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Five Years Later
“Are you sure that’s safe for her to be doing?” Marcus asked, frowning as he gazed at his daughter on the back of the pony, which one of the grooms was leading around the paddock. “She’s awfully young to be up there, don’t you think?”
“Don’t be such a worry-wart, dear,” Eleanor said, shaking her head and repressing a smile. “She’s with the groom–look, he has hold of the bridle. She isn’t going to fall.”
“You don’t know that,” Marcus insisted. “She could fall. And maybe she will slip the other direction–away from the groom–and then he won’t be able to catch her.”
“Honestly, Marcus, you are far too afraid of her getting hurt. She’s a child! She’s bound to have a couple of scrapes and bruises now and again.”
Marcus bit his lip, his brow still creased with worry, and Eleanor leaned over and took his hand, planting a kiss on his cheek as well.
“It’s part of what makes you such an excellent father,” she murmured. “You love your children so much and are fiercely protective over them. But we have to also teach them to be brave and self-reliant, and that it’s okay to fall down a few times. That’s how they teach themselves to get back up.”
Marcus gave her a wry smile. “Let us just not forget that sometimes, falling over can lead to real damage, including memory loss!”
“And that memory loss can lead to the best thing that has happened to that person,” Eleanor countered, grinning at her husband. “So in actuality, I think you just proved my point! Falling down is not such a bad thing, and can in fact lead you to meeting and marrying the love of your life.”
Marcus grumbled, not content with this answer. He was such a mother hen about his children, it was hilarious to see. Eleanor would not have guessed it. In the rest of his life, Marcus never worried about anything. He was cool and decisive and if something did bother him, he would quickly eliminate it. When she had first met him, she had felt that he was the kind of man who would not suffer fools or any kind of weakness.
But when it came to his children, it turned out that they were his weakness. He worried over them constantly, and if anything ever went wrong–a cold or a stubbed toe–he would send for the doctor without a moment’s hesitation. It was very sweet, and it only made her love him more. And of course, both their daughter, Sophie, and their son, Edward, were perfectly healthy, happy, and safe. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that Marcus would always ensure that.
He was simply tense because this was his daughter’s first riding lesson and it was nerve-wracking to see her on top of a pony.
Eleanor stretched, suppressing a yawn. It was early; Sophie had woken up at the crack of the dawn in anticipation of her first riding lesson. She was so excited that she had run all the way from the nursery to Eleanor and Marcus’s room to bang on their door and insist that they get up and greet the day with her.
Of course, Edward had also gotten up with his older sister, so Eleanor and Marcus had had to sit with them at breakfast, bleary-eyed, while the two of them chattered nonstop.
“May I go riding as well?” Edward had asked his father, looking up at the duke with such wide, beautiful brown eyes–the spitting image of his father–that for a moment, Eleanor had been tempted to say that he could. But of course, Marcus had forbidden it.
“Absolutely not,” Marcus had said. “You’re only three years old! Ponies begin at the age of four.”
“Pleeeease, Papa?” Edward had begged, but Eleanor had scooped him into her lap and kissed both his cheeks.
“Just one more year, my love,” she’d whispered. “Then you will be old enough to ride ponies. Do you think you can be a very patient, grown-up boy and wait another year?”
“Yes!” Edward had said at once, his eyes lighting up at the thought of impressing his mother with how grown up he was. “I can!”
And now, as he stood next to Eleanor and Marcus, holding Eleanor’s hand, Edward watched his sister with a little envy, but didn’t ask again if he could ride. He was a very good child, and as Eleanor looked down at him, she was overcome with love.
Things had been nearly perfect for the last five years. Of course, life was never without its challenges, but they had been blessed so far. She and Marcus had two beautiful children, a home they loved, and everything had worked out with her father’s debts and Mr. Barrett–or Jarvis O’Malley, as she always forgot to call him. He had been sentenced to a life of hard labor in America, and she no longer feared that he would ever return and take her away from Marcus again.
The horse thieves, too, that had thrown her into Marcus’s path, were doing well in Australia. They’d had great success with their horse breeding and wrote occasionally to thank Marcus for his generosity and for giving them a second chance.
Best of all, Eleanor’s relationship with her parents was better than it ever had been. Her father had been deeply apologetic for everything that had happened with Barrett.
“I hope you can forgive me one day,” he had said to her the night before her wedding, as they’d shared a brandy in the parlor of Blackwood House. “I know that I have been hard and uncaring most of your life,” he’d gone on to say, surprising her with his self-awareness. “All I’ve cared about is money and making lots of it–and of course, in the process of doing that, I lost it all. I never thought about your feelings or desires, and when Barrett presented a solution, I took it without thinking. But after you disappeared, and I thought you had died…” his voice grew growly, and he swallowed.
“Father…” she had begun, trying to think of something to say that would comfort him, but he’d held out a hand to stop her from speaking.
