Chapter 24: Leading to Christmas
By the end of the week, Sebastian had a letter back from his family. They all loved the idea of spending Christmas and into the new year at the castle together as a family. Sebastian shared their reply first with Shelby then William.
A few more letters were exchanged and it was decided that the family would arrive on December 22nd. They would stay until the new year to celebrate and to attend the New Year's Ball. While the family was at the castle, Forest would continue his training, and although Davy was still young, his older brothers would begin teaching him how to be a knight as he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his brothers.
It would be a couple weeks before the official preparations for their stay would begin, but Shelby and Sebastian began planning for Christmas and the ball.
The following week, Shelby and Sebastian spent most nights planning. By doing so, they decided what food would be served during the ball and the menu for Christmas day. In the second week of December, they would begin decorating.
XXX
The end of November and beginning of December passed quickly. Soon, it was Saturday December 8th which was the day the decorating would begin. It was two weeks until Sebastian's family would arrive.
"This is fun," Shelby spoke as she and Sebastian began to put the decorations in the hall by the West Gate where his family would once again arrive. They were putting up the same types of decorations they had the year before.
"It is," Sebastian agreed. "I'm glad we have been able to do this and are doing this together again."
"As much as I enjoy this, I'd like to not be here for Christmas next year. I'd really like to figure out how to get home."
"I know," Sebastian replied with a gentle voice and a sigh. "I'm sorry you're here."
"I know you are," Shelby replied. "You've told me before."
"Well you––you should know. In case you forgot," Sebastian replied despite being unsure of his choice in words.
"Thank you," Shelby replied as they continued to put decorations up. For the remainder of the morning and afternoon after they ate lunch, Shelby and Sebastian continued decorating. That evening they decided to relax and read in their room.
"Hey, Shelby," Sebastian said, looking up from his book. He sat at the table reading while Shelby reclined in bed.
"Yeah?"
"I've been thinking about the meetings I've gone to without you and the few you've been to."
"What about them?"
"There aren't any scheduled until after the new year," he began. "But I was wondering if you would want to be more involved in them. You did a great job during the meeting with Richard and Katherine a few weeks ago and the first time we had a meeting with them, so I was thinking maybe you would want to be involved more."
"Really?"
"Of course."
"Yeah," Shelby nodded. "I would love to be more involved with the meetings."
"That's great."
"But I've been taking care of Sadie a lot during the day, so who would watch her? Would the responsibility always be turned over to Lucinda?"
"Yes. Either Lucinda or another maid servant who has helped take care of her. Or someone else who might be training under her soon."
Shelby's brow furrowed. "What do you mean about someone training under Lucinda? She's perfectly capable of helping me when I need her and taking care of Sadie."
"I know," Sebastian sighed. "It wasn't my idea. Some of our advisers suggested it in a meeting I had with them in early November."
"Why?"
"Their reasoning is that Lucinda is not as young as she used to be. They want to have someone train under her before she is unable to take care of you and Sadie anymore," Sebastian explained.
It was Shelby's turn to sigh. "Lucinda is perfectly capable."
"I know that. And you know that. But our advisers just want to make sure there's someone to take over for Lucinda when she is no longer able to do what she does. It might be before Sadie is grown that Lucinda is no longer able to take care of her."
Shelby looked to meet Sebastian's eye. "As much as I don't want to admit it, that is true." Sebastian didn't know what else to say, so he simply nodded. "Have they already decided on someone?" Shelby asked a few minutes later.
"No. They've narrowed it down to a few but were going to wait until after the holidays to make the final decision."
"Can I help make the decision?"
"That's a great idea," Sebastian agreed. "This woman would be helping you, not just Sadie."
"Thanks," Shelby spoke, offering Sebastian a smile as they turned back to continue decorating.
In getting all the final preparations ready for Christmas, time flew by. Soon, they were taking care of the last preparations they needed to before Sebastian's family arrived.
"Is it really already December 21st?" Shelby asked as she and Sebastian put up the final decorations in the main hall of the castle.
