Epilogue

Derby, May 1853

“ Y ou planned your life very well, my love,” Alice said to Adam. “Having four sisters, with two not yet married, has made it extremely easy for us to start our family. We never lack assistance.”

They were enjoying a Diamond gathering at Oak Grove Hall, celebrating his mother’s birthday and another child’s entrance to the family, belonging to Clarity.

“If only our boy would grow up a bit,” Adam said, flat on his back and idly putting his hands behind his head, staring at the sky through the branches of an apple tree. “I want to start teaching him to fish and ride.”

Under the tree, reclining out of the noon sun on a blanket, she looked over at young William, lying between them. He was thriving under the love of his parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. At least, those on the Diamond side.

Alice had received a brief note of congratulations upon writing to her parents when she’d married Adam. And when she sent them word of the birth of her first baby, in their usual fashion, their felicitations reached her months later. Her parents welcomed their only grandchild, although they didn’t say when or if they would return to meet him.

If she were honest with herself, her parents’ absence didn’t impact her life at all, beyond being a little embarrassed to call them family. Adam assured her it was their loss. Moreover, she had become as much a daughter of the Earl and Countess Diamond as the other four females were by blood. Alice was entirely comfortable going to her mother-in-law or sisters-in-law with any questions, even of the most personal nature or anything to do with child-rearing.

And the two younger sisters behaved as loving, practiced nannies to their nephew, making it easy for her and Adam to have time alone occasionally.

She couldn’t imagine her life being any richer.

“Do not wish a minute of our boy’s life away,” she said. “Nor try to hurry him along. I adore Will at this age.” Their son was on his back, looking up into the tree branches like his father, while kicking his legs and stretching up his still-pudgy arms as if preparing to pick the apples that would appear in another few months.

“I was only speaking in jest,” Adam said. “Besides, I can strap him securely to a horse tomorrow.”

“Adam!” she warned.

He laughed, and she joined in. Life was ridiculously grand.

She’d been thrilled to know she could have children, even happier to continue making love to her husband, often and soundly in order to bring their young son a brother or a sister. Adam wanted a large family, and Alice was pleased to oblige for she could think of nothing more worthy for her to do than make more Diamonds. And hopefully, at least one would take up the violin, for she would dearly love to play a duet with her own child.

When she considered where she had been not that long ago, her present life seemed truly astonishing. She’d been given a Diamond which, as she’d once told Adam, was far more precious than the Koh-i-Noor given to the Queen.

Adam enjoyed teasing his wife, although he did intend to at least mount up and have William on his lap. Not today, nor tomorrow, but soon. It wouldn’t hurt the boy to become used to sitting in a saddle.

Regardless, they couldn’t hold back the wheels of time. Nor did Adam want to. As they turned, so did their lives become increasingly improved. Alice thought she was the one who’d been blessed by the many miracles that had changed her life — from hiding out as a governess to being Lady Diamond, a wife, mother, and sister.

Yet Adam felt equally changed for the better. He hadn’t even realized what a complacent snout-nose he’d become until he’d been forced to set aside his prejudices. Letting his heart reign and rule had been the best thing he had ever done.

Turning his head to look at Alice, his warm and wonderful wife, he mused aloud, “Some people say lovers are fools. That one should always use one’s brain over one’s heart.”

She hummed, thinking a moment. “Shakespeare said, ‘So true a fool is love.’ But he also said, ‘Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.’ I suppose you can consider love either way — and all-encompassing — in any case.”

“Indeed. But can you imagine if we had missed out upon knowing one another?”

Alice shook her head, appearing momentarily alarmed.

“Truly, I cannot. It seems as if everything happened the way it was meant to, right down to my package of rosin falling onto the street when you were behind me.”

“Watching your delightful arse,” Adam said, because it was fun to be crude with his own wife once in a while. As usual, he made her laugh.

“It almost makes me believe in destiny,” Alice continued, “as Lady Susanne so gracelessly mentioned at dinner that night.”

They both groaned, recalling their utter mortification at the Beasleys’ dining table.

Plucking some cool green grass, his wife trailed it over Will’s arm, bringing forth his wonderful giggle. Then she sighed.

“There are times when I wonder how I can accept another moment of your kindness and generosity, not to mention the extraordinary way you love me. It is almost too wondrous.”

Adam closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The air at Oak Grove in the apple orchard smelled familiar, evoking his childhood and his home, and now, it would forever remind him of this special time with his new family.

When he opened his eyes again, he had to lighten the mood. If they ventured further into the serious territory of how much they cherished what they had, futile fear would creep in over how much they had to lose. Thus, he pushed himself up to sitting.

“I am entirely mercenary, Wife. Think of all the money I shall save by not needing to hire a governess. Why, I believe we still have your frumpy clothing, with buttons up to the chin all in grays and browns, in a trunk in the attic. I’ll have Mr. Lewis bring it down as soon as we return to London.” He chuckled at the notion.

But Alice simply smiled with satisfaction. “I would do it all again to end up right here with you, Husband .”

The way she said that word in her particular fashion, with a little whispering emphasis upon the “s” before it rolled off her sweet tongue, caused his body’s typical, potent reaction.

Swallowing, his mouth suddenly dry, he didn’t feel like laughing any longer. Adam wanted to roll her under him and tup her till she arched and spent while crying out his name like the primordial Eve.

Glancing back the way they’d come, he considered how much privacy they had in the orchard, the comfort of the blanket, the willingness of his wife, and the cooperation of their babe.

To his delight, Alice lifted Will, already languid from food and sunshine, and moved him to the edge of the blanket. Then she brushed her fingertips across his forehead. It was a trick she used to make their little one nod off. Sure enough, Will yawned broadly and closed his eyes, letting his thick dark lashes rest upon his cheeks.

Then she lay down again, closer, and started to draw up her light cotton skirt and petticoat.

“Husband,” Alice repeated, drawing out the syllables, knowing exactly what she was doing.

Adam unfastened his trousers and proceeded to make love to his perfect lady until she did exactly as he’d imagined. Hearing his name called in her throaty fashion, he followed her pleasure by pumping his seed into Alice’s fertile womb. Their passion was as old as his namesake, yet as fresh and new as their babe.

When they returned to the house half an hour later, he carried the basket of vegetables they’d been sent hours earlier to pick from the fruitful garden at Oak Hall — spring onions, radishes, and asparagus, having made sure to leave the watercress behind — and Alice carried William.

They walked in peaceful silence, both of the same mind, knowing each other without speaking, wrapped in intimacy, and protected by love.

Finis

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Keep reading to learn more about Radiance , Diamonds of the First Water, Book 4!