Vera at the Ballroom Bonus Scene

Oscar felt a burst of love as he watched his wife sitting with his children in the dining room. He was overcome with emotions at the pure joy he felt for his family, every day of his life. They were everything to him.

 “I cannot believe these little rascals will be having their fifth birthday party this weekend,” he announced. Approaching his son, he leaned in to tickle little Owen as he giggled and curled into a ball on his chair.

 “Papa, am I to have another new dress?” his daughter, Olivia, asked, waiting eagerly for his response.

 He leaned over her chair to kiss her head, “Of course you are, my little pumpkin. The prettiest girl at the party will need a new dress, is that not so, my love?" he asked, directing the question to his wife.

 “You spoil them, Husband," Vera smiled. “Right, my little honeybees, it’s time we were buzzing away to get ourselves ready.” The children jumped from their chairs and made buzzing noises, as they flapped their arms like wings. They loved the game of pretending to be bees and mimicked the little creatures as they ran out of the dining room.

 “We are buzzing away, Mommy,” Olivia shouted out as she paused in the game. “Papa, do you want to be a buzzy bee too?”

 “If your Papa doesn’t get his suit on, we will never make the wedding in time,” Vera said, giving her husband a questioning look.

 “I am still drinking my tea,” he said, pointing to his teacup. “By Jove, is my stomach rumbling? Can I not have at least a piece of toast?

 Vera looked back at him before following her children towards the nursery, “Good!” she nodded. “Then you will eat the huge breakfast feast after the wedding.”

 “You are a cruel wife,” he retorted, rubbing at his empty belly. “Can you not hear that grumbling.”

 Vera walked over to him and leaned in to take his face in her hands and kiss his lips. Oscar couldn’t resist the temptation to pull her in towards him and embrace her as he remained seated.

 “Oh!” Vera chuckled as her husband hugged her at the waist. “Such an ill-mannered husband you are.”

 “I am a lucky husband, is what I am, to have married such a beauty who gives me everything I want,” Oscar said, not letting her go.

 “Husband,” she said with a faux sternness to her voice. “We do not have time for your shenanigans, unhand me at once.”

 “Tell me, my dear wife, what will we do if all our children are twins?” he asked, looking up at her face with loving eyes.

 “We will be terribly happy, but if you don’t get a move on, I will shout for your valet to come in here and drag you to your chambers,” Vera chided. “Olive will never forgive us if we are late with her flower girl. And Olivia will never forgive her papa if he makes her late.”

 Reluctantly, Oscar released his wife, and she straightened herself as she looked back at him, smiling.

 “You know, I miss Silas as my valet,” Oscar remarked before his wife left the room. “He takes his role as my Estate Manager far too seriously; I hardly ever see him these days.”

 “He has many tenants to oversee,” Vera said thoughtfully. “If he didn’t do it, then you would have to do it, and I would hardly ever see you. So, I prefer my brother to be the one running around your estate. Now go, husband, and dress.”

 With those last words, his wife left the room and his valet entered.

 “Your Grace,” the valet addressed him with a bow of his head. “Your suit is laid out awaiting you. Are you ready to dress?”

 “Yes, yes, I am ready,” Oscar mumbled. “Starving, nonetheless, so the sooner we get this ceremony over, the sooner I can eat.”

* * *

Less than two hours later, he was meeting up with his family once again as they were all seated in the carriage ready to go. The driver set off with a canter of the horses, and the carriage rocked them around.

 “Papa, is Aunty Olive a princess because she is going to live in a castle? Uncle Silas told me—” as Olivia said her last few words, she put her hand to her mouth and screwed up her eyes in worry. “Oh no, he said it was a secret.”

 “Sshh, we won’t tell anyone else, so your secret’s safe with us. But there is only one princess in this world, and that is my little pumpkin,” Oscar told her as he watched her pretty face beam with delight.

 “Yes, but if Aunty Olive is not a princess too, then she cannot marry a prince,” she pointed out, once again with a questioning look.

 “Don’t worry so, my little buzzy bee,” Vera wrapped her arm around her daughter’s shoulder. “Aunty Olive is marrying a very special man, I promise you.”

 “I love my Aunty Olive, so, if you do not mind, Papa, I think that she can be a princess too,” Olivia insisted, not letting her little dilemma go. “That means that she is marrying a prince as well.”

 That thought seemed to placate Olivia, so he and Vera nodded in agreement, then his son became curious too.

 “Who is Aunty Olive marrying, Papa?” Owen asked.

 “Ahhh…” Oscar replied to his son, tapping the side of his nose. “Now who your Auntie Olive is marrying is a big secret, and we must not tell.”

 “I like secrets Papa,” Olivia shouted out with a giggle.

 “You just let out a big secret, so that makes you rubbish at keeping secrets,” Owen accused his sister. “She will tell everyone, Papa, as soon as she sees who it is.”

 “Well, son, by then we will all know anyway, and it will be a secret no more,” he explained to his son. Owen seemed reassured that his sister could not ruin the secret after all, not once they saw who his aunty was marrying.

 The Duke and Duchess arrived at Silsbury Manor with their children, preparing themselves for a morning of delight. Their good friend Lady Olive had finally found a man whom she loved enough to marry again. And all much to the delight of her mother, Lady Adelia Smith.