Chapter 34

It is well past two o'clock in the morning when the door to Violet's home opens just long enough for someone to slip in without letting too much of the cold winter wind or it's tiny little snowflakes enter. She had fallen asleep holding Aster by the fireplace in the living room, but the sound of the door woke both of them up now as they listened to the approaching footsteps until the shadow of a man continued to move it's way towards them.

As he stood in the doorway the light from the fire revealed his kind face and soft blue eyes. "What are you two doing down here this late? You should both be in bed." Leon spoke and signed as the two ladies got up and quickly walked to him.

Aster got to him first, wrapping her arms around his leg and squeezing tightly as her mother wrapped her arms around his neck. "You've been practicing." She says into his neck.

He reached down to scoop up Aster, who is definitely still very tired. "Everyday." He smiles.

Violet pulls his face into a chaste kiss. "Welcome home."

He sighs as his travel wearing eyes close and his heart warms as he realizes that what Violet just said feels completely right, he is home.

He carried the little girl up to her room and tucked Aster in to her bed before he left she tiredly signs "I'm so happy that you're back."

When the door closes Violet wraps her arms back around him. "You would think it was Christmas and you were Santa the way that she refused and argued to not be put to bed until she saw you with her own eyes."

He chuckled as he rested his head to hers and sighed. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." She whispers before bringing their lips together. "I missed you very much." She says after they part.

He sighed as she tried to kiss him more and he turned away. "I only wish I had the strength to keep doing this all night…"

She smiles as she settles back into her heals and grabs his hand. "Let's get you to bed. We can talk in the morning."

She let him to a room he hadn't been to before with dark blue wall paper and dark curtains. As she guided him to sit on the side of the bed he noticed something strange about her. "Is everything okay?"

Her brows knit together for a brief moment before smoothing out with a comforting smile. "Everything is fine. Get some sleep." She kisses his forehead before walking towards the door.

Leon sounds exhausted and somewhat disappointed. "Oh… you're not.. I see…"

She continues to walk out the door but before closing it peaks her head through and speaks in a gentle manner. "I'll see you in the morning."

When he woke up it took him a moment to remember that he was no longer on the road touring his latest book, but he was somewhere he could call home, and that he had some important things to take care of now that he was here. He quickly got himself ready and went to find the nanny.

He found the woman in the kitchen finishing her danish and coffee looking more peaceful than he'd known her to look. "I hate to interrupt your serene moment but—"

"Oh! Mr. Stephanotis! I thought I heard you come in last night, but I just assumed it was a dream." The nanny calmly set her cup of coffee back down on its saucer before standing.

"You can just call me Leon." He smiles. "I was wondering if you would be willing to help me with something this morning."

About an hour later, after the nanny got Aster up and dressed in a pretty yellow dress she brought her downstairs and into the sunroom where Leon was waiting next to a table set up with breakfast and began signing. "Good morning princess."

Violet knocked on the door to the guest room that she had put Leon in and was surprised to find the room empty. She was equally surprised to find Aster's room empty. She asked the maid if she had seen either of them and was directed towards the sunroom. As she approached the room her view was hindered by the nanny standing in the doorway. It wasn't until she was just behind the greying blonde woman that she was able to see a very happy Aster hugging an overjoyed Leon. 'What's this? A private morning tea party?" Violets words startle Nanny enough to gasp and clench her chest for a moment before stepping aside as Leon and Aster separate.

Aster quickly runs to her seat and smiles politely at her mother before signing. "Good morning mama. You look beautiful this morning."

Violet raises and eyebrow as she signs to her daughter and speaks to Leon who look just as poised as the little one sitting across from him. "What are you two up to?"

When they both sign and Leon also speaks "nothing," Violet is certain that they are definitely up to something and places her hands on her hips for a moment before telling them both. "Fine. If you won't tell me, I will go eat my breakfast and leave the two of you alone."

Aster smiles brightly as she signs to her mother. "Have a good breakfast mama."

Leon does his best to stifle the laughter as he speaks. "After breakfast, would you join me for a walk?"

Violet light puffs her cheeks as she turns to walk away and speaks over her shoulder to Leon. "I suppose."

