His Temporary Duchess (Dukes Ever After #5)

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

O ne year later

Eleanor pressed a hand to her stomach against the unusual roiling there, forcing the nausea back as she smiled at Olivia as her best friend walked down the aisle of the small church, hand in hand with Luke.

Their match had been an inevitability from almost the first moment of their meeting. But Luke, rebuilding his life back in England, had taken his time proposing. Olivia, patient to the last moment despite her runaway tongue, had been content to wait, and now they had finally committed to their love.

Sebastian wrapped his arm around Eleanor’s stomach as they emerged into the sunlight, blinking after the dark cool of the church.

“I remember this place,” he said, tilting his head as he looked down at Eleanor. “I believe the beginning of the rest of my life began here.”

“Oh, you mean when you married me against your will?” Ignoring her nausea, happy despite it, Eleanor rested her head against his arm. “You did not know then that it was the beginning of the rest of your life.”

“No, well, I was a fool.” His finger touched her chin. “But I still thought you were beautiful in your wedding dress.”

“Of course you did,” she teased. “That’s because you were .”

They reached their carriage and Sebastian handed her into it. “Are you all right?” he asked once they were seated inside. A year of learning her, and now he knew how to read every expression as though she was a book, and he, its reader.

“I feel a trifle unwell,” she sighed. “It is likely just the heat.”

“It is hot today.” He studied her. “Would you prefer to miss the wedding breakfast and go home?”

“And miss celebrating Olivia and Luke? Never! How could you say that about your best friend?”

“ You are my best friend,” he said, taking her hand and bringing it to his mouth. “As much as I do love them and value their friendship, my priority always rests with you.”

Her stomach lurched again, as it did so often recently. Their life had been so full, redecorating the entire house to better fulfill their needs. She had also, that spring, begun to tackle the garden.

She still had her bedchamber, of course, but it was more out of habit; every night, she joined Sebastian in his bed. His bedchamber was larger than hers, and his bed correspondingly larger. As a result, they had set to work redecorating his bedchamber, too. No longer did it merely reflect Sebastian and his life—now it bore an unmistakably feminine touch.

All these things, alongside visits to Scotland, Yorkshire, and even Italy during the winter, had probably exhausted her. A little rest would set her to rights.

A line still lay between Sebastian’s brows, and she smiled. “I’m fine, my love. I promise.”

“And if you’re not, you’ll tell me?”

“I’ll tell you.” Despite the jerking of the carriage, she pressed her mouth to his in a soft, chaste kiss. He had come so far in trusting that she would not leave him by choice. But that did not mean he did not fear losing her in some other, crueler way. A twist of fate. A force beyond his control. Just as he had lost her parents.

“There is nothing wrong with me,” she murmured.

He held her hand tightly the rest of the carriage ride home, and when they arrived, he didn’t let her go until they met up with Olivia and Eleanor rushed across to draw her best friend into an embrace.

“Congratulations,” she said, lost in her genuine delight. Olivia glowed, a flush in her cheeks that set alight her hair. She was the most beautiful woman in the world in her joy, and by the way Luke looked at her, he thought so too.

Olivia laughed. “You know, my mother thought I would never find a gentleman content to allow me to talk the way Luke does—he says he enjoys my talking, but I suspect he’s being kind.”

“I do like it,” Luke protested.

“I am very lucky, but I do have to sometimes remember that he has a voice too and sometimes I should pause and give him leave to speak.”

Eleanor grinned. “At least when he does, it’s not to speak about hunting or the state of the roads.”

“Oh yes, I could never have married a gentleman who bored me.” She tugged Eleanor across to a side table where there were jugs of lemonade laid out, and she poured them both a glance. “I have something to tell you, and I hope you will be scandalized .”

“What’s that?”

Olivia glanced around before leaning closer. “We did not wait until our wedding night. We ought to have done, I know, but we were already engaged and Mama left us alone and—well, it was truly wonderful. An education . Now I’m even more excited for tonight.”

