In Which Lettie Finds Solace in the Grown-Up Approach

April 16, 1202

"I'll have to admit to not expecting another wedding night at my age," Lettie mused as Abrich ushered her into the bedroom, finally free of all the guests and commotion. She had forgotten just how big the master bedroom of a knight's castle was in comparison to her old room at the house on campus, and it would take some number of nights to readjust. But, now that Severin had finished his studies and would likely be married by this time next year, it had only made sense for Lettie and Sparron to relocate to Abrich's castle and to leave the house to him. Abrich's eldest was a daughter, and she wouldn't be back in the house for long after she graduated--and the rest of his children hadn't yet started at the university. None of Abrich's children needed a place to call their own quite yet, but it hadn't made sense to move the lot of them, especially given that he had the larger home in the first place.

Aside from the increased commute, though, Lettie didn't mind too much. A person could get lost in the splendor and solitude of a large castle like the one she'd grown up it, new secrets waiting to be uncovered even after living there for years. Her house had been fine for just her and whichever two or three kids she'd had at any time, but the prospect of sharing it with a large family would have had her pulling out her own hair in emotional claustrophobia.

"I don't see why; forty-four isn't so old, you know." Abrich, as it figured, was only forty-one. But, Lettie was both old enough and naughty enough that she could take a devilish pleasure in the thought of a man a few years her junior. "Perhaps that might be obvious come nine months from now, depending on how tonight goes."

"Ha! I suppose it's not impossible, but I wouldn't expect it if I were you. Granted, champ--I don't know just how confident you are in your own seed."

"Oh, confident enough that I didn't mind bringing it up." Abrich winked. "But I agree that anything on that front ought to be left to chance at this point. That wasn't why we decided to do this, after all."

"Agreed. I'm a grandmother of four with two more on the way, and you knew that going into this."

"I did--but if all grandmothers of four-going-on-six are anything like you, then the term 'grandmotherly' will have to be redefined."

She smirked. "I can tell you meant that as a compliment, but for the record, I would have taken it as one either way. Not that there's any wrong with typically grandmotherliness, mind you." Abrich's own mother was an excellent example of that fact. Lettie's too, in a different way. "There's many a good way to be a grandmother."

"And many a good way to be a husband." He swept up her right hand with his left and brushed it with a kiss. His wedding band made for the barest of noticeable irregularities in his touch. "Whatever we may or may not come to feel for each other in the years to come, I hope I can find a suitable way to be yours."

A very grown-up approach.

A distinct advantage to marrying older. "I suspect you may be on the right path already."

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