"Yes," Sebastian replied with a laugh.
"I feel like it was just Christmas a couple months ago. This past year went by so quickly," Shelby finished as Sebastian nodded his agreement. "Sadie's already six months old," she trailed off. "I have a six month old daughter," she added, stopping what she was doing and staring off into space.
"We both do."
"No, not that. Well, actually yes, but it's more that I'm seventeen and my daughter is six months old."
"Ahh," Sebastian replied. After a few more moments of pause, the two turned back to their decorating.
"Do––do you hear crying?" Shelby asked a couple minutes later.
Sebastian stopped what he was doing to eliminate the noise he made and strained his ears to listen as he furrowed his brow in concentration. "I don't think––" he cut himself off. "Nevermind, I definitely do hear crying."
The sound of crying quickly grew louder. When Shelby looked down the hall and saw Lucinda approaching with Sadie, she made her way down to meet her. "What's wrong?"
"She has been crying for the last hour and there is nothing we can do to calm her down," Lucinda explained.
"Here, I'll take her," Shelby offered. "Maybe she'll calm down for me," she suggested, holding her arms out to take Sadie.
"I do not know what you will be able to do to calm her down," Lucinda said as she handed a still crying Sadie over to Shelby.
"Hey, Sadie. It's okay. You don't need to cry." As Shelby spoke, Sadie briefly stopped crying as she looked to Shelby but soon began crying again.
"Sade," Sebastian spoke, abandoning his decorating and joining her and Shelby. Again, Sadie only briefly stopped crying before she began again.
"Wait, does she have teeth growing in?" Shelby asked, looking down to Sadie as she began crying again.
Sebastian leaned forward to try and see if Sadie had teeth growing in. "I think I do see some teeth," Sebastian spoke.
As Sebastian finished speaking, Shelby carefully put a finger in Sadie's mouth to see if she could feel any teeth coming in through her gums. "Yeah, she definitely has some teeth. I don't know how I didn't notice it before."
Upon closer inspection, Shelby and Sebastian found that Sadie had a couple teeth showing through her bottom gums. When Shelby put her finger in Sadie's mouth, the little girl had stopped crying, so she decided to let Sadie mouth her finger.
"So she really does have her first teeth," Sebastian spoke.
"She's teething," Shelby added. "She probably just needs something she can chew on or suck on like she's doing with my finger," Shelby explained. "Is there anything like that we could give to her?"
"There may be some by the hospital ward," Lucinda suggested. "I can go get something if you think it would help."
"That would be great. Thank you."
Lucinda nodded and hurried back down the hall. While they waited, Shelby rocked Sadie on her hip as Sebastian cooed to her. "Sade, it's all going to be all right. We're here," Sebastian said.
Shelby and Sebastian continued to talk to Sadie until Lucinda returned with a small toy that was a metal loop with a white handle attached to it. "Here, Sadie, try this," Shelby said, taking her finger out of Sadie's mouth and offering her the toy instead. Sadie immediately took the toy and began chewing on it.
"She seems okay now," Lucinda commented.
"Is there something we could put her in to have her by us while we decorate?" Shelby asked. "Like her bassinet?"
"I can see if we could bring that or something else here," Lucinda offered.
"Thank you," Sebastian replied. "We'll be here if you can find something."
Lucinda nodded before heading down the hall the way she had come. There were a few moments of silence before Sebastian turned to Shelby. "Can I see her?"
"Of course you can," Shelby said, adjusting how she held Sadie to pass her to Sebastian.
Sebastian smiled as he took Sadie in his arms. "You're okay, Sadie," he spoke. He continued to coo to her for a few more minutes as she babbled back to him––something she had recently begun to do. Rather than getting any work done while they waited for Lucinda to return, Shelby and Sebastian talked to Sadie as she babbled back to them. A few minutes later, they saw Lucinda approaching with Angus who carried Sadie's bassinet where she could lay while her parents continued to decorate.
After a couple minutes, they had Sadie settled in with a couple small toys she could play with. Once Sadie was comfortable, Lucinda and Angus left to let Shelby and Sebastian continue decorating.
