Slowly the little family adjusted to their new addition. James Henry still seemed unsure about his baby sister but he tolerated her presence because it meant extra time with his father. Martin, realizing that during the hours he was working Louisa had her hands full, endeavored to take James Henry in hand in the evenings in an effort to give Louisa some relief.

One Thursday evening when Amelia was approaching two months in age, Martin returned from the surgery in a foul mood. Obviously his walk from the surgery to home had not had the intended effect that he had mentioned back when Louisa had suggested he move the surgery to the house because his mood had not improved from there to home.

From Martin's perspective, his mood had improved but of course Louisa had no way of knowing that. He walked through the door with a scowl, reminiscent of those miserable days when things were so bad between them. Louisa had music playing while she prepared their evening meal and James was on the floor with a set of blocks, stacking them and then delighting in watching them fly about when he knocked them down. Amelia was in her seat on the table, taking it all in.

Louisa greeted her husband with her usual smile but he merely grunted in return. He checked one of the pots and another grunt sounded. Still scowling he looked around the kitchen. Seeing James in the corner, he went to pat the boy on the head, repeating his usual routine of first touching the forehead with the back of his hand. James looked up at his father and smiled, then knocked over his blocks and giggled. Martin hmphed and turned to Amelia where he repeated his routine. Standing near the table, he looked around and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he did. Once he opened his eyes, Martin strode to the player and turned off the music.

Louisa looked up and added a frown of her own to the scene but said nothing. It was déjà vu for her as she recalled a similar scene in the kitchen at the surgery when Martin was slowly collapsing inside, descending into … whatever dark place it was he was in as everything fell apart for them. Realizing that, Louisa nervously turned down the pots on the cooker and turned to her husband. "Martin, are you alright?"

He looked up and blinked. "Of course I am…"

"It's just that… you seem…"

"What?" he fired back defensively.

"Upset. Was it a bad day at the surgery?"

Martin let out a sigh and looked away. "Can we not talk about it just now," he said in a defeated manner. "Later perhaps, once the children are settled?" His expression as he looked back at her begged for more time.

"Alright then, later. But we will talk about it tonight? No more holding things in, remember?"

Martin swallowed and nodded. "Right. "

Louisa finished preparing the meal and she, Martin, and James sat at the table to eat. It was almost completely silent except for the occasional babbles from James. Neither Martin nor Louisa spoke a word. Martin offered to clean the kitchen while Louisa saw to Amelia and got James' bath. It upset James that his father wasn't helping him with that but Louisa was firm with the boy and they disappeared upstairs. Martin watched them leave and sighed in relief. He needed a few minutes to himself.

By the time both children were settled and Martin had finished the kitchen a couple of hours had passed. Louisa found her husband in the study perusing a journal, although she suspected that's not where his mind was. She eased into the room and sat in an armchair near his desk. "So, a bad day?"

Martin looked up angrily but almost immediately his expression softened. "Yes, it was."

"Ready to talk about it?"

Martin swallowed. "Not really but… perhaps…. you won't like it."

Louisa tilted her head, her forehead creasing. "What is it I won't like?"

"Umm… well, you know Beth Sauls… she ummm…"

"Yes, I know her and that sister of hers too. Is she alright?"

"Yes, well now she is; as alright as can be expected. She never has fully recovered from her sister's experimentation and she has another respiratory infection. I suspected pneumonia and I wanted to send her over to Truro for further testing. That blasted sister of hers wouldn't take her, so I did."

"Oh Martin, that was very sweet of you to look after her like that."

Martin ducked his head, as he usually did when complimented. "Well, someone needed to… but…"

"You said she's alright now?"

"Yes, she ermmm…. Well, I convinced them to keep her a day or two. No telling what that fool sister of hers is up to now. And Beth needs to rest and needs looking after. They'll pump her full of antibiotics, no doubt. But in a day or two she should be much better."

"Doesn't sound too horrible then; so what else happened?" Louisa looked at him pointedly.

