"N&S: John Thornton, Love Lessons", by Gratiana Lovelace (2013-2014) (Done)

Ch. 74 (PG-13): Loving from the Heart, Part 1

Audrey Grace cannot contain her excitement as she bubbles over with enthusiasm and dashes to her parents’ sides.  They lean down and embrace her.

Audrey Grace:  “Oh!  Mama!   Papa!   Uncle Gavin told me about how fun it is to play with the other children staying here! May I play with them too?”  She gazes up at her parents gleefully.

Margaret: Caressing her daughter’s cheek, she smiles lovingly.  “Yes, my Sweetheart.  We will have lunch with the family, then you may play with the children after.”

Gavin: Little Gavin turns to his much older brother and Audrey Grace’s father.  “John!   The childrrren we have now have only been herrre for a little bit, but we have fun togetherrr.”  Gavin smiles broadly.  And Gavin’s Scottish brogue is somewhat tempered by him also having an English mother.

John: “Is that so, Gavin?”  John asks impishly.

Gavin: Taking his brother John’s hand, Gavin squeezes it.  “It is, because I said so.  I do not lie.  Mama and Papa say lying is bad.” Little Gavin intones seriously--with no prompting from his parents. 

Hannah: “Ha ha ha!  Yes, Gavin, dear.  You do have fun with the children!  And you do not lie.” She smiles warmly at her little son for being so welcoming of the children, and for him not minding that they also receive his parents’ attention.

Gavin: “Thank ye, Mama.”  Gavin smiles hard at his beaming Mama.  Then Gavin looks at his father Cameron Lord Airlie who gives him a small nod with a twinkling eye.   Gavin likes being a good boy and earning his parents praise.

Cameron: “Ha ha ha ha ha!  Me wee bairrrn is an honest laddie--sometimes to a fault.”  Cameron finishes sotto voce to John with a bemused and blushing smile on his face.  John smiles in recognition of his little brother’s cute earnestness about honesty. 

However Cameron is thinking more particularly about the time that he forgot to bolt the master bed chamber suite’s bathing chamber door, and little Gavin walked in on Cameron’s bath with his wife Hannah--them embarrassedly clinging to each other to cover their nakedness in front of their son.  But little ones’ attention is usually focused on themselves.   And Gavin wondered if there was room in the tub for him, too, as he began to remove his trouser suspenders.  Unlike most little boys, Gavin loves having a bath--especially since the tubs at Airlie Castle are so huge, and he is still so little that he can lay flat and float in them. But his parents bade him wait for his own bath, since their water was now cold--only a slight fib.  That seemed to satisfy Gavin’s interest and he walked out and toward his own bedchamber for his bath. Though to Cameron and Hannah’s chagrin, little Gavin recounted the bathing incident to the elderly Dowager Duchess of Argyle the next day at tea time.  Mercifully, her hearing isn’t what it used to be and she only understood that Gavin likes warm bath water.  Thereafter, Cameron always made certain to bolt his bathing and bed chamber doors--to prevent their littlest bairn from interrupting them unexpectedly.

Audrey Grace: “So, the children here haven’t found their parents yet, Grandpapa Cameron?”  She asks sweetly as she holds her Mama Margaret’s hand lovingly and gently squeezses it.

Cameron: “Nay, me dearrr.”  Cameron exchanges a hopefully look with John and Margaret--and then his wife.

Audrey Grace: “Well, maybe some of them they will like us and want to be our children.  We have a big manor with many bed chambers.  Don’t we, Mama and Papa?”  John and Margaret nod sheepishly.  “Why do we have so many beds and bed chambers if they aren’t going to be used?” Audrey Grace shrugs her little arms in confusion for her family’s wealthy accoutrements. And Audrey Grace wanting to be welcoming to others is so very like her Mama, Margaret’s kind nature.  “And I should very much like to have a brother and a sister, please.”  Audrey Grace suggests breezily as the adults raise their eyebrows in amusement.