When the time for lunch, Shelby carried carried Sadie to the dining hall while Sebastian carried the bassinet. Sadie sat in the bassinet while her parents ate. Afterwards, Shelby headed to their room to feed Sadie while Sebastian brought the bassinet back to the hall where they were decorating.
Around dinner, Shelby and Sebastian finished the decorating. While they ate, baths were drawn for them. The baths went on as expected and at the end of the evening, once Sadie was asleep, Shelby and Sebastian sat in bed reading.
"I'm glad she's calmed down for now to be able to go to sleep," Sebastian commented.
"Yeah," Shelby agreed. "I wish I could just Google when babies usually start teething and see how we can help her feel more comfortable."
"I wish I knew exactly what to do as well," Sebastian agreed. "Maybe my mother will have an idea, or we could talk to Lucinda more about it tomorrow. But what exactly do you mean by 'Google it'?"
"Google is something you use to look up anything you want to know. If I could, I'd look up what to give Sadie and see if six months is when she should start teething. This would be so much easier in the 21st century," she sighed.
"How do you get those answers from Google?"
"You can type in something you want to know more about or ask it a question in what's called the search bar. Like if you want to know what time it is in Australia. You ask what time it is in Australia and it tells you."
"Interesting."
"Yeah. Though this is the first time in a long time I've thought about using Google since I've been her for a year and a half."
"There are experienced people you can ask about your questions," Sebastian reasoned. "But I do want to know more about Google."
"There's not much more to add," Shelby admitted. "Though Google kind of rules the 21st century. There's so much you can do with it. Oh, like if something's written in a foriegn language, you can have Google translate it for you. You can store pictures and documents on it. Edit the documents with other people at the same time––though I'm sure that makes no sense to you."
"That doesn't matter," Sebastian said, "I like getting to hear more about your time and I really wish I had paid more attention to it when I was there."
"It is pretty cool," Shelby agreed. "But it's getting late," she said, glancing to the clock in the room. "We should probably get to sleep soon since we have a couple big days ahead of us."
Sebastian nodded his agreement. A few moments later, he got out of bed to go around the room and put the torches out. As he and Shelby lay down, they blew the candles on their sides of the bed out before laying down for what they hoped would be a peaceful sleep.
XXX
In the middle of the night, when only a little light from the moon streamed into Shelby and Sebastian's room, they were awoken by Sadie crying. Sheby was the first one to get out of bed to comfort Sadie while Sebastian took a few seconds longer to get out of bed and light some torches around the room.
"Sade, it's okay," Shelby said, putting her finger in Sadie's mouth when she realized Sadie hadn't woken up because she needed to be changed.
"Teething pains?" Sebastian assumed when he saw that Shelby had offered Sadie her finger.
"Yeah. We might just have to comfort her for a little while before she wants to sleep again."
"I'll take her," Sebastian offered.
"Are you sure?"
"Unless you think she needs to be fed as well. She already seems to be calming down."
"No, I guess she doesn't seem hungry," Shelby admitted.
"Then you try to get some more sleep and I'll stay up with her."
"Okay," Shelby agreed, passing Sadie to Sebastian and going back to lie down in bed. As she lay down, Shelby could hear Sebastian comforting Sadie, but she fell asleep soon after she lay down. She didn't remember anything after that until morning.
However, in the morning, it wasn't of her own accord that Shelby woke up but rather to Sadie's cries again. Shelby sighed, but was thankful that it was light outside as they realized Sadie was hungry this time rather than dealing with teething pains.
"Sadie, you need to be quiet or you'll wake the whole castle up," Sebastian said as he picked Sadie up from her bassinet.
Shelby rolled her eyes at Sebastian's comment as she took Sadie from him. He offered her a smile in return. "She's fine," Shelby spoke as she sat back down in bed with Sadie.
"Shelby, Sebastian," Lucinda's voice spoke from the other side of the door. "I thought I heard Sadie crying. Are you awake?"
