Five Years Later…

 

“Clara! Anna! Be careful!” Lottie shouted across the garden.

“We are!” Anna giggled without looking back.

“Slow down!” Clara yelled as she gave chase. “You are running too quickly!”

“It is not my fault you have such short legs!”

“Oh, they are fine.” Eleanor laughed when she saw the look of worry on Lottie’s face. “You know how children can be.”

Lottie frowned at the girls and the young boy who did his best to keep up with them. “A little too well.”

It was a beautiful day at Hawthorne House, but then again, they all were of late. While the sun shone brightly overhead, and while the weather was warm but not too hot, such things were secondary and almost unimportant considering what made the day so wonderful.

However, as the day was splendid, Lottie and Eleanor did as they often would on such days. They adjourned to the outside garden, finding a nice spot underneath the apple tree, happy to sit and watch their children play together.

That was what made the day so perfect. It was the sound of children’s laughter washing over the quaint little setting. As Lottie and Eleanor sat together in the shade, they watched their children play, having such fun that Lottie was almost jealous of it.

Once that was me, playing with the girls.

Anna was fourteen years old, getting too old to play games and run about without care. But such was her love for her younger sister and her cousin that she did not mind playing with them from time to time. Also, she rather liked the responsibility, often announcing that she was in charge of them.

Clara was twelve, and she had grown so much since Lottie first met her. Where once she was shy and softly spoken, she was now filled with life and laughter, and the type who always insisted on being the center of attention.

And finally, there was Andrew, just three years old, but determined to act as if he was capable of keeping up with his cousins. He was half their height; he struggled to stand and run, but he never gave up, and he never complained when they played games that he could not possibly win.

Lottie watched her son with worry, feeling the need to swoop in and save him before he fell and hurt himself. But he laughed as the girls ran around him, and despite her fear, she stayed seated. Really, it was just nice knowing that he would always have them to look after him.

“He is looking more like Alistair every day,” Eleanor said as she watched the girls and Andrew play.

Lottie snorted. “A fact that delights Alistair.”

“But Mary looks more like you,” Eleanor said. “Her eyes … and her smile. She is a spitting image of you. Or she will be, when she is older.”

Lottie smiled with pride. “A fact that delights me.”

Just then, Alistair appeared from the back door. He saw Lottie and Eleanor seated together and waved as he hurried over. On the way, he stopped by his son and lifted him into the air, which was greeted by laughter and cheering from the girls.

“Oh, put him down.” Lady Hawthorne came in behind him.

“He is fine, Mother.” Alistair laughed.

“He is,” she said. “But you are not a young man, Alistair. I worry that you might throw out your back.” She smirked as she said it, and Alistair scowled at her.

Lady Hawthorne walked past her son and made for Lottie and Eleanor. As she walked, she made sure to hold close in her arms the little bundle of joy that she had brought from inside. She was meant to be sleeping, and Lottie thought to tell Lady Hawthorne to return her daughter at once. But she refrained from doing so, because Lady Hawthorne was truly obsessed with her granddaughter, and even if Lottie asked, Lady Hawthorne would find an excuse to ignore her.

“She is still asleep,” Lady Hawthorne said when she saw Lottie watching her. “I am not so wicked that I would disturb her slumber.”

Lottie laughed. “Not on purpose, anyway.”

“Oh, she is just so cute.” Lady Hawthorne did not sit, but held Mary close. “I know you wanted her left inside but …” She smiled down at the baby. “Surely, you cannot hold it against me?”

“Have you heard from Beatrice and James?” Eleanor asked. “They should be here soon?”

“James sent word ahead.” Alistair stepped beside his mother and put an arm around her. “They are running late. Apparently, Thomas caused a little scene this morning. He is in a mood.”

Lottie laughed. “He is the type. Far too like his father.”

“And James is far too easy on him,” Alistair agreed.

“Oh, and you are not the same with Andrew?” Eleanor scoffed.

Alistair scowled at Eleanor before scooping his daughter from his mother’s arms. Then he groaned as he sat beside Lottie. As soon as he did, Lottie took Mary from him and cradled her to her body. Mary slept soundly, but she wore a happy smile, and Lottie could only wonder what wonderful dreams she was having.

“No fair!” Andrew cried out suddenly. “Mommy! They cheat!”

“We are not!” Clara rebuked.

“Are too!”

“Girls, be nice,” Alistair warned his nieces.

“We are!” Anna said. “We are!”

Lottie just smiled and laughed. Eleanor, too, widened her eyes in warning at her daughters, but soon laughed along with Lottie. It was all in good fun; the mood in the back garden was splendid, and it had everything to do with the family that gathered there.

As the children played and Alistair took back his daughter, and as Eleanor got up and went to chastise her two daughters, Lottie took a moment to appreciate where she found herself.

That she had Alistair would have been enough for her, and if they were forced to live alone on a farm somewhere, cut off from the world, she would have counted herself lucky. But that was not her reality. She had him, yes, but she also had a son and a daughter; she had a sister-in-law and best friend, and she had a mother-in-law whom she had come to appreciate and even love. She also had close friends, with their own children. She had … well, she had everything.

With that thought in mind, she took Alistair’s hand. He looked up and frowned at the expression on her face.

“What?” he asked. “What is that look?”

“Oh, no,” she said dreamily. “Just thinking about how happy I am, is all.”

“You only just realized that now?” He chuckled.

“No,” she said. “But it is good to be reminded now and then. To realize what I have, so I will not take it for granted.”

He kissed her hand. “I love you so much. Realize that.”

“As I love you,” she returned. “The man of my dreams …”

“The life of your dreams,” he countered.

Lottie laughed because truer words had never been spoken.