Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Two Months Later

“Joey, come to your aunt Emily.” Emily took the boy in her arms and lifted him high into an embrace. Now able to hold his head up of his own accord, the boy made a cooing sound in her ear as she wrapped her arms around him. “Here you are, with your favorite aunt again.”

“Oh. Is that how it is?” Bridget said as she appeared in the doorway behind Rachel who had placed the baby into Emily’s hands. “Now, I see. Rachel, hurry up and have another baby, then I can at least be one child’s favorite.”

“What?” Daniel stumbled in behind the pair of them. “You’re not—”

“No, I’m not,” Rachel said hurriedly, laughing as she waved her hand at her husband. “But thank you for letting me know where you stand. Look at you, ready to turn and run back out of the house.”

“I’m not that bad,” Daniel insisted, coming up behind her and kissing her on the cheek, lovingly.

Emily smiled as she held Joey nearer, kissing him on the cheek.

“Where is he?” Daniel asked, moving to Emily’s side.

“In there.” She jerked her head in the direction of one of the nearest doors. “He has the cards waiting for you.”

“Oh good. I’ll win this time.” Daniel rubbed his hands together as he hurried to the door.

“Certainly, you will,” Rachel called after him. “Just as you have been able to beat Jacob for the last two months.”

“Thank you for the reminder, love,” Daniel said wryly and offered her a wink before disappearing through the door.

The three sisters laughed as they followed him toward the doorway.

“He is determined to win, but I hardly see the pattern of the last two months changing,” Rachel said, patting Joey’s back as he curved himself into Emily’s shoulder, looking very intent on going to sleep.

“Speaking of new patterns.” As Bridget reached the door, she held her hand in front of it, momentarily blocking the three of them from entering. “We have seen much change, but may we be assured that this new version of Jacob is here to stay?”

Emily smiled as she peered through the doorway at her husband. Jacob gestured at the card table, urging Daniel to take his place as he shuffled the cards. With his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his port brandy glass ready beside him, he was clearly eager to begin the game.

Though he and Daniel may have been frosty with one another the first week that Emily had invited them around for dinner, that had quickly changed. Jacob and Daniel were frequently found to be talking together, and Emily had once heard from her husband that he felt as if Daniel could understand why he had acted the way he had. Maybe Daniel would not have acted in the same way, but once all was explained, Daniel understood it.

Their friendship was not the only relationship that had changed over the last couple of months.

Emily and Jacob’s marriage, the first week after they had reconciled, had been heated indeed. They’d spent every night in one another’s arms, and most mornings too, even sneaking off at every opportunity when Catarina was not around to explore together again.

The mere memory of the excitement had Emily’s cheeks warming now as she held onto Joey, longing to return to the bedchamber with Jacob and be alone with him again.

At least these days that door between our chamber is never bolted!

What had started out as heat had soon become companionship. They rode together most days, explored the garden together, and she even joined him in his study when he had to work on business. She would sit and keep him company, occasionally offering some thoughts when he needed advice.

“Emily?” Rachel elbowed her, trying to get a reaction.

“She has been so long in deep reverie, I can only presume she is reliving happy memories,” Bridget said as she danced into the room, with the two of them following behind.

“You could say that,” Emily whispered as they sat down on the plush settees.

Harlow appeared seconds later and passed around glasses, leaving Emily’s port glass beside her on the table so she could give her full attention to Joey.

“Yes, I am happy,” Emily whispered to her sisters after he had retreated from the room. “Jacob has become… oh I do not know how to put it. Not a different man, but more of the man I thought at first he could be.” She gazed at him across the room as he sat down to play cards with Daniel, clearly unaware that he was being spoken of.

“Goodness, look at the wistful smile on her face?” Bridget said, pointing to her with the glass. “I knew how it would turn out.”

“You did not,” Rachel said with a giggle. “I caught you once in tears, fearing that you had forced Emily to marry him.”

“Tears? Why were you crying?” Emily asked, sitting forward so sharply that Joey whined a little in surprise. “Oops, sorry.” She sat back again, allowing the boy to lie still.

“Well, I kept thinking if I hadn’t promised to marry him for convenience, then you might never have been forced into his company at all.” Bridget glanced across the room to Jacob.

That is not true. I still would have met him in that corridor…

Emily had to fight a pleasant shudder just at the memory of that evening in the corridor. It had been wondrous that first kiss, and despite all the heartbreak that had followed it, the happiness she felt now was worth it. She would go through it all again to be where she was now.

“Thank goodness I didn’t marry him,” Bridget said suddenly, turning back to face Emily. “Look at the way he smiles at you. To think I could have ruined such happiness!”

Emily laughed softly with her, shaking her head as she looked at her husband. Jacob had looked up from his cards and smiled at Emily. She knew what that smile meant, even if no one else in the room could recognize it. It was an intimate smile, showing that Jacob was distracted, thinking exactly of what had passed between them earlier that day in her bedchamber.

She’d woken to find him slipping into the covers beside her. She barely managed to murmur the words ‘good morning’, before he kissed her and removed her nightgown. The euphoria he introduced her body to that morning had her smiling deliriously now.

“Such happiness indeed,” Rachel commented. “Well, I for one am glad you have settled down, Em.” She laid a hand on Emily’s shoulder.

“What do you mean?” Emily asked, turning to look at her sister.

“You were so wild.” Rachel shuddered. “Was she not?”

“Oh, so wild,” Bridget agreed with a giggle.

“You are doing it again,” Emily murmured.

“Do you remember when we caught her running through the garden outside of the ball?”

“I was thinking about catching her refusing to tell us what happened at certain events.”

“You’re speaking as if I am not here!” Emily complained with a laugh. Her sisters giggled too before Rachel squeezed her shoulder.

“I was just pointing out that it’s lovely to see your wild heart at peace at last,” Rachel whispered warmly. “Can you deny you are happy?”

“No, of course, I can’t deny it,” Emily said hurriedly. She lifted Joey onto her shoulder once more, listening to the boy snuffle in his sleep.

Wild hearts.

The phrase stuck with her particularly as she gazed at Jacob across the room. They both had wild hearts, and she didn’t think that marrying one another had changed that. It was just that together they now made more sense than apart.

“I am very happy where I am indeed,” Emily whispered to her sisters.

Daniel tossed his cards down on the table and stood hurriedly.

“Ah, it’s ridiculous. He wins every game.” He strode across the room toward his wife as Rachel laughed warmly.

“Knew you’d lose. Pay up.” She held open her hand.

“Wait—you wagered I would beat your husband again?” Jacob asked, moving across the room. He sat down on the arm of the settee beside Emily and laid a hand around her. That soft touch was a simple one, yet it made her heart rate increase.

“I did,” Rachel said. “And I am delighted to have made one.”

“Damn you,” Daniel muttered playfully and pressed his money into his wife’s hands. “Well, at least give me my son back so I have a reason to smile then.”

Reluctantly, Emily passed Joey back into Daniel’s hands. She tried her best not to show her disappointment. As Daniel and Rachel sat together fussing over her son, Emily was glad of Jacob as he moved toward her and whispered in her ear.

“Fear not. The way you and I are going, we’ll have one of our own someday soon.”

Emily thought she had never smiled so much before. She reached up and took Jacob’s hand, holding it tight.

Maybe he’s right. Maybe, we shall have a child of our own.