"Wake up sunshine," Kenna groaned and rolled over. Why was he waking her up?
"Kenna you have to get ready so we can eat breakfast, the carriage is going to be ready to take us to Lola and Julien's soon," Bash explained.
Kenna knew he was right but she was in a mood to be irrationally stubborn that morning, so she just ignored him and kept her eyes firmly shut.
Bash sighed dramatically, "Fine, I guess I'll just have to resort to drastic measures,"
He reached over to tickle her and Kenna writhed and giggled under the sheets like a little girl, "Okay, okay! I'm up! Why did you arrange for the carriage to pick us up so early? I need my beauty sleep."
"You got more than enough sleep beautiful, it's fairly late in the morning," Bash said as he walked over to pull the drapes aside, which let a flood of sunlight into the room, "Everyone else has been up for a while now."
"Oh really? Why didn't you wake me up sooner then?"
"Are you serious? I wasn't interested in risking my life," Bash joked.
Kenna laughed as she extracted herself from the covers and walked over to her wardrobe to pick out her outfit for day. She looked through her dresses and realized that she was going to need to acquire some new things once she started showing. She put a hand on her still flat stomach and smiled. Her thoughts wandered to holding her baby for the first time, the sound of little footsteps running through the house, watching Bash teach him or her to ride a horse, and reading stories before bed. She wished more than ever that her mother was still alive. She wondered if she would be proud of her. She wondered what her reaction would have been like when she told her she was pregnant. What advice she would have shared with her. She wiped the tears that had started to fall without her realizing and finally settled on a dress.
"Are you alright?" Bash asked when she turned around.
"Sorry, just thinking about my mother," Kenna replied, "She would have been a lovely grandmother. She would have loved you too."
Bash walked up to her a kissed her forehead, "Do you think of her often?"
"No, but little things remind me of her. Like Genevieve's strawberry tarts that are exactly like the ones she used to love. And my sapphire necklace which is one of the few things of hers I was able to get from my father before I left."
"I wish I could have gotten to meet her, if she was anything like you then she was one special lady," Bash smiled down at her.
"Oh Lola, it's so charming!" Mary exclaimed as Lola led them through the cottage.
"Thank you, I'm so very grateful to Bash and Kenna for allowing us to live here. I thought I would miss the luxuries that I had grown up with but honestly I think a simpler life suits me," Lola replied, bouncing Oliver on her hip, "Besides, I have a wonderful husband and this handsome, little guy. What more could I want?"
Seeing Lola with Oliver always brought a variety of feelings on Kenna. She was excited to have a child her and Bash could dote on, but at the same time nervous that she wouldn't be a good mother despite everyone's reassurances. Lola made being a mother look effortless, she hoped she could be even half as good of a mother as her friend. The ladies all moved into the parlor and sat down.
"Mary, how is Greer? We haven't heard from her in quite some time," Kenna asked.
"Well, it's actually a bit of a long story," Mary began. She told them how Francis had befriended Leith at Calais and gifted him with land and a title.
"So are they going to marry now?" Lola asked.
Mary continued to explain how Greer is quite torn over whether or not she should break her engagement with Lord Castleroy after all that he had done for her and her sisters, "Lord Castleroy has been away on business for a while and doesn't know about Leith's new found status and I think Greer would like to keep things that way until she can make a decision. I suppose she's afraid he might regret giving her control over the marriage contract."
"Poor Greer, perhaps we should have had her come and visit as well. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, I miss her dearly. Some time away from court might help her to think things through without so much pressure," Kenna said, "I'll have a message delivered to her promptly. Oh and she doesn't know I'm pregnant yet either!"
"Alright men, it's time to talk about having a pregnant wife," Julien told Bash and Francis as they sat outside.
Bash and Francis looked at each other. What were they in for? Kenna could be a quite a sassy handful without being pregnant and he could only imagine what she would be like once her pregnancy progressed. Her ability to banter sarcastically and joke with him was one of the things he loved most about her though.
"They're going to be tired, cranky, fat, and adorable," Julien said, which elicited a laugh from both of the brothers. "I'm aware that you two are good husbands and probably don't need to hear this but I'm going to say it anyway. Be patient, rub their feet, wipe their tears when they cry about things that non-pregnant people don't cry about, tell them they're beautiful when they complain about feeling huge, let them steal all the covers at night, don't argue with them when they tell you for the 53rd time how they are totally positive that the baby will have your eyes even though you know that it will definitely have her's, and most off all be excited. In a few short months it will all be over and you'll be holding a baby and you'll forget about all the times they were cranky and you couldn't wait for them to not be pregnant. You'll forget it because it's all worth it when you hold your child for the first time."
Bash sat in stunned silence, it was times like this that he sometimes forgot that Julien wasn't even Oliver's real father. He hoped he could be the patient and loving husband and father that Julien was.
Francis broke the silence by asking worriedly, "What kinds of things is she going to cry about?"
Kenna could tell that Bash had something on his mind on their way home. She would have to ask him that evening when they were alone. When the carriage rattled to a stop at their home, Mary and Francis announced that they were going to take a walk before it got dark and headed towards the garden.
Kenna reached for Bash's hand as the walked up to the house, "Are you alright? You were very quiet on the way home."
Bash looked down at her, "Sorry, I was just thinking. Julien is a good father, isn't he?"
Kenna wasn't sure where Bash was going with this, "Yes, he certainly adores Oliver, but what does that have to do with you?"
"I just worry that I don't have fatherly instincts," Bash sighed.
"Oh Bash that's ridiculous, you're protective and caring. I've seen you with Charles and little Henry. You'll be a great father. Trust me, I know what a bad father is and you are nothing like my father," Kenna replied.
They had reached the door and before they could open it Emilie swung it open and stood there with an odd look on her face, "You have a visitor."
Kenna wondered who it could possibly be. She hadn't invited anyone and they didn't get many people just stopping by out here. Emilie led them into the parlor and Kenna's breath hitched in her throat. Sitting by the fire was someone she had hoped she would never cross paths with again.
"Kenna," he said as his cold eyes raking over her and Bash standing beside her. She squeezed Bash's hand hard, afraid she might collapse.
"Father," she managed to choke out.
Oh no! Cliffhanger :) I thought we needed to bring some more drama into the story, and what better way than a crazy father? Thank you for taking the time to read this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! In light of last week's episode, I'm obviously giving Julien and Lola a very different story. I really like both of them and wanted them to have a happier life. Also, Greer will be coming into the story soon too. I've already started on the next chapter so don't worry, I won't be leaving you in suspense for too long :) Thank you for all of your reviews, your positive comments are always encouraging. Also, to Haley regarding the question about baby showers. I'm pretty sure they didn't have them back then but I wanted an excuse to write a party ;) (The baby shower will be in an upcoming chapter) The extent of research that I did for this story was looking up a list of French names and pictures of 16th century French estates, so there is probably going to be some historical inaccuracies. Not that the show is completely historically accurate anyways :)