An Inconvenient Arrangement

Chapter 18: Sylvie and....?

Sylvie put down her pen when she felt Jane tap her arm.

"Yes, dear?"

'Is Uncle Rafe my Papa now?'

She felt dread strike her like a lightning bolt. She quickly looked around the room to ensure Rafe was not in earshot. Satisfied that he was still outside making preparations for their return, she turned her attention back to Jane.

'No, Jane. He's just your guardian. That doesn't mean anything has to change.'

'But we're going to live with him in London.'

'Only for a little while. That doesn't mean he's your Papa.'

'But aren't you going to marry him? You're my mama, if you marry him, he becomes my papa.'

"Of course not!" She gasped out loud. "What makes you say that?!"

'You blush when you look at him. I think you love him, so you need to get married.'

Yes, well, who wouldn't blush at the man who had their fingers between their legs not two days ago?

"No, sweet. I love him as a friend of course, but not as a husband."

Jane frowned at her, her brows creased in confusion. She raised her hands again and began to talk.

'Then why were you trying to make a baby with him?'

Sylvie choked on air.

'What gave you that idea? I don't need a baby, Jane, for I already have you.'

'I am not a baby.'

'But you are my baby,' Sylvie insisted giving her cheeks an affectionate pinch as Jane huffed in annoyance at Sylvie's hedging.

'Well, you said that if a man and woman sleep in the same room, they can make a baby. I saw Uncle Rafe carry you to bed from his room.'

'That's because he was telling me a story and I fell asleep.'

Jane eyes her skeptically but finally nodding in agreement, clearly convinced of the lie because Rafe had told her stories every night until she was sleepy.

'You should make a baby, though.'

"Jane! No one is making any babies!"

'But it would be so cute! We could dress her up and play with her and make her hair-'

"So save your pocket money for a new doll, Jane, there are going to be no babies until you get married and have one of your own."

'But that's going to take so lonnnggggg! If you have a baby, I could have a sister now. I'll help you take care of her, I promise!'

'You seem awfully confident that it's going to be a girl. What if I have a boy?'

That brought Jane up short, her face crumpling into a frown.

'I hadn't thought of that,' she confessed and Sylvie could see the gears turning in her head. 'But boys are stupid.'

"Boys are most certainly not stupid, young lady," Sylvie turned in surprise to the door, Jane following her gesture as Raphael repeated his sentence with his hands. He had been picking up the language with impressive speed with both herself and Jane as his tutors. Though Sylvie was not too surprised, Raphael had always been much smarter than the average person. A shudder of pleasure streaked through her as she thought of the muscled, lean body that lay under all those clothes that made up the facade of a carefree gentleman. "After all, I am a boy and I'm the smartest person on earth."