The sunrise was still just the slightest dash of pale red and gold in the east in the middle of the darkest time of the year when Kate lay in bed enjoying that sweet and light early morning slumber, not yet fully awake but not entirely asleep either. She could feel that the room was chilly, since the fire had died out at some point during the night. Their servants knew better than to disturb them in their bedroom at night, or at any part of the day, as a matter of fact. But, underneath the heavy down blankets and next to her husband's body, it was wonderfully warm and cosy. Kate listened to Anthony's breathing and indulged the feeling of having him there, so close to her again. A moment later, or it might as well have been an hour, she opened her eyes when she felt a featherlike touch on her cheek. Anthony's face was just a few inches away from hers and he studied her with a tender, almost vulnerable look, as if he was watching the most beautiful painting in the world. Softly he brushed away a few long dark strands of hair behind her ear and let his fingers run slowly down her jawline. Kate cast a fond, but still sleepy smile at him.
"Good morning..." Anthony whispered with a smile and kept caressing her face gently.
"The best of mornings..." Kate smiled back at him and gave him a few slow kisses from where she was laying on her side, which seemed to be the only comfortable position nowadays. Anthony pulled her closer and tucked his legs in so that they were weaved together with hers. "Have you been up all night?" She smirked at him and ran her thumb along his cheekbone.
"Almost. I wanted to feel him kick at last, but there was nothing..." Anthony sighed. "Can you believe that this will be our last Christmas alone?" He smiled and let his fingertips wander down from her face to her round belly. "Next year there will be three of us." He breathed out, just as an ear-shattering high-pitched scream tore through the walls from the corridor. First it sounded like Hyacinth, then as Gregory as well and Finally even like Francesca.
"Alone, you said...?" Kate chuckled, but looked a bit worried by all the sudden hysteria.
"What the hell..." Anthony swore, jumped up from the bed and quickly donned a shirt. Kate followed him, swiftly wrapping a large woollen blanket around her nightgown. "The house better be on fire or something... If it is just your damned dog who has once again brought in a dead bird or something, I swear to God I will roast him, prop an apple into his mouth and serve him up at dinner tonight..." He muttered and yanked the door open. "What the devil is going on here?!" He yelled at his siblings, who apparently ran around screaming in the hall.
"SNOW!!" Hyacinth shrieked, stopped for a moment to look at Anthony, before rushing down the stairs in a large fur hat, thick winter boots and a long unfastened woollen jacket. Kate gasped as she heard what Hyacinth had said, rushed back to the bedroom window and jerked the curtains open so violently that they almost came loose from their fastenings.
"Oh...!" She exhaled when she saw the first rays of sunshine glimmer over the landscape that was covered in a thick layer of untouched, glistening white snow. It was so beautiful that it almost hurt her eyes. She began to dress up as hastily and floppily as Hyacinth apparently had, while Anthony kept staring at all the commotion like his entire family had finally lost their last crumbs of sanity. "What are you waiting for, get dressed!" Kate exclaimed as she dashed out into the hall past him. The other bedroom doors were opening as well, revealing a seemingly excited Colin and Eloise, in addition to a much less excited and much more tired Benedict. Kate hurried down the stairs as fast as she could in her condition, finally darting through the exterior doors and into the cold outside air. The stingy frost immediately bit quite harshly at her cheeks, which her husband had just so fondly caressed, but she did not pay it any mind. She had already slumped down to her knees on the ground and was scooping up the snow in her bare hands, marvelling upon how cold it was and how fast it nevertheless melted away on her skin. It was so much more thrilling and enchanting than she had remembered, though her mind now kept flooding with memories of all the snowmen, castles and lanterns she had built as a young child in London. Kate could not stroll down her memory lane for long, because a snowball suddenly came swishing by her ear, missing her head only by an inch. "Hey! Who did that?" She called out and saw Gregory grinning at her from afar.
"Take cover, Kate! The infamous Bridgerton snowball massacre is as ruthless as pall-mall, if not worse!" Colin laughed as he ran past her towards Gregory, moulding a huge snowball in his hands. Kate gave out a little shriek when another snowball almost hit her, this time tossed at her by Eloise, so she figured out it would be better to take cover behind a large statue in the gardens, since she was at the moment not as mobile as the younger Bridergertons.
"Are there some sort of rules to this... Massacre?" Kate hooted at Colin.
