Nobles: Norton 1.1

 

The Duke and Duchess of Gramsby couldn't be happier: George, David's younger brother, was married to the queen and had a daughter by her. They felt secure, knowing that David was uncle to a princess.  Of course, that wasn't the only thing David had going for him: he had two teenage daughters, Eliza and Beatrice, which meant that the house was hardly ever quiet. 

"Dad, stop painting and make her stop!" cried Eliza. Painting wasn't the only thing that kept David busy. He was very much in love with his wife Daisy.

   David and Daisy weren't the only ones experiencing romance.  Eliza had made a friend at her boarding school, Arthur, a local military man.

Before long, their friendship had turned to something deeper. 

Eliza had been young when the Great Sickness had taken away her grandparents and made her dad a duke. She remembered the promise that she had made to herself: that she would go after what she wanted....and what she wanted was Arthur.

Even thought her dad was a duke and her uncle a prince (and by extension that made her cousin to a princess), Eliza had never cared much for titles.  Arthur being a common soldier didn't matter to her. 

 

She knew that her father wouldn't approve--he had lofty goals for his daughters--but she did not care. Once school was over, she and Arthur spent all the time they could together. Pretty soon they were in love.

Being a twin had its downfalls. Eliza's twin, Beatrice, could sense that her sister was keeping something from her. 

"You're locked up tighter than a safe, Liz. I can tell you're hiding something from me, from mom and dad," Beatrice said. 

"I'm not hiding anything," Eliza said. "Now move already." 

The one thing that the twins could count on were family dinners. Every night they ate together.

The girls had enrolled in private school and were finally able to wear their snazzy new uniforms.

 

While the girls were attending school and Eliza was attending Arthur, Daisy realized  she was pregnant. 

It wasn't long before Daisy gave birth to a boy and David's heir: William. William would take his father's subsidiary title and be know as the marquess of Wolford. 

David was thrilled with the birth of his baby boy and showed it. Eliza, though she would rather have died than admit it, was also relieved. Perhaps her father would be more accepting of her and Arthur now that he had the son he wanted. 

 

Daisy was very much a hands-on mother. She loved spending time with her son, teaching him to talk.

For the royal-adjacent Duke and Duchess of Gramsby, who finally had the heir they wanted, the future looked very bright indeed.