The nurse, a woman in her early fifties named Martha who had worked for a number of other Shadowhunter families, sat in the library with a book on her knee and a cup of tea in hand. Tessa frowned at her from the doorway of the room. She held her hat in her hand, having just got back from a dinner with Cecily that had been intentionally husband-free. She was planning on checking in on the children who would already be in bed assuming Martha had put them there. Martha, who had obviously made her way through an entire tray of scones and half a pot of tea, did not look like someone who had just wrestled an opinionated eight year old into bed.
"And where are my children?" she asked Martha who look up, unconcerned.
"I was told to go away and put my feet up ma'am," Martha said waving a hand at her feet which were indeed up on an ottoman.
"By?" Tessa asked but she knew the answer to that question already.
"Mr. Herondale, ma'am," Martha said. "Odd man, that one but sweet."
She smiled at that and Martha smiled back as though they were sharing a secret. Maybe they were. A secret of a man who was one of the most important Shadowhunters in England and still managed to spend an inordinate amount of time in a children's nursery. He had argued down Inquisitors and negotiated with Head Warlocks but he could still be talked into wearing ladies' hats to attend high tea with a three year old. Tessa was still learning her way around Shadowhunter parenting etiquette and had no idea how normal it was for fathers to spend that much time with their children. She hoped there were other children out there who were as lucky.
Tessa headed upstairs without stopping to drop off her coat and hat as she had intended. She found the door to the nursery partially open and stood outside to listen. Will was reading. The children should have been asleep by now but he always caved to requests for another page and then another. He was reading Treasure Island with the voices which probably meant that Lucie was already asleep. At three she was a little young for Treasure Island.
She opened the door slowly. Will looked up at her but didn't stop reading. They were sitting on James' bed, Will leaning against the headboard with the book. James was half asleep, leaning against his father's arm. Lucie was curled near them, fast asleep. Tessa smiled at the three of them. She dropped her hat and jacket over the rocking horse because it was the nearest thing.
"Hi Mama," James said yawning. Will paused in his story as she came towards them.
"Hello darling," she said smoothing the boy's hair back from his sleepy face. She gathered Lucie up and everyone shuffled over to make room for her at the top of the bed. She leaned back on the other side of James and settled Lucie against her chest. She was getting too big for this kind of thing but Tessa took that as evidence that she needed to do it more often while she had the chance. The girl shifted but didn't wake. There wasn't enough room for four people in the bed and both Will and Tessa had to keep a foot on the floor in order to not fall off. No one complained.
"You were telling us about Long John Silver?" Tessa said to Will who leaned over James' head to press a quick kiss to her lips. James made a face at this. Tessa caught his chin and held him still so she could kiss his cheek while he continued to grimace at the disgusting displays of parental affection in a way only an eight year old can. Will did not laugh out loud because that would lead to more protesting but he gave Tessa a look that was pure mischievous glee before he kissed her again and then picked up the story.
As he read, they caught one another's eye over the children's heads and smiled each time. Once James had dozed off, snoring very gently, Will read to Tessa until he had finished the chapter. He marked the page and put the book aside.
"Do you think we can get up without waking him?" Will asked.
"If we go slowly and don't make any noise," Tessa whispered back.
Once James had been tucked in under the covers and Lucie deposited in her crib in the next room, Will wrapped his arms around Tessa and kissed her forehead. They stood amid the toys. The rocking horse and the table where tea parties were held. Wooden swords and a child size set of mock battle gear. Stuffed bears and an army of lead soldiers with seraph blades instead of bayonets. A bookshelf filled with children's books. Everything was neat and orderly. Martha was adamant that children learn to clean up their own messes.
"They're adorable when they're asleep," Tessa said.
"They're willful and difficult and entirely too much trouble when they're not," Will said.
"They're your children then," she said.
"Unfortunately true, we should sell them to the circus and try again," he said.
"If you sell my children to a circus, I will divorce you," she said. "And then, I could join them in the circus. Perhaps I could make a go of it as a trapeze artist."
"Or a lion tamer," Will said.
"I might be very good at lion taming," she said. "Your sister would be better at it."
"She could train lions in her sleep. How is she? How is Lightworm?" Will asked.
"Gabriel wasn't there which was largely the point," she said ignoring the Lightworm comment. "She's doing well, told me roughly 4000 stories about her children who are also doing well and continue to be children who do child-like things."
"Tired?" he asked.
"No, it's still early," she said.
"Want to go to bed anyways?" he asked.
"Yes," she said.
They closed the nursery door quietly and headed back to their own room. Will wore Tessa's hat, claiming he needed a new outfit for a tea service he was expected to attend later in the week. If the maids gave the two of them a strange look, laughing about circuses and holding hands like courting teenagers, they weren't paid any attention. There aren't many perfect evenings in a life and neither of them were willing to let disapproving servants get in the way of this one.