Patrick

“I doubt that is possible.” He ran a finger over his son’s bunched up fist marveling at how soft his skin was. His eyes opened and he looked up at his father and then closed them again.

“You were worried, weren’t you?” she asked him quietly as she rocked her son to sleep.

“A little bit,” he said mildly.

“Liar,” she whispered.

A nurse came just then to take the baby away and put him in his cot in the nursery.

Patrick wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. He had taken a shower and had something to eat; changing into a set of clothes that one of the drivers had brought for him and realizing that he had not slept.

“How are you?” he asked her, softly brushing back the curls from off her face.

“Much better now.” She snuggled closer to him. “I need you to get some sleep, baby,” she murmured.

“Okay,” he told her, and within minutes, he was fast asleep.

*****

“We have so much to celebrate.” William had come up behind her as she stood by the large bay window in their bedroom at the manor. She had showered and slipped into a rose nightgown with see-through lace. Her ash blonde hair was secured on top of her head and gave an enticing glimpse of her pale neck.

“We do.” She turned and looked at him, her baby blue eyes that her son and grandson had inherited sparkling with tears. “I want you to promise me something.”

“Anything,” he told her tenderly, realizing the past month or so that he had fallen in love with her.

“It will be only me from now on.”

“Of course-” She put a finger on his lips and he stopped talking as he looked down at her.

“We are a family, William, and it has been proven to me when I looked down at that gorgeous grandson of ours. I know you never loved me when we first got married.” She smiled at the startled look on his swarthy, attractive face. “I have always loved you, William, and before I was prepared to sit by and let you go on with your dalliances but not anymore.”

He reached up to cup her face, and his large hands trembled slightly. “You will never have reasons to doubt my fidelity again,” he promised her. “I accused my son of running all over the place and not settling down, but it turned out that I was the one doing it. I have fallen in love with you, my love,” he told her, gently feeling the quiver of her skin. “I intend to be here for the rest of our lives. I saw what my son and Carrie have, and it struck me that you can find everything you want in the woman you are with.”

Carrie almost cried as she came out of the vehicle two days later to find the entire staff waiting to welcome her back home along with the newborn. She saw them standing at attention decked out in their uniforms as they waited for her to come towards them. A butler opened the door for her with a smile as she went in out of the cold. She showed him to all of the members of staff, and they exclaimed how beautiful he was before going off to do their duties.

Her mother as well as Sheryl was there in the living room where a tray of refreshment was waiting on the table and a cheerful fire burning in the fireplace.

The two women left shortly thereafter, and Linda took her grandson and went with him up to his room with William following behind with Carrie’s bags.

Patrick scooped her up into his arms and bounded up the stairs with her. “Don’t you dare say I have to rest,” she warned him as he put her gently on one of the sofas.

“I was going to say that we should get something to eat,” he said with a grin.

She eyed him suspiciously. “Yeah, right.”

He was about to ring the bell when there was a discreet knock on the door.

“Come in.”

A maid came in wheeling in a tray. “The chef figured you would be hungry, Miss Carrie, and of course you too, sir,” she told them.