Honor Reclaimed (All About Honor) (15 page)

“They are the color of your eyes,
but not nearly so brilliant or so beautiful.
 
Have I told you lately Madame Lewis that I love you?”
 
John took her face in his hands and
gently kissed her eyes and then her lips.
 

She was overawed
by the beauty of the pieces
.
 
In her wildest dreams, she had never
thought she would be able to own such outstanding jewelry, nor have a need for
it, but if they continued to live in London she would have many occasions to
wear them.

John remained with Eirian for several
more minutes, until she fell asleep. Right before she drifted off she wanted to
discuss naming the baby boy.
 
“John, I have been trying to think of a name for our son.
 
How would you feel about naming him for
Andrew?
 
If it had not been for
Andrew, I am not sure we would have made it.
 
I know the midwife would not have gotten here in time and I
am not sure what we would have done about twins, especially with him being
breech.”
 
John agreed that he
thought it would be an appropriate honor along with naming Andrew as his
godfather.

Eirian finally drifted off to sleep
and John kissed her one more time before he left to search out Andrew.
 
Being a new mother was demanding
enough, but being the mother of twins was at least twice as tiring.
 
She found herself nursing one or the
other of the twins almost constantly.
 
There was very little time for any extended periods of rest.
 
John would support her in her desire to
nurse the twins, but he could not help but worry about the strain it put on
her.

John found Andrew waiting for him in
his study. “She’s amazing isn’t she Drew?”

“She absolutely is.
 
You are a very lucky man.
 
I only wish I had found her
first.”
 
Drew tired to sound light
hearted, but John could sense the true depth of Drew’s emotions.

“She’s mine Drew, and as much as I
value your friendship, I want to remind you that you are not to trespass with
my wife.”
 
John felt the need to be
honest with his friend.

“Believe me John, I do understand,
and that is why I will be leaving here first thing tomorrow morning.
 
I had planned to visit my brother
anyhow, and this would be a good time.
 
Please understand
,
I am more attracted to
Eirian than I have been attracted to any woman since… well for a very long
time, but I will honor your marriage and I would never seriously pursue your
wife.
 
I just need to put some
distance between us until I am able to sort through my feelings and redirect my
interest. I promise you that I would never dishonor your marriage.”
 
When Drew was sincere, he was
completely trustworthy.

John was greatly relieved.
  
“I am relieved to hear that.
 
Let us put it behind us then.
 
Drew I hate for you to leave, but you
know that you are always welcome in our home, as long as you live up to your
promise.
 
In fact, we will need you
to return by the end of next month so that you can stand as a godfather for
little Andrew when he and little Johane are baptized.”

“That is a great honor John.
 
Are you not a little afraid to name him
for me?
 
He may turn out to be a
rake like his namesake.”
 
Andrew
joked.

“We will take the chance.
 
Will you join me in a drink?” John
asked as he was pouring them both a tumbler full.

“To the babies and their amazing
mother,” Drew offered.

“Here, here,” John replied.

Drew left early the next morning and
John could not help being a little relieved.
 
Life settled into a routine that mainly revolved around
caring for the twins.
 
Eirian was
concerned that the older children would feel neglected, but she had her hands
full and could not really do anything to address the issue herself.
 
She discussed her concerns with John
who thought that maybe they should send for Thomas and Gwen to come and bring
their children.
 
The children were
never happier than when they were with their cousins.
 
They would also inform them that they wanted them to act as
Godparents for little Andrew in conjunction with Drew.

A messenger was dispatched to the
Vann and the response was received within a few days.
 
They offered their congratulations on the twins’ safe
delivery and replied that they would arrive in about a week.

Another messenger was dispatched to
Severn Manor to inform Eirian’s family of the safe delivery and to request that
they visit them in London by the end of the month as Eirian and John would like
Asilin to act in conjunction with Gwendolyn as godmother for little Johane and
Galen to be her godfather.
 

The response was that they would be
there in about one week prior to the baptism and that they would be honored to
serve as godparents.

Eirian met with Mrs. Edwards to go
over the arrangements to accommodate the large number of guests that would be
in residence for the baptism.
  
There would be a celebration following the ceremony and she wanted to
make sure that the dinner would be especially elegant to reflect the importance
of the occasion.

As promised, Thomas, Gwen and the
children arrived first.
 
They were
pleased that Eirian was safely delivered.
 
Gwen could not wait to see the babies.
 
Eirian escorted them to the nursery where both babies were
sleeping soundly.
 

“They are perfect angels.
 
Look at little Johane’s auburn hair.
John, you have your first child that does not have blond hair.
 
She is going to be a beauty like her
mother.
 
Little Andrew looks just
like you.”
 
Gwen continued to ooh
and ah over the babies.

“Now you have gone and done it
John.
 
She will
be
wanting
another baby.
 
Look
what you have done to me, nine months of hell, or maybe we could be like you
two and cut it down to seven months.”
 
Thomas was proud of his little joke.

