Author's note: I'm sorry for this delay. I was a little unsure how this chapter would go until now. I have a plan for moving forward a bit in time. But we should be meeting new family members very soon.
Please review and let me know if you like the direction I'm going in.
Harry reading!
Chapter Twelve
Sydney walked the floor with a crying Joshua. He'd been crying almost non-stop for days. He barely slept. As a result, she was exhausted. She considered going to the big house and looking for the nanny Adrian and Jill had left behind. But she decided against it. She was the baby's mother and she could handle it. Somehow.
"Please, Joshua, Mommy is so tired. I miss Daddy, too. He'll be home soon. He's supposed to be here today." Tears filled her eyes and she sat down hard on the sofa.
"Sydney?" Eddie called, looking through the window.
She hastily wiped at her eyes. "Yes. You can come in."
He stepped through the door and walked immediately to the bar in the corner. "Do you mind?"
She shook her head, bouncing and shushing Josh.
"He was like that yesterday. He is all right?" Eddie picked up his glass and took a sip.
"I don't know. He's been fed and changed. He's not feverish." She shook her head. "Adrian would be able to soothe him, I think."
"You want me to take care of him for a minute and give you a break?"
"You have no idea how much I appreciate that offer."
Eddie took the crying baby and cradled him close. "Hey there, Josh. How's my dear little friend? Hm? What's wrong? Do you miss Misha and Daddy? And Jill? I know I miss them all. I can't wait to get your brother back in my arms. I remember when he was as small as you. He cried like this, too. Jill almost went crazy."
The baby started to calm as he listened to Eddie's gentle voice. He cooed and closed his eyes.
"Thank you." Sydney said as she sat back.
"I think he just needed a small change for a moment. Here." He handed the baby back to his mother. "Maybe he'll sleep a while."
"Maybe." She kissed his face and then pressed her cheek against his. "I love him so much."
Eddie watched her a moment. "I don't know if I can handle it."
"Handle what?" She brought Joshua to his cradle in the corner of the room.
"I already love Misha like he's my own. And him." He pointed to Josh. "I'm feeling it for him too after all the time we've spent together these last few weeks. I don't know how much I'll love a child that comes from me."
Sydney smiled kindly. "Your heart may well explode from your chest when you see your child for the first time."
"Did yours?" He leaned over the baby.
She stood beside him. "I was a little too distracted with exhaustion. But Adrian was so…enthralled with him from the beginning."
"I've been enthralled with Misha from the beginning." He reached in and gently touched Joshua's face. "I just want one that's really mine. One that I helped bring into being. Is that wrong?"
She shook her head. "I don't believe that for a moment. You and Jill have a right to happiness just as much as the rest of us." She smiled sideways at him. "And it would be interesting to see how that that combination would look.
He nodded and looked up at the clock. "Jill's last letter said they planned to leave today at seven. So maybe they will be here soon."
"I sure hope so." Sydney sighed.
Joshua fussed. Eddie smoothed a hand over his face and then patted his stomach as he shushed the infant. "Your daddy will be home soon, darling boy."
"Thank you for looking after us." Sydney said as her son quieted.
Eddie shrugged. "You looked after yourselves, pretty much. You have the tools to keep the bad people at bay."
She chuckled. "Maybe."
He took her hand and patted it. "I need to do one more patrol before I give the duty over."
"Should Adrian and I look after Misha?" She asked with a knowing smile.
"We'll see what Jill says when they return. She may feel the need to have him close and watched by the nanny." He kissed her hand and then left.
Sydney was settling in for bed when the front door opened and Adrian called her name. She threw herself out of bed and ran down the stairs and straight into his arms.
He kissed her face over and over and whispered, "I missed you so much. You and Josh."
"We've missed you, too." She whispered back.
He lifted her up into his arms and carried her up to their room. "I thought they'd try to make us stay. But Jill put her foot down. She told Lissa she didn't want our son at Court any longer than necessary." He laid her out on the bed.
"I asked Eddie if he wanted us to have Misha." She combed her fingers through Adrian's hair as he leaned over her.
"I told Jill the same thing. But she figured Eddie would want to be near him for a while. And she's too tired for…well, things. So she just wants the little family to be together."
"That's understandable."
He pressed a kiss to her lips and then got up. He leaned over the basinet in the corner. "Well, hello. Did we wake you, precious boy?" He picked up the baby and held him close. "You're so much smaller than your brother."
Sydney rolled onto her side and watched as he walked around the room and spoke to their son. After a while, she asked, "So how horrible was it, really?"
He shrugged and finally looked up from the baby's face. "It's wasn't the worst experience of my life. Not the best either. Everyone loved Misha. I think my father even developed a soft spot for him." He kissed Josh. "He wouldn't love this one, though."
"We don't need for your father to love him." She said almost bitterly. "Or mine. We love him and that's enough. Eddie and Jill, too. We're finally cultivating a family that we all deserve."
"Jill had a good life before."
"Until she found out she was the illegitimate daughter of a dead Royal." She reached out a hand and Adrian took it.
He kissed her knuckles as he sat down. "I love you."
"I love you."
He watched her a moment before looking down at their baby once more. "I might hold him the rest of the night."