Eleanor laughed. How different their respective marriages were, even if they both resulted in joy. She had waited for Sebastian to consummate their marriage, and Olivia had not even had to wait until marriage. She supposed that was the advantage of marrying for love in advance of the wedding itself.

“Why did you not tell me the things a gentleman can do with his mouth ?” Olivia demanded, still in a whisper. “I was almost shocked, and I grew up in America—there is very little that can shock me.”

Eleanor thought of the dynamic she shared with Sebastian. The way sometimes he brought his hand down on her before kissing away the sting—and how much it encouraged her own pleasure.

Everything he did encouraged her pleasure.

“I suspect there is more still that will shock you,” she smiled.

“Do you think? Like what?”

“Well—” Another wave of nausea washed through Eleanor, and she clamped her mouth shut in case she expelled her breakfast everywhere. This was truly awful timing. Putting her glass down, she hurried through the crowd, looking for the bathroom, or failing that, a screen and a chamber pot. Something so she would not have to vomit in front of the company.

Then she would alarm Sebastian, and she desperately didn’t want to do that.

“Eleanor?” Olivia hurried after her. “What is the matter?”

“ I— ” Eleanor found a screen and ducked behind it, finally allowing herself to give in to the nausea. Olivia’s hand pressed against her back.

“Are you unwell? Should I call for Mama? Sebastian? I can—”

“No! I’ll be well again soon. I just—” The sickness struck again and she heaved. “It should go away in a moment. It usually does. I’m sorry I’m ruining your day.”

“You are not ruining anything,” Olivia said firmly. “Did you say that this has happened before?”

“Yes, but it is not something to fret over, I promise.”

“Oh, dearest, I’m not worried. At least, not in that sense.” Olivia sat beside her. “Before my marriage, Mama sat me down and talked about the different things a body can do. She also discussed, in far too much detail if you ask me, the means of conceiving a child.”

Eleanor’s eyes widened. “A child?”

“She explained to me that my monthly cycles will stop and that I may feel nauseous, as you are doing now. Tell me, dearest. When was your last bleed?”

“I—” Eleanor blinked, trying to think past the haze in her mind. When had her last bleed been? She had been so busy, she hadn’t thought to keep track of it. It was an inconvenience, but it didn’t always come at the same time of the moon, and she had more than enough to be getting on with.

Margaret had never explained to her what might happen when she was with child. She understood that her stomach would start to swell and she would grow a babe inside her, but she didn’t know that she would feel like this .

Her last bleed had been sometime in the spring. Perhaps two moons ago.

Heavens. Did that mean… Could this truly be happening?

Yet, she had been feeling odd in herself. Not quite the way she had been. Before, she hadn’t even thought to consider that it might be this, especially as she had not grown thick with child, but now the suggestion had been posed, she felt in her heart that it was right.

“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “I think possibly—I think it might have been some time ago.”

“Oh, then perhaps this is a symptom of something greater.”

Eleanor pressed a hand against her throat. In secret, she had wished for a child, praying that every time she lay with Sebastian he might give her one. It seemed that her prayers had been answered, if Olivia could be believed.

So far, in her relationship, Olivia had not led her astray.

She sat back on her haunches. “I hope it is,” she said dazedly. “A child—I have dreamed of one.”

“Then this is perfect!”

“Sebastian. I need to—” She needed to think clearly. If she wasn’t with child after all, then what should she do? Would it be cruel to tell Sebastian, only to risk his disappointment if she wasn’t, or she lost the babe? That happened too, she knew.

But how could she keep this knowledge inside her now she knew?

No. They had promised to tell each other everything, and if she lost the child, then he could grieve with her.

“Take me to Sebastian,” she said firmly. “I have something to tell him.”

Olivia took a damp cloth from a maid and dabbed Eleanor’s face with it, wiping her mouth. “There. You look as good as new. Go and tell your husband.”

