When Beauty Tamed the Beast

Page 74

John rolled his eyes and went to look around the little tide pools. Maybe if he found his own frog, Papa would let him dissect it.
There didn’t seem to be any frogs.
“They don’t like saltwater,” Evie said, lisping a little. She cocked her head on the side and gave him that smile he hated so much. “Don’t you know anything?”
He pulled her hair.
Then she cried, so he counted to ten.
“I didn’t yank her hair,” he explained to his papa a second later. “Or wrench it. That would have been mean. It was just a little tug.”
“You are a chip off the old block,” his father said, taking him by the hand as they all started up the path back to the castle. “Next time, count to ten before you tug.”
John grinned. His greatest ambition was to be just like his papa in every way. Well, and a little like his grandfather the duke too, because he loved the way His Grace told stories.
But mostly he wanted to be like his papa. “Maybe I’ll operate on the next frog before I dissect it,” he offered. “Give it a cast on its leg. We could pretend it jumped too high.”
“Hmm,” his father said, and John realized he was looking over at Mama again.
She was holding hands with Evie, who was still heaving with sobs, though John knew perfectly well that he hadn’t really hurt his sister.
“You love Mama a lot, don’t you?” John said, pulling on his father’s hand to get his attention.
“Yes, I do,” his papa said. “I certainly do.”
“And she loves you,” John stated. He liked to have things organized and clear in his mind.
His mother laughed. “I do love your father, Johnakins.”
He frowned. “That’s my baby name. I’m not a baby any longer.”
“My apologies,” she said, dropping a finger on his nose.
“Then if you love him,” he said to his father, “and she loves you, and you love us, why do you have to have another one?” He had been told that there was another baby in Mama’s tummy, but it didn’t seem logical, even if her tummy was rounder than it used to be.
His mother smiled down at him and then took his free hand in hers. “Loving each other is what this family does best.”
That was illogical to John’s mind. Dissecting people was what his papa did best. But there was no point in fussing over it, and besides . . .
He guessed the four of them could probably spare a little love for a baby.
As long as it wasn’t another girl.