"We're awake," Shelby answered. "And I'm taking care of Sadie."
"All right. May I come in?"
"Just a minute," Shelby replied. She adjusted how she sat and moved one of the blankets to cover herself on the off chance someone other than Lucinda was outside the door. "Okay," she said a minute later.
"Is there anything I can do for you now?" Lucinda asked.
"Not right now," Shelby replied. "I'll just want you to take Sadie while we have breakfast."
Lucinda nodded. "While you finish feeding Sadie, I'll go get dressed," Sebastian spoke, already making his way to the other side of the room.
Soon, a content Sadie was passed to Sebastian while Lucinda helped Shelby get dressed. After helping Shelby get dressed and doing her hair, Lucinda took Sadie so Shelby and Sebastian could go have breakfast.
"We're meeting them by the West Gate again like normal, right?" Shelby asked as they sat down.
"Yes. William is going to join us and we'll meet everyone else there."
Shelby nodded. A minute later, their food was brought in for them. Just as they were about to begin eating, William appeared in the doorway. "Sebastian," he spoke.
"William," Sebastian replied. "What are you doing here?"
William cleared his throat. " I, um," he paused slightly as he tried to gather his thoughts. "I was wondering if I could eat breakfast with you. I know there are still a few hours until everyone else will arrive and I should eat with the rest of the knights," he trailed off.
"Of course you can join us," Sebastian replied. "You could even spend the morning with us and see Sadie before our mother and sisters are trying to steal her."
William nodded and offered Sebastian a smile. He took one of the extra seats around the table and a servant soon brought him a plate of food as well. "Did you have any plans for the morning that I'm interrupting?" William asked a couple minutes later.
Shelby laughed. "We didn't have any plans other than to sit and relax while we waited for your family to arrive. We might read or something, but you're not interrupting anything."
"Yeah," Sebastian agreed. "Our only real plans were to take care of Sadie."
"So you really are fine with me waiting for the rest of our family to arrive with you?"
"Definitely," Shelby answered.
"Okay," William offered her a smile as they all turned back to their food for a couple minutes. "I can't wait to see everyone."
"Neither can I," Sebastian agreed.
"I think Mom and Dad wanted to try doing some more planning for the wedding while they were here."
"Wedding? Whose wedding?" Shelby asked.
"I haven't said anything about it before?" Sebastian asked.
Shelby shook her head. "I don't remember you saying anything about a wedding. Maybe you mentioned it when I was sleep deprived after taking care of Sadie and that's why I don't remember it. Anyway, who's getting married?"
"Rosalinda and Angus."
"Oh," Shelby nodded. "When is the wedding supposed to take place?"
"Some time in the spring here at the castle. The plan right now is for it to take place in March, but the day has not been decided yet," Sebastian explained.
Shelby nodded and they fell into silence for a little while longer as they continued to eat.
"Do you think we should make sure everything's in place for Forest and Davy to train?" William asked as they finished breakfast.
"We could check when we're done eating."
"Good idea."
"While you two do that I could go get Sadie and take her to the Great Room where we can wait to meet the rest of your family at the West Gate," Shelby suggested.
"Sounds perfect," Sebastian agreed. William nodded as well as the three turned back to their food. They soon finished eating and departed ways.
Shelby found that Lucinda was still in her and Sebastian's room after breakfast, so Shelby only needed to return there to find Lucinda. "Where is Sebastian?" she asked with furrowed brow.
"William joined us for breakfast and the two of them were going to check on something with training with Forest and Davy," Shelby explained. "I'm on my way to the Great Room after I get Sadie."
Lucinda nodded. "Would you like me and some of the other servants to bring some of Sadie's things to the Great Room?"
"That would be great, thanks," Shelby replied. "Has Sadie been fussing like she was having any teething pains?"
"Not while I've been with her," Lucinda answered.
"Okay. Hey Sade," Shelby said, holding her arms out to her. "You want to come to Mama?" she asked as Sadie babbled to her.
