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“I am sorry your mother was taken aback by what I said, but I do not regret a word of it. I was being completely truthful about how much I have enjoyed being with Asher. Would you have preferred that I admit that a good portion of my enjoyment has also come from being with you?”

“No.” Color filled her cheeks. “I think my mother would have had to be carried to her bed had you said something that outlandish.”

“There is nothing outlandish in that, Jane.”

She shook her head and took an unsteady breath. “Asher was afraid he had done something wrong yesterday. Nothing I could say would reassure him that he had not fallen from your good graces.”

Alexander frowned. Jane’s desire to change the subject was as desperate as her grasp upon the banister rail. Had he been overly confident in believing that she reciprocated his rapidly growing feelings for her?

“I feared as much,” he said. “I walked away from the Pinnock ladies within moments of their unfortunate arrival, but between the other guests slowing my path and my mother demanding my assistance at the marquee, I was unable to reach you before you left.”

She smiled, but it did not reach her eyes. “He will be thrilled to see you again.”

“Jane.” They stepped onto the landing, and he reached out his hand to touch hers. Awareness pulsed between them. “Is there something else amiss?”

She shook her head again. “I am well.” His expression must have shown that he was unconvinced, because she lightly squeezed his fingers. “Truly, Alexander.” She turned away and broke their connection. “Come. The nursery is this way.”

Jane opened the door to their right and walked in. Alexander followed and found himself in a pleasant room boasting two large windows, a rocking chair, and a short table surrounded by four wooden stools. A fire burned low in the fireplace, and not too far distant, an old rocking horse missing a good portion of its tail stood waiting for a rider. The wooden floor was partially covered by a large, multicolored rug, and blue-striped curtains hung at the windows.

Alice was sitting in the rocking chair, a pile of darning on her knee. Asher sat on the floor beside her, studiously stacking wooden blocks into a tall tower.

“Good morning, Asher,” Jane said as she entered. “You have a visitor.”

Asher looked up, and when he saw Alexander, his expression brightened and then immediately dimmed. He looked at Jane uncertainly.

“Go ahead, dear,” she said. “Just like we practiced.”

Asher scrambled to his feet and bowed low. “Good morning, Lord Bloxley.”

Alexander smiled and bowed his head. “Good morning, Master Asher,” he said. Then he crouched down and opened his arms.

Asher did not hesitate. Like a bullet from a gun, he shot into Alexander’s arms.

“I’m sorry I did not have a chance to tell you how well you rode the pony yesterday,” Alexander said, tightening his hold on the little boy. “I was proud of you.”

Asher’s head bobbed up. “You were pwoud of me?”

“Absolutely,” Alexander said. “It takes great bravery to get on an animal so much bigger than you.”

“And it has four legs when I only have two.” As soon as he’d shared this childlike observation, Asher gasped and slipped out of Alexander’s arms. “The tadpoles are gwowing legs. You must see.” He grabbed Alexander’s hand and dragged him over to the table.

Miraculously, Alexander was able to fold his long legs in such a way that he could sit on the small stool beside Asher and watch the tadpoles swim around the jar. They looked for the biggest and the smallest, the one with the most legs and the one with the fewest. Alice left with her darning pile and returned to drop off the tea tray. Jane took her place on the rocking chair, content to listen quietly as Asher chattered between his bites of spiced bun.

Alexander could not remember a time that had felt more right. He glanced at Jane. She was watching Asher, a small smile on her face. Her natural beauty took his breath away, but it was her courage and loyalty, her goodness and compassion that had won his heart. More than anything else, he wanted what they were experiencing together at this very moment to continue. He wanted Jane by his side always. But before he moved ahead, he must fulfill the promise that had started all of this.

“Asher,” he said, “there’s something I must tell you.”

The young boy looked at him, his expression worried. “Have I been bad?”

“Not at all,” Alexander reassured him. “In fact, you are so good that your mother never stopped loving you.”

“My mother? I don’t have a mother. Charlie has a mother, but not me or Elijah or Adam.”

Across the room, the soft squeak of the rocking chair ceased, and in the stillness that ensued, Alexander took the child’s hand in his.

“You may not have one now, but you did once, and her name was Mary Brown. She loved you very much. So much, in fact, that before she died, she asked me to tell you so.”

Asher wrinkled his forehead. “Was she nice?”