Epilogue

T he wedding breakfast was being assembled as Elizabeth pressed a kiss to her husband’s lips.

Her husband!

The word was one she could not stop repeating in her head.

“I can’t wait to find out who is next,” Jasper chuckled, knowing full well what Elizabeth intended to do with her friends.

“I’ll let you know.”

“I’ll wager it’s Jillian.”

Elizabeth laughed. “She’ll hate you for saying that.”

Jasper caught Elizabeth in his arms, filling her senses with that spicy, sensual scent so perfectly his. “I can’t wait until I’m alone with you again, wife.”

“Nor I, husband.” She dragged a finger down his cravat and kept going until she curled her fingertip in the edge of his breeches. “There is still so much to explore.”

And explore they had, for the night after Jasper’s arrival, then the night before their family arrived. They had spent the evening before the wedding apart—for propriety—and it had been the longest night of Elizabeth’s life.

“Soon.” Jasper kissed her a final time, his lips full of promise, then he departed as he shot a wicked look back in her direction.

If the night before had been long, the day leading to that evening when they could be alone would be interminable.

Elizabeth gathered the four small boxes, one with a green ribbon for Hannah and pink ribbons on the others—each containing a small gold bracelet within—and went up to Hannah’s room where her friends waited. The bedchamber was sumptuously appointed in brilliant sunshine yellow, befitting the brightness of Hannah’s personality.

“Thank you to all of you for coming to my wedding. It wouldn’t have been the same without all four of you at my side.” Elizabeth hugged each in turn, careful with Hannah to avoid her bump. “This is a little something to express my gratitude.”

Jillian held her pink-ribboned box like it was a snake. “I don’t want to open it.”

“Oh, don’t be so silly,” Hannah chided, pulling the green ribbon off hers and opening the box.

Amy did likewise and they both exclaimed at the same time.

“It’s lovely,” Amy said happily, and withdrew the delicate gold bracelet.

“Well, that is not what I thought it would be,” Lucy said with a relieved laugh, and opened her own box.

Elizabeth held up her hand, revealing her own gold bracelet, a smooth chain with a five-petaled flower charm dangling from it. “This way the wallflowers can all match.”

Jillian visibly relaxed as she opened her gift. “And here I thought you would be giving us bits of paper to see who would be next to marry.”

“Oh, I did.” Elizabeth grinned at them. “Look under the lid of your box. I went with the same system Hannah had used when she was the first wallflower to break our vow. Stars for the women who are not supposed to wed yet, and a heart for the one that is.”

Lucy and Jillian both groaned.

Amy dutifully lifted her lid. “A star.”

Lucy and Jillian groaned even louder.

“I have two connected hearts,” Hannah exclaimed.

“I confess, I gave you that one on purpose since you’re already wed,” Elizabeth admitted. “There is one left with a single heart.”

Lucy rolled her eyes and looked at the underside of the lid. “A star,” she said with relief.

“I don’t want to play this game anymore,” Jillian hedged.

“It’s you,” Hannah cried. “You’re next!”

Jillian sighed and flipped over the lid to reveal a perfectly drawn heart.

“It’s just a silly game,” Elizabeth rushed to reassure her. Considering how long Jillian’s father had pressed her toward marriage, the last thing she wanted was for Jillian to feel forced to the altar by her friends as well. “You truly don’t need to find love next.”

But Hannah grinned and tapped her fingertips together. “Or does she? Who will be the next wallflower to break the vow?”

They all looked at one another in their wedding finery, each assessing the other. For surely one of them would come next…and would it really be Jillian?

Whoever it was, Elizabeth only hoped her friends would find a happiness as true and as pure as she had found with Jasper. For no matter the vow, every wallflower deserved to be loved.