"Mmmmm, while I was there I saw someone…"

He was dodging, Louisa could tell. "Who?"

"Ermmm, Edith Montgomery. She, she's back doing a follow up on her study."

"Oh?" Louisa didn't like Edith Montgomery on her own merits, but she especially didn't like the woman for her attempts to interfere with Martin.

"Yes, she ummm, she told me that Robert was very upset when I backed out of the position at Imperial. And she said that there have been rumors that I… that I lied about … the blood thing."

"But…"

Martin held up his hand to silence her. "That's not all. She said… " Martin shook his head as if denying something. "She told them that you stole me away from her, that we…Edith and I that is… planned to marry but that you used the baby, James Henry, to trap me." His mouth closed and his jaw clinched in a show of anger that Louisa had rarely seen. Oh Martin could bluster and harangue quite convincingly, but she'd rarely seen him truly, deep down angry. But here he was, evidently furious over what Edith Montgomery said.

"But why would she say that?" Louisa asked.

"She… she did it to get back at me. We weren't…. I swear, Louisa, I never even thought about her like that when she showed up here… before…" He looked at her wide eyed, begging her to understand. And she did.

"Oh Martin, I … I wondered a bit but somewhere along in there I realized that the interest was all on her side."

"You did?" he asked meekly.

"Yes."

"But how did you know?"

"I could see it in the way you looked at her…or rather what was not there when you looked at her. I think you enjoyed the mental challenge, helping her with her paper and all…" she bit her lower lip as she chose her words, "but your expression…"

Martin frowned. "What about my expression?"

"Well, I've seen how you look at someone that you love and you didn't look at her that way."

"Oh, right…" He still looked confused.

"You um, you're not planning on bringing her around, are you?" Louisa said as she continued to abuse her lower lip.

"What? No, of course not." He paused and then with a gesture as close to shrug as Martin ever got, "I don't even really like her anymore."

"But you and she were… you had… I mean, Joan told me once that you wanted to marry her."

"That was a long time ago and…" He stood from his chair and walked to Louisa. Surprising her, he knelt in front of her and cupped her jaw in his hand. "Louisa, I didn't know what love is when I wanted to marry Edith. We got along well enough and had similar interests. I thought that was all that is required"

"But you were more than just friends," Louisa said as if stating facts.

"Yes, more than just friends. We um… she was the first girl who wanted… erm…" Martin blushed. "Well, with me anyway."

Louisa fought to contain the smile that threatened. She thought it was sweet that Martin would still blush when discussing sex. "Oh, that can't be true… I'll wager there were several but you were just so involved in your studies that you didn't notice."

Martin shook his head, "no." Taking a deep breath his demeanor changed, "but that does not matter now. I simply don't want Edith spreading stories about you."

"Or you…"

"I don't like what she said about me but I am used to such claptrap. But there is no reason for her to speak of you in that way."

"Other than I have you and she doesn't, you mean."

"You do," he said softly in that low tender voice of his, a hint of mischief in his eyes.

"Well, it's not likely that we'll see one another so I'm alright. But I am sorry that all these rumors are going around your friends back in London, your old home turf."

Martin looked up at her sharply. "Louisa, you do realize… that is to say, until now, I never had a home, not really... I worked there and I had a flat there but…you… you are my home, Louisa; you and the children. You do know that, don't you?" He was looking at her with such adoration that Louisa was mesmerized for a moment.

Looking into her husband's face and remembering his words at the castle when Sallie Tischell had kidnapped James, she knew the truth of his words. "I've always thought of this village as my home, Martin. I loved it here. But… they say home is where the heart is… and as much as I love this village, my heart is yours; so I understand. You are my home too, Martin. Where you are, that's my home."

Yes, exactly," Martin replied. Feeling much better now, he kissed his wife before leading her up to their room where they shared in demonstrating their love, residing in the warmth of one another well into the night….

And beyond.

This story is a year old now and they have arrived at the destination I had mapped out for them. I hope you enjoyed the ride.