The cottage had changed now that the brothers had wives.  Once filled with clutter, it became a well kept home, clean and safe for a toddler. Normally, Caleb took the boy with him, the wives tended Lady Phillips and Uriah was off to London. But when they returned from recovering the jewels, Elizabeth was home with little John and Uriah was forced to spend what was left of the night hidden in his bedchamber.

As nonchalantly as he could the next morning, Caleb kissed Elizabeth on the cheek and closed the front door behind her. Then he rushed to the window, pulled the curtain back and watched until his wife walked out of sight. Relieved, he opened Uriah's door.

"I should not have come," Uriah muttered, swooping down to pick up his son. He raised the giggling boy high into the air, then slowly lowered him until he could kiss John's cheek. "I find my bed intolerable without Mary."

"But the hour was late, where else could you have gone?"

"Anywhere but here. Elizabeth nearly discovered me and we have no time to waste, I feared having to explain why I am home and then why I must leave without seeing my wife."

"Fortunately, I distracted her." Caleb disappeared into the kitchen.

"Distracted her, do you call it? It is not wise to oppose a woman of Elizabeth's temperament. Can't you just agree with her until she becomes a little more placid?"