Laughter streamed out of the kitchen as Bash and Francis looked for their wives. They walked in to find Mary and Kenna, faces smeared with flour, standing at the counter with mixing bowls.

"What on earth are you two doing?" Francis asked.

"Baking a cake," Mary explained simply.

Bash knew that Kenna had taken an interest in baking lately and it looked like she had dragged Mary into her lesson for the day.

He walked up to Kenna and brushed a patch of flour off of her cheek, "Don't you think this is supposed to end up in the cake and not on your face?" He joked.

"I suppose we did make a bit of a mess," Kenna commented, "we are being supervised though."

"Although I think we're making it worse," Genevieve spoke up, "We were teasing them about how they're going to get all big and fat in a couple months, but some cake will help speed the process up."

"Which, started a flour fight over who was going to be the fattest," Kenna said with a laugh.

"You'll still be the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, even if you're as fat as a cow," Bash said which earned him a slap across the chest.

The brothers stayed and chatted for a bit, but Kenna and Mary complained they were too distracting.

"Well I suppose we better leave you ladies to your baking then, we'll look forward to enjoying your cake after dinner... maybe," Francis said as he and Bash started to walk out of the kitchen.

"Oh and we almost forgot why we were looking for you two in the first place," Bash added.

"It wasn't just so you could see our beautiful faces?" Kenna interrupted with a smirk.

"Added bonus, but no, we wanted to see if you would join us for a trip down to the lake in," he paused to survey the mess in the kitchen, "perhaps an hour?"

Mary and Kenna enthusiastically agreed to their plan and got back to focusing on the task at hand.

"Don't worry, I made a backup earlier this morning in case this one ends up um, not so edible," Genevieve whispered to Bash on their way out.

Mary glanced over and saw Kenna napping with her head on Bash's chest. She envied the peaceful life Kenna had found here with Bash. Afternoons relaxing by the lakeside weren't a rare treat but something that could be done everyday. They didn't have duties or responsibilities to anyone but each other. When she looked at them she saw what she wished she could have with Francis and hoped that they don't take that for granted. She noticed Bash smile down at his wife and gently stroke her hair. Mary had wanted nothing more than for him to be able to move on from her and Kenna had clearly taken her place in his heart. She shouldn't have been surprised, she knew Kenna demanded an all or nothing kind of love from people. She turned to look over at Francis, "care for a walk?"

Kenna woke to discover that her and Bash were alone.

"Where did Mary and Francis go?" she asked.

"They went for a walk, I guess they thought we weren't very exciting company... or because you were snoring."

"I was not snoring," Kenna protested before she noticed the joking glint in Bash's eyes.

Oh his eyes. She could get lost in those eyes that were even more brilliant than the sun reflecting off of the lake. She had learned that his eyes gave away his emotions, his secrets. He could silently tell her he loved her from across a crowded room with his eyes. He betrayed his hidden fears with those eyes. He told her he was just joking about her snoring with those eyes.

"What?" Bash asked and she realized she had been staring for too long.

"Nothing, just looking at my husband," Kenna replied.

"Oh? And does m'lady like what she sees?" Bash questioned.

"Oh, I don't know... I suppose he's okay looking," Kenna said.

Bash raised his eyebrows, "Just okay?"

"Mhhmm, probably would be better like this," Kenna said pulling his shirt over his head.

She hoped Mary and Francis were a good distance away.

She ran her hands up and down Bash's chest, "Yes, I was right, much better."

Bash grinned and pulled her in for a kiss. "You do remember we aren't the only ones down here, right?" Bash whispered into her skin as he placed kisses along the scar on her shoulder.

"Oh really? I didn't even notice," Kenna replied as she moved herself into his lap and ran her hand along his cheek.

Mary and Francis were on their way back to where they had left Kenna and Bash when Francis abruptly stopped in front of her.

Turning to face her he said, "Let's go for another loop this way."

He reached for her hand and started to walk back the way they had come.

"What? I thought you said Kenna and Bash would probably want to be heading back for dinner soon?" Mary asked.

"I don't think Kenna and Bash will be going anywhere soon," Francis answered, trying to drop a subtle hint with his tone.

"Oh." Mary replied, a blush rising in her cheeks.

"I can't believe this cake actually turned out edible!" Kenna exclaimed as she lifted another forkful to her mouth.

Bash looked over her shoulder where Genevieve was cutting a slice for him. She winked at him, apparently Kenna and Mary still had some work to do before their deserts would be ready to serve. He decided to play along with Genevieve's ruse though and added his own compliments to the ladies.

"Maybe I should just hire you two for the cooking staff, give the other ladies some time off," Bash joked.

"I'd actually like to be able to take my wife home with me. And are you sure you'd be okay with your wife stuck in the kitchen all day where she can't join you down by the lakeside?" Francis asked him with a smirk.

Bash watched Kenna's eyes grow wide as saucers, perhaps they hadn't been as undetected as they'd thought.

Mary shot Francis a look before saying, "Lola said she'd like us to come out and see their house tomorrow."

Bash saw Kenna's obvious relief at the change of subject pass across her face, "Of course, it's a lovely ride out there too. It's unfortunate that we'll have to take a carriage, it's not quite the same."

Bash loved that Kenna had come to share his enthusiasm for riding. He remembered when he first started teaching her to ride, just a month or so after they were wed, and it felt like an eternity ago. It had been one of the first moments that he had felt a connection to her, seen her as something other than a silly girl that was forced upon him. Of course at the time he had hoped that they could just become friends, he could never have imagined then that he would love her.

"I'll arrange for the carriage to take us tomorrow after breakfast," Bash confirmed.

"You know, I thought we had frosted our cake pink..." Kenna muttered before falling asleep that night.

Thanks for reading this chapter :) Sorry there was a bit more time than usual between updates, I had some things I needed to finish for a college class. But now I'm done with that and can focus more on this story, yeah!