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Charles woke up briefly when the maid entered the room to clear the ashes from the grate and start the fire. He would usually be able to go back to sleep afterwards, but now he was distracted by the warm, naked body pressed against his. Millie. He could not help but smile as he rolled fully onto his side and inched closer to her, closing the space between them. She fitted perfectly against his chest and thighs, her bottom pressing into his groin.
If only the maid would leave soon, and he would be able to wake her up so they could start all over. He lay listening to the maid’s movements as he gently stroked Millie’s hip and upper thigh underneath the covers. It was too dark for the maid to see anything, but it felt unfair to Millie to start touching her more private parts when they weren’t alone.
Finally, he could hear the maid lift the metal bucket and leave the room. He was sure that she had noticed he was there, and before breakfast the entire household would probably know that he had started visiting Millie’s bed again.
“I thought she would never leave,” Millie surprised him by saying, as she started to turn.
“No, stay like this,” Charles said as he nudged her back onto her side, one hand reaching for the folds between her legs. He gently nudged the other under her head to be able to reach her breast.
Millie seemed to instinctively move a bit back, pressing her bottom more firmly against his groin. Blood rushed to the area as Millie kept pressing against him, following the motion of his hand.
“We should...” she said breathily. “I should turn, so we can...”
“No,” Charles interrupted her. “We can do it like this. If you want to, of course.”
“Oh, I want to,” Millie said, and Charles could hear the smile in her voice.
Charles could not help but laugh a little himself as he joined them again.
“I can’t believe that it has not even been twenty-four hours since you were standing in my doorway in only your dressing gown,” Charles said as they were lying close together afterwards.
“You like my dressing gown?” Millie teased him.
“I like you more without it,” he said and kissed her. “What ever happened to the nightgown from our wedding night?” He remembered the see-through fabric. He most definitely wanted to see her in that again.
“I probably still have it,” Millie said as she jumped from the bed and ran naked across the floor to her dressing room. He could hear her rummaging around in there, before she emerged from it a couple of minutes later, laughing.
She was wearing the nightgown – partly. She had been able to pull it over her head and get her arms into it but had not been able to pull it down completely since her bosom had grown. Her hair had come undone, and she looked nothing like the correct wife that he knew her to be, but this version of Millie suited him even better. Charles laughed as well.
“I shall have to buy a new one,” she said, still laughing, as she came back to the bed.
“Buy at least a dozen,” Charles said as he started to help her tug it over her head. At that point the door from the corridor to Millie’s bedroom was slammed open and Henry came running in.
“Mama, Mama, I dreamt that there is a secret dungeon beneath our house full of bones...” Henry said, before he stopped and stared at Charles.
Millie had quickly dived under the covers as Henry entered and was now trying to get her hair out of her face as she said:
“You did, Darling? That’s truly fascinating. Do you know what, I’d love to hear all about it later, but right now Papa and I are talking about something important.”
“Are you going to have a baby?” Henry asked suspiciously with eyes narrowed.
At that moment the nanny, Charlotte and Lucinda appeared in the doorway. Charles pulled the covers up further.
“Oh, my Lord, I’m so sorry, Your Grace,” the nanny exclaimed, as Lucinda said: “A baby? I want a baby sister!” and the nanny had to hold on to her before she ran into the room too. Charlotte just stood back, red-faced and looking shocked.
“Henry, we’re not having a baby,” Millie said firmly. Charles admired her decorum in this moment.
“Henry, get back here right now!” Nanny shouted at him.
“But Edmund Winterbottom says that when mamas and papas sleep in the same bed, they have a baby. His parents always share a bed and look at how many babies they have,” Henry objected.
Charles could hear Millie sigh audibly and began to understand her annoyance with Edmund Winterbottom.
“Henry, we will discuss this at another time. Now please leave my room,” Millie said sternly. Then she added in a sweeter tone of voice: “I’ll see all of you at breakfast.”
She looked at the girls and sent them a reassuring smile. Perhaps it was her sweet tone that made Henry say:
“So, you’ll tell me how babies are made?”
Charles could hear the hope in his voice. He was reminded how mysterious it had all seemed to him when he was a child himself.
“I want to know as well,” Lucinda said from the doorway where Nanny was still holding on to her. Charlotte had hidden her head in her hands but seemed unable to step away from what was happening in front of her.
“Out now, young man,” Charles said and pointed at the door, holding on to the sheets with his other hand to not show too much of his chest.
If he had not been naked, or if Nanny and the girls had not been standing in the doorway, he would have simply jumped out of bed and followed Henry to the door.
“But will you tell me, Papa?” Henry said as he started to walk towards the door with the tiniest steps that Charles had ever seen him use.
“Your mother and I will see all of you in the breakfast room in half an hour,” was all Charles managed as his mind was already spinning with what to tell them. He had thought that he could wait at least another ten years before he needed to have this conversation with Henry.
“And then you’ll tell me?” Henry said hopefully. He had come within reach of Nanny’s arm from the doorway, and she hauled him out and started closing the door.
“I’m so sorry, Your Graces, I had no idea,” she said before she nearly slammed the door shut.
For a moment both Millie and Charles were sitting staring at the door, then when Millie turned to look at him and he saw the wide grin on her face, he could not help himself, but had to laugh out loud.