#the amount i read on the 66 historic preservation act before ultimately deciding it wouldn't really influence them at all lmao.

[widowshill]

more r/v au things.

During their engagement period, Roger will sometimes ask Carolyn’s help picking out little gifts for V, out of some honest anxiety that he’s not really in touch with the tastes of the Youth. Things like records, dresses, jewelry, hair clips: sometimes with the success, but more often that not they’re more to his niece's taste (but V finds the gesture charming anyway, and it gives Carolyn more options to steal borrow from her closet). he does just as well if not better on his own: old fashioned watches, pearls, silk scarves, French lace lingerie, and books, most of all. he'll occasionally buy her a very nice edition to add to her shelf in the Collinwood library, but what she really likes is being given one of his used books –– annotated poetry anthologies, or marked up old shakespeare. it makes her feel much more intimate with him, and she loves getting a glimpse his mind.

They have one child together: a little girl, Josette Elizabeth Collins, nicknamed “Josie” by Carolyn shortly after she’s born, and the name sticks (much like Vicki did). She resembles V more, especially her nose and mouth, but she has her father’s blue eyes and waving gold hair (this also means she ends up looking a little bit like Laura, but they all keep that observation to themselves). She’s born small and sickly after a rather difficult birth, and remains tiny throughout childhood. But with a household full to give her some TLC, Josie shoots up in height as a preteen. she quickly becomes wayyy taller than Liz, especially once she starts wearing heels, to her aunt's external exasperation at just how fast she's grown.

One childbirth scare is enough, though –– Roger's already come much too close to losing V on several other occasions, as well as having lost his own mother as a result of his birth, to want to risk it again. besides, they already have David, who is enough of a handful on his own, and Rog is getting older, so they mutually decide that he get a vasectomy. you can bet that he fully hams up the recovery period and makes everyone baby him for a week. Liz doesn't fully approve ( it is her brother's branch of the family tree that will continue the name, after all, so she dislikes the idea of not even having the chance of more Collinses ) ... but she has no desire to put V at further risk, either, so she doesn't protest too much.

David is very jealous at the beginning when the baby comes: both Rog and V absolutely dote on her, as does Liz, and Carolyn, who simply delights in being the older cousin / aunt figure to the new baby in the house. So David gets a little impetuous for a while and torments Josie in his way: inventing or summoning ghosts to scare her, slipping the music box into her crib, spooking her at her nap time or dinner. But he grows out of it as Josie grows and he gets more fond, and much more protective of her: he still bugs her as an older brother is wont to do, but rest assured he’s the only one that’s allowed to. David Collins in his teens is not someone you want as an enemy.

As I've alluded to elsewhere, one of V's first big tasks as a new Collins wife that she takes on is the historic restoration of the west wing, which is something she's wanted to do since Burke's death. this is where Roger, V, David, and Josie will stay when it's finished ( another sore point of David's, losing one of his secret play-places ). Barnabas helps –– both in the practical oversight of the project, and in the funding ––  but Roger's pride won't permit him to help too much with the latter. to help offset some of the costs, both of construction and of the upkeep / taxes with having more of the house open, Victoria suggests they open the house up to public tours a few days a week. Roger protests furiously against the idea of having a stream of strangers –– commoners –– in the house, but it's Liz that puts her foot down. she and Vicki personally administer the tours ( being the most knowledgeable about the house, and it and the family history ) including seasonal haunted nighttime tours, where you just might catch a glimpse of a real ghost.