Sadie smiled as she looked over to Shelby and held her arms out to her. Lucinda laughed as she watched the interaction. "Sadie's things will be brought to the Great Room shortly if you want to head that way now."
"Thank you," Shelby replied as she and Sadie made their way to the Great Room. Torches around the room were already lit and there was a roaring fire in the fireplace. Shelby made her way to one of the larger couches and sat down. In the room, not only were there torches lighting the room, but the shades over the windows had been pulled back to let the natural light filter in. A few moments after sitting down, Shelby leaned Sadie against one of the armrests of the couch to play peek-a-boo with her.
Though Sadie was enjoying the game, Shelby ended it when Lucinda and several other servants entered the room. The servants had brought Sadie's bassinet and several blankets for her when she would need to take a nap as well as a few of her toys including her teething toy which Lucinda carried over to Shelby. "Here is this in case she starts to have teething pains."
"Thanks," Shelby said, setting the toy down on the couch next to her.
"Is there anything else you need before I go?" Lucinda asked once the other servants were gone.
"Not right now, thank you," Shelby spoke.
"All right," Lucinda nodded before leaving the room.
Once Lucinda was gone, Shelby turned back to Sadie to talk to her and encourage her to babble while they waited for Sebastian and William to join them. It wasn't much later that Shelby heard more footsteps coming down the hall. A minute later, William and Sebastian entered.
"Hey, Shelby," Sebastian greeted her. "How's Sadie?"
"She's fine. Lucinda said she hadn't been crying like she was dealing with teething pains while we were at breakfast."
"That's good."
"If she's in good spirits, would it be okay if I held her for a little while?" William asked as he and Sebastian made their way to Shelby.
"Sure," Shelby agreed, picking Sadie up. "Here's your Uncle William," she spoke to Sadie as she passed her off.
"Hi, little Sadie," William spoke, smiling as he took Sadie in his arms. "I haven't had much of a chance to see you because I've been busy with training," he said, beginning to walk around the room as he talked to her. She giggled and sometimes babbled in reply to him. "Say Uncle William," he encouraged her after a minute.
"I don't think Uncle William will be her first words," Sebastian laughed.
"No harm in trying," William shrugged, turning his attention back to Sadie.
"Hey, Sebastian," Shelby spoke a few minutes later to get his attention. "I didn't think about grabbing my book earlier, so I think I'm going to grab it now for while we wait. Do you have a book in our room that you want me to get?"
"I do, but why don't I just go with you," he suggested.
"Okay."
"William, would you mind staying here alone with Sadie for a few minutes?"
"Not at all. She's adorable."
"Thank you," Sebastian said before standing and offering his hand to Shelby. Rather than linking their arms as they walked through the castle, Shelby and Sebastian walked side-by-side. When they returned to the Great Room a few minutes later, William was rocking Sadie and her eyes were closed like she had fallen asleep.
"Should I have kept her from going to sleep?" he asked, spotting them as they entered the room. "Her eyes started closing and the next thing I knew, she was asleep."
"It's okay," Shelby shrugged. "She's going to need to be rested when everyone wants to see her this afternoon."
"Thank goodness," William sighed. He made his way to a chair to sit with Sadie while Shelby and Sebastian sat down on the couch to read. The three spent the next couple hours relaxing and talking as they waited for the rest of the family to arrive.
"Hello," a voice spoke after a brief knock on the door later that morning.
"Angus," Sebastian said, looking up and seeing his friend. "Is the rest of the family almost here?"
"Yes," Angus nodded. "The carriages can be seen approaching the West Gate and I was sent to let you know."
"Would you like to come with?"
"Are you sure? Am I allowed to do that?"
"You will soon be part of the family," Sebastian reasoned as he stood.
"You might as well join us," William added as he gave Sadie to Shelby.
"Okay," he agreed, offering them all a smile. They were soon on their way out of the room and to the West Gate together. When the group arrived to the West Gate, they could see the two carriages quickly approaching. Some of the other knights Shelby recognized but whose names she didn't know stood nearby waiting to take the luggage from the carriages.
