Only For Love (A Novella)

Only For Love - Chapter Six

 "PAPA!" 

Richard sighed as he adjusted the knot on his cravat. The door handle to his room rattled a moment before he heard the murmur of voices. Nanny Mona must have discovered Caleb. 

"NO! MY PAPA!" 

"Would you like me to open the door?" Rupert, the Duke's valet, asked. 

"Yes, he will not calm until he has seen me." 

The valet stood behind the door before reaching for the handle. As soon as he turned the knob, the little boy bolted into the room. Richard turned from the mirror and caught his son as the little boy hurdled himself at him. "PAPA!" 

"What...?" Richard held his son at arms length, looking the boy up and down. "Why are you wet?" He glanced to his daughter, who, also soaking wet, meandered across the room with her hands folded gently in front of her, "You two were at the lake again?" 

Katherine cast her eyes downward, "Yes, papa." 

"I am sure the mysterious Lala was involved." Richard set his son on his feet and removed his soiled shirt, "I have instructed you both to stay away from the lake, and that woman." 

"MY LALA!" Caleb jumped onto the cushioned bench under the window and banged on the glass, "Lala!" 

"Caleb, come away from the window." Richard buttoned his clean shirt and retied his cravat. He turned to his daughter, "Why did you go to the lake again?" 

"I was following Caleb." 

Richard glanced at his at his five-year-old daughter in the reflection of the mirror as she stood with her gaze cast to the floor while his son continued to bang against the window. He was getting tired of hearing about the infamous Lala. In the last few weeks, the mysterious woman was all his children spoke about, "Katherine, the two of you must stay with Nanny."  

Katherine looked up at him with tears glistening in her big blue eyes, "But Papa, Nanny fell asleep again. Caleb wanted to find Lala. I told him no, but he would not listen. I had to follow him. I could not let him go alone."  

Richard sighed, and knelt in front of his daughter, wiping her tears with his finger, "You are correct, Kathy. I am very glad you did not let your brother go alone. Nanny should not have fallen asleep." 

Katherine nodded solemnly, "Lala would never fall asleep with Caleb."  

"You do not think so?"  

"I know she would not, papa. She told me so." 

"Did she?" 

"Yes, and today, when she found us at the lake, Caleb had three frogs. He wanted to take them home, but Lala told him they would be happier in the water so he let them go." 

"I see." 

"And then..." Katherine continued, "she saw that Caleb was wet, and asked him if he had been in the water, and he said yes." 

Richard turned to watch his son shed his wet clothing, and toss it on the floor. Rupert, ever patient, clothed the boy in one of the Duke's shirts. 

"Then..." Katherine reached up to turn her fathers face towards her, "papa, you must listen." 

"I am listening." 

"Lala told Caleb it makes her sad to think he is in the water when there is no one around. When she told him it would make her very happy if he did not go into the water. He got out, and did not even step in up to his feet." 

"That is a very good thing for her to say." 

"Yes, papa, it is." Katherine touched his cheek, meeting his gaze, "I think Lala should be our new mama."