There was a big party room in the lodge that had been rented out and decorated for the baby shower. The theme seemed to be pink and purple, the colors since Vera got an official gender confirmation on baby Theo being a girl. It was of course no surprise though since Vera already knew she was having a baby girl. One table had a bunch of gifts stacked on it and another table had food and refreshments. Hamish was running around with his nephews catching them and picking them up, making them scream and laugh before setting them down and watching them run off again. Emma came over to her handing her a glass of water. "Here you go, I'll give you a quick rundown of the whole clan. Obviously you met the boys last night and that charming devil over there talking to our parents is my husband Gregory. Then we have aunt Erma, my father's sister. She's not the friendliest and we are pretty sure she's a black widow."

Emma took a sip of her water before she continued. "Our baby sister Luci, she's a little bit of a punk and that is her rocker boyfriend Garret. Our father can't stand him so if you think he's cold to you then you should see his glares he shoots Garret. Then we have uncle Henry, my mother's brother and his wife Cynthia and their two children Elizabeth and Mary. Just a forewarning, Mary graduates highschool next year and they are gunning for your place, Belgrave so if they go to talk to you just walk away." It was strange standing in the room full of strangers, nobody was recognizable to Vera which wasn't too out of the ordinary when it came to meeting with other heads of universities.

At least Emma was here to help guide her through the politics of the family. With Gregory taking charge of the boys Hamish was finally able to slip away from them and straighten out his vest and shirt after running around. He walked up to Vera wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on her shoulder. "You look so beautiful today Vera."

"And I feel exhausted."

Hamish kissed her on the shoulder before standing up again, "Baby had you up again all night?"

"Doesn't she always?"

"Ouch, I'm sorry." Emma cut in. "Hyperactive baby? That was my youngest Lucas." She nodded to the little boy who was now being picked up by his father and held upside down giggling.

"Last time I certainly didn't have a baby this active." Vera admitted, in fact her daughter had been pretty quiet but it could have been general stress of being a teen parent on her own and constantly dealing with being yelled at and struggling to survive day to day.

"Oh you have an…" Emma was cut short when Hamish quickly motioned behind her nodding his head no and slicing his hand across his throat to shut his sister up before she said something painful.

"As Hamish is desperately trying to say." Vera turned around looking at him, Hamish putting his hand down and looking at her with wide eyes. He glanced away from Vera touching her arm affectionately.

"I'm going to get you some cake, do you want cake sis?" Hamish didn't even wait for Emma to answer before he took off.

"As I was saying, my daughter passed away." Emma was about to apologize to her but that's what made it so much harder. "You don't need to say anything." In reality she didn't want to risk talking about it since it would make her break down and cry.

"Understandable." Emma looked over at her two boys, she couldn't imagine having one of her sons die. It was a mother's worst fear and understanding that Vera had lived through it made Emma hope all the more that Vera's and Hamish's baby would be everything they could ever want. Hamish came back with a plate of cake for each of them and pulled out a chair for Vera. Walking over to her own chair she looked down at it. "What about my chair Hamish?" The older sister joked with him.

"Emma, you have hands, you can pull your chair out." Hamish then went around to the other side of the table and pulled her chair out for her too. "Thank you, you are such a great baby brother."

"You are welcome, by the way Vera we are going to be opening gifts soon."

"You are going to love my gift." Emma added. "I won't tell you the main thing I got you but I did get you a bottle of champagne for after the baby is born so you two can drink that down because you'll need it to get sleep."

"Emma, you are without question my favorite sister."

Hamish sat down next to Vera, "I told you that you two would get along. Look at you two elegant hellions. If I left you alone you two would take over the world and I don't know if it would be for the best."

"Oh, for the best of course."

Hamish pointed at Vera, "Are you sure?" One part of him wanted to say yes but the other part of him said he was also the voice of reason trying to keep Vera in check. After all, he was a magic cop. Protect the order from foes inside and out, luckily for Vera she was a good Grand Magus and she was trying to make a change to the Order. Unfortunately change didn't happen as quickly as he would have liked.

After a while Vera and Hamish were settled down to open up the gifts the family had gotten for them. Most of it was hamish shaking boxes and being yelled at by his mother not to do that. He would make an educated guess before passing it off to Vera to open up and nine times out of ten he was wrong about every single gift minus the clothes. At this point Theo had more clothes than he did and surprisingly Hamish had a lot of clothes, especially at Vera's house. Just as Emma had promised she had given them a bottle of champagne. Also as she had mentioned she had gotten them a nice high end baby monitor, the type a camera feed so they could actually keep their eyes on Theo. Hamish knew inevitably that was going to probably be closer to her than the damn Vade Macum.

Hamish started to pack up once Vera had finished opening gifts. Emma had to wrangle her boys which meant Vera was left alone to the wolves or more so to two particular wolves. She's almost predicted Miranda coming to talk to her as soon as she saw her walking her way. She reached out to grab her arm making Vera instinctively back away from her. "Care to come share a chat with me?"

"Yes, I do care." She was a bit snappy with her since she knew generally the woman didn't like her.

"Come on." Miranda grabbed her arm and led her down the hallway to her room. "I have a problem with you Ms. Stone."

"Of that I am aware." It was hard for Vera to feel tough and intimidating right now. Maybe a few months ago she could still hold up a strong face but right now she felt a little too vulnerable. "You don't trust me because I couldn't give you the answer you wanted." Vera folded her hands looking at the older woman and realizing she was actually a little intimidated by her. "I do, I love Hamish."

"That is comforting but that wasn't what I was going to say. I know we have two grandsons and believe me they are the world to my husband but they aren't Dukes." Vera nodded her head not certain what the point of this conversation was.

"That would be correct." Vera raised her brow.

"The point is your daughter is the first born Duke child." Vera nodded her head.

"Hamish is your only son so this will likely be the only Duke child you get."

"Which means with my husbands old school views the last thing he wants is for his only Duke grandchild to not be born a bastard."

"I see." Vera folded her hands and licked her lips. "Your husband is going to have to deal with it because I don't believe in the concept of a bastard and I don't believe in the idea of forced marriage to continue on you or your husband's idea of a clean legacy." This was without question why Vera couldn't stand these sort of families, it was all about bloodlines and legacies and saving face and appearances. They had to be so perfect and yet they were so broken. "Maybe Miranda it's time for your family to embrace some change. In the end my daughter is mine and your sons. It's our choice in how she is going to live her life and I can tell you with confidence that if you push me then her life won't include you."

"Is that a threat ms. Stone?" Miranda asked.

"No, consider it a friendly reminder. You'll know when I'm threatening you." Well, feeling vulnerable or not Vera still had it. This wealthy old bat could play queen over her all she wanted, in the end it meant nothing. She was Grand Magus and no one within or outside of the Order could push her around. "This has been a great conversation, until the next time we see each other?" Vera surprisingly went right back to being charming and respectful. She offered her hand in a friendly shake before turning her back on Miranda.

"Vera." The Magus stopped in her tracks a moment. "My husband is going to adore you, eventually."

She smirked a little, had she just won a bit of respect? "Well lucky for me, I really don't care." She raised her chin and walked out of the room leaving Miranda behind alone. Whether Vera knew it or not she was Duke material.