The Bride of Devil's Acre (32 page)
“There is one way to know for sure,” Jacqueline said, a smile in her voice.
“I can’t go around undoing their nappies every time I want to know which child I’m addressing.”
“Soon enough, they will start to exhibit their own personalities, of that I am sure.” Jacqueline considered her children. The birthing of them had been hard, but the pain of it was already fading.
“He has your eyes,” she said, running a fingertip across her son’s forehead. “He looked at me the same way you do when you’re feeling particularly put upon.”
Devil frowned. “I do not—”
“There! Just like that!” Jacqueline laughed, the sound startling the children. Their mother hushed them, cooing to them gently until both babies were settled.
“And she,” Jacqueline said, imitating Devil’s gesture and running her finger down her daughter’s nose, “she has my chin, and my mother’s.”
Devil was quiet for a moment. “Shall we name her Ann?” They had discussed names but never settled since they couldn’t agree on whether they were having a boy or a girl.
Jacqueline was touched, but said, “No, I don’t want her name to be associated with such sadness.”
Jacqueline and her father had come a long way, but the man was still devastated by the loss of his wife. A grandchild by the same name might be too much.
“What shall we call them?”
“I was thinking Roderick…and Isobel.”
Devil startled. Isobel was a variation on Elizabeth, which had been his mother’s name. “You would name our daughter for my mother, but not yours?”
“Yours was a happy childhood, and your mother loved you.”
“Your mother loved you, too,” Devil said. They had spent long nights wrapped in each other’s arms, sharing the secrets of their youth and finding a shared heartbreak in the loss of a mother.
Staring down at her children, Jacqueline thought she was beginning to understand the sacrifices a woman might make for her child. “I know she did.”
“How about Isobel Ann and Broderick John?”
This time it was Jacqueline’s turn to experience a moment of surprise. “After my father?”
Devil shrugged. “It only seems right.” If it hadn’t been for Lord Edwards and his unimpeachable integrity, Devil would never have met his wife. And while there were many things he would go back and change, that wasn’t one of them.
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Jennifer Kohout lives in Washington with her husband and four children. She enjoys running in her spare time and recently completed her first half marathon.
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