“I am.”
Her golden ringlets bounced as she did. “Then you are a Huntress. I am going to ask my aunt if I can be a Huntress when I am grown. I would be a brilliant Huntress.”
“I suspect you would, and we would be fortunate to have you.”
A brilliant smile filled the girl’s face. “Did you know that my mother was Sarah and Scott’s cousin, and when she was a little girl like me, she lived in the house where Scott lives now?”
“He told me about her.”
Caroline took up the topic with increasing earnestness. “Did he tell you that she liked to sing? She and my papa sang in the parish choir. Sarah helps with the choir now. And Harold listens, mostly because Sarah is there, and he likes to be with Sarah.”
“I have noticed that about them.” She leaned a bit closer to the girl. “And I’ve noticed the same about your papa and mama.” Caroline referred to Marion as “mama” and her own late motheras “mother.” “I have also noticed that your uncle Philip and aunt Sorrel like to be together as well.”
The girl’s eyes pulled wide with excitement. “My cousin Scott likes to be with you.”
Assuming an air of sharing something very secretive, Gillian said, “I like to be with him too.”
“Will you live at my mother’s house with Scott?” Caroline seemed excited at the possibility.
“I hope to someday.”Somehow, Gillian silently added.
“Could I come visit you there?” Caroline asked. “You could teach me how to be a Huntress.”
“I suspect your aunt Artemis would do a better job of that than I would.”
With a wave of her little hand and a breezily offered “Tosh,” Caroline was the very image of Artemis. “She taught you to be a Huntress, and she doesn’t do anything by halves.”
“No, she doesn’t.”
“And you are a Huntress, which makes you practically Aunt Artemis’s sister, which makes you my aunt as well.” Caroline smiled broadly. “Scott and Sarah are my cousins on account of their being my mother’s cousins. Sarah is also my aunt. And if you are living at Scott’s house, you’ll be my cousin too.”
An aunt, a sister, a cousin. Gillian, who had longed for family for years, seemed suddenly surrounded by it. More than that, she wasincludedin it. Was it any wonder Scott felt such an attachment to Sarvol House and the connections he had here?
Lady Julia toddled over. “Care-lie, look.” She held a ribbon up in her little fist. “It came off.”
“Off your hair?” Caroline asked.
The littler girl nodded. “Fix it?”
Caroline gave Gillian a somewhat exasperated look but with a smile that took away true disapproval. “She knows I’m very good at putting ribbons in her hair. My mama taught me how.”
“Lady Julia is very fortunate to have such a talented and generous cousin.”
“Fix it, pease?” the tiny girl pleaded, clearly upset by the loss of her ribbon. Her dark-brown hair was wispy and not overly long. The ribbon would have been serving more of a decorative purpose than a practical one.
Caroline took Lady Julia’s hand, and together they walked to a spill of light from a window and sat on the floor. Henry and Kendrick were taking turns giving Mater toys they fetched from around the room and piling her arms high with the items they collected, then laughing enthusiastically when a toy would tumble out of her grasp.
Family. Gillian had been looking for it for so long, and here it existed in abundance. As if the gods of familial connections meant to drive their point home, Sarah stepped inside in the very next moment. She had a greeting for Mater, and the children all welcomed her cheerfully. She, though, headed for Gillian.
“I’ve come to kidnap you,” she said with a bright and excited smile.
“As a word of advice, it’s best to temper your enthusiasm when confessing your intention to commit a crime.”
Sarah shrugged. “Harold will be participating. I doubt Bow Street will send a runner to apprehend ourveryrespectable vicar.”
“Do you hear this, Mater?” Gillian said. “Your son means to aid and abet a criminal.”
“I’m not surprised,” Mater answered. “His father once aided an entire criminal enterprise and was wholly unapologetic about the entire thing.”