Masterful Trickery

XL. Game of Masters

"'Pa, o'cors," Alex said.

"He wants grandchildren, Lex. That is all he is concerned about. And we are giving him one soon."

She scoffed. "Yer not certain of it."

"I am certain of it," he said, blindly taking her hand. When she did not resist his touch, he asked, "We are chummy again?"

She was silent for a moment and Ralph opened one eye to study her face. She did not appear as angry as she was when he found her in Meriwether. But she did appear thoughtful.

Being married to Alex had been naught but exhausting. Yet it was also exhilarating, filled of life. She had brought too much in Beechworth and into the Everards. Something he and his family had never truly had before—a sense of resilience. Now that they had Meriwether as their own secret extended home, they all could feel freedom even Devonshire or the other estates cannot entirely provide in full essence.

"If ye promise not te beat Sam again, we might be chummy for a long while," his wife said with a sigh, leaning her head against his shoulder with a yawn.

"The bloody bastard deserved what he got."

"Aye, but he's soon te marry Emma." She let the quiet pass for a while. "Ye didn't force her?"

"No, we did not. I swear on the name of all that is holy," he said wryly. "Not an inch of my soul is keen on the idea."

"Then we have te accept her decision." He did not offer a reply, simply clenched his jaw. "And she has te as well."

Ralph opened his eyes and bent his head to look at his wife. "Even you do not believe she is certain."

"I'm her sister-in-law," Alex said, "but I'm her friend first and foremost."

"And you sense she merely did what she did to save us all the trouble," he said the words that had always been on his mind—on everyone's mind. As a gentry man of the Town, Ralph wanted Emma's decision. But as a brother, he was not quite certain his sister did the right thing. "But that is her trouble to face. She did everything she did on her own. She ought to face them with responsibility from now on for she is no longer a child."

"And what would ye do if she changed her mind?" his wife asked.

Ralph sighed and pulled Alex closer. "Why don't we discuss that if it ever happens?"

Alex sighed. "Good luck te Sam then."

Ralph chuckled. "You like him."

"He's yer friend. 'Cors I like 'im."

"Ah, do not remind me of our friendship. It irks me even more."

"You forgave him."

"Not quite. But soon," he said with a smile. "The very moment he proves himself, of course."

Alex chuckled. "You Everard brothers. Ye dally with women and all the while ye think yer sisters are free from men like ye?"

"I do not dally with other women other than you."

"In the past ye did. Ye had lovers who sneaked out of their own homes te be with ye. Don't be a hypocrite. Emma did what she did because yer friend didn't force her. She did what she did because she wanted te." She tipped her head so their eyes met. "As I did with ye, guv."

Ralph had thought of it. Truly, he did. Yet it was his sister they were talking about. But to keep another heated discussion out the window, he simply sighed and said, "Perhaps I will embrace the idea of having Samuel as my brother-in-law soon. But do not force it on me, darling."