Lily sighed, aware that she should pick her battles, lightly resting her hand on James' thigh. "I suppose I could see if someone could be spared for a few hours to help out."
She had been trying to find the best way to bring up their big reason for requesting a private dinner, and seeing how tense her husband was getting made Lily think that just going for it would probably save them all a bunch of time and fussing. Drinking a little more wine, she sat up a little straighter.
"Darling, do you remember the conversation we had recently, after your assembly?" she started, peeking at James to see his reaction before she continued.
"Your father is starting to get a little overprotective of me, because we have some news. And we wanted you to be the first person we told." She grinned enigmatically. "I'll let your father fill in the blanks."