A Passion for Pleasure(111)
“Did I forget to tell you?” Clara asked. “Uncle Granville spent a great deal of time with us when we stayed in Dorset.”
“Yes, you forgot to tell me.” He glowered at her. “And I neglected to consider the fact that your uncle is a consequence of marriage to you.”
She shot him a smile. “Too late now, isn’t it, husband?”
Too late, indeed. To his great good fortune.
Andrew darted forward to pick up a mechanical turtle, the shell a gleaming design of green metal. He turned the key and grinned as the creature plodded forward on thick legs.
“Oh!” Clara went to a large, closed trunk that sat near the windows. “I didn’t think it would have arrived yet.”
“I had Giles bring it directly from the museum,” Sebastian said.
“Andrew, these are all for you.” Clara unlatched the lid and opened the trunk to reveal the myriad of toys and automata inside. “Uncle Granville made most of them, and others were sent by fellow inventors.”
Andrew hurried to peer into the trunk. Clara took out a wooden acrobat and demonstrated how it flipped into an intricate spin. Andrew laughed.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” Clara handed the toy to her son.
Andrew dug into the trunk and began removing wooden trains and boats. Sebastian watched as Clara straightened and approached him again, a smile curving her mouth and a light glowing in her eyes.
His heart swelled, all the shadows of the past slipping away. The loss he had once considered so dire had become insignificant in the face of all he had found with Clara and Andrew. Although he still could not fathom the extent of his mother’s betrayal, he now understood both the strength and fragility of love. He would do anything to protect it, to ensure that nothing ever again came between him and his family.
He wrapped his arm around Clara’s shoulders and pulled her to him, pressing his lips to the top of her head. She softened against him, one hand sliding over his back. For a moment, they watched Andrew as he began setting up the toys on the floor.
“Andrew, I’m going to talk to the housekeeper,” Clara said. “We’ll have supper in about an hour, I imagine.”
Andrew nodded. Clara gave Sebastian another smile before she headed toward the kitchen.
Sebastian crouched next to Andrew. He picked up a mechanical duck and set it waddling across the floor. He and Andrew both chuckled as the creature emitted a squeaky quack every step or two. Sebastian glanced at the boy.
“Would you like to continue your piano lessons while we’re here?” he asked.
Andrew nodded, his assent bringing a welcome warmth to Sebastian’s heart. After reviewing the charges against Fairfax, a judge had returned custody of Andrew to Clara and Sebastian, a situation that would be permanent as soon as the papers were drawn up.
“I want to make balloons again too,” Andrew said.
“And I’ll also show you how to make crystals using alum and hot water. Let’s see if we can upset the housekeeper here as successfully as we did Mrs. Danvers.”
Andrew grinned. Sebastian reached out to tousle the boy’s hair before he pushed to standing and went out to the garden. A fresh, cold wind swept through the trees. Sebastian breathed in the sea air, felt it swim through his veins and cleanse the dirt of the city from his lungs.
“It was once lovely,” Clara said from behind him. She reached out to pluck a weed from a flower bed.
“It still is. And we’ll restore it to its former glory.” Sebastian tucked a stray lock of hair back behind Clara’s ear. “Darius has promised to visit prior to his return to St. Petersburg. And after he and Granville finish constructing the cipher machine, which they ought to do soon now that they have Rushton’s patronage.”
“When is Lord Rushton scheduled to present it to the Home Office?”
“Next month. Darius is certain that the committee members will be highly impressed by the machine and Monsieur Dupree’s unbreakable code. And if the Home Office uses it to further the British efforts in the war, then such an attainment will greatly enhance Rushton’s political standing.”
“And further diminish the effects of my father’s disgrace upon the earldom,” Clara added, a shadow darkening her eyes.
“As Darius recently reminded me, the earldom is locked tight and secure,” Sebastian said. “And trust me when I say that people are already talking about your courage in the face of your father’s cruelty. Not to mention Andrew’s.”