Chapter Text
Bedtime was Henry's favorite time of day - and not only because it meant the little ones would soon be asleep and he could have some much-needed time alone with his wife. He also greatly enjoyed telling the children bedtime stories.
As was his Christian duty, he often told stories from the Bible, and of many other great men and women from history. (Thankfully, the children were more attentive to history than their mother had been in her youth.) From time to time, Henry even made up a story himself; on which occasions, it was hard to say whether Catherine or the children were more delighted. (Granted, Henry could not indulge too much in his wife's interest in the Gothic; it had rather waned over time, and anything too horrifying would prevent the littlest ones from sleeping.) Catherine, too, sometimes read, often a fairy story or a fable with an important moral.
Tonight, Henry was recounting David's defeat of Goliath. Though middle children Harry and Sarah listened with rapt attention, Richie affected boredom. The eldest Tilney progeny frequently reminded his long-suffering parents that he was eleven, and therefore too old for bedtime stories. Ellie, at only three, likely did not absorb much of the tale, but was quite content to be ensconced in her mother's arms.
"And whap!" said Henry with a dramatic flourish, "the stone sank into Goliath's head, and down he fell - whump."
From her place in Catherine's lap, little Ellie's eyes widened and she sucked her thumb more rapidly.
"Could a boy really kill a giant man with only a stone?" Richie asked, frowning skeptically.
"You only ask because you haven't seen me shoot," asserted young Harry, miming drawing back a sling-shot.
Henry saw Catherine hide her smile.
"Of course," Henry answered Richie. Smiling at Catherine - who looked the picture of domestic felicity surrounded by their children - Henry thought of all that had happened to bring them together, including his hard-hearted father finally consenting to their marriage. "Miracles happen all of the time."