Leon and Aster continue to giggle through their breakfast after he lets her know that her mother has agreed to go for a walk with him. When breakfast is finished she politely asks her nanny to play a game of hide and seek with her. "I will stay inside the house this time if you want." She signs.

Her nanny smiles before responding. "One. Two." And the five year old darts away to find a place to hide.

He finds Violet in her office, a pair of reading glasses low on her nose as she reads through a recent report from Hodgins. The light from the window hits the back of her, revealing the golden shimmer of her hair. He knocks on the doorframe to get her attention before entering. "You look very focused. Is now a good time?"

She removes the glasses before speaking. "Now is as good a time as any." She smiles tightly.

Leon searches her face more. "Something is definitely wrong… or different…"

Violet sighs before speaking. "I'm so happy that you're home. A lot has happened since you left and I have a lot on my mind to sort through."

Leon walks to the desk and leans over, resting his elbows on the wooden desk, so he can look into her eyes for the first time in daylight in months. "Do you have to sort it all out by yourself?" He asks.

Violet lightly gasped. She's been doing it on her own for so long. Dietfried tries to help but with his own work pulling him away for stretches of time at random, she couldn't rely on him to actually carry the load with her. "No." She admits quietly.

"Okay." He pulls the chair from the corner over to the other side of the desk. "How can I help?"

She smiles a little, making Leon's heart already skip, before pulling the report out. "Auto Memories dolls, the need for them is declining with all of the technological advances recently. I don't know how we are going to keep all of these people employed moving forward."

Leon asks several questions, doing his best to make sure he understand the situation as fully as he can before making anything remotely close to a suggestion. He knows that the HB Postal company is something she takes a lot of pride in, it's where she started to find herself when she came out of the war, making it similar to the brooch from Gilbert that she wears everyday to remind her of who she has become. "So, less people are hiring auto memories dolls for personal letters now that phones are being brought into more and more homes… but that isn't the only service your dolls provide. I mean, unless things have changed since you were working as one… You helped people write plays, operas, and if memory serves you helped an entire observatory preserve ancient texts. Did those services stop?"

Violet pulled open a drawer and some more paperwork after pulling her glasses back down. "Yes. Yes they have…" when she looked back up at Leon with a glimmer of hope back in her eyes his heart skipped again. "We could focus on those services. We could even market the dolls to more publishers."

Maybe it was his morning conversation with Aster, maybe it was the way Violet's eyes lighting up made him feel, whatever it was Leon felt bold as he spoke. "Or you could become the publishers."

Violet blinked behind her glasses as the two wrinkles between her eyebrows formed as she thought through his suggestion. "It's not a horrible idea… The dolls are basically editors… but we know that some authors have their ideas but struggle to get it to paper… so we have that over other publishers who only have editors for completed works… but we will need people to read through and decide what is actually a good idea to publish…"

"You could start in house." He suggests again, only more emboldened by her excitement and consideration.

She put the papers down in a neat pile on the desk, scribbles a few things down on a notepad, and slides her glasses off. "I'll run it by Hodgins tomorrow when we meet to talk it all over." She stands and walks over to him and before he can stand she sits on his lap and wraps her arms around his neck. "Thank you." She whispers as she rubs her nose to his.

He smiles for a moment. "I'm happy to be of any help to you. Now will you tell me what else is bothering you?"

"How do you know there is something else?" She scowls as she pulls her face away from his.

"I don't know. Something just seems different about you." His eyes scan her face again as he speaks.

"Leon… there is something." She stands and closes the door to the office and leans back on it as it latches shut.

He stands up. "See, I knew there was something, so just tell me so we can deal with it together."

"I'm pregnant." She blurts out, surprising herself enough to cover her mouth right after and stare at Leon wide eyed.

His smile is contagious and as he starts to laugh so does she. "Really?" He asks still bewildered. "I thought maybe you had developed feelings for someone else while I was away, but this? This is wonderful." He was so overjoyed as he ran his hands through his hair and did a spin that he couldn't stop himself from talking. "It's not exactly how I planned it, but at least I got Aster's permission this morning."

"Permission for what?" Violet asks and he stops in his happy pacing.

"Not the way I planned it at all, but then again, when did any great adventure go exactly as planned?" He mused as he reached into his pocket and got down on his knee. "Violet Bougainvillea, make me the happiest man on this planet, say you'll be my wife?"