how you manage with three.”
“Not very well, apparently,” Ivy said. No, she wouldn’t think like that. “Come, we must keep a positive outlook. Jasper and Leah are fine. They’ve simply wandered off. Perhaps my daughter has taken after her Aunt Fanny and decided to follow a rabbit.”
“Isn’t that how Fanny met David?” Arabella asked.
Ivy nodded. “You’ve heard the story?”
“Yes. If not for that rabbit, I would likely be married to David instead.” Because their fathers had been best friends and arranged for their children to wed. Unfortunately for their fathers’ plans, David fell in love with Fanny. And as luck would have it, Arabella was meant to be with Graham, who had, incidentally, been David’s secretary before inheriting a dukedom—much to Graham’s shock. David and Graham remained close, which is how Ivy and West had come to know them so well.
“Now here you are expecting your third child with Graham,” Ivy said, seizing on a happy thought. “How lovely. As to your question about three children, I have it on good authority that anything after three makes no difference whatsoever.”
“Whose authority is that?” Arabella asked, half-smiling.
“Nora, of course. And her sister. Jo and Bran just welcomed their fourth some months ago.”
Arabella nodded in recognition. She was well acquainted with both Nora, the Duchess of Kendal, and Jo, the Countess of Knighton. Their circle of friends was quite large when Ivy thought about it. She could never have guessed this would be her life—a duchess, a husband who adored her and who she adored in return, a large group of close friends, family really, who took care of one another, and of course, her children who she loved beyond measure. Her heart squeezed as she thought of her firstborn.
No, not her firstborn. She’d delivered a stillborn child many years ago, long before she’d met West. When she’d been young and foolish. Before she’d understood what true love really was, what it could be.
“I’m feeling a bit better, I think,” Arabella said, drawing Ivy from her thoughts of the past. She walked a few yards. “Jasper! Leah!”
Ivy pivoted and strode in the opposite direction, circling around the cart. “Jasper! Leah!”
They continued calling and walking, widening their range with each pass. Ivy tried to calculate how long they’d been gone, but it was impossible. It felt like an eternity, but it was probably not long at all.
At last, they heard a distant sound. “Arabella!”
Ivy and Arabella froze then turned toward the sound. Arabella started in that direction, and Ivy followed.
“Arabella!” This time was louder.
“It sounds like Graham.”
“And it sounds like he’s getting closer. Is that a happy tone?” Ivy asked.
“I...think so?”
Then they came into view. Graham carried his son while one of the footmen bore Leah. Ivy and Arabella reached for each other at precisely the same moment, providing the other with the support they needed as a wave of great relief washed over them. At least Ivy assumed that’s how Arabella felt. They smiled at each other before breaking apart and rushing to meet their children.
“My goodness, Jasper, you’re all wet.” Arabella held her arms out, but Graham shook his head and said he’d take him to the cart.
“Mama, I saw a pretty bird. But it flew away.”
“That’s when he fell into the stream,” Leah said. “I had to wade in and help him up.”
Ivy took her daughter from the footman. “Thank you, Harris. So much.” She surveyed Leah’s skirts and feet. She was wet, but not completely so as Jasper was.
“We need to get Jasper back to the house,” Graham said. “It’s too cold for him to remain out here.”
Arabella climbed into the cart. “Give him to me, and I’ll wrap him in a blanket.” They’d kept blankets from the other two carts for the return trip.
Graham helped wrap Jasper up and settle him in his mother’s lap. Arabella fussed over him, but the fear that had tightened her features had gone.
“You didn’t see West?” Ivy asked as she set Leah into the cart. She didn’t want to leave without him, and yet Jasper had to get inside and out of those wet clothes right away, as did Leah.
“No,” Graham said. “Do you mind if we go and send a cart back for him?”
“I’ll stay,” the footman offered then looked to Graham. “If you don’t mind driving the cart, Your Grace?”
“Boyd can drive!” West called, trotting into the clearing with the groom.
Ivy exhaled with relief, though they were still missing the other footmen.
West came to the cart and embraced Leah. “I