Page 29 of Charming Artemis

“A trait he inherited from his parents,” Adam said.

“Parents?” Artemis looked to him. “Did you know his father, then?”

Adam nodded and pulled his arm from hers, offering it instead to his wife. “I knew them, in fact, when they lived in this house.”

This was news to Artemis. But she was offered no further insights. Adam and Persephone followed the path their children had taken, leaving Artemis to do the same on her own.

Charlie had sat himself and Oliver in a large wing chair, one with just room enough for the both of them to sit beside each other. Hestia sat on Charlie’s lap, a triumph again. While Oliver was a bit wary of strangers, Hestia was often terrified. She showed not the least discomfort with him though.

“What do you call the other gentlemen who have married your aunts?” he asked Oliver. “Perhaps you could call me that.”

Oliver shook his head firmly. “I can’t call you Harry. It’s not your name.”

Charlie glanced over at Adam and Persephone sitting on a sofa facing their children and barely held back the grin clearly fighting to break free.

“Does everyone call him simply Harry?” Charlie asked his little companion. “Or are there other options?”

“Papa sometimes calls him—”

“Best stop there, Oliver,” Artemis said, dropping into a twin wingback chair next to theirs. “Your papa doesn’t always call your uncle Harry by appropriate names.”

Adam ignored the lot of them.Hehadn’t benefited from a Papa who had told him it was important to sometimes be a bit silly.

“We call him Uncle Harry,” Oliver said.

“Uncle Harry,” Charlie repeated. “Is that your pattern, Lord Falstone? Uncle and their Christian names?”

Oliver nodded. “And they call me Oliver, not Lord Falstone.”

Charlie was sweetly patient with him. “Dropping that formality requires permission from your parents.”

“When amongst only the family, we all are less formal,” Persephone said. “Except Adam. You’d best call him whatever he tells you to.”

Charlie nodded. “I know how to follow instructions.” Hestia was watching him closely, curiously. She had Adam’s tendency to ponder things deeply. Charlie bounced her a bit on his knee, watching her in return with a tenderness that echoed a warmth in Artemis’s heart. Though he was the girl’s uncle and not her father, he looked at Hestia in the way Artemis had always wanted her father to look at her. The way her Papa had.

In that moment, her memories of her Papa shifted to include blue eyes.

“You can call her Hestia,” Oliver declared. “And you can call me Oliver.”

“I would be honored,” Charlie said. “And you can call me Uncle Charlie. Although, my niece Caroline—you might remember her from the day we spent launching paper boats on the river quite some time ago—she calls me Uncle Charming.”

Oliver giggled. There was no other word for the laughter that echoed from him. Artemis didn’t think in all his life she’d heard him giggle. He laughed often enough and was a decidedly happy child, but he was very reserved. Giggles were new.

Charlie pulled in a quick breath, precisely the sound of a person having a sudden epiphany. “Oliver,” he said very seriously, “have you ever played hide-and-seek?”

“Of course I have,” he declared with a hint of wounded pride.

“Excellent,” Charlie said, still using the tone of one discussing something of extreme importance. “Because this house, Oliver, is the very best house for hide-and-seek. When my family would stay here, my parents insisted on games of hide-and-seek and further insisted on participating.” Charlie lowered his voice as if sharing a secret. “They were oftenveryhard to find.”

Oliver bounced a little in his seat. Heavens, how was Charlie turning the often-somber boy into a giddy child?

“Would you like to play hide-and-seek with me? We will need to limit ourselves to this room, as Hestia would be overwhelmed looking for us all over the house.”

Oliver nodded. “I am a very good hider.”

“I suspected you were.” Charlie helped him onto the floor. “I will sit here and close my eyes for a time. You find a place in this room to hide. After a spell, Hestia and I will do our utmost to find you.”

Oliver was already looking around, no doubt searching for a spot.

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