"Well, there is a point system!" Colin replied from behind a rosebush and whacked away a snowball towards Hyacinth. "Ten points for the upper body, twenty points for arms and legs. Forty points for a headshot, fifty if it is Anthony's head!" He laughed and ducked from a flying ball that almost hit his shoulder. Kate grinned and started to mould up her own pile of ammunition, but she found it surprisingly hard to hit rapidly moving targets such as Gregory and Hyacinth, while she herself was stuck in her stronghold behind the statue.
"Kate, what on earth are you -" Anthony began, as he had apparently finally arrived outside as well, but his words got muffled out by a snowball that hit him straight in the face. Kate had finally found an easy enough target for her little white cannonballs.
"Haha, fifty points to Kate!" Colin rejoiced and tried to throw a ball at Anthony as well, but he had already angrily wiped away Kate's snowball from his face and dodged Colin's attack quite smoothly. Then, Anthony turned his smouldering and evilly calculating eyes towards Kate and she instantly knew that she was in big trouble.
"Oh no, no, no, no...!" She shrieked and tried to back away into the bushes surrounding the statue, but they were too thick with branches to provide her any shelter. Anthony had by now scooped up a large pile of snow into his hands and approached her threateningly. She tried to whisk away a few snowballs at him in defence, but she was laughing too hysterically - and panicking too much - to be able to aim at all. "Colin, help!" She pleaded, but Colin had already launched an attack towards Eloise and could not hear her desperate cry for aid. Anthony grabbed her by the wrists, stopping her from throwing any more snowballs at him and gently wrestled her down on her back to the soft snow.
"This is what you get for trying to best me in the Bridgerton snowball massacre..." He laughed mischievously and stuffed snow onto Kate's face and neck.
"Argh, no...! Bloody hell, it is cold...!" Kate screamed when the snow melted against her warm chest, ran down her bosom and in between her breasts. "Look what you did, my bosom is all wet and freezing...!" She shrieked out laughingly.
"Oh no, what a tragedy..." He grinned, buried his face against said bosom and kissed her, as if that would somehow make the situation less wet. But at least his breath was hot, Kate thought to herself, and tucked the edges of her scarf under her bodice as soon as he was done. Anthony had already begun to scout out for his next victim, spotted that Benedict had now joined and threw a ball straight into his back, where it landed with a loud smack.
"Hey...!" Benedict exclaimed and spun around. He began to march towards Kate's and Anthony's hiding place, while scooping up snow and moulding a firm ball as he went. Kate cast a sly grin at Anthony and nodded towards Benedict while signalling for her husband to wait.
"No, do not shoot...!" She stood up and raised her hands up in surrender. "Do not shoot, I am pregnant!" She pleaded as she stepped out from behind the statue. Benedict smiled understandingly at her and dropped his snowball to the ground, but was immediately ambushed by a cruelly laughing Anthony, who jumped up from behind the bushes and showered his brother with a series of hard snowballs straight into his chest and stomach.
"Good job, darling! I believe that was at least another fifty points to our team!" Anthony flashed a victorious smile towards Kate and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I counted that it was sixty." Kate added with a smug grin and kissed him eagerly, her body running wild from all the adrenaline.
"This is not a team sport!!" Benedict roared at them and tried to throw a snowball straight into their passionate kiss, but they ducked away just in time and hid behind the statue again.
"Colin said that there are no rules!" Kate laughed and started to mould up new ammunition.
"Colin! Eloise, Fran, Hyacinth and Gregory! Come, we have a viscount and a viscountess to slay!" Benedict's voice boomed out from behind the bush as he was marching away towards his siblings. Kate and Anthony were huddled up next to the statue with their backs against each other, frenetically rolling up snowballs for the inevitable upcoming fatal attack.
"I believe this is it, for us... Our time has come. It has truly been an honour to serve in this war with you, Viscountess Bridgerton." He smirked at her over his shoulder.
"No, you must save us, Lord Bridgerton!" Kate laughed and turned around to face him. "At least give me one more kiss, before we must perish!" She begged dramatically and collapsed into his arms. Anthony chuckled, but kissed her for as long as he dared while his siblings' voices were coming closer. He peeked over the bush and immediately hunkered back down as a snowball came hurling past his head. He catapulted one last ball towards Benedict, who seemed to be the leader of the troup, before squatting down again and turning back towards Kate.