The first carriage to arrive was the one that held the older of the siblings, Rosalinda, Jane, Corinna, and Forest. As William and Sebastian greeted the three youngest of the group, Angus stepped forward to greet Rosalinda and place a kiss on her hand. Shelby was sure she saw Rosalinda blush as Angus kissed her hand.
As the first carriage pulled away, Shelby stepped forward to greet everyone. Edward, Elinor, and the youngest two siblings, Adeline and Davy, exited the second carriage. Although Davy stayed beside his parents, he offered a big smile to Shelby.
"Hello, Sebastian," Elinor spoke, her tone grand.
"Hello, Mother," he replied with a more casual and relaxed tone.
"Is that my little grand-daughter!" Elinor exclaimed as if noticing that Shelby held her for the first time. "She's gotten so big."
"She is six months old already," Sebastian reasoned.
"Would you like to take her?" Shelby asked.
"I would love to," Elinor spoke. Sadie was awake and smiling as she was passed from Shelby to Elinor.
"Just so you're aware, she is teething," Shelby said.
"Oh, that's no problem," Elinor replied. "I've had nine children of my own teething; I know how to take care of her," Elinor finished in a quieter voice.
Although Elinor had been somewhat quiet, Shelby was taken aback by the superiority in her voice. She also furrowed her brow in confusion at Elinor's words. Sebastian was one of eight, not one of nine. She put that down to the fact that the family had spent the morning traveling; Elinor was probably tired. What struck Shelby more was Elinor's tone. Did she think Shelby was incapable of helping Sadie as she teethed because she was young and inexperienced? She tried to shake the thought as they began making their way back to the Great Room.
"Hi, Shelby," Davy spoke, catching up with her.
"Hi," Shelby offered him a smile. "Would you like me to carry you?"
"I'm not too big to be carried?" Davy questioned.
"You're still small for your age. Plus, your mom is carrying my daughter so I think I can carry her son."
Davy's grin spread across his whole face as a mischievous light filled his eyes. Shelby and Davy were at the back of the group, so no one noticed when Shelby reached down to pick Davy up. A couple minutes later, Sebastian looked back and let out a light laugh before turning away and pretending that he hadn't seen Shelby carrying Davy when he looked back.
"We're getting close to the room," Shelby said a few minutes later. Though Shelby hadn't suggested setting Davy down, he loosened his arms from around her. He settled for simply holding Shelby's hand until they reached the room. Davy insisted on sitting beside Shelby.
"I like visiting the castle," Davy spoke to Shelby once they were seated comfortably next to each other on the couch.
"I like having you here. Did you know that Sebastian and William were talking about having the four of you boys doing some knight training while you and Forest are at the castle?"
Davy nodded with a sparkling light in his eyes. "Sebastian sent letters about training while we stay at the castle. I think most boys my age don't get to practice other than playing with their siblings, but Sebastian said he might start teaching me to use a sword with a wooden one."
"That sounds like fun," Shelby said.
Davy nodded. "I want to be a knight like William is and Sebastian was before he became king. Then, when I'm bigger, I can help keep the castle safe. And you and Sadie," Davy added.
"That's sweet."
"Sadie's really cute," Davy commented a couple minutes later, looking over to Sadie who was still in Elinor's arms.
"Do you want to hold her later?"
"Could I?"
"You'd just need to be sitting like you were when you held her the first time."
Davy nodded as he and Shelby continued to talk. Sadie was passed from Elinor to Rosalinda as Elinor made a comment to her oldest daughter and Angus about wanting another grandchild. Shelby couldn't help but roll her eyes at Elinor's comment. Rosalinda and Angus needed to decide for themselves when they wanted to have children.
A few minutes later, a knight came to let everyone know that lunch was ready for them in the dining hall. Lucinda was with him and took Sadie to Shelby and Sebastian's room so Shelby could feed her after lunch.