Eirian and John both had the good
grace to turn about three shades of red and then Eirian burst out in tears and
ran from the room.

“Husband, you are a clod.
 
How could you embarrass her that
way?
 
It was unnecessary.
 
John I am sorry.
 
You know I would not cast the first
stone and I am sorry this oaf did.
 
What can we do to make it right?” Gwen was wonderful.

“Please come with me, both of
you.”
 
John led them to his
chambers where he was sure he was going to find Eirian.
 
He was not disappointed.
 
She was stretched out on the bed crying
into her pillow.

John went over to her and gathered
her in his arms. “Eirian baby it will be alright.
 
Thomas wants to tell you how sorry he is that he embarrassed
you, do you not Thomas?”

“Yes honey, I am sorry.
 
I did not know you would take it so
seriously.
 
Do you think you are
the first couple who got the ox before the cart?”
 
Thomas said with a sheepish grin.

“Gwen would you and Thomas please
have a seat?
 
I have to say I am
getting tired of repeating this story, but I do not want you to think badly of
Eirian.”
 
John started.

“No John, you do not have to explain
anything to us.
 
We know the
quality of your character, and we would not question your integrity.”
 
Gwen said to defuse the situation.

“She is right John.
 
You and I know what the situation was
and there is no need to explain it to anyone else.
 
I am sorry Thomas, but it is no one else’s business.”
 
Eirian appealed to John.

“Baby, I know you are right, but I
don’t want them to think badly of you.”
 
John repeated the tale and both Gwen and Thomas were shocked by John’s
uncharacteristic behavior, and Thomas in particular felt bad.

Gwen philosophically said, “Things
turn out as they should, and you have no reason to complain of the
outcome.
 
You are well matched, the
children have the best stepmother they could possibly have, and you got two
precious babies from it.
 
It is as
it should be.”

John put his arm around Gwen and
kissed her on the forehead, “Have I told you how proud I am of the person you
have become.
 
I am glad you are a
part of my family.
 
Did you ever think
you would hear me say those words?”

“Thank you, that truly means so much
to me.”
 
She replied with tears in
her eyes.

Eirian could tell that there was a
story there, but she would wait and ask John when they were alone.

“Mrs. Edwards is going to throw our
dinner out if we do not put in an appearance soon.” John said.
 
“Gwen, may I escort you to dinner?” he
held his arm out to her, placing his hand over hers.
 
Thomas did the same for Eirian.

As they sat down to dinner Thomas
began to touch on the business that his father had asked him to broach while he
was in London, “John, my father has been pleased with the work you are doing
here.
 
He hears nothing but your
praises from Uncle William.
 
Uncle
William hopes to retire by the summer and he feels you will be ready to assume
his position.
 
Are you prepared to
remain here indefinitely?”
 

“Thomas, I was perfectly happy back
home.
 
I much prefer running my
estate to practicing the law, but I will do what is expected of me at least for
a while.
 
I do however want to put
in a request that as soon as possible that someone be trained to take over the
position so that I might be replaced to return to the managing of my
estate.
 
Tell Uncle Edward to get
busy finding me a replacement.”

“I will give him the message, but I
think you had better be prepared to stay in London for at least the next two or
three years.” Thomas replied.

“I do not suppose that you would be
interested in returning for a while?” John asked.

“Not a chance cousin, at this
time.
 
I did my time already if you
recall, and it nearly cost me my marriage.
 
I’ll not go that route again anytime soon.”
 
Thomas reached out and squeezed Gwen’s
hand.
 

Again, Eirian felt like there was
something she was being left out of.
 
Again, she was determined to question John when they were alone.

After an outstanding dinner, the
gentlemen retired to John’s office and the ladies to the parlor.
 
Once seated Eirian began by thanking
Gwen for coming so quickly to visit them, “Gwen, I can not tell you how happy
we were to see your family.
 
It has
been so lonely here.
 
Being
enceinte’ severely limited our social life and now that the babies are here I
find myself so tied down that there is no time for the social niceties, at
least not for a while.”

“Has Aunt Sarah not arranged for you
to meet the family here in London?”
 
Gwen seemed surprised.

“I think she was scandalized about
my advanced state of pregnancy.
 
She is a shrewd woman and I could see her doing the calculations when
she found out I was with child so soon.
 
She told me not to let anyone know when we married, that ‘I would not be
accepted in polite society’ if there were any speculation about the timing of
our marriage and the conception of our babies.
 
She suggested that we wait for a time after the birth of the
babies to pursue a social life to avoid speculation.
 
Normally I do not care too much about being a social
butterfly, but I am very lonely here away from my family and friends.
 
Until the babies were born, I had
trouble filling my days.
 
Since
they were born, it has not been a problem.
 
I spend most of my time nursing them.
 
I hope, when they get a little older,
we will develop a schedule that will allow me at least a bit of freedom.
 
Speaking of which, there is Nanny now.”

“Madame, little Johane is
hungry.
 
Do you wish to come to the
nursery, or would you like for me to bring her to you?” Nanny offered.