Chapter 10 #3
“Lad, yer father loves ye more than ye can ken, and he wants ye to be happy. And if having a secret fort is going to make ye happy, then he wants ye to have a secret fort. Callan is too wild, and ye are too serious, but together, ye play perfectly. Ye each temper the other, and ye are both better for it.”
Just like her and Cash.
Matthew ducked his chin, although he kept his gaze on her. “Not very much a secret anymore, is it?” he asked shyly. When she hummed in confusion, he explained, “You and Father know about our fort now.”
And all the servants who helped follow the clues they’d left out, but she wasn’t going to say that.
Fortunately, Cash replied instead. “I think it can still be a secret fort, as long as the only people who know about it are the ones who love you.”
Matthew’s blue gaze, so like his father’s, swept from Cash to Athena and back again. “And you love us? Both of you, love both of us?”
Athena nodded as Cash said, “Of course we do, lad.”
When Matthew turned to her, Athena smiled. “Aye, Matthew. Yer father has shown me that I do love ye, as much as I love Callan.”
“And…” Matthew glanced at Callan, then back to her. “And him? You love Father, don’t you?”
Athena’s grin grew, and she squeezed the lad’s hands. “Aye, Matthew. I love yer father. And he loves me.”
Callan’s whoop startled them all, and when he threw up his spoon in excitement, he knocked against the shelves, causing the portrait of the regal lady in blue to wobble. “I told ye it would work! They just had to talk! Can we eat now?”
Before she could answer, her son dug his spoon into the bowl of trifle, emerging with a helping far bigger than his mouth. Still, that didn’t stop him from trying to eat it, and she lunged for him—“Callan!”—and missed.
Now she was lying on her stomach on the pillows, and as her son stuck the spoon in his mouth and most of his serving landed on his cheeks and shirt, she began to laugh.
Behind her, Cash chuckled as well, and she dragged herself upright to sit beside Callan and the small table with the large, ruined trifle.
“I cannae believe ye carried an entire trifle to Dumpkins,” she admitted with a shake of her head.
Callan swallowed and beamed proudly, covered in crème and pudding. “I had to, because it’s yer favorite.” It was her favorite, and the fact he’d stolen it for her was exasperatingly sweet. “It was also my idea to use the things from home that couldnae go in the fort as clues for ye!”
That was a convoluted sentence, but Athena squinted thoughtfully. “Ye mean the things ye couldnae use to decorate this place? Like Aunt Olive’s spectacles?”
Callan was already digging into the trifle again as he nodded enthusiastically. “Uh-huh.”
With a sigh, Athena pinched the bridge of her nose. She was going to have a serious talk with Callan about his stealing—even if, in his mind, it was for a good cause—but perhaps not now, when she was sitting on the stolen pillows, watching him eat stolen trifle.
The trifle did look rather tasty, despite being a bit travel-worn.
Only a few feet from her, Cash had pinned his heir with a serious stare. “I can’t condone the theft, son, but Athena is right. I’m pleased you and Callan have made a place for yourselves.”
Matthew ducked his head and smiled shyly. “It was my idea to find a way to get you together.”
“Yes, and while I appreciate the outcome, the method…” Cash blew out a breath as he shook his head. “Son, I pray you’ll never know the level of fear I experienced when I couldn’t find you. I was so afraid something terrible had happened.”
He was using vague terms, but Matthew responded to the sadness he heard in his father’s voice by leaning forward and planting his hands on his knees, as if the intensity would help.
“Father, I didn’t mean to make you afraid.
I’m sorry! I just thought that if you and—and—” He glanced at Athena, obviously not sure what to call her.
“If you and Ma’am had to work together to look for us, you’d realize how sad you’ve each been, and… ”
He trailed off, dropping his chin and sitting back on his haunches once more. “I’m sorry,” he repeated in a whisper.
Athena exchanged a glance with Cash and could tell he was wavering as much as she was.
“Matthew,” she said softly, reaching for the lad’s hand, “what ye did…it scared yer father and me. It was done with the best of intentions, and it worked, for we have had our discussion and realized what we want for the future, but it was scary no’ to ken where our children were.”
The lad squeezed her hand, his big blue eyes full of sorrow. “I’m sorry for hurting you, ma’am.”
There’d been a moment when he’d called her Mama.
She offered him a kind smile. “I am willing to forgive ye, but please ken that yer father and I are relying on ye to temper Callan’s impulsive tendencies.
” With her other hand, she ruffled her son’s hair, trying to keep her sleeve out of the crème smeared on his face as he licked his spoon.
“In the future, I am certain we will allow the pair of ye freedom to roam, but we will be relying on ye to ensure yer brother’s safety, and we have to ken we can trust ye. ”
Matthew sucked in a breath, his eyes widening further. “Brother?” he whispered, his gaze darting between her and his father.
Cash’s lips quirked upward. “Does that mean you’ll marry me, Athena?”
Taking a deep breath, she offered him her future. “Aye. I will.” Because now she knew he loved her, and that was all it would take for her to be happy for the rest of her years. “But I will no’ give ye the name.”
“I’ll ask you again on our first anniversary.”
She smirked. “Ye are welcome to ask.”
To her surprise, Cash chuckled. “I suspect that being married to you will be an adventure, love.”
An adventure?
Her expression softened, and even though she wasn’t sitting beside him, she tried to show him her affection when she smiled at him. “I am going to make certain the pair of us, and our lads, have the most comfortable, most fun family.”
“Fun!” piped up Callan, his mouth full.
He’d already more than halfway decimated the trifle, and she still hadn’t had any!
As she reached for the spoon, Cash sent Matthew a mock-stern look. “Look at this boisterous lad. At least one of our sons is serious and studious enough to temper his impulsiveness.”
Athena kept herself from moaning as the pudding and crème passed her lips, but she must’ve made some noise, because Cash’s eyes flew to hers, and the heat burning in them left her no doubt what he was thinking about when his gaze dropped to her lips.
Hopefully, she’d be able to take a room at Dumpkins Manor that very evening!
“Father…” Matthew cleared his throat as he reached nonchalantly for one of the spoons. “I hate to tell you this, but I suspect I’m not having quite the effect on Callan as you and—and Mama hope.”
The name was said with a bit of relish, and she and Cash shared a smile as the lad dipped his spoon into the trifle.
Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to become so distracted, because Matthew straightened up, his spoon full of trifle. “You see, rather than me making Callan more serious, he’s taught me how to have fun.”
With that, Matthew flicked his spoon, sending the blob of trifle across the intervening distance to splat across his sire’s cheek and chin.
Cash froze, Athena gasped, and Callan burst into peals of laughter. A heartbeat later, with Cash still blinking in shock, she had to press her lips together to hold in her own chuckles. In a flash, she’d turned back to the trifle, dipping her own spoon into the gooey mess.
As Callan doubled over with laughter, clutching his middle, Athena turned back to Matthew. “Lad, I love yer father, and as such, am loyal to him. I love ye as well, but I must defend him.”
With that, she flicked her spoon, sending the blob of trifle to splat against his chest. Matthew gasped, Callan’s laughter redoubled, and Cash growled, “Hand me that spoon.”
The four of them froze, then burst into motion. In a moment, trifle was flying this way and that, until they were all gooey messes, and the fort wasn’t much better. More than a little managed to land in Athena’s mouth—it was delicious—and she herself landed in Cash’s lap.
He was delicious as well.
And through it all…there was much laughter. She was surrounded by the people she loved, who loved her, and she knew, no matter what the future might bring, she’d ensure it also brought even more laughter.