The Domestic LifeConnor paused in front of the mirror for a moment before heading out on the town. "The best con you've ever pulled, old chap!" he winked to himself while jauntily pushing his hat slightly askew, just as he liked it.
Now to firmly establish his place as the rightful heir of Bloodstone Manor. He'd need to integrate with the townfolk; find a wife--maybe someone a little older, someone respectable.
He first caught sight of Trang Pham walking up the front lawn of her little abode, and boy, she was a knock-out! Ten out of ten, his instincts told him, blindingly stunning.
"Why hello, fair lady!" he called out, approaching with his most charming smile and a voice as smooth as the new silk sheets on his ill-begotten bed. "What is such a beauty doing in this shabby setting! Come, you must let me take you away from all this! I will carry you off like a prince to his castle, where you will be surrounded with the most elegant furnishings--the most exquisite artwork from around the world! But don't worry, my lady, I would never dream of tasting such a delicate flower without the bonds of matrimony."
Trang Pham simply looked down her nose at him with a haughty, "Humph! I can't stand art, to tell the truth, and with my commitment issues marriage would be a most unwelcome burden. You can have nothing to offer me."
Her words fanned the candle of his interest into a roaring fire. There's no use telling a con man he can't have something. For directly you do, he will set about all his efforts to obtaining it. He upped his smile from charming to dazzling.
"If finery and a diamond ring do not interest you, then I offer you my greatest gift of all--my heart!"
What? You don't think con men have hearts? Well, let me assure you, they do. And while Connor O'Reiley may not have ever earned an honest day's work, he did indeed love that woman with every fiber of his being. He wooed her with every courtesy and every flattery he could devise.
In the end, not only did Trang Pham consent to live with him, but to marry him and bare his children as well.
That was how a woman--who'd sworn she'd never marry--came to find herself living the domestic dream, with a doting husband, and no less than seven beautiful children. From time to time, she'd look down at her ring and wonder how it had all come to this, how she'd come so far from the life she had always thought she would have.
But then her husband would sweep her off her feet with a kiss, or one of her little ones would stretch out their tender little hands and call for her--and Trang knew she would never wish to trade this life for any other.
First, there were twin boys Trevor and Maxwell. Aside from their hair color, they were identical, and both miniature clones of their father.
Trevor was born with oddly blond hair and his father's facial features, grey eyes, and pointed ears.
Maxwell inherited the same, save for picking up his mother's hair color.
Then there were the mixed gendered twins, Narice and Garret.
Aside from her coloring--which was all from her father--Narice got all of her features from her mother.
While Garret was a pleasant blend of both parents. Mother's hair color, father's skin slider and eye color; eye shape and pointed ears from his father, nose and mouth from his mother.
Tris was the only single, manufactured with a little help from the future.
Lavender eyes and black and blond hair were chosen for her, but her father's features and ears and her mother's skin slider she picked up by herself.
Finally, Connor and Trang rounded out their family with a pair of twin girls.
Sasha, left, picked up her mother's green eyes and skin tone, but her father's hair color. She also got her mother's eye and nose shape, but her father's mouth and pointed ears.
Lilly, on the right, got her father's coloring and eye shape, but her mother's nose and mouth.
As for Connor, he quickly adapted to all the luxuries and graces of his new life until he persuaded himself they were rightfully his. He slept soundly in his silken-sheeted bed at night, having told the story of his grand inheritance so many times he almost believed it himself.
He never suspected that an angry ghost watched over him in his slumber, determined to claim its rightful ownership over Bloodstone Manor.
