Cedric upheld his word to pay more attention to the children… for a little while. Something shifted in him again and no one was sure what. He was more distant than ever even with Evangeline. Instead of hiding in his study, he hid in the bedroom. Evangeline would never intrude while he was in there. They'd pushed the boundaries of master and scullery maid enough as it was. Bedrooms were off-limits unless he called for a tray.

She hadn't realized how much she'd come to rely on Cedric's company. Sure, she chatted throughout the day with Mrs. Blatherwick but she wasn't much interested in deeper conversations most of the time. Conversations with her boss weren't always surrounding Agatha or the kids anymore. They'd evolved into a semblance of comradery. The absence of that made the days drag on. Worse, she started to blame herself.

What if he'd sensed the admiration she'd been feeling for him increasingly these past weeks? It was horrid of her to be thinking improperly about her employer, never mind the fact he was still mourning the death of his wife. While she might have valued the friendship (if that's what they could call it) they'd forged, perhaps he was starting to remember his place. Polite as ever, he could be avoiding her to remind her of hers.

So, she started to leave him alone no matter where he was.

If she'd known the real reason, she'd have been even more conflicted.

"Aunt Adelaide wrote to me again," Cedric said, speaking to Agatha's chair late one night. "I don't think she's going to let go of this nonsense about remarrying. Word's got out about the children. They're…" he paused, pressing his knuckles to his mouth. "… I don't know what's happened to them. You and I both know they could always be rambunctious, but since you've… It's been hard on all of us."

He shook his head, trying to keep himself composed before he continued.

"I know that once before we spoke of what would happen should one of us go while the kids are still young. You told me that you wouldn't want me to grieve forever, nor I you. But to even think about marriage right now is preposterous. It hasn't been a year yet. I must say I'm appalled by Aunt Adelaide's disregard for what's happened, thinking all our problems will be solved by bringing in someone new."

He rolled his eyes, practically hearing the response Agatha would have given him.

"I know. She's family and she's good to us. You were always so loyal, my sweet. Don't think I'm not grateful for her support. We wouldn't have gotten by without her all these years. And that's what frightens me. In this last letter, she said that if something doesn't change soon, she is going to have to intervene. I can only imagine that it means an ultimatum."

With a huff, he stood up and circled to the back of Agatha's chair. "What choice will I have if it comes to that? Nanny after nanny has come and gone and the children are no better for it. Worse. They've scared every one of them off. They've gotten a reputation. It's getting more difficult to find someone willing to take them on. I've had to leave them to Evangeline all week. She's said in the past she can handle them, even took insult when I stupidly implied she couldn't. It isn't like it sounds, but I wonder if they have become too much even for her after all. She's barely spoken to me the last few days. Though, I suppose I haven't been around much to give her the chance."

Once more, he shook his head, stopping to collect his thoughts. "I got word that a new nanny will be here on Monday. Maybe things will work out this time. They've got to… Whom am I expected to marry? I'll have to start attending teas and all that rot. I just wish there was a way to get Adelaide to hear that it's too soon. Can you imagine it? Suppose they drive out a stepmother the way they've driven out the nannies? Good heavens… what a scandal that would cause."

Bending down, Cedric rested his forehead against the back of the chair. "Who am I going to find that will love the children as much as you did?"

. . .

Evangeline didn't mind the time between nannies. She quite preferred them, actually. No nannies meant no potentially life-threatening pranks. For the most part, the children behaved for her so long as nothing else had upset them. This didn't mean they did what they were told exactly, but she could at least get them to quiet down and not make too much of a mess.

Being without a nanny and given Cedric's distancing, Evangeline fell back into step with them. She watched for illness, still not recovered herself from the scare with Aggie, she made sure Sebastian had a snack prepared before bedtime (whenever that might be any given night), she brought them all for walks, and she'd developed an ear for catching anything out of sorts. This was what woke her in the middle of the night, hearing a faint cry from the nursery.

She hurried downstairs fearing the worst. Aggie had taken to sleeping through the nights, especially given her siblings didn't like to keep quiet during her naptime. She couldn't be sick again. Mr. Brown wouldn't be able to take it.

When she reached the children's bedroom, she saw Tora over by the crib, Aggie crying in her arms.

"I'm not sure what's wrong," Tora said in a loud whisper. "She doesn't feel warm."

Taking the baby from her, Evangeline replied, "Let's be glad of that. I've got her. Try to go back to sleep."

Tora nodded gratefully.

"It's all right, Aggie," Evangeline mumbled against her head. "Have a bad dream, did you?"

Cedric was coming up the stairs not long after this. He panicked when he heard Aggie's whimpers and started for the nursery himself. Once he got there, he stopped short, hearing Evangeline's soft humming.

