John is a little older. I don’t believe she will be able to resist her calling forever.”
“It will be good to have you around, all of you,” Victor said. Emotion crept into his voice, emotion that he did not necessarily wish to reveal. Harry’s smile became more earnest, and he inched closer to Victor, lowering his voice.
“I do want to say again thank you for all you did in taking care of John.”
“You have Lydia to thank for that. I might have sent him to an orphanage,” Victor said, old walls rising around his heart. Harry gave him a skeptical look, as though he could see right through Victor’s denial.
“I know you might have considered it, but I don’t think you would have gone through with it. You both treated John as your own, and I’m so grateful he was with people who took that responsibility seriously. I wish the situation had never unfolded like this of course, but Juliet was desperate and I was ignorant and… well… I suppose that is all we need to say about it. But I just wanted you to know that I appreciate it, and should anything ever happen to Juliet and myself?—”
Victor put a hand on Harry’s shoulder, silencing him.
“There is no sense in thinking like that. Nothing shall happen to you and Juliet, and John is fortunate to have you as parents. I have no doubt that he will grow up to be as impressive as his father,” Victor said.
Whatever wounds had existed between the two brothers had now been healed. Victor had been given a stark lesson that Harrywas not some wayward, lovestruck boy, and his and Juliet’s love had always been a serious thing. Victor hated that he allowed his fear of scandal color his responsibility to his brother.
Thankfully, that was a thing of the past and they could all move forward far happier and closer than they were, if not in distance, then in affection.
“To the Nightford men,” Harry said, raising his glass. Victor smiled and clinked his glass against his brother’s, thinking not just of himself, Harry, and Theodore but also of his late father and of John, who he was sure would grow into a man befitting their name, a man who would be better than all who came before him.
“I’m glad she gets to relieve her youth one last time,” Charlotte said.
Edmund chortled. “I don’t think this will be the last time, sister. She will be the belle of the ball again, and I’m not sure Theodore will have it in him to refuse her requests.”
“Husbands should not be in the habit of refusing their wife’s requests. If that is how you act, then I feel sorry for Rose,” Charlotte said. “Don’t you agree, Lydia?”
“I think that is most enlightening, dear sister. Perhaps your next book should be on the ways of marriage. I’m sure many men would benefit from your advice,” Lydia replied.
“Nonsense,” Edmund scoffed. “If anything, I am the perfect exemplar of a husband. Rose has no cause to complain at all. She wants for nothing and I have never irked her.”
“That’s not what she said,” Lydia replied with a mischievous grin. Edmund looked positively shocked.
“What? What secrets have been whispered behind my back? I implore you to tell me now, Lydia, else you shall be guilty of keeping things hidden from the head of your household, and that is a most ignoble sin.” Edmund lifted a finger in the air and pointed it directly at Lydia, who just laughed.
“You cannot intimidate me as you used to, Edmund. We are no longer children. And Victor is the head of my household,” she said. The color in Edmund’s face changed, his cheeks turning as red as a beetroot. Lydia feared she had overstepped the mark, and he was genuinely upset. “But if you must know, then you might think back to the last time you went to the club with your friends and returned at an extremely late hour.”
