It was raining when Neil arrived home three days later, but Verity was waiting on the front steps with Podge in her arms and Annie sitting at her feet. Before he could even get out of the carriage, Annie had run down the steps and flung herself damply into his arms. Neil grunted at the force of her arrival.

"Papa!" she cried. "You're back!"

"I am!" Neil hugged and kissed her. "And I missed you so much! Have you been good for Mama?"

"Yes," Annie said, with suspicious angelicness.

Neil looked to Verity for confirmation. She was coming more gingerly out into the rain, holding her shawl over Podge's dark curls so he wouldn't get too wet. She suppressed a smile and then laughed.

"She tied together the tassels of all the carpets in the drawing room," she admitted. "And she took my scissors and cut off most of Podge's hair, which was very bad, Annie. You mustn't do that ever again."

"Oh, Annie, no," Neil said. "That's very naughty."

Annie's green eyes welled with tears. "But I didn't mean to," she said, starting to wail. "It was clicky and clicky."

There was time enough for deciphering what that meant later. Neil sighed and hugged her once more.

"Now don't cry," he said. "Come on, let's get inside out of the rain."

Once inside, he let Annie slip to the floor and pulled Verity into his arms and kissed her, very careful not to squash Podge, who she was still holding, between them. Releasing her, he kept one hand caressing her cheek and let the warmth of her presence wash over him.

"Welcome home," she said.

"I love you."

She looked a little surprised at the fervency of his tone, then her expression softened and she freed one hand to touch his own. It said everything that could not be so easily said in front of their children and the staff unpacking the coach. Neil found himself smiling.

"Pa-pa!" Podge said, clawing for him. "Pa-pa!"

Neil took his son from Verity's arms and pulled back the damp shawl to reveal a very close-cropped fuzz of dark hair.

"My god you look hideous!" Neil kissed him and hugged him close. Podge's tiny hands clutched at his ears. "How's he been?"

"He missed you. We all did." Verity rubbed Neil's damp coat sleeve. "It will grow back."

"I didn't mean to," Annie said mournfully from below.

Podge, in any case, did not seem distressed by his appearance. Neil shifted him to one arm and slid the other around Verity's waist. After nearly four weeks' absence, he found himself aching for her presence. It wasn't lust — though a separate part of him was looking forward to bed tonight — he wanted just to sit with her, to hold her hand, to know that she was there.

Of course Annie was tugging at his trouser leg and Podge had sticky fingers under the collar of Neil's shirt.

"Cadge," Podge said loudly in Neil's ear. "Cadge!"

"I made a pirate trap!" Annie was saying. "In the pond!"

Ruefully, Neil dropped his arm from Verity's waist and took Annie's hand.

"But did you catch any pirates?"

"Not yet!" she said proudly.

"Cadge!" Podge squealed.

"Carriage," corrected Verity, giving Neil a smile that seemed to say she felt the same way he did. "Why don't we all have tea and you can tell Papa all about it then?"

They had tea while the children had warm milk, and discussed the matters concerning children over it. Annie had had a very busy and happy three weeks in Neil's absence. Podge had been less busy, and less happy, but he had still managed to eat at least five things he shouldn't have, one of which had been his nanny's shoe buckle.

"And she wants us to buy her a new one," Verity said, "which I don't blame her for, except she says they were pearl buckles and I'm quite sure they were only bead."

Neil jogged Podge gently up and down on his knee. "They've got such an appetite for destruction, don't they?"

"Nannies?" Verity asked innocently. "Well we could always fire her, but then we wouldn't get any sleep."

"No." Neil looked thoughtfully at her, noting weary lines beneath her eyes. "Was it hard, me being away so long?"

"It's always hard when you're gone." There was a tremble in her voice that made Neil ache to pull her into his arms. He would have done it too, if at that moment the said Nanny hadn't come through the door.

"Annie, go with Nanny now, will you?" Verity said. "It's time for your nap."

Annie made rather a fuss at that, huffing and crossing her arms and stomping, but Podge was almost asleep already, and was easily bundled off. When they were gone, the room was quiet. Neil got up and made sure the doors were firmly closed, then came back to Verity, put his arms around her, and kissed her long and hard. Afterwards he rested his cheek against hers, his eyes closed, savouring the feel of having her in his arms again. She leaned her head against his and sighed.

"I'm so glad you're back."

"Me too. I missed you so much." He opened his eyes and touched her cheek. "I needed you."

She gave him a half-smile. "I need you too. Every day. I love you."