Standing to the side, he peaked in, startled to see Evangeline standing across the room in her nightgown and her hair loose over her shoulders. Improper as it was, he couldn't get himself to look away. What a pretty thing she was. He often wondered why the workmen in the village hadn't tried to catch her eye.

As she turned, his gaze then fell on Aggie calming down and snuggling into the crook of the maid's neck.

"That's a girl, Aggie," Evangeline said with a smile. "Everything's all right."

Evangeline rocked her and kissed her so naturally that anyone else would have thought they were mother and daughter. The feeling this stirred in Cedric was alarming. The vision reminded him of Agatha with Simon. She'd only been a year or two younger than Evangeline when he was born, though he couldn't say the two women looked much alike. He remembered all the nights he'd found her with their son, suspecting he hadn't cried for her at all, rather she couldn't bear to be away from her child for any length of time.

For as warm as the memory made him feel, it also brought on a wave of grief. It should be Agatha here now. She suffered through labor and got none of the rewards. But then he was filled with wonderment. At least Aggie hadn't been left only to him and his ever-increasing shortcomings as a father. So often he thought Evangeline was too kindhearted for her own good. That was surely why she was so good with the children. But seeing her now like this, having heard Aggie crying when he'd likely been closer spoke volumes. The way she spoke and cradled her, not hurrying or annoyed about being woken at this late hour and putting her back in her crib the moment she calmed down showed how much she truly seemed to care for the child. For all of them. How had he not seen it before?

Though he knew it should be him in there with his daughter, Cedric felt like he was intruding. He didn't want to embarrass Evangeline either, admitting he'd stood there gaping all the while she was in her nightclothes. He stepped back from the doorway as quietly as possible, listening to the lullaby she'd begun to sing as he walked to his bedroom and trying to make sense of the butterflies in his stomach.

The strange sensation occurred again and again over the coming weeks and seemed to return each time he saw Evangeline. It wasn't as if he invited it, in fact he rather wished it would go away. It was an all-too familiar feeling, and he knew what it said about his emotions towards his scullery maid. Emotions that were utterly improper and far too complicated for a man in his position. But it rose up in him inexplicably as he watched her with the children, with her first greeting toward him of the day, and when she softly bid him goodnight. It surged within him when she kissed Chrissie's scraped knees and hugged Tora tightly and snuck biscuits to Sebastian when she thought no one was looking and when she reverently tidied his office, taking such tender care with his things and most especially and respectfully his late wife's things, those feelings struck him in his heart like a bolt of lightning.

He didn't understand it, well actually he did in all honesty, he knew exactly what was happening to him, but it frightened him to no end because he knew that there was absolutely no world in which him having those thoughts about his young scullery maid was proper.

He decided that keeping his distance from Evangeline would be the most suitable course of action and so he became quite accustomed to avoiding her as much as possible. Of course it was quite an impossible task being that they lived together and that it was her job to tend to him and his needs.

Sunday was his day off from work and he decided to try and divert his mind away from dangerous thoughts by fixing some things around the house. On his way outside to the shed to fetch the necessary tools, he stopped short in the doorway as he heard Lily and Evangeline speaking. He peaked around the door frame and saw that the two of them were hunched over a book which dear Evangeline was giving an admirable go at reading.

"To Mr. Darcy it was w-welcome in-tell-i-g…oh gosh"

"Intelligence", Lily helped her.

"Intelligence - Elizabeth had been at Netherfield long en-ow", Evangeline frowned and Lily smiled patiently. "Enough." Evangeline rolled her eyes at herself. "Enough."

Cedric couldn't help the little quirk of his lips at what he was hearing. He wasn't amused by Evangeline's struggle but rather he was endeared by her perseverance and more than a little proud of her and his daughter for her own kindness and patience.

"She at-attrac-ted him more than he like-d…er, liked – and Miss Bingley was un-civil to her, and more teasing than usu-al to himself. He w-wisely re-sol-ved"

"Resolved"

"Resolved…to be par-tic-u-lar-ly, particularly careful that no sign of ad-mir-ation should now escape him, no-nothing that could el-e-vate her with the hope of in-flu…"

"Influencing"

"Influencing his fel-i-city", Cedric chuckled quietly as Evangeline scrunched up her nose adorably. "I've never even heard that word."

"Keep going", Lily encouraged.

"Sens-i-ble that if such an ide-a had been sug-

"That's the 'j' sounding g's"

"Oh um, sugg-es-ted suggested! his be-hav-eye-or behavior du-ring the last day must have ma-mate-rial w-weigh-weight in con-fir-ming or cru-crush-crushing it. Ste-ady, steady to his pur-pose - oh God - purpose, he scar-scarcely spoke ten words to her throw-through the w-

"It's whole, as in complete, spelled with the 'w', remember?"

