Louisa sighed before crossing the room and kneeling gently in front of Abigail. She brushed a few strands of soft light hair out of her eyes, watching her stiffen warily. "Is this true, Abigail? Do you think your uncle and I are upset with you?"
Abigail shrugged again but remained silent. Louisa waited, letting the quiet stretch out until Abigail finally relented. "No. Yes. I don't know. We're not babies. We shouldn't cry like that."
"Oh my darling. Everybody cries sometimes. Did you know," and here, Louisa leaned in to whisper conspiratorially into Abigail's ear. "I cried my very first night here at St Vincent."
Abigail stared wide-eyed at her. "Did you really? Why? Didn't you want to come?"
"Of course I did. But everything here was so new to me, and I had never been away from home before. I missed my sisters." She hesitated for a second before admitting, "I missed my papa. So I had a little cry. See? I'm not a baby, am I?" She pretended to look horrified and was rewarded by a thin giggle.
"No, suppose not."
"Well there you go. Now you know. 'There are no babies here, just people who need a little cry sometimes. So there's nothing to be embarrassed about, is there?"
Abigail shook her head slowly. She still didn't look entirely convinced, but now she was leaning into Louisa rather than away and her eyes had lost their wary edge.
I'll call this a success, Louisa thought triumphantly.Or at the very least, it's progress.
She held out her other hand to Kenneth, who waltzed up to them happily. "Now then you two, how would you like to join me in playing a little game?"
Kenneth nodded enthusiastically but Abigail hesitated, clearly not completely won over yet. Kenneth turned his wide eyes on his sister. "Please Abigail? Please let's play?"
Louisa nudged the girl. "You can pick the game, can't she Kenneth?"
Abigail tilted her head, considering for a moment, before her eyes lit up. "Blind Man's Buff! I want to play Blind Man's Buff!"
Kenneth agreed enthusiastically and Louisa smiled. "Well, why don't you show me how to play?"
Cedric pushed his bacon around and around on his plate. He had struggled to fall back to sleep the previous night, tossing and turning fitfully as he thought about the children, his poor distraught niece and nephew. His heart clenched a little as he remembered their hysterical cries and his inability to help them.
"I want my papa."Little Abigail's trembling voice still circled in his head. Thank the heavens that Louisa had been there, he supposed. At least she seemed to know what they had needed. He swallowed some dark coffee as his thoughts turned to his wife and their late night conversation in his study. As the dayswent on, he had come to expect their talks to be something of a double edged sword.
On the one hand, his wife was clearly mulish and annoyed with him at any given opportunity. He was often frustrated by her refusal to adhere to even his simplest requests. But on the other hand, he would be lying if he said he wasn't affected every time that damned blush crept across her cheeks and down onto her collarbones. He had even found himself to be enjoying riling her up, seeing how flustered he could make her before she caved and turned away from him. He knew it wasn't altogether fair of him, that Louisa must surely think he's some kind of cad who delights in tormenting her, but this teasing was as close to her as he dared to allow himself.
Enough. I can't sit about all day thinking of my wife and how best to fluster her.
Cedric had just begun to lose himself in paperwork when the unmistakable shrieks of children wafted through his closed door. He was on his feet in an instant. What if something had happened to one of them - or to Louisa! He tore open the study door and strode down the hallway towards the nursery, quickening his pace even further in response to another shout. He reached the open door all ready to demand an explanation - and stopped.
Kenneth was spinning giddily in the center of the room, a white handkerchief tied securely around his eyes. He stopped and staggered slightly, then put his arms straight out in front of him and charged forwards. Abigail, who had been standing afew paces away, shrieked excitedly and darted away from him. Kenneth stumbled after her, bumping into a plush red armchair which caused him to turn and set off in another direction.
Cedric tried to conceal his amusement as he stood, half hidden in the gloom of the corridor, watching the game. Round and round Kenneth stumbled, as Abigail and Louisa managed to evade his grasping little fingers. It occurred to Cedric that this might have been the first time he had heard both children laughing and playing since they had arrived at St Vincent. The happiness on their faces was obvious, even as half of Kenneth's was obscured by the blindfold.
Just as Kenneth started to tire of being the being the blind man, his lip beginning to quiver dangerously, Louisa stooped in front of him and allowed him to tag her. Kenneth crowed victoriously as she helped him take the blindfold off. Cedric shifted, but Louisa hadn't noticed him.
"You're it, you're it!" The children chanted in unison.
"Yes, yes, give me a moment. There," Louisa tied the handkerchief around her own head and stood again.
"Don't forget to spin! You have to spin 10 times," Kenneth instructed her seriously.
Louisa did as she was told, stumbling slightly as she set off. The children cackled as they ran from her and Cedric could see Louisa strain her ears, trying to pick out Abigail's laughter over Kenneth's before she moved in the girl's direction.
She must be trying to give them turns so that Kenneth doesn't feel singled out,he thought.
Before he quite realized what he was doing, Cedric had stepped forwards into the room. The children faltered slightly as they noticed him, but he put his finger to his lips, indicating for them not to tell. He moved to stand slightly to Louisa's left, brushing against her sleeve ever so slightly. She sensed the presence beside her and whirled, grabbing hold of his arm firmly. He grinned even though she couldn't see him, and stayed quiet, waiting for her guess.
"Well, well, well, who on earth do we have here?" Louisa mused. Cedric could see the children fighting to suppress their giggles behind her. Louisa squeezed his arm experimentally and frowned. "Oh dear, I'm afraid I've gone very wrong somewhere. This is far too tall to be one of you children. No, this is something else entirely. Is it…a lamp?"
The children laughed aloud at her guess and Cedric grinned. Louisa shook her head, smiling. "No, surely not a lamp. Oh! I know! It's definitely an armchair, isn't it? It's surely too tall to be anything else."
