Epilogue
“Are you certain you don’t want my handkerchief?” Christopher asked Rose for what must have been the hundredth time that day.
“I am fine…” Rose sniffed and wiped her nose. “Or I will be fine.”
“And this is from someone who told me that they don’t usually cry at weddings,” Christopher scoffed.
Rose narrowed her eyes at him. “My only point of reference to that claim was our own wedding. And if I was going to cry that day, it certainly wouldn’t have been from happiness.”
“Mean,” Christopher said.
“Accurate,” Rose shot back. Then she looked across the room, caught sight of her sister and husband, and once again felt that tightness in her throat and the welling of tears gathering behind her eyes. “Oh!”
“Here…” Christopher sighed and held out the handkerchief for Rose to take.
Rose snatched the handkerchief and blew into it. The noise she made was undoubtedly horrid, and she could not help but notice her husband flinching away as if worried she might get something on him. But she also did not care.
This might not be the happiest day of my life, but it must be close! It feels in many ways that my entire life has been building to this, and I am just so pleased to see that it has all worked out.
She blew her nose again and held the handkerchief for Christopher to take. He curled his lip and leaned back. “You keep it.”
She rolled her eyes and tossed it onto the table. “Oh, it isn’t that bad.”
“You did not have to hear it.”
A rolling of the eyes, and she looked at her husband with an unamused expression. “Remind me again, why do I put up with you?”
“That’s easy.” Christopher took her hand under the table. “Because you are utterly and hopelessly in love with me.”
“Am I now?”
“Are you not?” he asked with a cocky grin.
She narrowed her eyes as if to dismiss him, but she could not keep the act going for very long. She loved seeing that smile. She loved seeing life behind his eyes. And most of all, she loved him.
“I guess so…” she sighed as if it was the hardest thing she had ever done, only to lean in and plant a quick kiss on her husband’s nose. “They just look so happy,” she gushed, pulling her attention from Christopher and turning it onto her sister. “Don’t they?”
“They do,” Christopher agreed. “Even your father has managed to find a reason to smile.”
Rose searched for her father, who, as Christopher said, looked far more pleased than she might have guessed. He was speaking to some guests, and he smiled and laughed as he did so. To anyone watching, they might have assumed that this wedding was his doing.
“Oh, he will come around,” Rose said rightly. “And despite what my father might want people to believe, seeing his daughters happy does bring him some cheer.”
“Only some?”
She snorted. “So long as there is money to be made from it.”
They laughed together, still holding hands, still sitting close. Today was not their day, nor did Rose want it to be. She was happy on this occasion to take a back seat and become lost in the crowd; a perfect position to be in so that she could watch her sister glow.
It was Marianne and Julian’s wedding day, and what a day it was.
The ceremony had been quaint, as Julian had few friends to invite, and Marianne did not want the ceremony to be a whole thing. It was a celebration of their love, as she claimed, and they needed to be the focus.
Following the ceremony, the guests returned to Rose’s father’s estate for the post-ceremony breakfast. Marianne and Julian occupied the main table at the head of the ballroom, while there were another dozen tables spread around the room, each with a further ten or so guests seated around them.
“I just can’t get over how happy she looks,” Rose said again, still watching her sister. “She is glowing. Look at her!”
Marianne sat with her husband at the main table.
She held his hand and was sitting so close that she was practically on top of him.
She looked beautiful in her pink dress, with her eyes sparkling, and a smile so wide it split her face in two.
Even as she spoke to those who approached to wish them well, she hardly took her eyes off Julian once.
For so long, Rose had been a mother and sister to Marianne, and for so long, all Rose had ever wanted was to see her happy. Marianne deserved the world, and Rose had spent her life ensuring that she was given it. Now that she had been… I can’t help but wonder what comes next?
She knew the answer to that question, despite the reservations.
Marianne no longer needed Rose like she once had, but that did not mean that Rose’s life would become hollow.
She and Christopher were already trying for a family, and Rose suspected that very soon the focus of her life would quickly shift from her husband to her child…
someone else to ensure that when they asked for it, the world would be there for them to take.
Speaking of which…
Almost subconsciously, Rose’s hand moved to her stomach. She stopped herself before the hand settled, a quick glance at Christopher to make sure that he had not seen, and she put her hand back down beside her.
A smirk on her lips next, wondering when she was going to break the news. She wanted to do it as soon as she could. Right now! But as this was her sister’s day, she was hesitant to take away the attention from her.
“I need a drink…” Lord Theodore Merrick fell into a chair beside Christopher. “Perhaps two.”
“I think you’ve had enough,” said Lord Alistair Lock as he sat beside Rose.
“You can never have enough!” Theodore decreed.
“A point that you are either going to prove true or horribly false,” Alistair responded dryly.
“What’s the matter?” Christopher chuckled. “Not having enough fun?”
