Epilogue

One Year Later

" C ould I have this dance, Milady?"

Iris looked up from where she was seated on the picnic blanket to see a boy of about eleven gazing down at her. He looked healthy and happy, with ruddy cheeks, sparkling eyes, and a wide smile. A year ago, he had been gaunt and starved-looking, with sunken eyes and a haunted expression. But now he was all shy smiles and rascal charm, offering her his hand as he bent low.

"Of course, you may have this dance, Thomas!" Iris laughed, taking his proffered hand and clambering to her feet. "I'd been hoping you might ask me!"

Thomas grinned and blushed, and Iris had to suppress another laugh.

"Don't embarrass the lad," her husband said sternly behind her, where he was still sitting on the picnic blanket, watching the scene unfold with an amused expression. "I'm sure it was hard to ask a lady as beautiful as you."

Iris reddened with pleasure. Even after a year of marriage, Phineas still had the ability to make her blush when he complimented her.

It was autumn, and she and Phineas were back in Wales with some close family and friends to oversee and celebrate the reopening of the mines. After a long year of hard work to improve working conditions, take into consideration the community's needs, get input from miners, and build the best safety systems that money could buy, the coal mines were finally open again for business.

The town had wanted to commemorate the reopening, and since it had coincided with the annual August harvest festival, the two events had been combined into one.

All day, Iris and Phineas—accompanied by Violet, Rosalie, James, Nathan Goldwin, and Lady Carfield—had been tasting local delicacies from all the food stalls, playing lawn games with the local children, chatting with miners and their wives, and reveling in the feeling of jubilation that permeated the festival.

Now, it was early evening, and the orange sun was casting long shadows on the grass. Iris, Phineas, and their loved ones had been enjoying some refreshments on their picnic blanket when the dancing had begun rather spontaneously, when some local farmers struck up a jig. And Iris was glad to be dancing. She was even more glad to be dancing with Thomas, who, instead of working in the mines, was now attending a local grammar school. With the new wages his father earned, there was no need for him to work in the mines.

The band began to play another lively jig, and Thomas and Iris fell into step with the other couples. It was the first time Iris had danced with someone so much shorter than her, but Thomas turned out to be an excellent dancer. Soon, they were both laughing with delight as they whirled around the grass in time with the music.

When the song came to an end, Thomas bowed to her, and Iris curtsied.

"How is your cough these days?" she asked him as he escorted her back to the picnic blanket.

"Loads better, Milady," he replied, smiling up at her.

Even though Thomas knew she was a duchess, he had never started calling her Your Grace , and Iris had never corrected him. She liked their little informal arrangement.

"Ma takes me to see Doctor Smith, and he prescribes medicines and herbs. I barely cough anymore, except when it's very cold out."

"I'm very happy to hear that," Iris said, patting him on the head.

They arrived at the picnic blanket, and she curtsied to him. Duchesses weren't really supposed to curtsy to sons of miners, but Iris knew it made Thomas feel very important.

"Thank you for the dance, Thomas."

"You're welcome, Milady," he returned, and she thought he reddened slightly. Then he bowed low again and scampered off to play with the other children.

Iris smiled as she lowered herself back onto the picnic blanket.

Across from her, Rosalie smirked. "Careful, Your Grace," she said, nudging Phineas, "I think you have competition from Thomas there."

"Don't be silly," Iris scoffed as James and Nathan stifled their laughs.

"If that's my competition, I don't fancy my odds," Phineas said, winking at her.

She smiled and reached out and took his hand. "I think the odds are in your favor," she murmured.

"They certainly were the day your father decided to try and ruin my life by setting us up together," Phineas said with a chortle.

Iris squeezed his hand, then looked away.

After a quick, two-month trial, Lord Carfield had spent the last ten months in prison for his many crimes, including, of course, the murder of the former Duke and Duchess of Eavestone. As glad as Iris was that her father was safely behind bars, it wasn't easy for her to think of him there. Nor did she like to remember all the pain and suffering he had caused her family.

She glanced at her mother, but the Viscountess was now laughing with Rosalie and didn't seem to be listening to their conversation. Lady Carfield had been mercifully acquitted of any wrongdoing and was now enjoying spending all her free time with her daughters.

Phineas seemed to know the direction of Iris's thoughts because he brought a hand to her chin and cupped it, turning her back to face him.

"I regret nothing in my past if it brought me to you," he said quietly so that no one else could hear. Then he leaned forward and very softly brushed his lips against the tip of her nose.

It wasn't exactly within the bounds of propriety, but neither of them cared. They were amongst friends, after all. And over the past year, they had deepened their relationship even more and learned to trust each other on a level Iris had scarcely thought possible. She had never been so happy, and she would risk a few whispers about her indiscretion for a moment of pure joy with him.

"Well then, now that the love birds are busy," James said loudly, interrupting the moment, "I think we should get in on the tug-of-war competition that's supposed to start in a few minutes."