"Be my guest. I'm going to sleep for a while." She sat up and pressed a kiss to his lips and then reclined on the bed once more. She watched him with heavy eyes for a few short minutes until she finally fell asleep.
"Are you going to put him down at all?" Jill asked, kneeling down in front of Eddie.
He smiled and shook his head as he cradled the sleeping boy to his chest and rocked slowly. "I spent a lot of time with Sydney and Joshua trying to fill this hole that was ripped from me when you had to take Misha away."
She rested her head on his knee and looked up at him. He stopped rocking and stroked her hair.
"Are you and Sydney closer now?" She asked softly. She rubbed his leg.
"I think so. We have a mutual understanding about the people we love. That you must be together. It doesn't make the hurting less when we see the two of you interacting with your son together and knowing that there is going to be a time when you have to make another."
Jill sat up and gave him a hard look. "I love you. We're having a baby first. Put him down and let him sleep in his bed. And then come make love to me. I've missed you. It's driven me mad missing you."
He smiled down at her. He kissed Misha's face and stood. "You obviously don't have to beg too much." He walked across the room and placed the baby in his crib. He tapped lightly on the nanny's door and let her know they were on their way out. He took Jill's hand and led her out of the room.
She paused in front of the door to her room. She looked into his eyes and saw the same emotions passing through him as she felt coursing through her. She opened the door and pulled him after her.
As she closed the door, Eddie walked toward the fireplace and stoked the embers into a lovely flame to warm the bite in the air. Jill joined him in front of the hearth with a blanket. He helped her spread it out and then pulled her into his arms, holding her close and kissing her softly again and again.
Jill reclined on the blanket and pulled him down with her. They kissed lazily, rolling over to take turns as to who was in charge. The clothes came off slowly. The glow of the fire warmed their skin as much as the passion that burned between them. Eddie's kisses rained down over her every inch. She ached for him to be part of her, under her skin, flowing through her veins.
She tangled her fingers in his hair and gently tugged him back up her body. They kissed again, this time a fiercer kiss with all the passion Jill could put into it. She rolled Eddie onto his back and looked down at him. "Are you ready for a baby?"
"I am." He smoothed his hand over her back and cupped her bottom, bringing her in line with his erection. "Are you ready for another?"
"I am. Misha is nine months old now. By the time this one's born, he will be over a year old."
"We'll have a big celebration." He pulled her down over him.
She sighed and kissed him. She moved slowly and didn't break the kiss for a long time. As the tension grew, she finally removed her mouth from his.
"You okay?" He panted.
She nodded and sat back with a heavy moan. Eddie moved his hands over her body. She placed her hands on top of his and followed his motions; guiding them to the spots she wanted most to feel his caress.
His hands came to a stop on her hips. She slid her hands down his arms and they came to rest on his chest. A moment later she met her orgasm blissfully, smiling through it.
Eddie flipped her onto her back and took over. Jill combed her fingers through his hair and trailed her hands over his body. He kissed her again and again, murmuring to her softly in the last moments before he came.
They lay on the floor, tangled together in the dying light of the fire. Jill stared at the ceiling. Eddie kissed her skin at every place he could reach with a simple turn of his head.
"Would you like a boy or a girl?" Jill asked softly after a while.
"We already have two boys. So a girl would be refreshing for all of us, I think."
"You count Joshua?"
"Don't you?" He turned his head up and looked at her. "He's Misha's brother. Sydney lives on a house on this property. We're all down there often and they are up here just as much."
"Yes. An odd family." She combed her fingers through his hair and kissed his forehead. "But I love it. It warms my heart that you think so, too." After another short silence, she said, "Sometimes I'm not sure what feelings and emotions are mine and which are Adrian's." She moved out from underneath him and walked across the room to retrieve her dressing gown.
"Is Adrian in love with me?" her lover challenged.
She smiled. "I mean when it comes to the children. I don't know if I love Misha and Josh because I do or because he does."
Eddie got up and pulled on his trousers "Misha is your son. Of course you love him as yourself." He walked toward her. "Josh is an adorable baby. After spending time with him, I know I truly do love that boy, even though he's not mine."
She wrapped her arms around him and they held each other for several silent moments. Eddie pulled away first and looked steadily into her eyes and caressed her face.
"What?" She asked softly.
"Just marveling in your beauty." He whispered back. He kissed her, backing her toward the bed.
She pushed his trousers down his hips as he worked the tie on the front of her dressing gown. They tumbled onto the bed, limbs tangling instantly as they rolled over the entire surface of Jill's massive bed. They came to rest at the top of the mattress and simply held each other.
"This is nice." Eddie said softly. "I missed sharing a bed with you."
"I missed it, too." She pushed him onto his back and rested her head on his shoulder. "I would enjoy making love all night, but it's been a long couple weeks and I just want to sleep for a decade."
He laughed and kissed her forehead. "Sleep all you want, my love. I have you."
She snuggled close as he pulled the blanket over them. "You'll always have me, won't you?"
"Of course."
"And Misha?" She asked sleepily.
"Always Misha." He kissed her forehead again. "Sleep now, my love."
"You too, darling?" She mumbled.
He chuckled. "Me too." He combed his fingers through her hair as she drifted off. He followed soon after.