What a lovely Christmas treat to see a new story from you! I look forward to see who will be a good match for Madeleine.
Just one question: why couldn't Adam adopt the child and provide for him if it had been a boy? I thought adopted children couldn't inherit anyway so it wouldn't have endangered the inheritance of the title by the eventual heir truly of his blood (whether a future son of his body or I think Beth's husband Edward was the heir presumptive?). Or if there is another reason, I didn't understand it.