Chapter 30 ~ Lukas Von Bayern

 

I stood still at the top of the hill and looked down. Marcus and Albert were holding the reins while my sons practiced riding. They were walking up the hill towards me. They hadn’t spotted me yet. I was able to look at them and admire them. Albert was already a fine-looking young man who liked to flirt with the kitchen girls, both for kisses as well as for extra snacks.

Marcus had recently married, and he had a child on the way. He was now the master of the horses.

Then my eyes rested on my twins. They were already seven-years-old. Lukas had silver blond hair like his mother, but he had my eyes. Lorenz had Sofie’s eyes but my dark hair. I thought that both boys were extremely handsome. I was often choked with pride when I watched them. They had good kind hearts like their mother.

“Boys,” I called to them, drawing their attention to me and the newborn babe in my arms. “Your mother had the baby.”

They slipped off of their horses and raced to me. Both kissed their baby sister’s head.

“Is it a girl or a boy?” Lorenz asked.

“She’s a girl. Her name is Elisabeth. You have another little sister. Constance is still taking her nap. I asked her nanny to bring her out to us when she wakes.”

We sat down in the grass to admire her. Marcus took both horses so Albert could join us. “How is my lady fairing?” he asked, joining us in the grass. He lifted up Lukas and placed him on his lap.

“She’s resting. The baby came very quickly. My lady wife, is in good health.”

“Now, you have two sons and two daughters. It’s even, my lord,” Albert smiled at me.

“Yes, it is. I have three sons and three daughters. Don’t forget yourself and Anna.”

Albert gave me an appreciative smile. In a year or two, he would man the trading post at Werdenfels where he would be able to protect both of his little brothers. Sofie agreed with me that his title would be the lord of Werdenfels. Albert had been stripped of his title after what his parents did, but we loved him as if he were our own, and I knew he felt the same way about us.

I trusted him with my children. Few men could claim that honor.

“Albert is the oldest. That’s why he gets the highest castle in the mountain.” Lorenz leaned against Albert.

“Our lord father wants me between you two so I can make certain that you never fight,” he teased the twins.

Constance’s nanny brought her out to us to meet her new sister. My four-year-old daughter was a sweet little girl. My heart felt light because I had all five of my children with me, and Anna-Rosa watching us from heaven.

We sat together for a long time. I was the happiest man alive.

Marrying my enemy had been the best decision of my life.

The End