"This is the end, my dear." He declared with his forehead against hers, pulled her tightly against him and wrapped his arms around her, trying to shield her body from the attack that would soon be upon them, as the others could be no further away than a few metres.
"Oh...!" Kate suddenly exclaimed and grasped her belly.
"What is it, is something wrong...?" Anthony gasped and stared at her in horror. Kate's face melted into a smile, she ripped up her jacket and placed his cold hand at the bottom of her belly. Anthony looked confused for a while, until his hand was met by an equally strong little kick Kate had felt a moment ago. "Oh! Oh, dear lord..." He breathed out, his eyes instantly tearing up.
"Haha! Now you are going to get it, you -" Benedict jumped out from behind the bush.
"No, stop! The baby is kicking!" Kate exclaimed and waved her arm at him, while holding her other hand firmly against Anthony's neck. She felt like he would need some support, or otherwise he might fall apart completely.
"If this is once again one of your evil schemes, I swear to God I will -" Benedict began, but stopped as he saw that a tear had just rolled down from his otherwise quite unemotional oldest brother's eyes. The other siblings had now gathered around Benedict and gawked at the scene in confusion.
"I... I can feel it, I can finally feel it...!" Anthony wheezed out and dried his eyes with his right hand, while his other hand was once again met by a tiny foot from the inside.
"I want to feel it too!" Hyacinth yelped and sat down on the ground next to Anthony.
"There, can you feel it...?" Anthony exhaled as he had placed her tiny hand where his hand had just been.
"No... Oh, yes, I can! How strange!" Hyacinth giggled.
"Let me in too!" Francesca complained and squeezed in between Anthony and Hyacinth.
"Oh no, what a cute little kick...!" She sighed as Hyacinth had guided her where to try and feel it. Kate smiled at them all happily, from where she sat propped against the statue.
"I do not want to feel it, it is too strange..." Eloise muttered with a disgusted face. "It is like you had swallowed some eel that was still alive and now it is slithering around in your stomach." She commented dryly.
"I assure you, it does not feel like an eel..." Kate laughed. "Rather like a very competitive Bridgerton, who wanted to be a part of the snowball massacre... Ouch...!" She huffed.
"Move away, you two..." Anthony hissed at Hyacinth and Francesca, hogging Kate's belly to himself again. "Hello, you wonderful little thing... It is your father here." He murmured to the baby, paying no attention to anyone else around him for a long time.
"So, who won the snowball massacre this year?" Colin wondered. "I believe I got eighty points."
"Merely eighty points? I got at least a hundred and twenty." Benedict sneered. "But, I still think that it was these two who won the snowball massacre this time." He smiled towards Kate and Anthony, while grabbing Colin's shoulder and escorting the rest of the siblings back to the house, leaving the blissful couple alone with their Christmas miracle.
***
For obvious reasons Anthony had not been able to take his siblings out on the much awaited Christmas tree hunt first thing in the morning, as he had promised, but he did do it after lunch, when there still was a few hours of daylight left. The stablemaster had harnessed old Rob in front of a sleigh and now the large Ardennais workhorse was standing outside waiting for the eager tree hunters.
"Are you sure you are not coming with us? Col? Ben? El?" Anthony hooted to the trio slumped in the seating group by the fireplace in the drawing room, each of them either reading or writing something.
"Nah, we will rather stay here where it is warm and admire the damned thing inside when it is decorated." Benedict grinned and returned to his writing. Colin and Eloise gave out agreeing grunts.
"Fine, suit yourselves then!" Anthony snorted, put on a pair of thick sheepskin-lined leather gloves and stepped outside where Kate, Francesca, Gregory and Hyacinth were already waiting for him next to the huge bay horse and its beautifully decorated sleigh.