“I am so happy for you and Luke,” Eleanor said, taking her friend’s arm and pulling her into an embrace. “This is not how I intended your wedding breakfast to go.”

“Are you serious?” Olivia laughed, freckled face filled with mirth and genuine joy. “This has made the day all the better. We are friends, Eleanor, and that means we celebrate each other’s victories. To have two happen on the same day—it only doubles the joy of both.”

“I love you.”

“And I love you. Now go and tell your husband your family is expanding. I’ll find my husband, but fear not, I’ll keep this information to myself for the time being.”

“Thank you.” Eleanor patted her friend’s shoulder and left from behind the screen, her steps quickening as she made her way back to the drawing room. Soon, the breakfast would be announced, but Eleanor had no desire to eat. All she wanted was to see Sebastian’s face and watch his expression as he discovered he was to be a father.

He’d mentioned offhand that he wanted to begin a family, to have a daughter like her and a son like him. Over the course of their year together, he had also told her more about his childhood with his parents. They had been kind and loving, and until that terrible night when he was thirteen, he had been happy.

That’s what he wanted for their children. That happiness in childhood, with no danger of it ending.

Of course, he had not blamed her that she had not become with child sooner, but now she could finally make that dream come true for him.

She picked up her skirts as she searched for her husband.

“Eleanor?”

“Sebastian!” She turned to him, finding his expression panicked as he looked at her.

“What happened to you? I was looking for you, but everyone said you left with Olivia. Are you well?” He cupped her cheeks in his hands. “You look pale. Would you like to go home?”

“Not yet. But I do have something to tell you.”

His gaze searched hers. “Bad news?”

“You may decide that for yourself, but I would hazard a guess that it isn’t.” She smiled up at his handsome face, so dear to her. “Come with me. Here.” She opened a door to a small parlor, unoccupied. “Now we can be alone.”

Heat sparked in his eyes, but he remained gentle as he asked, “Are you sure you don’t need to sit down?”

“Not yet, but I think I might need to soon.” She took his hands and squeezed them. “You see, the truth is, I think—I am almost certain I am with child.”

Sebastian had been worried for quite some time about his wife’s health. Over the past few days, he’d watched her battle nausea she never wanted to acknowledge. He’d seen her toss and turn at night, and turn down food she usually adored. All that time, he’d kept that concern deep inside, knowing that his past had a habit of rearing its head when he wanted it to least.

Now this.

This.

With child .

He’d dreamed of it—of course he had. A little girl with Eleanor’s eyes and her bright smile. A boy he could take riding and teach how to take over his title one day. Children who would bear his name and carry on the generations.

“Are you jesting me?” he asked, and his voice cracked. Once, he might have been embarrassed at that sign of weakness, but he had no reason for shame in front of Eleanor. She had seen every part of him, and she loved and accepted him just as he was—even when he didn’t deserve it.

“Jesting you?” She tilted her head, and her smile was perfectly gentle. “I would not do that about such a thing.”

No, he already knew that.

Tears misted his eyes, and he brought her knuckles to his mouth, one at a time. Perhaps once, he would have feared hearing such a thing—he might have remembered about his parents and thought about all the things that could go wrong.

There were so many things that could go wrong, of course. There always were. With every eventuality came a collection of worst-case scenarios. But now, he did not default to thinking about them. He thought only of the joy that would come from starting a family with the woman he loved more than anything else in the world.

“I love you,” he said, kissing the corner of her mouth.

“Are you happy?”

“Yes. You could not fail to make me happy.” He brushed his knuckles along her jaw. “I love you more every day, and now we have something else to love.”

A smile split her face, and Sebastian put the last of his fear from him. It had been over a year since it had last ruled his life, and he would not give it more space. The only thing he would allow in was joy, and he had that in bucketfuls.

“I can’t wait to get you home,” he said, holding her close and kissing the top of her head. “So we can finally start a family together.”

The End?