He rested his head against he shoulder, then bent down to lay a kiss on her breast. "Someday we'll have a family of our own," he said softly. "The most utterly beautiful babies anyone has ever seen. And we'll get to tuck them in at night and know they're safe."

She smiled softly. "You are going be a wonderful father. You care too much already not to be. And we will have grand-babies and great-grandbabies and all manner of nieces and nephews."

"We already have a few of those," Marcello pointed out, his eyes gleaming. "I was thinking, I suppose we should...think about what kind of options we can offer for Mira. For the baby. I want to try to make it as easy for her as possible to do what she needs to do."

Niabheara looked uneasy. "I'm still up for keeping the baby, if you she both agree. And of course she can stay herself as long as she likes, though I don't know what your mother might think of us keeping all her children for months on end." She stroked his arm, smirking. "Usually when we steal women's children, we like them a lot smaller than you."

Marcello tugged Niabheara in close, and kissed her. "I like to think I'm stealing you," he answered nicely. "We're going to have to find an easier mode of travel than Judith."

"Mother thinks so too," she said dryly. "You didn't answer the question. We have a brand-new baby who must either stay with your sister, go home with your mother, or find other accommodations. And while I could easily go downstairs and announce this fact to my baronesses before they leave, that's apt to cause a riot."

"Miranda and Cormac have to decide," Marcello replied. "Both of them, together. I...Of everyone here, I'm the one who probably know best what it was like to be raised by a mother who resented having to care for a child. I don't want that to happen to Mira. But I also don't want her to give up her baby now and miss getting to raise her herself and regret it the rest of her life if she does."

"It's only been a few days," she said. "She has some time to think on it, and we can't take a nursing baby away from its mother, but to be frank, I am more concerned with the baby's well-being than about your sister."

Marcello sighed. "I'm concerned about them both," he said. "They go hand in hand, I think."

Niabheara took a deep breath. "Well. Options, then." She ticked them off on her fingers. "One: she takes the baby home. Two: she stays here, with or without Cormac, with the baby. Three: we keep the baby, either fore'er or until Mira is ready to come for it, which presents its own troubles. Four--" At this point she literally ran out of fingers, having reached the missing pinkie, but carried on counting. "We find the baby a permanent family here."