When they arrived to the dining hall, Davy insisted on sitting next to Shelby on her left side since Sebastian sat on her right. The two continued to talk throughout the meal as most of Sebastian's family was preoccupied with wanting to talk to him; however, Sebastian did his best to make Shelby part of the conversation as well. Eventually, the main focus of the conversation turned from Sebastian to William and what he was doing as a knight.
"I enjoy it, but mostly it's the same types of things each week. Thought I guess some days are more exciting than others," he finished with a shrug.
"How so, Son?" Edward asked.
"Training is sometimes more exciting. Not everything is guarding the castle or walking around on our rounds," he explained.
"That sounds nice, William," Elinor said as she turned to Shelby and Sebastian. Before she began speaking, Elinor briefly made eye contact with Shelby. Shelby sighed, already realizing that she wasn't going to like whatever comment Elinor was about to make. She swallowed her drink before Elinor began speaking. "Are you getting ready for your second child to be born? In another six months, Sadie will be a year old and of course Sebastian was only a year old when Rosalinda and Angus were born."
Shelby was glad she followed her instincts of finishing her drink because she was sure she would have spit it out if she hadn't.
"Mother! This is not a conversation for the dinner table," Sebastian spoke, offering Shelby and apologetic look.
"Oh, I just thought––"
"That's enough!" Rosalinda exclaimed, standing from her chair. "Mother, would you just let us decide when we want to have kids?" she said, obviously speaking for herself and Angus as well as Shelby and Sebastian. "We might not have a baby every couple years or right away after we get married," she finished, looking around at everyone's stunned expressions as she shrunk back down into her seat.
"Don't be ashamed for saying that," Shelby added after Rosalinda sat back down and before anyone else could speak. "It's our lives," Shelby began, facing Elinor. "Not your life. We're not going to have lives identical to yours." Shelby offered a nod to Rosalinda who gave her a thankful smile.
"I never––"
"Mother," William cut her off this time. "You should not pressure them. Like Shelby said earlier, Sadie's teething so Shelby and Sebastian are more concerned with that than they are with having another baby."
"Well I NEVER––"
"Mother," Sebastian's stern voice cut her off. "We have had several conversations like this before. We are still your kids, but we don't need you to mother us like we're babies. We are adults and we can take care of ourselves."
"When Angus and I are ready to be parents, kids will come," Rosalinda began. "But we don't need you to tell us when or how soon it should happen in the same way Shelby and Sebastian don't need you to tell them that they should be expecting again soon."
"I'm feeling tired," Elinor suddenly spoke, her whole demeanor changing. "I think I need to go rest."
"Do you want me to walk you there?" William asked, his tone returning to a more relaxed one.
"No, I can find my way back to my room on my own." Elinor stood and left the room with her head held high. Shelby had a sneaking suspicion that if Edward hadn't been in the room, Sebastian and his siblings would have burst out in laughter. She could tell several of them wore expressions that suggested they were suppressing their laughter.
They fell to silence for several long minutes until Edward broke it. "I should go check on Elinor and make sure she found her way back to our room. I will see you all later," he finished, leaving the room despite still having some food left on his plate.
Forest eyed the door carefully as he watched his father leave the room. When he was satisfied that Edward was gone, he began to laugh. "I can not believe Mom. That was too much."
"I agree," Corinna spoke as she and her other siblings began to laugh as well.
The group spent several long minutes laughing at Elinor's expense. Sometimes it seemed that she didn't believe her children should have minds of their own. Eventually, it was Sebastian who spoke through their laughter. "We should settle down now," he said, trying to contain the last of his laughter.
"Did I take it a step too far?" Rosalinda asked in a much less confident voice once everyone finished laughing.
"No," Sebastian and William answered together.
"Rosalinda," Shelby spoke, her voice soft as she addressed her sister-in-law. "If I'm being honest, you said exactly what I've been thinking since I met your mother. Elinor needs to know how you feel and you should be able to feel comfortable telling her those things. It's a shame the conversation had to happen the way it did and during lunch instead of in a private conversation."
Rosalinda nodded. "It's just that it's all been weighing on me so heavily lately. She's been talking about it most days with the approaching wedding."
