“We’ll send an owl to you straight away,” Ailsa finished for her husband, sensing as he had that Eugene was rather more agitated about this that she had initially imagined. Which was quite understandable now she came to think about it – the poor boy had a child to look after all on his own! Well, not entirely on his own, she supposed, what with the nanny and his sisters and them, but still! Far from easy.

“And of course you must still come to dinner on Sunday. We won’t hear of you going to work on Monday without a good meal inside you!”

Eugene would of course remain part of the family, Ailsa couldn’t conceive of any other eventuality, and once Astrild came back they might reconcile and all would be well!

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