“Please, let me say this,” he’d murmured. “It’s important. Thinking that you had killed yourself, and that it was my fault for forcing this marriage on you… it made me reevaluate my entire life, Eleanor. I realized what a terrible father I had been to you, even before the engagement to Barrett. And I promised myself that I would change. That I would be better in your memory. And now that you are back, that you’re not dead, I feel as if I have been given a second chance in this life. I want to make things up to you. Please, tell me how I can.”
“I don’t know,” Eleanor had admitted. “I think all you can do is be consistent, every day, in showing me that you have changed.”
And he had. He and Lady Twickenham had both changed. Her father no longer gambled, and they didn’t spend nearly as much time as they used to among the ton. Instead, they visited Thornfield Manor as often as they could, and they doted upon their grandchildren.
Seeing her father play with her children had gone a long way to helping Eleanor to forgive him. She knew that he would never hurt either of his grandchildren the way he had hurt her, and she hoped that it was a lesson to him in how to love.
Of course, it made it easier to forgive her father when his actions were the reason she had gotten her happily ever after. It had been a roundabout journey, but if he hadn’t acted so selfishly, he never would have pushed her to run away, she never would have lost her memory, and she wouldn’t now be married to Marcus.
“We must start to get ready soon,” Marcus said, interrupting Eleanor’s thoughts. “My sister and nephew will be here this afternoon, and we must change and be ready for their arrival.”
“Ah yes, I almost forgot,” she said, turning to Edward and squeezing his hand. “Are you excited to see your cousin today, Edward?”
“Cousin Thomas!” Edward squealed, and he began to jump up and down. “I cannot wait to see him! Do you think he will play pirates with me again?”
“I’m sure he will,” Marcus said, chuckling as he ruffled his son’s hair.
The fact that Edward worshipped his older cousin had gone a long ways toward winning Caro over to her nephew and niece, whom at first Eleanor knew she had felt resentful of. While she had finally accepted Eleanor as her sister-in-law, Eleanor suspected a small part of her had still hoped that they would remain childless. She was not a particularly good person, but Eleanor was doing her very best to make sure that she didn’t rub off too much on her son.
Whenever Thomas visited, Eleanor went out of her way to make him feel loved and welcomed in the family, and she thought it was working. He was very close to both her children, and he didn’t seem at all resentful of the fact he wouldn’t become the next duke. And with time, Caro was also coming around. She seemed to even dote on Sophie, and Eleanor wondered if she wished she’d had a little girl of her own.
“Your Grace!”
They turned at the sound of Mr. Gregg’s voice and saw him hurrying toward them across the lawn, a letter in his hand. “A letter has come for you!”
“Ahh, thank you, Mr. Gregg,” Marcus said, reaching out a hand and taking it from the butler as he came to a halt in front of them. “Oh, it’s from William! I was hoping to hear from him soon. He’s back in England after some time on the continent.”
Marcus ripped open the letter and began to read, laugh lines forming around his mouth and on his forehead as he perused it.
“What does it say?” Eleanor asked, raising her eyebrows. “Is it full of wild tales from his time on the continent?”
“Yes, but even more urgently, he writes to me that we must come to London. It is his usual pitch: that it is full of wonderful dances, tea parties, and the hustle and bustle of town. He even writes that we should open the London house and throw a cotillion ball. Listen to this: True fulfillment can only come from the elegant entertainments of town, and you and Her Grace have been hiding away in Surrey for far too long. Come to London, old friend, and revel in the delights of this most beautiful European city.”
Marcus shook his head, but he was smiling as he folded up the letter and tucked it in his coat pocket.
“What are you smiling about?” Eleanor asked, tilting her head to one side.
“I’m just thinking about what I’m going to say in response to him.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And what is that? Are you going to follow him to London so that you can find true fulfillment?”
“Certainly not,” he said with a tut, and he reached over and took Eleanor by the waist, pulling her closer to him. His eyes sparkled as he leaned closer to her, touching the tip of his nose against hers. “I’m going to tell him that he is welcome any time here at Thornfield Manor, but that my family offer me all the fulfillment I will ever need.”
Eleanor smiled as she touched her hand to her husband’s cheek.
“I feel the same as well,” she murmured. And it was true. Their love seemed to grow stronger and stronger every day, buttressed by their friends, their children, and their families. They were the luckiest people in England, Eleanor knew. Possibly the whole world. But they didn’t need to leave home to see it. All the proof was right in front of them.
OFFER: A BRAND NEW SERIES AND 5 FREEBIES FOR YOU!
Grab my new series, "Noble Gentlemen of the Ton", and get 5 FREE novels as a gift! Have a look here!
Hello my dear readers! I hope you enjoyed the book and the Extended Epilogue! I am eagerly expecting your comments here. Thank you so much!
I enjoyed the pace of this story and the different characters. i finished the book in one day i.e. it held my i interest. it had an interesting twist. it is a “clean” romance.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!