A knock sounded at the door. It was Remzwick.

“Miss Olivia Fairfax has brought gifts. May I let her in?”

Laura Pendleton glanced at Olivia Fairfax. Olivia, with a sly inward smile, chattered brightly on the outside, playing the part of an innocent girl.

“They’re baby items. I prepared them little by little over the winter, thinking of my cousins.”

Laura straightened her back. Her heavy body required her to grip the chair’s armrests for support.

“Really?”

Olivia nodded, her face flushed. Laura smiled broadly.

“Thank you so much. I must see them at once. Remzwick, let her in quickly.”

At Remzwick’s direction, male servants brought in two large wooden chests.

Laura’s expression, initially delighted at the prospect of gifts, turned to puzzlement. The chests were enormous. Placed side by side, they made the spacious nursery feel cramped.

“Wow, you’ve prepared a lot, Olivia,” Laura said, masking her surprise with admiration.

Olivia, oblivious to Laura’s unease, eagerly approached the chests.

“This one’s for a boy, and this one’s for a girl. I made all the clothes myself. Hmm, the prettiest one is…”

Olivia opened a chest and rummaged through piles of colorful clothes and toys, pulling out a purple dress adorned with white lace.

“Oh, how adorable,” Laura exclaimed, examining the dress. But her fingers paused as she touched the lace.

“This lace… isn’t it from the birthday gift you received last year?”

“Oh, yes,” Olivia replied cheerfully.

Laura remembered clearly. The lace was a luxurious gift from Lady Dora Lance, given for Olivia’s birthday last year, costing over ten pounds per yard.

“Good heavens, how thoughtful,” Laura said, looking at Olivia with a dazed expression.

Olivia, delighted, giggled. “I wanted my future cousin to wear something pretty.”

“But what if they’re twin brothers?”

“Well, it’ll be fine, won’t it? Babies don’t know what they’re wearing. Just put it on them.”

Olivia spoke lightly and began showing other gifts: clothes, dolls, rattles, pacifiers, mobiles, picture books. There must have been a hundred items in total.

Laura examined Olivia’s gifts with mixed feelings. Drawers were already overflowing with baby items from friends, and with the handmade ones from the cottage, there was more than enough for twins. Olivia’s gesture was sweet, but in the abundance of Whitefield, these gifts felt more like a burden.

Still, it’s proof of how much Olivia cares for her cousins, Laura thought.

As a gesture of gratitude, Laura kissed her niece’s cheek. Olivia, receiving her aunt’s affection, was convinced.

She’s totally won over!

Olivia, a materialistic girl at heart, believed her aunt would fall in love with the pile of gifts alone.

Unable to hold back the question she’d planned to ask after the due date, Olivia cautiously broached the topic.

“Um, Aunt Laura, about my cousins… will they be girls or boys?”

Laura shrugged. “Who knows?”

“Which would you prefer?”

“Either is fine.”

Olivia fidgeted with her fingers. “Um… then, what about their names…”

At that moment, the nursery door burst open. Laura’s husband and Olivia’s uncle, Ian Dalton, entered. He stared at the two chests side by side, muttering in confusion.

“Who brought coffins into the nursery?”

Olivia stood and curtsied slightly. Ian looked surprised.

“You brought these, Olivia?”

“Yes, Uncle.”

He approached the chests and inspected the gifts.

“Good grief. Why bring so many things that’ll be outgrown in two years?”

Olivia blinked. “There’s already a mountain of gifts. When will we ever use all this?”

Olivia glanced at Laura, who looked up at her husband, flustered.

“Darling,” Laura said.

“Yes?”

Ian, turning a palm-sized baby dress over in his hands, shifted his gaze to Laura. She shook her head.

“What?”

Laura sighed.

Olivia, though not the sharpest, was perceptive. Did I give an unwelcome gift?

She felt like crying, realizing she’d spent the winter on something useless. Her aunt’s morning sickness and the weather’s disruptions had thrown her plans off. The gifts she’d been certain would win her aunt’s favor were nothing but troublesome clutter.

Laura noticed her niece’s mood. She patted Olivia’s shoulder and spoke kindly.

“No, Olivia. These are all things Whitefield needs.”

Olivia shook her head weakly. “Take them to the poorhouse.”

“How could I? You put so much care into making them.”

Laura gently stroked Olivia’s cheek. “I want to have at least five more children. If all goes to plan, your gifts won’t go to waste.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

Ian interjected in a dry tone. “Five’s a bit much.”

Laura shook her head at her husband. Ian shrugged.

“I promise,” Laura continued, “we’ll use your gifts before anyone else’s.”

Olivia’s expression brightened slightly.

“There, a smiling face is much prettier than a glum one. Will my niece smile for her Aunt Laura?”

Praised for her looks, Olivia’s mood lifted completely. She beamed.

Laura pinched her niece’s cheek playfully, then turned to her husband.

“Darling, do you have much work left?”

“No. Why?”

“How about we have tea on the rose garden terrace for a change?”

“That’s two flights down. It’s risky.”

“With you supporting me, it won’t be dangerous at all.”

Ian was reluctant but couldn’t refuse Laura’s request.

The three left the nursery for the stairs. When the staircase appeared, Ian promptly lifted his wife into his arms. Laura gasped in surprise but soon wrapped her arms around his neck.

Ian carried her down the stairs.

Following behind, Olivia smiled faintly. She recalled a time when she’d watched them choose sheet music at the piano, longing for her teacher and uncle to marry. Now, her uncle carried his pregnant wife as if she were a child.

Olivia spent a pleasant time with her uncle and aunt on the terrace. In the warm air, she gazed at her beautiful Aunt Laura, observed her uncle’s devoted care for his wife, and listened with awe to their romantic tales from the cottage.

She didn’t mention naming the babies. Half of her restraint came from not wanting to burden her aunt, and half from calculating that pressing for names now, after failing to win her aunt’s heart with gifts, might cost her Laura’s affection.

The sunlight, golden like Olivia’s hair, gradually took on the reddish-gold hue of Aunt Laura’s locks. Olivia rose to return to Dunbill Park before the evening banquet.

Laura couldn’t see her off outside, as Ian forbade it. To him, stairs seemed like monsters ready to devour his wife. On the terrace, Laura kissed Olivia’s cheek in farewell.

Olivia and her uncle stepped outside together. Ian helped her onto the carriage step and closed the door.

“Olivia.”

“Yes?”

“I got a letter from your mother. She said Henry Fairfax has recovered. What’s his plan for this year?”

“Oh, right!” Olivia clapped her hands. “I almost forgot. Henry asked me to give you something.”

Muttering, “How could I forget?” Olivia rummaged through her handbag and pulled out an envelope.

She handed it to Ian. “Henry was adamant. He said to give it to you and absolutely not in front of Aunt Laura. It’s like a spy mission, isn’t it?”

Ian took the letter silently, his face shadowed.

“What’s in it, Uncle? Why can’t it be given in front of Aunt Laura?”

“I’ll know when I read it, Olivia.”

“Is it about borrowing money?”

Ian flicked her forehead lightly. “Enough sleuthing, Miss Holmes. Go have your dinner.”

Olivia clicked her tongue and signaled the coachman to depart. As the carriage turned toward the gate, she leaned out the window and shouted.

“I’m serious, though—don’t lend Henry any money! He’s been writing to his artist friends in Paris lately. He might be giving it to those paupers!”

“Safe travels, Olivia.”

As Olivia’s carriage faded into the distance, Ian looked down at the envelope. It read:

To Uncle Ian.