A Cinderella for the Duke Bonus Scene

She shifted her stance against the window frame and leaned against it to ease the weight off her ankles. The cold seeping through the pane sent a shiver up her spine. Her body was still adjusting to the cold weather of an English fall after spending almost a year in the heat of the Indies.

A nudge in her midsection informed her that the little life was also irritated by the sudden chill of cold.

“Louisa, is that you?” Rowland’s voice called from the top of the stairs. “What on earth are you doing? It’s nearly midnight,” he continued as he rushed down the stairs in his bedroom robe.

“I was sure she would come today,” Louisa responded looking at her husband like a child caught with their hand in a jar of candy.

“It is freezing. You don’t even have stockings on. Bare feet on the cold stone can’t be good for the baby. Come, come back to bed, my love.”

“But I don’t want to miss Mother’s arrival,” she responded looking back out the window. “It should have been today.”

“Sometimes the roads are bad, and it causes delays. Now come to bed.”

Rowland took off his robe, leaving him in nothing but his pantaloons that he must have slipped on before searching the house for her. He wrapped it around his wife and pulled her close to him.

It was getting much harder these days to get close to

Rowland with such a large round belly between them. It would be any day now that their new little life would

make its debut into the world.

Louisa had desperately wanted her mother home for it. Of course, there was Mary only a stone’s throw away, and Abigail would come to Bassen Park if she were in need. But Louisa was sure for the birth of her first child; nothing would bring her comfort like having her mother at her side.

Reluctantly, however, she gave into her husband’s words and the warmth of his bare skin against her cheek. Together they walked back up the stairs and to their room.

“What if she comes in the night?” Louisa said as Rowland helped her pull the cover over her swollen belly.

He laid down next to her and gently rubbed the mound waiting for that gently kick in return to his touch.

“Fredrick will know if a carriage arrives. He will be able to show her in and notify us at once. I promise your mother will not be left out in the cold hoping someone will let her in,” he said with a smile.

Rowland chalked up his wife’s worries to the impending birth of their first child. She had certainly had quite the array of emotions in her pregnancy. He had loved her through it all. After all, she was creating a beautiful life inside it. It was a masterpiece of their union, and that alone far surpassed any silly worries the process had conjured.

“You must promise me you will tell me when she gets here then. Don’t just let me sleep. It’s been so long since I’ve spoken face to face with Mother,” Louisa said already starting to drift off to sleep.

“Whatever you wish, my love,” Rowland responded just above a whisper before lightly kissing his wife on the forehead and settling into bed beside her.