In Need of a Noble Bride - Chapter 14

Willette tapped Thomas’s nose with one finger. ‘Your mama and papa will be home tomorrow,’ she told the four-year-old boy before she gave his cheek a goodnight kiss and blew out the lamp.

‘I miss them, but we’ve had fun,’ Thomas said.

‘Yes, we have,’ she whispered, so as not to wake up his two-year-old sister, who was already sleeping in the bed next to his.

‘I love you, Willette,’ he said, while also yawning.

‘I love you, too, darling.’ She stepped into the hall and closed the door before leaning back against it and pressing a hand against the warmth filling her heart. She did love Thomas, and his sister, Alma. Over the past few months, she’d come to know her cousin’s children, but this past week, she’d discovered just how precious they were.

She’d been so focused on her dream of becoming an opera singer that during her stay at her cousin’s house, she’d spent most of her time visiting and writing to opera houses trying to get auditions or working on her voice by singing in her bedroom. She had seen the children only in small snippets.

That had changed the day she’d gone to the zoo with Rafael. When he’d delivered her home, she’d discovered her cousin, Flora, crying. Flora’s mother-in-law had been in an accident in South Wales and Henry, her husband, was leaving in the morning to go to her.

Upon learning that Flora wasn’t planning to accompany him because the travel would be too hard on the children, Willette had insisted that she would take care of the children. Flora had refused at first, but Henry had helped convince her, as well as Mr and Mrs Walton. The elderly couple lived on the upper floor of the house, with Mr Walton taking care of the heavier household chores and Mrs Walton most of the cooking and cleaning. The two of them were the salt of the earth and looked upon more as family than servants.

With her dream no longer consuming her, Willette had dedicated every waking hour to Thomas and Alma and had been amazed to find herself quickly drawn into the rhythm of caring for little ones. With each passing day, she’d found her priorities gently shifting. The children’s laughter, their small hands reaching for hers, and the trust in their eyes had awakened a tenderness in her she hadn’t realised had been missing.

Her devotion to one goal had made her overlook life’s purest treasures.

Letting out a sigh, she walked away from the children’s door and made her way downstairs, where she would drink a cup of tea from the pot that Mrs Walton would have prepared for her and left in the small study.

During those quiet moments, she’d discovered something else.

She was still dreaming.

This time it wasn’t about singing.

It was about having children, and she wanted the father to be none other than Rafael.

A dream that was as silly as singing in the opera, but oh, how her heart ached at the idea of never seeing him again!

She’d taken the children to the zoo twice this week, pushing Alma in the wicker perambulator and trying to convince Thomas there was room in it for him too. He had insisted he was too old for that, and had gleefully trekked the miles-long walk there and back beside her. They were as smitten with the animals, especially Hugo, as her and every other Londoner.

Rafael hadn’t been there. Willette had told herself she was glad of that, just as she told herself she would be glad when Flora and Henry returned home so she could pack up her bags and leave London herself.

They were both lies.

Tonight, as she had on many others, she was letting her tea grow cold and mourning a loss that she knew would stay with her for ever, for Rafael was unforgettable, when a knock on the door from an unexpected visitor surprised her.

It also increased her heartache tenfold.