Page 100 of Yours Truly, the Duke
That brightly beam on all,
For dearer are thy simple wiles
That only one enthrall.
“Be patient, Bella,” Fredericka instructed as she stood in front of the window in the drawing room, trying to make a small loop in a length of thread. “It will feel better if we can get it out.”
“But it hurts,” the little girl who had just celebrated her sixth birthday whimpered. “I need a different color of thread. Blue hurts.”
Fredericka huffed and smiled. “Don’t be silly. The color doesn’t matter. Neither red nor yellow thread will make a difference in how it feels when the tooth comes out.”
“No, I don’t want to lose it. It’s mine.”
“You’re being a baby,” Charles spouted from close by, insisting he wanted to watch.
“I’m not a baby. You are a poo-poo bird.”
“Don’t call her a baby,” Elise demanded, looking up from her reading to defend her little sister. “It hurts and you know it. You cried when yours came out.”
“I did not.” Charles squealed and ran around the room singing, “Bella’s being a baby.”
Elise threw her book down, quickly caught up with him, and belted him on the back of the shoulder with the palm of her hand. “She’s not a baby.”
“You better not do that again or I’ll forget Uncle Your Grace told me not to hit girls.”
Fredericka started to tell them all to be quiet and sit down but remembered how happy she was to have them back home with her. With thanks to Wyatt, she’d made a promise to herself that she would love them more and discipline them less. She was learning to put up with a little disorder and confrontation between siblings by letting them work out their own issues between themselves.
“What’s going on in here?” Wyatt asked, walking into the drawing room, looking as handsome as the day she married him.
Warmth from the glow in his eyes settled over her. Fredericka smiled. That was only one of the million reasons she loved him. “Bella’s tooth is hurting again. I think it’s ready to come out, but she’s not cooperating with me.”
“Let me see,” he said, bending down on one knee to Bella’s level. “It looks to me as if your aunt is using the wrong color of thread. What do you think?”
Bella nodded and sniffled. “I tried to tell her.”
Wyatt glanced up at Fredericka and winked. “Sometimes you don’t need thread at all. Can you open wider and let me have a look?”
She nodded.
Cautiously, Wyatt put his thumb and forefinger in her mouth, and almost as quickly as his fingers went in, they came out holding her tooth.
She gave him a snaggletoothed grin. “Here, take it and go wash up.”
“Let me hold it for you so you won’t drop it,” Charles said.
“I want to see it,” Elise said, rushing over.
“All of you, go up and help her take care of the tooth,” Wyatt said. “I need a few minutes with Fredericka.”
The children ran out squealing while Wyatt slipped his arms around Fredericka’s waist and kissed her sweetly on the lips.
“You do have a good way with the children,” she told him. “I don’t know why I can’t be more patient.”
He pressed her close and kissed her briefly again. “You have your strengths and I have mine. It evens out. Now, there’s something we need to talk about.”
Fredericka hesitated, removing her arms from around his neck. “I’m not sure I like the seriousness I see in your face.”
“You may not like what I’ve done, but I felt I had to do this. Stay right there.” He walked over to the doorway and motioned for someone to come forward.
