She descended the stairs with a flurry of butterflies spinning through her stomach. She entered the dining room to find it already occupied. Her husband sat with their four-year-old daughter on his lap. They ate from a bowl of fruit. Little Theodora took turns feeding herself and then her father with her usual air of confidence.

“Mama!” Theodora cried merrily, waving a half-eaten strawberry in the air.

“Oh, Con,” Nora chided. “Her face is a mess.”

Nora rounded the table and picked up a napkin to wipe her young daughter’s juice-stained face. Satisfied she had wiped it as clean as possible, she bent down to press a kiss on her daughter’s berry-scented cheek. “Good morning, poppet.” Then, she turned to her husband, accepting his proffered kiss.

“You are looking very fine today, Nora.” His eyes twinkled with amusement and she knew he knew how much she had agonized over her choice of attire. “How are you feeling this morning?” He stared closely at her face. “Excited?”

“Mostly nervous,” she said as she lowered herself into the chair beside him and Theodora. “Only in the best way though.”

“I am certain you shall astound them with your knowledge and wit.”

She served herself some tea and toast. Her stomach might be a riot of butterflies, but she needed sustenance to get her through this day. “Oh, I don’t know about that. All the other students will be very clever, too.” Reaching for the jam, she began to generously lather it on her bread.

“But how many have your experience? Your practical skills shall mark you as a natural at once.”

“You are only making me more nervous in saying that.” She crunched down on her toast and chewed a little anxiously.

Con sent her an affectionate wink and readjusted their daughter on his lap so that he could reach across the table and give her hand a small comforting squeeze. “Just think of that brazen creature who forged her name and dispensed medical advice to all and sundry because she did not question her competence. That woman had faith in her expertise.”

She laughed lightly. “Amazing how that was once a black mark against me and now you praise me for it.”

“I was an ass then. Now I know better.” He shrugged lightly. “It took me some time to understand that you’re as brilliant as you are beautiful.”

Theodora chose that moment to parrot her father. “Ass, ass, ass, ass, ass.”

Nora laughed harder, shaking her head. “See what you’ve done now.”

Constantine shrugged unworriedly and pressed a kiss to Theodora’s cheek. “She’ll soon forget it.”

“If you say so.” Nora snorted dubiously and lathered a fresh slice of toast with jam, extending it to Theodora. The child grasped the toast and greedily bit into it, filling her mouth with something other than expletives.

“Mmm,” Theodora moaned in approval.

The clock tolled the hour and Nora rose hastily. “Goodness! I need to go.”