"See, Fran! You will get your sleighride after all." Anthony smiled at her as he jumped up on the driver's bench and grabbed the reins. Kate squeezed in next to him and wrapped a large woollen blanket around them both, whereas the younger siblings crawled onto the back of the sleigh, underneath several layers of sheepskins and furs. "Everybody ready?" Anthony yelled over his shoulder, receiving excited replies of agreement. "Walk on, Rob." He smacked his mouth at the horse, which slowly began pulling the sleigh behind it down the road towards the deeper, more spruce-inhabited forests further away on the Bridgerton estate. "Oh, come on..." Anthony muttered and gave the horse a whack with the reins, making it fall into a lazy trot. Francesca sighed loudly with content as the sleigh bells began to chime in the same beat as the horse's steps. Meanwhile Kate burrowed herself deeper underneath Anthony's arm and pulled her hood tighter around her head to keep warm, as the freezing wind whizzed against her face when the horse picked up its speed. Anthony gave her hood-clad head a kiss and steered the horse with one hand into a barely visible smaller cart path running over a snowy field. They passed a farmhouse where the farmer and his children were standing in the yard, eagerly waving at them. Anthony tipped his hat at the family, while Kate, Francesca, Hyacinth and Gregory replied with equally hearty waving.
"Merry Christmas!" Kate called out to them, before turning back towards Anthony. "Oh, it is so beautiful out here! Almost unrealistic..." She breathed out. "And I do not believe I have actually ever been on a sleigh ride before." She pondered and leaned against his shoulder.
"Well, this is certainly the best possible specimen in which to start your sleigh-riding career!" He smiled and gave the shaft connecting the sleigh to the horse a firm pat. "I believe it was my grandfather, or perhaps even great grandfather, who built this. The stablemaster has taken such good care of it." He prattled on and Kate hummed something in reply, but in reality she was more focused on admiring the vast sparkling white landscape spreading around them as far as eyes could see. She remembered how she had rode here during the summer last year, halting up on a hill and admiring the view, trying to quench that little thought that had awakened in her heart, a dangerous thought that she would have gladly been the viscountess of these gorgeous lands. And now she was...
"We need to have a big tree this time, it is Kate's first Christmas with us after all!" Gregory yelled.
"Of course, but we always get such big trees that you get tired of decorating them!" Anthony laughed. Kate turned around in her seat to look at the sibling trio.
"Everything alright back there?" She smiled at them.
"Yes!" They cried out happily in unison, looking rather silly in their large fur hats. Anthony halted the horse when they had reached the edge of the forest and took off his hat.
"We will continue by foot from here." He declared and jumped down from the bench. "Not you." He added to Kate and handed her the reins. "But keep Rob at a slow walk."
"That should not be a difficult task..." Kate chuckled, as Hyacinth, Francesca and Gregory hopped down from the sleigh. Anthony grabbed an axe from underneath the furs in the back and trudged into the woods through the snow. His siblings followed him and Kate gave the horse a gentle smack with the reins, making it slowly plough onwards in the snow.
"What about that one?" Hyacinth pointed at a large snow-covered spruce.
"No, it is too small!" Gregory protested.
"That one, then?" Francesca nodded towards an even taller tree.
"No, that one is perfect." Anthony grinned and steered his steps towards a huge lush spruce standing proudly alone in the middle of a glade.
"That one is much too big!" Kate exclaimed, but urged the horse to follow in Anthony's footsteps.
"It is not, it will fit in the drawing room perfectly! The room is bigger and taller than you think." Anthony stated and swung his axe around in the air like he was some savage Viking.
"Fine, I guess you know the house better than I do..." Kate muttered and halted the horse a good bit away from him. Hunkering down, Anthony scooped away some snow to reveal the root of the tree. Even if the man had been rubbish at wielding a hammer in the summer, apparently he knew what he was doing with the axe. It did not surprise Kate that much, since in fact was a much less intricate tool. He began to whack the axe against the root of the tree quite furiously, until he had managed to make a big notch in it. Then he gave it a kick and the tree began to wobble in a threatening manner.
"Timber!" Anthony yelled loudly, as the big tree finally gave in and crashed down with a loud thud into the snow. Old Rob did not even twitch his ear at the commotion. Then, Anthony tossed the axe back on the sleigh, grabbed the horse's reins right next to its huge head and expertly backed the sleigh next to the fallen tree, as if he had been a lumberjack all his life. He cast a smug smirk at Kate, before fetching some rope from the back of the sleigh.
"There is no need for that, I am indeed quite impressed and not afraid to admit it." Kate grinned at him. The younger siblings hurried to help Anthony drag the heavy tree to the sleigh. Quickly Kate reached over and rescued the furs from underneath the tree, before it landed on the back of the sleigh with a gust of green needles flying around in the cold air. The others fastened the spruce tightly to the sleigh with ropes and Kate threw the furs on top of the tree, so that her siblings-in-law would have a more comfortable and less prickly ride home.
