Shared Family
Chapter thirty-nine
Juliet thought her heart would burst into a million pieces.
It was beating so fast. She felt Sebastian’s warm little hand within her own and knew that she would never be able to let him go again.
She had known ever since her gaze had fallen on his little face, ever since she had looked into his wide blue eyes.
His mother’s eyes.
Alice.
Indeed, part of Juliet had hoped that Sebastian had inherited his father’s warm brown gaze, afraid of how she might feel should that not be the case.
Yet the moment she had looked into that little face, something as trivial as the color of his eyes had no longer mattered.
Her heart had gone out to him. Even if she had wished it so, she would not have been able to prevent it.
She wondered if this was how mothers felt the moment they were handed their babies right after birth.
This overwhelming knowledge that the world had shifted off its axis and now revolved around this little life.
No matter what would happen in the future, what might be put in her path, everything that now mattered was this child, his well-being, his happiness.
Blinking back tears, Juliet led Sebastian into the drawing room. “Here we are,” she exclaimed, sweeping out an arm to gesture towards the stack of marmalade tarts upon the coffee table. “I hope you’re hungry.”
Oh, the way Sebastian’s little eyes grew round almost knocked her legs out from under her! He was so sweet and adorable and absolutely endearing. She could have stood there and stared at him for hours.
“May I take one?” Sebastian asked, his little fingers barely an inch away from one of the tarts. He seemed desperately eager to reach for one, but apparently, he had recalled his manners at the last moment.
“Help yourself,” Juliet urged him, wondering when the day would come that he would feel perfectly at home with her.
“You’re a natural at this,” Christopher whispered in her ear as he came to stand with her, one arm snaking around her waist, pulling her closer. “I missed you.”
Excited shivers danced down Juliet’s back, and she turned to look at him. “I’ve missed you as well.” She glanced at Sebastian as he wolfed down his first tart. “The both of you.” Sighing, she shook her head. “I never knew I could feel like this.”
Christopher’s eyes were hesitant as he looked into hers. “Then…you have not changed your mind? You truly believe you can be his mother?”
“Without a doubt,” Juliet replied without a second of hesitation, surprised how deeply the thought of losing this little boy unsettled her, pained her. “He is mine now, and don’t you ever think about taking him away from me,” she warned Christopher with a stern look.
Pulling her into his arms, Christopher laughed. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” Then he dipped his head and kissed her. “You do not know how much I missed you.”
“Do you want one as well?” Sebastian asked, his wide blue eyes darting back and forth between Juliet and his father.
Nodding, Juliet pulled Christopher along, and they all sat down upon the settee. Then Sebastian handed each of them a marmalade tart, his little fingers already sticky and a big drop of the fruity goodness shining orange like the setting sun upon his stark white shirt.
“These are good,” Sebastian remarked in a serious tone, like one who had spent his entire life tasting tarts and judging their quality. “They almost taste as good as Mrs. O’Brien’s.”
“Mrs. O’Brien?” Juliet asked, eager to speak to her son and learn more about him. “Who is she?”
Taking another bite, Sebastian spoke to her of his home in Ireland, of the people he had grown up with.
He told her about Mrs. Whiskerson and her little kittens, about the best climbing tree in the garden beyond the house, about the biscuits he liked to sneak from the kitchen, and the piano that made the most beautiful sounds…
even though he did not know how to play it.
Juliet listened intently, mesmerized by the little boy. “Did you name all her kittens?”
Sebastian bobbed his head up and down. “Of course. How will you tell them apart without names? The stripy one is—” he broke off when a knock sounded on the door.
Juliet, too, flinched. “Oh, I’d all but forgotten,” she murmured to herself, then looked at Sebastian, who stared back and forth between her and the door, eyes wide and a hint of nervousness in them. “Come in,” Juliet called, reaching out a hand to place upon his shoulder.
The door swung open, and in walked Samantha with Biscuit, her talking parrot, perched upon her shoulder. For a six-year-old, the girl walked with such confidence that Juliet had never once wondered who this little girl would grow up to be.
No doubt, a force to be reckoned with.
“Hello,” she greeted them cheerfully. “You must be Sebastian. I’m Samantha, but you can call me Sam.
And this is Biscuit.” She gently traced her curved forefinger along the parrot’s beak.
“He chose that name himself. I think he chose it because he likes biscuits. But only almond biscuits and only if they’re not burned. Oh, and he can talk!”
