24
Fiona
We arrivedhome safely after weeks at sea and then an arduous train journey from New York City to Denver and then finally to Emerson Pass. As so many times before when one of us had come or gone, the entire family was waiting for us at the platform. Both my little sisters were crying by the time Mama reached them and took them into her arms.
“I shall never leave you for such a long time again,” Mama said to Addie.
“I was perfectly fine. Quite brave, actually,” Delphia said.
“I’m sure you were, my brave girl,” Papa said, hauling her into his arms. “But we missed you more than we can say.”
After we introduced James to the family, we all went home to spend the afternoon in the backyard, eating, playing croquet, and listening to music.
We introduced James and our little boys to the family. Bleu and Beaumont clung to Li and me. “Don't worry,” I said to them. “After a while, all this chaos will be completely normal.”
Cymbeline, with her round belly tucked under a linen shirtdress, held me so tightly I could hardly take in a breath. “Don’t ever leave me again,” she whispered into my ear. “I can’t bear it.”
“I see. It’s all right for you to leave but not me?” I asked, teasing.
“And look what you’ve brought home,” Cym said. “A whole family. Isn’t it just like you to have two boys before I could even give birth to my baby.”
Later, we were all gathered together in the yard watching Delphia teach the twins how to play croquet. Although she was only a year older and much smaller than her new twin cousins, that didn’t stop her from bossing them around and acting superior. They didn’t seem to notice, as they hung on her every word. Although I doubted they could understand half of what she was saying. Mama and James were playing croquet with the children while comparing thoughts on several new books.
Papa, Phillip, and Flynn had disappeared into his study to talk about business. Shannon and Louisa were sitting together speaking with their heads close, perhaps giving each other advice about how to put up with a Barnes twin. The smallest of our clan were upstairs taking afternoon naps, giving their mothers a break. Even Louisa’s infant son had cooperated and gone down at the same time as his older cousins. Since I’d been gone, we had another Barnes to add to our messy family. Louisa had given birth to a little boy they’d named Simon, after her father. I’d never seen her as happy, and for that I was thankful. Shannon was back to her joyful self as well, now that Flynn was behaving himself. Well, as much as Flynn could. There had been talk at lunch about growing Phillip’s ski-making shop to include a larger factory. The glint in Flynn’s eyes when he talked about expanding into more markets than just our town told me that soon they would have another thriving enterprise.
Gabriella was downstairs with Lizzie probably getting an earful about all things Barnes family lore. She might wish to return to Paris. Li’s cottage, which I guess was my cottage now, too, had only three bedrooms. With his grandmother still living with us, we didn’t have a room for her. Thus, she would stay in a room here at the big house until we had it all sorted.
Li was inside, playing the piano in the parlor just off the enclosed front porch. The notes drifted out the windows, giving a musical background to the glorious afternoon.
That left Addie, Jo, Cym, and me to sit together in chairs under the shade. Lizzie had sent up lemonade, which refreshed us in the heat of the afternoon. The sky was a color blue I’d not seen anywhere else during my travels. Birds chirped in the trees. A slight breeze brought the scent of the sweet peas that bloomed on the other side of the fence. I let out a happy sigh and stretched my legs out long. “You can’t know how happy I am to be home.”
“Honestly, I can’t believe you brought home two children,” Cym said. “Only you could go to Paris and instead of getting into trouble end up bringing home two darling waifs.”
“That’s our Fiona,” Jo said. “From the time she could talk she was rescuing someone with her loving heart.”
“Is that true?” I asked. “I don’t remember it that way at all.”
“It’s how I remember it,” Josephine said. “And since I’m the eldest, what I say goes.”
“Agreed.” I squeezed her hand. “I’m glad to see my sisters,” I said.
“It was dreadful without you,” Cymbeline said. “I thought for sure I’d have this baby with you still in France and the thought made me want to bury my head under the pillows and not come out.”
“Viktor would have had something to say about that,” I said.
“They’re adorable,” Jo said, referring to Bleu and Beaumont. “I wish I could understand them better.”
Cym had her glass of lemonade perched on top of her baby bump. “Do you see I have a shelf now? Isn’t it convenient?” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know why anyone would do this twice. It’s a pity I couldn’t have ordered twins.”
Despite my sister’s complaints, she glowed with happiness and good health. Josephine looked well too, juggling her two little ones with such ease that I wished I could take a spoonful of her and have it give me magical mothering powers.
“We’re delighted for you,” Josephine said, patting my hand that rested on the chair’s wide wooden arm.
“We could hardly believe what we were reading,” Cym said. “I’ve never made it over to Jo’s house faster than I did that day.”
I’d written to them about my marriage and the boys in the same letter, sending it to Cymbeline’s address and asking her to share it with Jo.
“You know how to get people talking, that’s for certain,” Jo said. “Everyone in town knew about the boys before the sun set that day.”
“It was Flynn,” Cymbeline said. “He told everyone he saw that you and Li were married and if they had anything to say about it they better tell him right then.”
“No one had anything to say about it.” Josephine laughed and sighed at the same time.
I joined in her laughter, imagining Flynn walking around town threatening the innocent. “He’s always been protective of us.”
“However misguided,” Cym said. “The Barnes girls don’t need anyone protecting us.”
“Why would we, when we have you?” I asked.
Jo gestured toward James, who was bent over his croquet stick preparing for his shot. “He seems to be fitting right in here with us.”
“He’s a charmer,” I said, noticing how both my little sisters seemed taken with him.
“It’s a shame his friend’s book hasn’t led to more work,” Josephine said. “But perhaps it will all happen the way it should.”
“We never know what’s coming, do we?” Cym asked. “When our wishes don’t come true and we think it’s over for us, only to wake to find a new path that’s even better.”
I glanced over at Addie, who sat slightly apart from us and scribbled away in her notebook. “Adelaide, tell me how you are. You’ve barely said a word this afternoon.”
She blew a strand of blond hair from her eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be standoffish. It’s just that I have a new story idea and want to get it all written down before I forget.”
“What kind of story this time?” Jo asked. “Romance or mystery?”
Addie flashed a shy smile. “This will be a story of the romantic nature.” Her eyes drifted toward James, who had his head thrown back laughing at something Mama had said. “My hero will have coppery hair and dancing eyes.”
I hid an amused smile behind my hand. James had an admirer.