"So, that is the Christmas tree sorted out! As well as mending the harsh blow my manliness took, when I cried like a little girl over feeling my child's movements for the first time..." Anthony laughed as he jumped back up on the driver's bench next to Kate and put his hat back on. "Everybody on board? Hold on to the ropes so you do not fall off!" He instructed his siblings over his shoulder and gave the horse a whack with the reins on its big rump. The old horse pulled the heavy sleigh in motion surprisingly easily and headed out towards the fields, this time at a much faster pace towards home.
"Let him run, brother!" Gregory yelled as they were out from the woods. Anthony smacked his mouth at the horse, gave it a bit of rein and it plunged onward in the snow like a locomotive, taking a few canter steps every now and then between its fast trotting. Gregory, Francesca and Hyacinth screamed out of joy and were hanging on to the ropes for their dear lives, as snow was gusting all around them and into their faces. Kate laughed heartfeltly at their joy, but gave out a shriek and grabbed Anthony's arm as the sleigh hit a hole in the field and it almost threw her off the bench. The old sleigh gave out an ominous squeaking noise, but the horse kept on trotting happily through the snow with its cargo.
"Whoops, there is some more work for the stablemaster..." Anthony laughed a bit ashamedly. "I am sorry, darling... This is a silly tradition our father started, to get to the house as soon as possible. Sometimes we even raced the Johnsons back home from the woods." He added, referring to the farmer's family they had passed earlier.
"I do not mind at all, this is so much fun!" Kate grinned excitedly. Anthony smiled fondly at her, thinking that this was just one of the countless reasons why he loved her. She was always immediately and wholeheartedly joining all the peculiar Bridgerton traditions, everything from pall-mall to the snowball massacre - and now the race back home with a ridiculously big spruce tied on a sleigh.
"Faster!" Gregory screamed from behind them. Anthony turned around to make sure all three of his siblings were still aboard. He did not trust that Gregory would even have noticed if either one of his sisters had been thrown off the sleigh into a deep pile of snow.
"No, we nearly broke the sleigh already!" He yelled back at Gregory. Almost half of the tree was hanging over the edge of the sleigh, swooshing in the snow and brushing away their tracks.
"I am sure we can go a little faster, we are on an even road now!" Kate exclaimed, grabbed the reins from Anthony and gave the horse a whack. "Come on Rob, come on! Run home to your oats!" She shouted at the horse - much to the delight of the other passengers - and it jolted into a speedy canter towards Aubrey Hall resting on top of the hill in front of them, underneath a heavy blanket of snow.
***
In the evening the enormous Christmas tree had finally been fully decorated with the family's almost a century old, beautifully painted glass baubles, along with hundreds of other decorations. Kate's hands had been shaking and she had been absolutely sure she would break every single one of the delicate old things, but miraculously nothing was lost and Anthony had even managed to put up a golden star on top of it all, assisted by the tallest ladder they could find in the house. The Bridgertons, Lady Mary and Lady Danbury had then gathered next to the tree in the drawing room and shared their expectations regarding the following days, since Christmas was apparently a four-day festivity at Aubrey Hall, the most important days of course being Christmas Eve tomorrow and Christmas Day following it. Anthony announced that they would all go to the Christmas Eve mass at the church down in the village tomorrow evening, Kate wanted to go on another sleigh ride, both Lady Mary and Lady Danbury were waiting for the delicious Christmas dinners, Benedict was thirsty for mulled wine, Colin wished to tell everyone how people celebrated Christmas in Greece, Francesca desired to play Christmas songs on the piano all day, Eloise craved to read and eat lots of chocolate, while the youngest siblings were simply awaiting the presents. Then, Lady Mary had cried twice as much as Anthony when the baby was moving around again and she was able to feel it too. Eloise's curiosity had got the best of her and she had wanted to feel it as well, but she had still kept saying it was too strange, even though Benedict claimed that she had looked quite emotional indeed.
