Thank you for the reviews and messages! Particularly the suggestions for the titles of future drabbles. Some of them were even clean!
"You look very comfortable like that," he said quietly, coming to sit next to her on the couch.
"Well, it's easy enough when they are this age," came Jean's reply, as she looked down at Amelia, asleep in her lap.
Lucien put his arm around her and she shifted a little to make room for him, careful not to wake the baby.
"All they need is feeding, changing, and cuddling. I had no problems really with my boys when they were babies, but it all seemed to go wrong as they got older." She sighed and settled her head on Lucien's shoulder.
He seemed to have upset her, when he had tried to offer a compliment. But Jean's sons were always going to be a difficult subject for her.
"I'm sure you did your best for them, Jean. And I'm sure they know that." He knew it was a platitude, but what did he know about children? He'd missed almost all of Li's childhood.
"We were doing fine till Christopher was killed. Then it all fell apart. Jack had been such a sweet boy, but he became so angry and out of control. I wasn't strong enough to persuade him to do what was right."
She sighed again and looked down at her granddaughter.
"I thought I'd done better with Christopher, but he thinks I favoured Jack and didn't care about him. I just thought he was fine. I must have been blind not to see it."
Lucien kissed her temple. "They both know you love them. You did your best, and you had so much else to manage, with losing your husband and dealing with the farm. I think you're being too harsh on yourself."
"I just worry about Jack all the time. Perhaps Christopher is right, and I did ignore him a bit."
"Christopher is a credit to you, and Jack will be fine, I'm sure. He just needs to grow up a bit more. You'll see. And anyway, Christopher and Ruby trust you with this little one, so they must think you know what you're doing!" Lucien chuckled a little. They certainly wouldn't think he was any sort of good influence.
"I'm sorry, Lucien, I'm lucky to have them, I know." She was thinking about Lucien losing Li for so many years, and then being rejected by her.
He nodded. "That war has a lot to answer for. So many people were damaged by it."
They sat in companionable silence for a while, watching Amelia sleep. "Maybe life will be easier for this little one," he added.
Lucien stroked Amelia delicately on her head , and then turned to kiss her grandmother.