Epilogue
Two Months Later…
Things had calmed down enormously. They were well settled into their newly leased townhome, but not in London. They’d elected to winter in Bath instead, enjoying calmer society and milder weather than was to be had in Nottingham. And of course, Avelynd Hall was in the throes of renovation.
“I think the white roses for the entryway, Mrs. Carter, and other assorted hot house blooms for the foyer. The wind is far less damaging to the roses when the front door is opened,” Daphne said, giving instructions to the housekeeper.
They were expecting visitors, which was all rather new for her.
They’d never entertained before, and to have Viscount Lynley and Ellis visiting them for a week would be both delightful and anxiety inducing by turns.
The housekeeper nodded and swept from the room, a bundle of efficiency as always.
“You needn’t be nervous, you know. Ellis adores you and Lynley… well, he likes us as well as he likes anyone who isn’t Ellis.”
Daphne was chuckling at that description of the pair when she turned to see Fletcher standing in the doorway. “Where have you been all morning? Other than in hiding as I turn the house upside down.”
He stepped forward then and gathered her in his arms. “Hide? From you? Why on earth would I do such a thing when the greatest joy of my life is to be found in your presence?”
“Flatterer,” she said, outwardly nonplussed, but as always, inwardly charmed.
“Truthteller… Now, I was out but not in hiding. I had to procure a gift for you. Without my uncle’s lackadaisical stewardship, Avelynd is quite a prosperous estate. So much so, that I managed to get you a gift not paid for with your own money,” he said.
It was the pride she saw in him, like a small boy holding up a handpicked wildflower, that had her grinning. “I do love presents… and it’s our money, isn’t it? We share everything, after all.”
His expression shifted into something filled with heated promise. “Indeed. Everything. But your present first.”
Daphne allowed him to take her hand and when he instructed, she dutifully closed her eyes. And when he told her to, she opened them to discover a small velvet-covered box sitting in her palm. It could only be jewelry. “It was much too dear.”
“No. It wasn’t nearly dear enough. Nothing is too dear for you, my beautiful wife. Now open the blasted thing.”
Daphne flipped the small latch, and the lid fell back revealing a gold ring inside featuring one sizable emerald flanked by two pearls. “Fletcher, it’s beautiful!”
“It is. But not as beautiful as you are… One pearl for you, one for me, and one rich, vibrant, and beautiful stone for the life we’re building together.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this yet this morning, but I do love you.
I love everything about you. And I will go to my grave attesting to the fact that Bessie Dove-Lyon is in fact an angel walking amongst men. ”
Daphne laughed at that. “She’d have you horsewhipped for saying so… Between you and me, Bessie likes to be a little wicked.”
He kissed her then, hard and quick, but like all things between them, it shifted.
Escalated quickly and then they were clinging to one another with the kind of desperation that robbed her of breath.
“I’m rather more interested, Lady Aldwyn, in how wicked you’d like to be… Care to come upstairs and show me?”
She would have. Yes hovered on the tip of her tongue, until she heard the front door open and a flurry of activity as their guests arrived. Ellis and her viscount had arrived. “Later. I promise.”
“I’ll hold you to it,” he vowed and then they both walked out to greet their guests.
Daphne would never have family the way many did.
She would never know the joy of having loving parents or siblings to whom she could tell her deepest secrets.
But she did have a husband she loved and who loved her.
And she had friends who had proven themselves more loyal than anyone related to her by blood could have.
And she had Bessie Dove-Lyon, her very own guardian angel with smudged wings and a very crooked halo which she wore with aplomb.
She might have been imprisoned by the family to which she had been born, but she was cherished in the arms of the family she had found and forged.
And that was something she would always fight for.