Theodore snorted. “Fun? At a wedding…” He then shuddered purposefully. “I think not. The whole concept is…” He clicked his tongue. “Unnatural.”
Alistair scoffed. “Spoken like a man who wouldn’t be able to convince the family dog to marry him. That’s the sound of jealousy.”
“Jealousy!” Theodore sat up and turned to his friend. “I will have you know that if I so wished it, I could marry tomorrow. What young lady would not wish to see herself attached to my side for life? And what a life it would be.”
“Oh please…”
“What of you, Alistair?” Rose asked. “Do not tell me that there are no young ladies here that haven’t caught your eye.”
Alistair curled his lip. “That would require me to look for them in the first place.”
“Don’t waste your breath,” Christopher cut in. “Not only are both these gentlemen proud bachelors, but if they did dare to court a young woman of reputable reputation, I would be inclined to intervene and warn them away. For the good of mankind.”
“Exactly!” Theodore agreed.
Alistair scoffed again. “It is hardly that dire. The simple fact is that I have no desire to wed, nor will I ever. I just don’t see the point.”
“You sound like someone I used to know,” Rose laughed as she looked slyly at her husband.
“Take it from me…” Christopher was still holding Rose’s hand, and he brought it to his lips. “Married life isn’t nearly so bad as you might think.”
“Oh, lovely,” Rose snorted. “Spoken like a true romantic.”
“I thought so,” Christopher chuckled.
They spent another hour or so at the table, speaking gaily with Theodore and Alistair, on topics about everything but marriage. Both men were adamant that they would never change their minds on the subject, and while they sounded confident enough, Rose wasn’t so sure.
For all my jokes about Christopher, I was once of the same mind as they. Little did I realize that it isn’t until you’re not looking for love that it finds you.
After several hours, Marianne and Julian announced that it was time for them to leave. It was all hugs and tears, and Rose made sure to be the last one to wish Marianne well before she saw her sister off in the carriage.
“I love you,” Marianne blubbered as they hugged. “I love you so much.”
“As I love you,” Rose said, hugging her back and withholding the tears that threatened to burst. “And no one deserves this more.”
“All you have done…” Marianne was a mess of tears. “I can’t ever… I owe you so much… oh!” She buried her head in Rose’s shoulder and wailed.
Soon, Julian managed to pull her away, and the guests cheered and waved as the carriage pulled out of the estate. Slowly after that, the guests began to filter back into the manor. Christopher turned to follow, but Rose took his hand and pulled him back.
“What is it?” Christopher asked.
“Before we go inside…” Rose was shaking with both nerves and excitement. She glanced over Christopher’s shoulder to make sure that they were alone. “There is something I need to tell you.”
“Can’t it wait…” Christopher looked toward the manor. “I promised Theodore that I would save him from Lady Allington. She has been hounding him all day.”
“Oh, it can wait,” Rose said with a coy smile. “But I don’t think you would want it to.”
Christopher frowned, suddenly taking note of Rose’s demeanor. “Rose… what is going on?”
In answer, she moved his hand to her belly as she looked up at him. Christopher’s frown deepened, a moment needed to figure out what she was doing… and then his eyes burst wide open.
“No…” he gasped.
“Yes,” she said.
“You mean…”
“I do.”
Even now, able to display his emotions as he saw fit, Christopher was not one to cry. He laughed. He got angry. He pouted and moaned when the mood struck. But tears? Never.
It was thus a surprise to see his chin wobble, his eyes turn wet, and his cheeks stained with tears as he began to weep openly and without shame.
He kept his hand resting on Rose’s stomach, he smiled through the tears, and if Rose had doubted even a little how happy Christopher would be when he heard the news, she no longer did.
He might be even more excited than I am.
“I love you, Rose,” he said. “So, so much.”
“I know you do,” she said. “As I love you. As we will both love this child.”
He sniffed and looked at her. “My only fear is that my love for you might have to take a back seat once the child is born. I hope you don’t hold it against me.”
“I think I’ll find a way to get over it,” she laughed, and then she pulled him into a kiss.
And there they stood. For seconds, for minutes, maybe even for hours.
Lost in a kiss that confirmed all the things they knew, and all the things that they would come to know as the days turned to weeks,, then to months, and then to years.
As their lives entwined and became one, until death do they part, as they had both promised not so long ago.
They had both come into this marriage at different stages in their lives. They had both wanted different things from it. They had both fought it, accepted it, pushed it away, and then pulled it back. It was not easy. It was not simple or effortless. It was damn hard, but that’s what made it work.
Rose loved Christopher; he loved her. They would soon have a family together, and after that….
I have no idea, nor do I care. As I have learned, I can’t plan everything, nor can I predict the future. All I can do is live each day with the man I love, and hope that will be enough.
And if the way her husband kissed her was any indication, it would be more than enough to satisfy.
The End?