Epilogue
Three pairs of skinny arms were holding on to various parts of Tobias’ body.
Although he was utterly drained, he did not have the heart to move any of them from their resting places.
Even when Sebastian, who at five was the heaviest, decided to dangle from Tobias’ neck while James, at two, clung to his waist and William, at three and a half, was hanging off his leg, all of them pulling him in different directions.
To their left, Charlotte, who at ten was too tall to be carried, was looking down at the little cot at the foot of the bed.
‘Papa,’ said Sebastian. ‘How are they so small?’
The objects of all five of their attentions slept on.
‘Because they are babies,’ said Tobias. ‘You were that tiny once.’
‘But Mama was huge. They should be bigger.’
‘It would be better not to point that out to her,’ said Tobias, trying to stop his smile. ‘Women do not like to be told they are enormous. It upsets them.’
‘That is very true,’ said a voice from the bed. ‘You must listen to your father.’
On hearing their mother speak, James and William abandoned Tobias. Only Sebastian, Charlotte and he stayed, looking down at the two perfectly formed humans who had so recently joined their family.
‘I thought you were asleep,’ said Tobias, still not taking his eyes off his two newest sons. Having twins was a surprise, as was two more boys. Five sons. He would not get a moment’s peace until the very end of his days.
‘I was, but I am glad to have woken up now that everyone is here.’
‘Papa,’ said Charlotte, who had asked to call him that not long after Tobias’ marriage to Grace and which, even all these years later, he loved to hear. ‘May I hold one of them?’
‘If you are careful not to wake them,’ he said.
His daughter, for though she was technically his niece, that was what Charlotte would always be for him, stepped towards the cot.
Sebastian dropped his stranglehold, as Charlotte picked up one of the twins.
He stepped closer to his sister, and the pair cooed over the newborn.
Judging Charlotte to be responsible enough to look after the baby, Tobias approached the bed.
Grace had pushed herself up to sitting, James and William curled up in her arms.
‘How are you feeling, my love?’
‘Exhausted,’ she said, but her smile was still there, still loving and happy, even after all these years. ‘Five boys. Who would have thought it?’
Grace definitely hadn’t. When she had agreed to marry him, he had, as promised, moved as quickly as he could to get the wedding to happen in case she changed her mind again.
Before the ceremony, she had reminded him that she would be unable to give him children, giving him the option to call it off.
By that time, he had been so sunk in love with her, he would not have given her up for anything and there had never been a day when he regretted his decision.
He had meant what he said then, that he was content for one of his brothers to provide the dukedom with an heir.
Her first pregnancy had taken them both by surprise, and if the baby had come early at eight months after their wedding day, well, babies were wont to do that sometimes.
And if his brothers had teased him about that for years afterwards, well, brothers were wont to do that too sometimes.
Although he would take this secret to the grave, he would always be pleased that his brothers were comfortable enough to speak to him as they did to one another.
It wasn’t always easy, but the four of them were closer than they had ever been before Sebastian’s death.
The Ashbys had returned to America. In the end, the family had decided that two more deaths would not bring their brother or Clare back.
Stripping the pair of all wealth by the power given to them as Charlotte’s guardians had, as Tobias had predicted, been enough of a revenge for all the Dashworth brothers. Tobias never thought of them.
‘Mama,’ said Charlotte, bringing the twin she had been holding to the bed. ‘I think he is hungry.’
Having been around her many, many cousins, Charlotte was fairly adept at knowing what a baby wanted.
Although his brothers had their own households now, they were all close by, none of them wanting to be far from Charlotte, and each other, although none would admit to the second one even if pushed.
When they heard that the twins had arrived, they would descend en masse, bringing their wives and their growing broods with them.
The ladies would fuss around Grace, and the men would slap him on the back and laugh at him for having five boys and he would bask at being at the centre of his family, knowing his days of living on the edge of it were over forever.
The End