Extended Epilogue

“Are those cherries?”

“Yes, and cheeses. Nuts. Some other fruits—here.” Phillip sat beside Marina on the wooden swing that he had built for her in the gardens. The afternoon light streamed down upon them, making her yellow day dress shimmer and shine as if it, too, were part of the sun. The Duchess popped a cherry into her mouth and smiled at her husband as she kicked her legs gleefully.

“You did quite well, Mr. Hayward, thank you.”

“Far be it from me to deny you anything you ask for.” Marina reached up and patted his cheek gently.

“You have become a wonderful husband. It has only taken a few years to teach you, and for that I am grateful. Many women go their entire lives with an unteachable husband.”

“You flatter me, Mrs. Hayward.”

“And you spoil me, Mr. Hayward.”

Phillip watched her eat her snack, and afterward held her hand as they walked back into their home where he helped her to take a seat in the library. It was, now, their favorite room in the house, and one they spent much of their time in. Marina’s nightly walks had never ended, but Phillip now dutifully waited and listened for her soft footsteps each night from his study so that he could accompany her there.

“Is everything set for us to leave for Paris in the morning?”

“It is, my love.”

“And my niece and nephew?” Phillip smiled, reaching out to brush a golden curl off of Marina’s cheek and tuck it behind her ear, out of her worried face. Marina was unable to travel to meet her sister’s twin babies, but Phillip had just returned from doing so.

“They are as fat and healthy as you have hoped.”

“Olivia?”

“Thriving. She still glows, and she is quite taken with motherhood. Just wait until you see the way she gazes at them, Marina. Their relationship is beautiful.”

Marina smiled, sighing with relief at last, and shifted her body so that she could lean back against Phillip. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and drew circles on her upper arms where his fingers rested. He heard her hum, and it brought a tender smile to his lips.

“Thank you for going in my stead, Phillip. I know that it took you from your work right before we have to leave. I can only imagine the stress you endured on my behalf.”

“For you, Marina, I would suffer a world of pain to see you smile. Besides, you need to be in a positive mindset for this trip. It would not do for you to arrive in Paris still unsure about the condition of your sister’s babies.

“No,” Marina sighed. “It would not. Still, I am grateful, Phillip. You have…you have made life so sweet for me.”

“And you for me, my love.”

“Do you think that we will be happy in Paris?”

“I know that we will. We will take long walks near the river, attend those concerts you so loved last time, and eat at all your favorite patisseries. Whatever my wife desires, she shall have.”

“Phillip?” Marina tilted her chin up so that she could gaze into his eyes.

“Yes, Marina?”

“I love you. Deeply. Profoundly. You are the center of my world and the whole of my heart.”

He chuckled, the rumbling of it in his chest like a pleasant vibration against her back. He bent down, gently pressing his lips to hers in a tender kiss—one of thousands they had exchanged, yet just as perfect as the first as far as they were concerned.

“I love you, too, Marina.” Phillip’s hand slid down her arm and came to rest over her belly where its roundness had just begun to appear. “And you, too, little one,” he whispered.

Marina beamed, reaching up behind her to hold his face in her hands. “He is going to be quite happy in Paris. I think.”

“He?”

“Mmhm. I think so. I have been having vivid dreams each night this week of the two of us and a baby boy.”

“Does he look like me?”

“No. Our baby is much more fortunate. He looks exactly like me and has inherited none of your coldness—only your loyalty and the vastness of your heart.”

Phillip laughed again, and Marina sat up and turned so that she could face him. “I think that hiding away in Paris during my pregnancy was a beautiful idea. Olivia had such a time trying to attend operas and luncheons while she was so dreadfully ill. I have not had the same ailment, but that does not mean it will not come. This pregnancy will be peaceful.”

“Most of all, you will not have to listen to the old croons about your age and its effects on your condition.”

“Yes, oh! The physician was around while you were away. He says that everything is in perfect order.”

“I never had any doubts, Marina. You have taken such caution in your condition. I am still amazed that you discovered it so quickly.”

“It was intuition,” she laughed. “My father said that my mother was always the same way. She knew very well when she was pregnant, and he never believed it until he saw for himself. Like it was magic.”

“It is magic. You are.”

“I am hardly magic,” Marina laughed. “I merely thrive under your attentions. And to think—all of this because of my fear of locusts.”

“That is true, isn’t it? Perhaps, then, you owe your happiness all to them.”

“To the locusts?”

“Yes, to the locusts.”

Marina scoffed. “Certainly not. You were in the garden anyway, weren’t you? Would you not have spoken to me?”

“I believe it was you who said that our meeting was inappropriate. I would only lower myself to such behavior to save a damsel in distress.”

“Ah. Well, then, I suppose from now on I shall celebrate with the locusts on our anniversary.”

Phillip pulled her to him, holding her tightly as he smiled, burying his face in the top of her hair so he could indulge in her sweet, familiar scent.

“If that is what you wish, then it is what you shall have.”