Chapter 29

Maddy stood at the window, Gemma and Rimple on either side of her. Lady Em and Tilda were having tea with Veronica Turnbull, who had arrived a few moments earlier. Phillipa had arranged for Dominic’s sister-in-law, Claire, who normally worked in his office, to take the students down to the Arm for a picnic and a swim, leaving the spinsters to the business at hand.

A telegram had arrived earlier that morning for Lady Em, and she wasted no time in sharing the good news, confirmed by Veronica Turnbull, that Nelson Taylor’s threats were exactly they belonged. In the past.

Rimple crossed her arms as she saw Jeremy’s carriage coming up the front park. “I can’t wait to take Dominic’s evidence and shove it straight up Mr. Miller’s?—"

“Language, Rimple,” Maddy said.

“I wasn’t going to say anything vulgar,” Rimple protested. “I know all the anatomically correct words.”

“They’re here,” Gemma said. “Come, let’s go join them.”

Maddy turned away as Dominic, then Elouise, beaming with the return of her husband, got out of the carriage. Something twisted in her chest then. It might have been envy. It might have been anger.

But she understood it was simply grief. Grief for something she might have had.

The love of a good man.

She turned away when more movement caught her eye. At first, she thought it was Jeremy, but he was at Government House today. But another person did get out of the carriage.

She put a hand to her mouth and blinked, unsure if her eyes had deceived her. They had not.

She spun around, shaking. And then she bolted out the door, her hands gripping the iron rail looking down at… him. At Beau.

“You’re back,” she said.

He turned and looked up at her, and though she was looking down at him, she blinked away tears, as if she was looking straight at the sun. His smile was radiant and, she realized, it was for her.

“I couldn’t stay away.”

She raced down the stairs and stopped short in front of him. Even though he looked a little rumpled from the travel, and lines of fatigue creased at his mouth and the corners of his eyes, he was still the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. She wanted to reach out and adjust the lapel of his coat that had turned up as he’d gotten out of the carriage.

“I didn’t expect to see you again,” she said. “I thought you were too busy. That your company needed you. Your sister. That?—”

He reached out and grabbed her hands.

“I spent a week trying to solve this case,” he said. “and I definitely wanted the satisfaction of seeing the look on Miller’s face when I give him the evidence about Taylor. And I selfish being that I am, I definitely couldn’t wait to see you again.”

Maddy couldn’t help but smile as she turned away, her body trembling. They went upstairs and into the parlour where Beau greeted his aunt with a kiss. It was clear that she was thrilled to see him. She lingered a moment, giving herself time to get her emotions in check before joining them.

Beau relayed the entire story, and though he didn’t express it, it was clear to Maddy that instead of worrying about his own future, he’d spent every waking hour leveraging every connection and favour he had to help ensure that Maddy never had to look over her shoulder. So that she had a future, too.

“Oh Maddy,” Phillipa said, relief in her voice. “That is a relief.”

“Well,” Lady Em said, “this calls for something more celebratory than tea, don’t you think? Tilda, I think this deserves the good sherry.”

Animated discussion broke out in the room, joined by the clinking of glasses and the passing of plates of cookies that Rimple had baked in a fury last night in anticipation of the hints of good news in Beau’s telegram. Maddy was subjected to hugs from her fellow spinsters, which she accepted, and all seemed to be well.

But Maddy was not. She rose, and feigning then need for air, went to her library to sit.

This job was coming to an end. And it was happy… for Everwell.

But not for her.

She blew out a shaky breath and cursed herself for wanting the visit to end. For Dominic and Elouise to go home, for Beau to leave with his aunt, and for everything to go back the way it was. Except the way it was meant Maddy having sleepless nights thinking she had blood on her hands. The way it was meant not knowing about the beautiful stone cottage and the magical garden, laughing with Annie Chandler or picking berries with Hollis. It was a life that had not known the love of a man like Beau. Who’d offered her everything she wanted, but she had been afraid to have, because he saw what she could not. Her worth. That her happiness was worthy of fulfillment.

She pushed aside a traitorous tear with the palm of her hand.

A knock at the door jolted her out of her sorrows. Quickly she rose to her feet, dabbing her eyes and preparing to mumble an apology about pollen reddening her eyes when she realized it was Beau standing in the door.

“If I’m disturbing you, I’ll go,” he said.

“Not at all,” she said, gesturing him to come in. “I owe you a debt of gratitude for what you’ve done for me. You didn’t have to do that.”

He wore a smile, but it did not meet his eyes.

“But I did,” he began. “I am a selfish man, after all. What I want, I want.”

Maddy swallowed, nearly afraid to breathe. “And what do you want?”

