“I am honored,” Eden said with a soft laugh, raising her glass of cider in turn.
The children cheered.
Eden was appalled to find herself tearing up. She quickly turned away and masked this unexpected bout of sentimentality by pretending to sneeze. “Oh, do excuse me.”
Connor stared at her. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. “Just something in the air. It tickled my throat.”
“If you say so.” Connor did not take his eyes off her for the remainder of the meal.
The children continued to chatter, and only fell silent upon Connor’s discussion of what tomorrow would bring. “I’m surewe’ll have time for a morning hike and perhaps a walk down to the beach right after luncheon,” he told them. “Guests will start arriving by early afternoon, so I may not be able to take you to the beach. I cannot promise that.”
“Then who will take us?” Priscilla asked. “Eden, would you?”
“I…” Eden stared in dismay at Connor, then sighed and nodded. “I would love to take you. How about we make it a picnic on the beach? This way your father might be able to join us for the picnic, even if it is only for a little while before he must return to greet his guests.”
That brought another round of cheers.
But the two boys quickly sobered, and the eldest asked, “What about the rest of the week? I can take care of myself, but Alex and Priscilla need supervision.”
“I do not need super…super…what you said!” Alex retorted. “Priscilla is the baby.”
“I am not a baby!” Priscilla promptly burst into tears.
Eden took her onto her lap and hugged her. “Want to know a secret?”
The girl nodded, but was still wailing in that fake little cry that children sometimes evoked when they were indignant, and shouldn’t a parent notice? Eden easily spotted the fakery because she had often attempted it herself as a child when hoping to gain parental notice. But it had never worked because her parents cared more for hurting each other than loving her. “Your father is Duchess Evelyn’s baby. Did you know that? And I am the baby in my family, too.”
Priscilla looked up at her, no longer crying. “You are?”
“Yes,” Eden said, although being an only child made her the youngest, eldest, and any other label one wished to put on a child. “So you should take it as a mantle of pride to be the youngest and adored by everyone.”
“Do your parents like you best, Eden?” Priscilla asked.
No, her parents did not care one way or the other about her. She could slip off the face of the earth and they would not notice.
“Each child has their own special qualities, Priscilla,” Connor said, coming to Eden’s rescue when he noticed the perplexed expression on her face. He had been her neighbor for a long time and knew very well how little her parents thought of her.
“What’s mine?” Priscilla asked, forgetting her tears for now.
“Oh, let’s see. There are so many.” Connor frowned and put a hand to his chin as he gave the matter serious contemplation. “But what is your best? I know, it is your kissable cheeks.”
Priscilla was appeased. She scooted off Eden’s lap and clambered back into her chair, then cast everyone a smug look before sticking her tongue out at her brothers. “What is Eden’s best quality?” she asked.
“I know that one,” Alex immediately replied. “Kissable lips!”
Connor coughed. “What?”
“That’s what I heard Sir Nero tell Squire Hartley, and the squire agreed.”
Eden felt her cheeks heat. “They said that about me?”Those dirty old men.
“I think Eden’s best quality is that she is kind,” Connor hastily added. “And fun to be around.”
His eldest agreed. “You always have something interesting to say or show us whenever we go exploring with you, Eden.”
“That is because I enjoy nature. If the weather holds, we can make a daily outing of it. I’ll take you all hiking around the area while your father is off wooing the sweet young things your grandmother has invited for the week. In fact, I am making a journal of my findings, and this is something we can all do. Connor, would you be able to equip your children with binoculars, pencils, and writing pads? A picnic lunch, too.” She grinned at him. “While you are engaging in your matrimonialendeavors, your children and I shall be discovering new birds and plants, and making a scientific record of them.”