"I completely understand."
"We completely understand," Sebastian added.
"Thanks," she spoke, sighing in relief.
There were a few minutes of relaxed silence that followed as everyone finished eating. "Shall we return to the Great Room?" Sebastian asked seeing that everyone had finished eating. Everyone agreed and they began to make their way to the Great Room.
"Shelby, are you coming?" Davy asked when Shelby began to head in a different direction than everyone else.
"No right now," Shelby began. "I need to go take care of Sadie. But after I've finished, I'll take her to the Great Room and you can hold her. Does that sound good?"
"Yes," Davy nodded before running to catch up with the rest of his family.
When Shelby got back to her room, Lucinda was standing at the window with Sadie who was giggling happily. "Sadie, look who's here," Lucinda said, spotting Shelby.
Sadie giggled more when she saw Shelby and reached out towards her mom. "Hi Sadie," Shelby spoke. "Thank you," she turned to Lucinda and nodded.
"Let me know if you need anything more."
"I will. Thank you."
Lucinda gave a nod before leaving the room. Shelby was able to quickly take care of Sadie's needs and it was done more quickly than at first now that Shelby had grown comfortable with caring for and feeding Sadie. Sadie was soon content and the two made their way to the Great Room.
As Shelby got back to the Great Room, she noticed that Edward and Elinor had returned to join the family. However, Angus was absent, so only Sebastian's immediate family was in the room. While Edward and Elinor were in the room with their children, they had separated themselves from their children and had carried on a quiet conversation.
"Shelby!" Davy exclaimed when he saw her.
"Hey, Davy," Shelby said, making her way over to him and sitting down beside him. "Would you like to hold Sadie now?"
Davy nodded eagerly. He made sure he sat all the way back on the couch and listened carefully to Shelby's instructions on how to hold Sadie. "She's much bigger than she was the last time you held her. You might just be able to hold her on your lap instead of cradling her like I was first saying." Shelby shifted how she held Sadie to demonstrate. She held Sadie so the little girl's back was against her chest.
"Okay," Davy agreed, holding his arms out to take Sadie. As he held her, he put his arms around her middle to keep her from leaning too far forward or too far to the side. While he held Sadie, Davy continued talking to Shelby. Even though Sadie became fussy later, Davy continued holding her and trying to comfort her.
"I think she's upset because she needs to take a nap," Shelby explained.
"Sadie, you need to go take a nap," Davy spoke to his niece.
Since the bassinet was still in the room, Shelby was able to put Sadie down for her nap in the room with everyone. Soon after Sadie lay down for her nap, Sebastian and his brothers decided to go train and help Davy get familiar with a wooden sword. Shelby spent a little more time talking with the remainder of Sebastian's family until Elinor decided she wanted to get more rest.
Sadie was waking up from her nap, so Shelby took her to the library as she needed to get a new book. When she returned to her room, she found Lucinda and asked someone to bring the bassinet back to the room. From there, Shelby spent the remainder of her afternoon reading.
XXX
At dinner that night, everyone was still somewhat reserved after the conversation at lunch. After dinner, everyone decided to spend the evening relaxing in their rooms. Elinor had been the one to suggest it, claiming that she was still tired from the trip and needed time to relax before the business of the holiday.
For Shelby and Sebastian, the evening was relaxing. With no responsibilities, the two were able to spend the night reading and taking care of Sadie. The night continued as normally, and soon after Sadie was asleep, Shelby and Sebastian decided to get to bed as well.
A/N: I again don't have much to add about this chapter. It's a bit longer than most chapters, but there wasn't really any good place to split it off to begin with and I do still want to get the Christmas chapter published next week for the holiday.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave a review if you want. I appreciate constructive criticism as it helps me become a better writer and make this story better.
Reviews:
Ansy: I'm glad you enjoy the cute moments of Shelby and Sebastian. As I've said before, now that Sebastian's changed for the better, it's fun to write those scenes. With that, I also knew Sebastian couldn't back out on the promise he already made about Sadie deciding who her husband is for herself.