He tossed aside the apple he'd been eating, stretched, and then bounded gracefully to his feet. Then, to Iris's surprise, he turned to Violet and bowed low.

"Miss Violet, would you care to partake in the game with me? I daresay we would make an excellent team."

Violet, who had been reading her book on the blanket, looked up in surprise. "Team?" she repeated, looking confused.

"For tug-of-war," James explained, smiling at her winsomely.

Iris couldn't help but wonder how many women James had charmed with that smile.

Violet, however, seemed immune to it. "That's not a game suitable for an unmarried lady, My Lord," she stated gravely.

"Sure it is," James said with a shrug. "At least, it is when there are no snotty members of the ton present to gossip about it later."

"Are women even allowed to partake?" Violet asked, still looking doubtful.

"They are, in fact, encouraged. The rules state the teams must be divided equally by sex."

Violet bit her lip. "I fear I don't have the strength for such an undertaking… I would only be a liability to my team. You should ask one of the miner's wives. They're built much more solidly here."

"Nonsense." James shook his head in bemusement. "You're as strong as any of these country women…"

At that moment, a large, burly woman walked by, accompanied by her six chubby, red-cheeked children. Every person in their party watched them go by in silence. Only once they were gone did they all burst into laughter.

"Vi, you don't stand a chance!" Rosalie squealed. "They'll crush you!"

"I think perhaps Miss Rosalie has a point," Nathan Goldwin piped up. "These country women have an advantage over our delicate debutantes. But fear not, old sport, I'll accompany you to the tug-of-war competition."

"Jolly good," James said, grinning as he helped Nathan to his feet, although Iris thought she detected a look of disappointment on his face. She decided to file that away for later consideration.

"While I am not interested in tug-of-war," Phineas said after his friends had left, "I would enjoy a sunset walk. Iris, would you care to join me?"

"Indeed, I would."

Iris clambered once more to her feet. Phineas offered her his arm, and she took it.

Together, they began to walk along the edge of the field where couples were still dancing, then made their way through the stalls of games, food, and crafts, until they were through to the other side of the fairgrounds. Here, they were greeted by the sight of rolling hills bathed in a golden evening glow. Little houses dotted the countryside, whose chimneys released lazy curls of smoke, giving the scene a bucolic serenity that was out of a painting.

They paused there, and Iris rested her head on her husband's shoulder. "This land is so beautiful," she murmured. "I can see now why you fought for so many years to get it back."

She felt Phineas shift slightly, and she looked up at him. His expression was inscrutable.

"Do you think your parents would be proud?" she asked. "That you managed to get it back from my father?"

Phineas didn't answer for a long time. Only when the sun had begun to dip below the horizon, washing the fields in a crimson glow, did he speak.

"I think my parents wouldn't care about the land," he said at last. He looked deep into her eyes, and her heart fluttered, as it still did when he looked at her like she was the only person in the world who mattered. "I think what they would be proud of is the man I am today and the woman who helped me find myself."

"I know they would be proud of you," Iris murmured. "For all of it."

"It's strange, but for so long, all I thought about or cared about was revenge," Phineas said, shaking his head and looking back out over the hills. "It was my sole focus, and every decision I made was driven by my goal of seeing your father ruined. But now that he's in prison, and I have my land back, and everything I wished for came true, I almost don't know what to do with my life anymore."

"I feel the same way a bit," Iris admitted with a bittersweet smile. "I wasn't trying to exact revenge, but I also wasn't able to make plans for my life. I was just trying to survive every day. It was impossible to have goals when I didn't know when my father might marry me or my sisters off to an awful man."

Phineas nodded slowly. "So what you're saying is… we both need new goals?"

Iris laughed. "Yes, I suppose we do. Now that we have the opportunity to live just for ourselves and each other, we can define what we want our lives to look like."

Phineas's brow furrowed in thought. "I suppose I have my businesses and my land," he mused. "Those certainly occupy a great deal of my thoughts. But… I'd like to do something just for us. For you. To show you how I feel about you."

"I know how you feel about me," Iris reassured him, touching his cheek softly. "You don't need to prove anything."

"It's not about proving my love," he said with an indignant tut. "It's about showering you with the love you deserve."

Iris laughed again. "And how do you plan to do that?"

Phineas pondered over her question for a long moment. "How about a trip abroad? And I don't mean Wales. Somewhere exotic and romantic. Somewhere I can be free of the distractions of running the estate and be focused solely on you."

Iris pretended to consider this, but her lips were already curling into a smile. "You can take me anywhere you want, Phineas, but the place doesn't really matter to me."

He raised an eyebrow, surprised. "Why not? You're not curious about foreign countries?"

"It's not that." She leaned forward and brought her lips to his ear, enjoying the way his hands instinctively wrapped around her waist, pulling her close. "I just don't plan on leaving the hotel very often."

And laughing with wicked delight, she kissed her husband as the setting sun bathed them in the last tendrils of golden light.

The End?