Page 115 of In Need of a Duke

He softly chuckled and let go of her leg, righting his reading glasses.

The sky outside the nursery window had faded to night, and Charlotte wished for nothing more than to kiss her husband without her children underfoot.

“Perhaps I should leave you here trapped,” she teased, suddenly straightening.

“You wouldn’t dare, Duchess.”

“No?”

He scrunched his nose. The silver hair by his temple seemed to flicker in the room’s candlelight.

She reached for Rose, scooping up her daughter into her arms. Once, not too long ago, she was so much smaller and fit snuggling against her chest. And now Rose was all legs and arms and full of unbounded energy. Charlotte loved watching Rose run about and explore, but she equally loved the moments when her daughter lit up and ran into her arms. She missed the baby snuggles, the moments rocking her to sleep, and the small little quiver her pouty baby lips made when she was dreaming.

Motherhood was equal parts loving and grief. It was exhausting and the most rewarding thing Charlotte had done with her life. It was everything she could never have dreamed of or prepared for, and she was thankful each day she could experience it alongside Ian.

She met Ian’s eyes, losing herself for a moment in his heated stare before turning to pad across the room and depositing Rose into her bed.

Ian came up behind her, circling her waist with his arms as they both gazed down at the girl who nestled into her bed, sticking her cute bottom in the air and wiggling beneath the covers.

“She sleeps like you, Lottie.”

“I know. But today she said the funniest thing… Oh, what was it? It sounded exactly like something you would say. I wish I remembered.”

“This is all I wished for,” he said after a moment.

“Falling asleep, reading? I believe you did that last evening and the evening before that…”

He spun her and cupped her face in his warm hands, shaking his head at her and looking absolutely and deeply in love. She would never tire of that look.

“I dreamt of putting our children to bed. Of talking about the small things that happened over the course of the day. Of sharing a life together.”

He kissed her forehead, and she felt the warmth of reassurance flutter through her body.

For years, she had believed she would be alone, moving through the world with a smile on her face and feeling an aching emptiness inside. But she discovered that wasn’t her fate. Loving Ian gave her a second chance at happiness. He urged her on, pushing her to live.

And now she had Rose and Adam, and the seminary was doing well, and in between Ian becoming an active member of the House of Lords, he had spent his time advocating for the modernization of London’s buildings.

She reached up to her toes and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, then pulled away, holding her hand out to him.

“Is it your turn now?” he asked.

“For you to tuck me in? Yes.”

“My favorite part of the day.”

Once they reached their room, Ian closed the door softly behind them and drew her close. They swayed back and forth, dancing to some phantom orchestra, listening to the nightingales outside their window.

They undressed one another, then crawled into bed, finding comfort in each other. Tonight.

And each night forward.

Ian and Charlotte.

The Duke and Duchess of Dandridge, apart no more.

Ever the phoenixes.

THE END