For a moment, Sebastian stared at Samantha, looking overwhelmed. Then, however, a fascinated smile spread across his face. “What does he say?”
Even with the bird sitting upon her shoulder, Samantha managed to shrug. “Anything. Everything. He often likes to repeat what we say.”
Squawk. Squawk. “What we say. What we say,” Biscuit chimed in at that moment as though to prove Samantha’s point.
Sebastian giggled, then stared wide-eyed at the bird. “He truly talks!” He spun around and looked at his father. “Father, he truly talks! Did you hear that?”
Christopher laughed, clearly delighted to see his son so overjoyed. “Yes, I did. He is a marvelous creature, is he not?”
Sebastian’s head bobbed up and down for what seemed like the tenth time that day. “Marvelous,” he breathed in awe.
“Sebastian,” Juliet addressed him, “this is my niece, Samantha.” She inhaled a deep breath. “Your new cousin.”
Sebastian looked from her to the little girl and then back. “Does…Does that make you, my mother?”
Before Juliet could find any words to reply, Samantha strode forward.
“Of course, it does. Once she marries your father, she will be your mother. Just like Christina became my mother when she married my father.” Squaring her shoulders, she looked at Sebastian with a hint of superiority in her eyes, the wisdom of one roughly a year older.
Juliet swallowed, then reached out again and placed a gentle hand upon Sebastian’s shoulder. She waited until he looked at her and then asked, “Would you like me to be?”
For a long, seemingly endless moment, the little boy simply looked at her before finally his little head bobbed up and down once more.
Juliet felt tears shoot to her eyes, and she tried her best to blink them away. “I would like that, too,” she told him with a wobble in her voice.
Squawk. Squawk. “Like that, too. Like that, too,” Biscuit chimed in, perhaps feeling a bit neglected. In any case, it broke the soft tension that lingered upon them, for they all broke out laughing until tears streamed down their faces.
“Biscuit often makes people laugh,” Samantha giggled joyfully.
“Would you like to pet him?” Without waiting for an answer, she sidled closer to Sebastian.
“He is very friendly. Auntie Harriet gave him to me.” Her eyes suddenly widened, and her face lit up with excitement.
“Perhaps we can ask her to find you a pet, too. Grandma and Grandpa always say that no matter where Auntie Harriet goes, she always finds creatures in need.” Her little nose crinkled a little.
“They also say that is how she met her husband; although, I’m not sure what that means. ”
Utterly fascinated, Sebastian stared at Samantha, then at the bird, and then at Samantha again. “Who is Auntie Harriet?” he finally asked, clearly overwhelmed by the flood of information.
Smiling, Juliet reached for his little hand.
“Samantha’s Auntie Harriet is my sister.
Well, one of my sisters.” She felt his little eyes watching her intently.
“To tell you the truth, I have four sisters,” his eyes grew round, “who are all married, one cousin, who is married as well, and one brother, who—”
“Is also married?” Sebastian interjected with a giggle, and Juliet delighted in the way he simply spoke his mind.
“Well…”
“Not yet,” Christopher stated with a sideways glance at her, his eyes twinkling with something like hope and expectation.
Indeed, before he had left, they had spoken of the possibility that Troy and Nora might be in love.
Clearly, something had happened between them.
Yet after visiting her future mother-in-law and hearing Nora’s declaration that she would never have children, Juliet wondered what might happen down the line.
“You have a big family,” Sebastian stated with a hint of envy. “A very big family. I only have Father and Mrs. O’Brien.”
“Not anymore,” Samantha replied, a wide grin on her face.
“You’re one of us now. My aunts and uncles are your aunts and uncles.
My grandmother and grandfather are your grandmother and grandfather, and I think Grandma Edie,” she glanced at Juliet for confirmation, “is somehow everyone’s Grandma Edie. ”
Juliet laughed, as did Christopher. They laughed until more tears streamed down their cheeks. Sebastian looked at them with a soft, little frown before he turned to Samantha, clearly convinced that she had all the information he needed and knew what she was talking about. “Where are they?”
Samantha pointed at the closed door. “Right outside, probably with their ears pressed to the door. They don’t want to frighten you by all rushing in at the same time, but they’re dying to meet you. Shall I let them in?”
For a moment, Sebastian hesitated, his little hand reaching for his father’s. Then, however, he nodded, an expectant smile spreading over his little face. “Yes.”
In that moment, Juliet knew everything was the way it ought to be. If there had been no Alice, there would be no Sebastian.
And that would be a sad world, indeed.