“I recently had an unexpected meeting with someone who opened my eyes to some novel business possibilities. Exciting ones. However, there were a few obstacles in the way.” He rubbed his hands together, then pantomimed what looked like a living advertisement for some kind of beauty cream they advertised the Ladies Home Journal. “What is this charming smile and lightening intellect for if not for removing those obstacles, and opening the doors so they can walk through them?”

There was not a drop of sarcasm in his voice. If anything, there was more than a generous dollop of self-deprecation, which brought a bit of lightness to her chest. She pressed her lips together, trying to suppress an unwanted smile.

“But then, I had an even more remarkable idea that may help in that effort.” He came closer then paused, uncharacteristically cautious. “That is, if you would be open to hearing it.”

That effort. He was talking about her little dream. She’d shut the door on that dream. Slammed, more like. Or so she’d thought.

She nodded, unable to speak.

“I would like to gift The Grove, and its fifty acres, to Everwell.”

Maddy’s mouth fell open, but she had no words. She wasn’t even certain if she’d heard him correctly.

“I would consider it part of the payment for services rendered,” he continued, his voice warm. “And I would also donate to its upkeep, of course. An annuity.”

“Why would you do that?” she asked at last.

Beau approached her, cautiously, as one might approach a wounded animal. He was so close to her now she could smell the familiar scent of his shaving soap. My God, how she’d missed it. She missed him.

“Because then you would never have to leave it. Everwell could be wherever you are.”

Maddy put her hands to her mouth, trying to contain the sob at the back of her throat. Beau gently pulled her hand away, kissing the back of her knuckles, his lips grazing her skin. She didn’t pull away.

“I want what I want,” he continued, looking at her, his amber eyes warm and smiling at last. “And what I want, more than anything, is for you to be happy. I love you.”

She had his heart in her hands. It was an odd thing, a powerful thing, to accept. He loved her. He’d even said so, and it had been real.

Maddy looked away, focusing on some random spot on the wall, using every ounce of self-control to keep the tangle of emotions that were threatening to dissolve her into a sopping puddle. She looked at her books, sitting prettily on the shelves. And then she remembered those lovely shelves at The Grove. The study, that had held their trunks. It would make a lovely little library.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t appreciate how big a decision this was for you. I was so wrapped up in my own desires, I forgot you were at the centre of them,” he said.

She pulled his hands to her lips, pressing a firm kiss to his fingers, then running her thumb over the spot where a small callus had started to form on his hand.

“I’m sorry I didn’t have as much faith in my dreams as you did,” she said, her bottom lip trembling. She released a ragged breath and dared to look in his eyes. “I love you, too. So very much.”

It was so hard to speak above a whisper. She was trembling, as she was letting go of years of heartache, fear… and grief. Beau pulled her into his arms.

“Congratulations, Mr. da Silva.”

The unexpected, and slightly bored tones of Lady Em startled both of them. They broke the embrace, but Beau did not let go of her hand.

Lady Em stood in the door, a single eyebrow raised, her mouth tipped up in an amused smile. She looked back and forth between the two of them.

“I see you have managed to discombobulate my dearest Miss Murray,” she said, giving him an appraising look before turning to Maddy. “Before this dissolves into something that might actually give the neighbours something to put in Mr. Miller’s wretched columns, perhaps you could take a stroll outside, where you can discuss the terms of our new arrangement with a bit more privacy?”

“You know about this?” Maddy asked. She knew Beau had sent word about his own case and the Taylors, but apparently Lady Em, Tilda, and Phillipa hadn’t shared everything.

“Indeed. Tilda and I agree it is a splendid idea,” she said. “I will leave it to you, Madeline, to work out the particulars of the arrangement.”

Lady Em continued on to the festivities in the parlour, and Beau stepped to one side, waiting for Maddy. She took his hand, because somehow her body always seemed to know what to do even when her words failed her. When she was afraid. And she’d feared so much, for so long. Here was the one person, more than any other, who told her she didn’t have to be afraid anymore, because he would be there for her.

She led him to the side garden, a lovely border of hollyhocks and calendula, lambs’ ears, lavender, and lily of the valley. Every year this garden changed a little, as it was, until this week, the only part of the flower gardens she’d let the students help manage. At the end of the path there was a little bench, beneath a soaring maple tree, its full canopy lush and moving with the summer breeze. It would have been a lovely sound, but she could not hear it over the beating of her own heart.

“Beau,” she said, breathless.

“Madeline,” he replied, idly running his thumb over her knuckles. God, it felt so good to be touched by him. “Being away from you was absolutely the longest week of my life.”