"Love you." He kissed her again, and tugged her down to the couch with him, pulling her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her. There would be time for making love to her later; for now, he just wanted to hold her and talk. She nestled into his arms and rested her head against the crook of his neck.

"Something happened in London, didn't it?"

"Something."

"It's not Podge, is it?" The tremble was in her voice again. "It's not about him?"

"No. No, he'll be fine." He held her tighter. "At least, I've invited two surgeons and a doctor down in late July, to see him. And they think they can help him."

"Thank God." Verity clutched at his hand. "I'm so afraid for him."

"He'll be fine." It was easier to tell Verity that than believe it himself. "Richard is. I am."

"But it hurts Richard. He's not fine the way you are."

"I didn't break my leg," Neil reminded her. "And even Richard isn't so bad really."

"But it hurts him. And I don't want Podge to grow up and be in the same kind of pain, every day."

Neil was silent a moment. That was his dread as well. It hurt him now to see Podge unable to walk, hurt him twice to feel so powerless to do anything about it. In his arms, Verity twisted and buried her face in his collar. He rubbed her waist to try and comfort her.

"It hasn't stopped Richard being happy. And Podge won't have it anywhere near as badly as Richard does, I promise."

He thought it worked, because he felt the tension in her body relax. After a while, she raised her head to meet his eyes.

"Is he happy? I mean, now he's married."

Neil took advantage of her closeness to kiss her. "Yes. Very."

"I'm glad, though I can't really imagine Richard married. He seemed so definitely a bachelor to me. I think he found it hard to open up to women."

Neil gave a non-committal grunt.

Verity raised an eyebrow. "Something happened," she repeated. "What happened, Neil?"

"We had a fight."

"Ah." Verity traced the line of his jaw. "About his wife."

Neil buried his face in her hair with a groan.

"What happened?"

Neil couldn't explain about eavesdropping on Laura; that wasn't his secret to tell. He breathed in Verity's scent, of lilacs and summer, and tried to decide how to approach it.

"Neil?"

He raised his head to look in her eyes. "The first thing I ought to tell you is that... well, it turns out that Richard was mistaken about not being able to have children."

Verity's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"Laura's pregnant."

Her eyes went wider still, then creased as she laughed. "Oh. Wow." She hugged Neil tightly. "Poor Richard."

"Poor Richard?"

"All this time," she said, "thinking he couldn't have children, living such a lonely life. It put him off marrying, you know. He didn't think there was any point. Thank god he found her. Thank god he married her. He'll never be unhappy from now on. He was always so unhappy."

It wasn't the reaction Neil had expected. He knew Verity too well to think she'd be jealous for Podge's sake, but he hadn't expected such compassion for Richard. And it made him feel all the worse for his own reaction.

"I did something stupid," he said. "I asked her if it was his. That's why we fought."

"Neil!" She gave him a reproachful look. "That is stupid."

He winced. "Yes. I know. I made her cry. And then I told Richard she was... other things. Verity, I think he hates me now."

"He doesn't." Verity stroked his hand. "But he's hurt."

Neil sighed and pulled her closer again. "I wanted so badly to believe that she was bad for him. I never liked her — I remember her being a spiteful little girl — and after last year I think I hated her."

"Is she that bad?" Verity asked softly. "Is she cruel to him? Is there any chance at all, rationally speaking, that it isn't his?"

Neil shook his head. "No. I told you I was stupid. I didn't want to believe it, but she loves him. You were right, of course. They married for love. I don't understand it. She must have..."

"Charmed him? Beguiled him?"

"Fallen head over heels for him." Neil sighed. "And what I said to her..."

"She'll forgive you too." Verity kissed his cheek. "Did you apologise?"

"I didn't have time. Not to her, anyway. Richard practically kicked me out of his house. I've never seen him so angry. And apologising to him didn't do any good."

Verity was frowning. "You need to talk it out with him, after he's had some time to cool down."

"How? I'm not leaving you again so soon, even for his sake."

"Then we'll ask him up here, with his wife. She can still travel, can't she?"

"I don't know. She's in the early stages, but she was very unwell when I left."

Sympathy flashed across Verity's face. "When she's better then. It will give Richard time to cool down too."

Privately, Neil doubted any length of time would be long enough, but by the determined look on Verity's face, he knew better than to argue. Instead, he kissed her and pulled her into a more comfortable position on the sofa. The cares and anxieties of the past few weeks melted away. He was home, with the woman he loved, and everything would be alright, as long as he had her.