They raced each other to come meet her but before she could bend over to pick the first one up, the girl circled her so swiftly. The other one did the same, stomping on the train of her gown with a sort of laughter that was both cute and infuriating.
She tried to move but lost her balance in the process. Jane tripped and almost fell, her arms flailing weightlessly in the air. And the next she knew, she was bending backwards with one leg in the air.
The sounds of the kids laughing angered her, reminding her of what they were. She opened her eyes and met Colin's eyes watching her face. It was then that she realized that he had caught her and that she was in his arms.
They stared at each other in that moment and all she could think about was how handsome he looked. He was obviously staring at her as well given that his eyes were fixed on her. She felt awkward and wondered why; he was her husband now. But she clearly needed some time to get used to that fact.
He cleared his throat and helped her back to her feet.
“Still thinking they're ‘lovely’?” He smirked, reminding her of the term she had used to describe them.
“You know what, I take it back.” She didn't even realize when she said it out loud.
He walked to the girls who immediately stood still before him.
“Do you think that was funny?” He frowned at them.
One was quiet, probably feeling a bit remorseful but the other snickered silently with stolen glances at Jane.
“We just wanted to meet the new duchess and say my greetings.”
“Is this how to say greetings, hmm, Louisa?”
Jane figured that Louisa was the calmer one, and maybe the one with an ounce of respect in her.
“It's not our fault that she almost fell— although it would have been a very great sight to behold. Aww!” The exclamation came when Louisa pinched her arm without looking at her.
“Margaret!” Colin scolded her instantly.
“What? It was probablyherfault for losing her balance,” Margaret replied arrogantly.
Jane laughed at how the kids were evidently such a headache to Colin. He glanced back at her with a frown.
“You see, evenshegets it,” Margaret added amidst chuckles, pointing in Jane's direction.
“Okay, that's it; you're done!” He snapped. “To your rooms, immediately!”
“But…” Louisa tried to protest.
“No ‘buts’, you are to remain there until you are called upon— do you understand?”
They hesitated with dropped shoulders and reluctantly agreed.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now go,” he commanded, a hand pointing at the staircase.
Jane watched them grumble as they headed up the steps with their tails between their legs.
Colin exhaled sharply, combing his fingers through his hair in a frustrated manner.
“They really were just playing around, you know. You didn't have to speak to them the way that you did,” Jane said to him. In a fraction of a second, she had flashed back to the times her dad used to yell at her and Sarah, although he used to be a lot worse. “No matter how they act, they're still children.”
Colin scoffed, massaging his eyeballs.
“You might not see it, but you're treating them like soldiers, forgetting that they're little girls,” she added.
“You've seen for yourself how they can misbehave,” he replied. “The reason you're here is to educate them properly, so I'm going to need you to start working on that.”
