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The week Charlie took poorly was the worst week of Sophie’s life, seeing her baby boy so helpless in bed as he fought off the fever that ravaged his tiny body.
She was sure his moans of pain and his wheezing breaths she had been so sure might have been his last would haunt her until her dying day and the way she had fallen apart over it.
The guilt she felt at leaving the nurse to tend to her two other sons as she desperately tried to cling to her sanity and not lose her mind over her first born was horrendous and the way she had barely eaten, barely took care of herself and her unborn child…
She wasn’t sure how she got through the week… but get through it they did and little Charlie was on the mend and recovering and Sophie had been reluctant to send her boys back to the nursery and in hindsight she realised that was probably the downfall.
It was another week before Charlie was fit and healthy and no longer coughing, fighting fit and ready for his own bed. He loved his parents and loved sleeping with them In their big bed but being kicked by your youngest brother as he tried to get closer to their mama was not what he wanted.
So Charlie had been the one to make the call and bedtime that night was like war.
William screamed the house down, at not quite two years old he had always been a bit more of a Mama’s boy than his brothers. He clung to her skirts and he’d stayed close to her so having her back and being asked to part from her was not what he wanted.
He screamed and screamed his displeasure and Sophie and Benedict hated it but they knew it was the only way to get him to go to bed.
They had gone through this trauma once when it was moving him from his crib to his cot and then into his big bed…
They had thought it was over but no, William wanted his mama and he just kept crying for her. Alex had climbed into bed with his brother and got punched in the face for it and it set of a fresh wave of new tears.
Benedict had gotten up to sort his sons out. William screamed still for his Mama and it was another hour and him throwing up on his Papa before William fell asleep.
William became Sophie’s shadow. From the moment he woke up, he toddled into his parents bed chamber, if the door was shut he would bang and scream until he was let in and he turned into a little terror,
Sophie couldn’t go to the village without him and he wanted to be carried everywhere, which given Sophie’s condition became very difficult.
Sophie was at her wits end but the time Eloise and Phillip offered to take the boys for a sleepover.
It took bribes and Eloise’s coaxing for him to go and Sophie had rather foolishly thought it was the end of William’s clingy-ness.
But she had been mistaken.
William had behaved and slept and been happy when away from the house, he’d been too tired to fight and demand his mother as he had done every night for the last three weeks.
As Sophie’s due date with her fourth got closer, William became even more clingy and she had no idea why.
She couldn’t even go use a chamber pot without her third son and no matter what, no matter who tried, If Sophie left the room and didn’t take her son with him, he screamed holy hell.
Sophie was at her wits end and she’d cried in Violet when they’d seen her over Benedict’s birthday. The family had travelled to them and Violet had said it was a phase, Colin went through it when she was pregnant with Eloise.
It was the change and the extra baby and as soon as the baby was here it would stop. She’d promised her.
Sophie prayed she was right because she felt awful. She felt like the worst mother in the world but she was exhausted.
However she had been thankful for William’s clingy-ness on one afternoon,
She hadn’t been feeling very well as she was getting close to her due month. They had elected to stay in Wiltshire for Baby four and Kate and Anthony were due to arrive that afternoon when all hell broke loose,
Sophie had gotten up to readjust and William had ran to her realising she was going to go and had a kitty l look of horror as Sophie let out a scream of pain and William echoed it seconds later as he saw his mama double over and blood and water soaked her legs
“PAPA” william screamed, he had no idea what was going on but he knew his mama needed papa and needed him now,
Benedict came tearing through the house at the sound of his youngest son screaming his name, something he hadn’t done for a while and Benedict’s stomach dropped and his heart stopped as he saw his littlest boy on his mama begging her to stay awake.
Benedict screamed for anyone and everyone in the house and a doctor was sent for as he roused his wife, the nurse came and took William away and cleaned him up and he went to his brothers without a fuss but the screams from their mother were terrifying.
Anthony and Kate arrived not long after the doctor and as all 5 boys and Charlotte became distressed, Anthony took the children to Romney Hall,
William hadn’t wanted to go but his Mama needed him to be strong and he could be strong for his mama.
The children had no idea how close they came to losing their mother and the Doctor said whatever had caused Benedict to come quickly probably saved Sophie and Violet’s life.
All three boys were brought home two days later and William rushed into to see his Mama, she looked pale but she was alive and she gave her youngest son the biggest hug and kiss as did Benedict and all three boys settled carefully around their Mama as Benedict brought over the bundle that was their sister.
“Boys… we want you to meet our little Princess, your little sister, Violet”
William gasped “she’s so tiny!”
“She is so we have to be very careful with her okay” Benedict said as each of his sons took it in turns to hold their baby sister and when William came to hold her he grinned at his Mama “she looks like you mama,”
“Can you say her name Will?” Sophie asked
“Vi…vi… vivi?” He stammered, struggling at the worlds but as he said “vivi” Violet opened her eyes.
“I think Vivi works just fine” Benedict grinned at his youngest son.
William leaned down and pressed a kiss to her head “I luv you vivi. Im gonna be best big brova ever” he grinned
Sophie burst into tears as her older two confirmed the same and she hugged her children.
She decided there and then she would never ever complain about how clingy her children were. She loved them so her heart and soul and she would willingly never sleep again for them.