"Yes, yes, the whole of Saturday, and th-though they were at one time left by them-s-selves for half-an-hour, he ad-here-d most…" Evangeline shook her head and Lily helped her with the last line of the paragraph. "He adhered most conscientiously to his book, and would not even look at her."

"Thank you", Evangeline sighed in relief.

Cedric panicked for a moment, worrying that now she had read almost word for word what he himself had deliberately been doing the past week, she would surely catch on that he'd been hiding from her and from the feelings he was starting to develop. Mind you, he reasoned that she might not have even picked up a lot of the actual context of the book while she was so focused on simply sounding the words out.

He was inspired by her persistence though he had to admit to being slightly worried about her wanting to further her education. Suppose that meant she would one day want to leave them for a better job? Perhaps that was her intention. He supposed he couldn't blame her for wanting better for herself.

Feeling sullen and unmotivated now, Cedric returned to his study.

It wasn't until dinner time that he felt brave enough to show his face again. He had made a step towards spending more time with the children by joining them for dinner each night. He'd promised them all that he would at the very least do that and it was a promise he was determined to keep.

As he rounded the staircase, making his way to the dining room, he paused in step as he heard his children speaking softly in discrete conversation. "We don't wish to disappoint him, we just want him to notice us", his eldest daughter said earnestly, breaking the poor man's heart in two.

"I know that", Cedric's eyebrows lifted in surprise at hearing the voice of his scullery maid. He wasn't aware that she was still in there with them. Obviously the children had struck up a conversation with Evangeline about their miserable Father whilst she'd been laying the table. Either that or she'd seen them all gloomy and had asked them what the matter was. He wouldn't be surprised if that was it. She showed them so much care. Far more than he knew he himself showed them.

"I wish he'd stop hiring blasted nannies. Can't he see we don't want them? All we want is more time with him", Simon added on to Tora's comment.

"And how do you expect things to be paid for?" Evangeline asked Simon. "Your Father works so hard to keep this house afloat. He's an incredibly hard worker. Don't you think if he could give you more time he would?"

Her words warmed him but the silent response from his children ripped Cedric's heart apart even further.

"It's not fair that they keep sending people to look after us who don't know the first thing about any of us. This Nanny Whetstone will be no different", Eric chimed in grouchily.

"You're not giving any of them the chance to get to know you!" Evangeline sighed in exasperation.

"I wish you could be the one to look after us. You know everything about us", Sebastian innocently said and Cedric smiled a little to himself. His boy was right. Evangeline knew the children almost as well as his wife had and certainly more so now than he. There was no way he could allow her to try and look after the children on top of her other work though - he had already seen the consequences of that, but of course there was no money for him to be able to afford to hire someone else to do her job while she took care of the children either.

He knew it was probably wrong of him but Evangeline had not received a pay rise in a very long time, nor had she asked for one. She seemed to be content enough with her lot and simply happy to be there with them - more so until recent times, perhaps.

"C'mere", he heard Evangeline's gentle voice say before the room went quiet again. With seven spirited children, the extended silence seemed strange and Cedric poked his head around the door to see what exactly was going on.

All seven of his children were huddled together, arms around each other in comfort, and at the center was Evangeline, holding them all together. Cedric's throat clogged up with emotion, tears springing to his eyes. As the children slowly separated again, he retreated back from the door to dab at his face with his sleeve before stepping into the dining room.

"Good evening my dears", he addressed his children warmly as if trying to replicate the hug they'd all just shared, with his words.

"Good evening Papa", they chorused, some more enthusiastically than others.

"I hope you've all had an enjoyable day", he smiled attentively at them all and they all looked back at him with varying expressions - some with delight, some with scrutiny.

"I'll leave you all to enjoy your supper", Evangeline told the family graciously, attempting to make a quick escape out of the room.

Cedric's breath caught in his chest as she brushed past him. He spun around, darting out through the door. "Evangeline", he stopped her in step, grabbing her hand lightly to pull her attention to him. "Thank you." His tone and his expression were open and earnest.

She blinked a couple of times in surprise at his sincerity before giving him a gentle smile. "It's my duty and my pleasure, Mr. Brown."

There was something in her words and in the way she delivered them that gave him an inexplicable and extraordinary sense of comfort. As his eyes followed her while she descended the stairs back down to the kitchen, he knew that no matter what happened to him and his family, and however long it was she chose to remain there, Evangeline would always be a part of them.

THE END.

A/N: I hope you've enjoyed this story. It's been such a pleasure to write alongside the wonderfully talented markaleen. Thank you my friend for your inspiration and brilliance.