Now, later in the evening, Anthony and Benedict had withdrawn to the smoking room, while Colin had chosen to stay behind and entertain the others with some magic tricks he had picked up in Greece. Kate had quite soon grown tired of seeing the same tricks over and over again, in contrast to Mary, Lady Danbury, Hyacinth and Gregory who were still enjoying them immensely, so she had instead begun to browse through all the Christmas cards and letters that had arrived. There was one card from the Dorsets, which Mrs Margaret probably had painted herself, of course two big ones from the Bassets and Stanton Manor, an eye-hurting shiny golden card from the Featheringtons and a bunch of other cards from people Kate had never even heard of, but they seemed to wish also the viscountess a 'Merry Christmas' and 'a happy new year' nevertheless. Almost at the bottom of the pile she found a letter stamped in London and addressed to her. She opened it and pulled out a card that seemed to be from the opera gift shop. The handwritten letters on the back wrote 'Merriest of Christmases to Viscountess Bridgerton, lots of love from your grateful friend at the opera. Lord Fife sends his regards as well!' and was sealed with a sensual print of crimson lipstick. Kate smirked to herself and tucked the letter under her arm. Then she noticed that the last letter in the pile was in fact not to her, but had Eloise's name on it.
"El, this is for you." She smiled and reached over to give the letter to Eloise, who had abandoned Colin's performance long before Kate had and lay on the sofa next to her, while reading one of the many books she had brought with her from London.
"Oh, thank you!" Eloise exclaimed and quickly tore it open, sincerely hoping it was not again a plea for forgiveness from Penelope. It was not. It was from Theo.
Dear Eloise,
I am so sorry for disappearing in the middle of that gathering without any explanation. My courage left me when I realised I had to meet one of your family members, as it somehow felt like you and I would have been exposed to the entire world again. I am also very sorry that awful Lady Whistledown wrote so crudely about you last year and it saddens me that we did not keep in touch afterwards. I hope you did not get into too much of a scandal, even though it seemed, from what I read in the papers, that people quickly forgot about your behaviour once your brother married a woman to whose sister he apparently had been betrothed to earlier. I wish to point out that I do not enjoy reading gossip about rich people, but I did want to know that you were alright, because I do truly care for you, Miss Eloise Bridgerton.
I also hope that you and your sister-in-law did not get into too much trouble due to your visit to Bloomsbury and her giving that spectacular speech. But I must tell you that ever since that Whistledown woman wrote about agreeing with Viscountess Bridgerton and Mary Wollstonecraft, we have had a surprisingly large increase in demand for Wollstonecraft's books at the shop. Apparently many highborn ladies wanted those books as Christmas presents this year, so I guess we might have your sister-in-law to thank for that...
I believe that was all I wanted to say. I am not even entirely sure why I wrote you this letter, but I wish you a most merry Christmas and the happiest of new years. Keep reading and stay smart.
Yours, Theo Sharpe
Eloise read the letter a few times over, before she finally gave out a little gasp and folded it back into its envelope. Kate looked at her curiously over the second stack of Christmas cards she had found lying on the drawing room table.
"Well, who was it from?" She enquired with a smirk. Eloise plucked out the letter again and folded it so that Kate could not read anything else than the part where the writer told that her speech at Bloomsbury had increased the sales of Wollstonecraft's books amongst the ladies of the peerage.
"What...?" Kate breathed out and raised a surprised eyebrow as she read it. "Can this be true?" She laughed with a disbelieving look.
"It must be, this person works at a book-printing shop, so he must know." Eloise replied.
"He? Oh...! Is this from the handsome young man I saw talking to you in Bloomsbury?" Kate grinned at her and Eloise blushed in shock. Of course Kate had been able to see the two of them up from the stage where she had been standing, when Theo had not yet ran away...
"Um... Well... Yes." Eloise finally admitted stutteringly after a long silence.
"And he is the infamous political radical and book printer's apprentice you were associated with last year..." Kate smiled, this time less mischievously and more fondly, at Eloise.
"You are too clever for your own good, like Anthony always says, do you know that..." Eloise snarled and crossed her arms over her chest in her usual defiance.
"He seemed sweet." Kate kept smiling at her, although Eloise stared at the wall.
"It does not matter. He is in the past." Eloise declared coldly. But somewhere, in the darkest corner of her mind, the scent of the ink and the paper he had used - that same scent of the book-printing shop that equalled his scent to her - had imprinted itself on her dreams and started to paint up a vivid picture of herself running a book-printing business with her husband. Why could she not be Mrs Eloise Sharpe? The name surely fitted her sharp wits...