The presence of a female guest in the castle became an unusual sight, but Leland had known Katherine from six years ago when she was hired to tutor Sophie to do bookkeeping, so he was not wary about her.
Back then, he already had Duncan investigate Katherine's background before she was hired. He knew Katherine was a lowly witch who loved studying human knowledge more than magic. She also helped Sophie a lot when she grew up in Hastings and taught her many things.
In addition to that, Katherine also seemed like a capable teacher. Katherine's presence helped Sophie a lot when she started living in Wolfstone Castle with Leland.
On the pretense that having Sophie work for Duke Romanov, seeing a familiar face there to teach her stuff and be her companion made Sophie's hard and lonely life after Nicholas' death become bearable.
Sophie smiled broadly when she saw Leland reading something in the dining room. He seemed serious about what he was doing and his focus made her feel in awe.
"Leland," Sophie spoke to him sweetly and moved the man from his book. "Look who's here! Katherine, my old friend came to visit."
Leland looked up from his book. He already knew about this guest so he didn't show any reaction.
"Your Grace," Katherine bowed down her head in respect when she entered the dining room with Sophie. Leland was sitting on the chair with Luciel to his right and Jan across from him. The spot to his left was empty and that's where Sophie usually would sit.
"Miss Summers," Leland nodded at the woman. "It's been a long time. I trust that you are well."
"Yes, Your Grace," Katherine smiled. She helped Sophie sit next to Leland and then took the chair across from Leland, next to Jan when the Alpha motioned her to sit.
"Katherine told me she had to take care of her elderly mother who was gravely ill. Her sister died and left behind some nieces to care for as well. So, she spent the past six years raising them," Sophie explained.
Leland nodded. He would investigate this tomorrow. He didn't say anything to Katherine after the initial small talk. They proceeded with eating dinner. Katherine watched the family during dinner and realized that they didn't talk much.
Perhaps, Luciel was the only one who would chatter nonstop about this and that and the others would nod and smile. Leland was a very quiet man and his personality seemed to rub off on the other boy, Jan. While Sophie, she looked happy but she just didn't talk much.
Dinner went by pleasantly but quietly. After dinner, the kids went to play for a bit and then got ready for bed. Katherine was given her old room in the castle. She immediately went to store her belongings and excused herself to explore the vicinity to remind herself of what the place used to be like.
"You are quiet today," Leland commented when he and Sophie went to check the boys in their room to make sure they were resting properly before they were headed to their own room to sleep.
"Oh, I wanted to talk to you about hiring Katherine to tutor Luciel and Jan but I suddenly remembered that we shouldn't talk about it in front of her," Sophie chuckled. "That's why I was silent. I also felt a bit of a headache. I was not in the mood to talk that much."
"Oh..." Leland halted his steps and touched Sophie's temple. "Does it still hurt? Why didn't you say anything?"
"About what? The headache?" Sophie asked back. "It's no big deal. I don't want to be a crybaby over such a minor thing. I am fine. I don't want the healer to give me any medicine for my headache for fear it would affect the baby."
"Babies..." Leland corrected her.
"Huh?" Sophie furrowed her brows. She didn't understand what Leland was saying.
"I was correcting you. Not a baby, but... babies." The man's smile was so sweet that it instantly melt Sophie's heart. She bulged her eyes in surprise and jumped into his arms and hugged his neck.
"Are you sure??? When did you know?"
Leland instantly caught her body and now supported her buttocks with his strong arms. He wanted to laugh at her reaction. How could this heavily pregnant woman jump like this because she was really happy?
"Hmm... I've known for a while now, but I don't want to jinx it," Leland explained. "You know I can hear their heartbeats, right?"
"Oh... that's why..." Sophie gushed. "That is amazing! My hearing is not as good as yours. So, why didn't you tell me immediately?"
Leland was silent for a moment. He continued his walk, carrying her body so lightly as if she was just a cute kitten. He didn't answer her question until they arrived in their bedroom. He placed her body gently on the sofa overlooking the huge open window, and then closed the door.
He put a warm fur blanket on her lap and then sat next to her. Leland held her hands and looked her in the eye.
"One has a really strong heartbeat, and the other one was very weak," he explained with a low voice. "I don't want to make you feel sad if... if the other one doesn't make it."
He and Sophie had experienced the pain of losing their unborn children. He didn't think she could handle another loss, because... he surely couldn't. He knew it would break him hard.
So, he decided to keep things to himself and not let Sophie know in case the second baby couldn't make it. He would take the pain and grief on his own. Sophie should think she only gave birth to one pup.
However, as days went by, slowly, the second heartbeat, the weak one had become stronger and stronger. Leland knew his child was a fighter and that made him feel so proud. However, he still didn't dare to let Sophie know. He also forbade all their healers from talking about it with her.
Today, both heartbeats were equally stronger and he was overjoyed. Sophie didn't realize he very much enjoyed their alone time where they sat together in silence, enjoying each other's presence. He would listen to those heartbeats that were like sweet and wonderful music to his ears as well as his heart.
Today, he was finally confident that the two children were going to make it. As he looked at Sophie with a twinkle in his eyes, he smiled so sweetly. "They are going to be okay. Both heartbeats are now strong and healthy."
Sophie pressed her lips and tears started flowing down hard from her face. She was overjoyed by Leland's statement. She knew she could trust him. However, a small corner in her heart realized that had the other child not grown stronger... Sophie might never know of their existence.
Leland chose to hide the fact from her to protect her... and took all the pain himself. Why won't he share it with her?
She understood why he did it, but that didn't make things okay for her. She was sad, thinking that her husband and mate thought she was too fragile to handle the truth.
Was she really that vulnerable? Sophie had lived through tragedy after tragedy and she was still here. She was still alive and tried to live her life to the best of her ability.
Sophie's heart was raging with thoughts, but she didn't want to dwell on the matter when they had good news to celebrate. She set aside her discomfort and decided to bring that up another time, when they had a chance to have another heart-to-heart conversation.
"I am so happy," she whispered and pulled his head closer to give him a sweet kiss. "What a wonderful thing to know."
Leland kissed her back. He supported her head and kissed her more passionately. They made out for a few moments until Sophie was almost out of breath.
"Ahaha... being pregnant, I cannot breathe easily like I used to," she complained.
"That's fine," Leland said. He rubbed her hair lovingly and pulled her to sit on his lap. "Hmm.. you were saying that you had a headache. Do you still have it?"
Sophie shook her head. "No, all disappeared after I heard the good news. I am too happy for any headache."
"Good."
Sophie looked at Leland with a smile and cupped his face. "I was talking about my desire to hire Katherine to tutor Luciel and Jan. What do you think? The boys need education and I actually really want to see them go to school and learn among their peers... ahem, human children."
"Hmm." Leland nodded. "Okay."
"Are you okay with Katherine? She taught me a lot of things and helped me so much when I was younger. She is interested but, of course, I have to ask your approval."
"Katherine is a witch, do you know that?" Leland suddenly asked.
"Huh?" Sophie furrowed her brows. "Witch? No. She never told me. How did you know?"
"I investigated her years ago before I hired her to tutor you. She is a lowly witch who prefers to work as a teacher. All her family is from the witch clan," Leland explained.
"Oh... I have never seen a witch before. How exciting!" Sophie exclaimed. She suddenly remembered that Leland's old friend, Eloise was also a witch. She looked at him probingly and asked, "Are they good people?"
All throughout their marriage, Leland had never taken her to meet Eloise, and that made Sophie think that either Leland had stopped communicating with his friend, for whatever reasons, or he just didn't want Sophie to meet the witch but he still kept in touch with her.
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