“Before we go any further, I need to tell you something,” she said. “Something important. It might make you change your mind.”

He pulled her close and put a kiss on her brow that threatened to weaken her at the knees.

“Nothing is going to make me change my mind,” he said. “The Grove is yours.”

“Beau,” she whispered, trying to keep her wits about her, which was desperately hard when his kisses were robbing her of her capacity to think. “This is serious. But I trust you will not tell a soul.”

“Or you’ll throw me over your shoulder?” he said, cocking an eyebrow in the air.

“It’s about the rumours,” she blurted out.

His brow crinkled in confusion. “My aunt has dispelled the rumours in the papers about Everwell being some haven for thieves and murderers?—”

“Beau—” She stepped back a moment, grabbed his hands, and took a deep breath. “The rumours are not exactly rumours.”

It seemed to take a moment for her words to sink in, and she could see a line forming across his brow and his head tilt ever so slightly.

“Not exactly?”

“Not the murders part—that is, as you have helped prove — those are completely and utterly false,” she said, the words coming out of her in a rush to quell any fears that his life was in actual danger.

“And the thieving?” He asked, a new note of caution in his tone.

Maddy took a deep breath and hoped the other spinsters would forgive her. She told him everything. About forged insurance policies and missing wills, about Chinese vases and stolen jewels that had to be stolen back so that the owner had something to live on, because having a bank account in her own name was impossible. About the missing girls that were about to be carted off to Boston to work until The Everwell Society of Scandalous Spinsters and Wayward Women managed not only to free them but blackmail the ringleader into never returning. And because she was spilling every secret, she may have mentioned where a few of her books were borrowed from… including the one from Government House. And finally, she told him about the priceless poetry book that she’d gone to MacAskill’s to steal back on behalf of the owner, who’d been duped into relinquishing ownership of it.

Maddy wasn’t sure she had spoken so much in her entire life. But when she stopped, she forced herself to be patient while Beau took it all in. Allowed herself to trust that he loved her and would somehow understand.

“Well, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised,” he said, after what felt like a painful amount of silence. Maddy wanted to laugh at the irony of it. He put a hand to his chin, idly rubbing it as he seemed to be turning over everything she’d just told him. “After all, it was as plain as day the moment I met you.”

“What do you mean?” she protested. “I know I’m a horrible thief—a fact I tried to impress upon Phillipa, but?— “

He put a finger to her lips.

“You ruthlessly stole my heart right in the middle of a bookstore,” he said, his voice low and warm like honey that seemed to flow right through Maddy’s body. “And as for the price of the book, it was a fair price to pay for the attention of a faerie queen, don’t you think?”

“Entirely fair,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. She wanted to melt right into him.

“Now,” he said, clearing his throat, and holding up the deed to The Grove. “Back to the matter at hand. Your happily ever after.”

Maddy looked at the folded sheaf of papers in his hand, her heart squeezing one more time. She thought of Elouise and her wise words, too often ignored by those who only saw the exquisite objective beauty of her face. And Sylvie, who flourished when given the chance to look after the garden and would flourish more if she was given the same opportunity that Lady Em and Tilda had given Maddy. Gemma and Rimple, Phillipa. They had their lives. And then she thought of Annie and Daniel, and Hollis and his berry patch, Teddy, and the magical garden hidden and waiting for her. And her happy ending. And maybe it would mean that she wouldn’t see Beau that often. He had his life in Saint John, and a company to run.

“I want this,” she said. “But I’ve become greedy.”

Beau cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

“I want what I want,” she said, trying to mimic his devil-may-care charm. “And I want to share my cottage with Prince Charming.”

Beau threw his head back and laughed, then pulled Maddy tight. “You’ve got him.”

“Are you certain?”

“I gave Jess the company,” he said. “She’s the only one with the head to run it. I might have to go back to Saint John from time to time, but if you like, you can come with me. And it would never be for long. But I didn’t want it, and she did. It’s her legacy, too. Both her parents are gone. She needs to disentangle herself from Neil. She can do it, and I’ll be there for her if she needs me. Just like you would be here for The Everwell Society when they need you to shake down a crooked politician or whatever it is you do.”

Maddy held her breath. “I don’t know what to do,” she said. “I’m scared and nervous and normally when I feel this way I want to go hit something, but I’m too happy.”

“How about you stand there looking gorgeous while I kiss you?”

And that’s what they did, Maddy leaning into Beau as he took her face in his hands and devoured her in a kiss that she felt down to her toes. Somewhere, in the distance, she heard a chorus of whoops and hollers and… was that clapping? Perhaps clapping.

Clapping not for a happy ending. But for a happy beginning.

THE END