Chapter 3

Leo walked through the front door of his manor later that night. By then, the cousins had left to go home and dinner was cooked. Victoria heard the front door close, so she got up from her place on the floor and ran to Leo. "Daddy!"

"Hey, pumpkin!" Leo grinned as he bent to pick his daughter up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Have you been good today?"

"Yes!" Victoria exclaimed with wide eyes.

Leo laughed and told her, "That's my girl!" He sat her down and rummaged in his pocket until he found the item he was looking for. He pulled out a piece of hard candy and squated down to his daughters' level. He handed the candy to her and she stared at it.

"All fow me?" she asked with hopeful eyes.

"All for you," Leo confirmed with a nod.

"Thank you daddy!" Victoria hugged her father and then she heard her mother's footsteps as she entered the foyer. Victoria let go of Leo and ran to her mother. She held up her piece of candy and said, "Daddy got me!"

"That's very sweet of him," Caroline took the piece of candy and unwrapped it before giving it back to her daughter. "Don't choke on it, okay?"

"Okay!" Victoria skipped over to the dining table and climbed up into a chair before she put the candy in her mouth.

Caroline turned to Leo and stated, "We were getting worried about you. You've been gone a long time."

"I'm sorry about that," Leo started. "I went to visit my parents this afternoon and found out about my brother Phillip." He fought to control his emotions as he told her the sad news of his brother's passing. "He lied about his age and they shipped him overseas. He was killed during battle."

"Didn't they make him show any identification?" Caroline asked with shock.

Leo shook his head. "With the war heating up, they will take any able bodied boy or man, no matter how old they are."

Caroline embraced Leo, "I'm so sorry, Leo."

"Thank you," he told her gratefully. Her presence at his time of mourning was a godsend to him.

"Come. Maybe a little dinner will help make you feel better? That apple pie that Priscilla baked us was delicious," Caroline gave an encouraging smile.

"I'm sorry, honey," Leo began. "I already ate at my parents house..." he trailed off, not knowing if his admission would make Caroline angry or not.

"That is okay. I will simply put the leftovers in the icebox. If you get hungry later, the pie is in the pie safe," Caroline told him.

"Thanks," Leo told her. "Did you have a nice time this afternoon with your cousins?"

"Yes, Victoria and I went over to their house and they showed me their Book of Shadows," Caroline told him. "Their book is as big as mine."

"Well, witches have been adding on to it since the seventeen hundreds.," Leo replied as he sat at the dining room table with Victoria. Victoria looked up at Leo with big green eyes, and Leo asked, "Did you have fun with Penny?"

"Mmm hmm," was his daughters' reply with a nod of her head. Leo stared at his pride and joy as she alternated between looking at him and then his wife. All of a sudden, Leo began to laugh as he watched his daughter be so adorable, and because Caroline was watching Victoria as well. Victoria laughed next, followed by Caroline, as Leo's laugh was infectious.

"Aww, Victoria, I'm sorry. Try not to laugh with candy in your mouth. It can choke you if you do," Leo said. He turned to Caroline and told her, "I'm going to go upstairs and take a bath. It's been a long day."

"Go ahead," Caroline smiled as he stood and made his way to the den.

For Leo, indoor plumbing was a luxury, and fortunately, his house had it even though it was not a common thing yet. Back in the twenties, it was pretty much unheard of, except within the richer households, which he was also lucky enough to have had. Many in the country these days still had outhouses out back, and if the family wanted to take a bath, they had to heat water over the stove and place their tin or aluminum bathtub in the kitchen for the whole family to use.

Leo relaxed into the slipper tub and closed his eyes as he thought about the days' events. First with meeting up with Priscilla and Phoebe again, followed by seeing his other family while learning about his brother dying in combat overseas. Leo tried getting his brother out of his mind as he scrubbed his face with a washcloth. Leo knew that if he wanted to continue seeing his parents and siblings, he would need to be careful about his age around them. Being a Whitelighter, he never aged passed the age he died at, which for him was eighteen. The thing was, he could glamour and change his appearance to look like he's aging right along with the rest of the family. The difficult part will be to make sure he glamours before he visits them each time. He didn't really want to explain why he showed up looking like he was in his forties one day, and the next time he visited, he looked like he was in his teens. That would undoubtedly confuse and freak the others out, seeing as how they knew nothing about the magical world.

A few minutes later, Caroline walked into the bathroom and sat next to Leo. "Thinking about your brother?"

"Among other things...I cannot believe he's gone. And I cannot believe how much older your cousins look...though I shouldn't really be surprised seeing as they're not in their twenties anymore. Well the important thing is, I still have you and Victoria to come home to everyday."

"About that...I do not want to add worries onto what you are already going through..." Caroline started. "There is something that we need to talk about."

Leo's face shown his concern, "What is it?"

"I'm with child," was Caroline's answer.

"Wait...you...are?" Leo asked and received a nervous smile. "That's great!" he exclaimed before he slid to his knees so he could face Caroline.

"Hey!" she shouted as he wrapped his arms around her, "you're wet!" Leo gave a mischievous grin before dragging her into the tub, effectively getting her clothes soaked as he held her in his arms.

"This is uncomfortable!" she laughed. "I don't like the feel of wet clothes on my skin!"

Leo kissed her neck and held her tighter as she tried to get out of his hold, and the tub. "Leo, please!"

"Oh, all right," Leo laughed as she stood and tried to wring her soaked dress out as much as she could so she wouldn't have too much water to clean up off the floor. "Why don't you just take your clothes off and join me?"

Caroline regarded Leo's question and asked, "What if Victoria walked in on us?"

Leo gave a shrug, "She'll have to learn about this stuff eventually."

"Leo, she's two..."

"Which means she probably won't remember when she's older if she does walk in on us," Leo told her. "It's not like we'll be making love or anything. We can tell her that adults like us sometimes like to help each other bathe.

Caroline gave a roll of her eyes, "Fine."