Epilogue
The first Saturday in August, eleven months later…
‘Anthony! Patrick!’ Cassie bellowed over the lawn, making her now three-year-old, Edgar, give a startled yelp and drop a piece of cheese pie onto the picnic blanket.
‘I’d leave them to it, if I were you.’ George chuckled, picking it up again.
‘But they’re running Florence’s poor brothers completely ragged!’
‘I think they’re enjoying themselves,’ Florence replied, turning towards her mother for confirmation. ‘Don’t you think, Mama?’
‘I know they are.’ Her mother rolled her eyes fondly. ‘They’ll still be playing football when it gets dark, if we let them. Besides, it’s not just them. There are some local children playing too.’
‘Well, if you’re certain…’ Cassie sounded appeased. ‘I don’t know how I ever came to have such energetic children.’
Florence smiled, angling her head towards Leo, sitting nestled beside her. ‘Wouldn’t you like to join in?’
‘No, I’m saving myself for the cricket match tomorrow.’ He grinned. ‘Anyway, I’m much too comfortable here.’
‘Me too.’ She leaned back into his arms, tipping her face up to the sky with a sigh of contentment.
The lawn in front of the house was a sea of picnic blankets and people.
Unlike last year, the weather for today’s summer fair was perfect.
Everything was perfect. The prize-giving, which had taken place in a tent beside the lake, was over, she and Leo had both made speeches, and now everyone was basking in the August sunshine.
Everyone including her parents, the three brothers who were now playing football, Samuel, sitting on an adjacent blanket with Hannah, and their ten-month-old baby, Laura, and Thomas, who’d just gone for a stroll with his new bride, the former Miss Ogden.
Now that she thought of it, a walk sounded like an exceptionally good idea.
It would give her an opportunity to discuss a recent and somewhat important piece of news with her husband.
‘Come on.’ She pushed herself to her feet and reached for Leo’s hand. ‘Let’s go for a walk.’
‘Didn’t we just agree we were comfortable?’
‘Yes, but if I don’t move now, I’ll fall asleep.’
‘Go along, Leo.’ Cassie twirled her parasol in a queenly fashion. ‘I’ll deal with any problems while you’re gone.’
‘Is that so?’ He quirked an eyebrow at her. ‘You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were beginning to feel at home here again.’
‘Oh, I’m enjoying myself immensely. I’ve already decided, we’ll be coming to your summer fair every year from now on.’
‘See what you’ve done?’ George lifted his eyes skyward.
‘You’ll be very welcome.’ Florence laughed, linking her arm through Leo’s and pulling him along beside her. ‘We won’t be long.’
‘You know, we could take our time,’ he murmured, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close against his side. ‘There’s all sorts we could get up to in the woods.’
‘Not with my family and all of our tenants here, there isn’t.’ She nudged her hip against his. ‘What if somebody saw us?’
‘Good point. That could be awkward.’ He pressed his lips into her hair. ‘In that case, I suppose we’ll just have to wait until tonight.’
‘We will, but then I’ll be all yours.’ Heat rippled through her veins as she cast him a sidelong look. ‘Just like last year.’
‘I’ll find us some cushions.’ He waggled his eyebrows and then stopped abruptly, spying a couple strolling arm-in-arm along a nearby path. ‘Good grief. Is that—are they—who I think they are?’
‘Mmm? Oh, yes.’ Florence nodded complacently. ‘I invited them.’
‘You invited Fitch and Sewell?’
‘Yes. It only seemed polite.’
‘It might be, but I’m still amazed they came, given how much they disapprove of everything we do.’
‘Actually I think those days might finally be over. I visited Mrs Fitch’s cottage to ask in person and she was much too embarrassed to be disapproving.’
‘Why embarrassed?’
‘Because when I arrived, Mr Sewell was already there, looking very comfortable.’ She smiled smugly. ‘I do believe they’re courting.’
‘Fitch and Sewell?’ Leo sounded disbelieving.
‘Yes. Isn’t it delightful?’
‘No.’ He put a hand over his face. ‘I don’t want to picture it.’
‘All right, but I’m still glad they’re here. Everything’s just as I hoped it would be.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Especially since I have an ulterior motive for inviting you to walk with me.’
He gave her a confused look. ‘I thought you just said that we couldn’t?’
‘Not that.’ She rolled her eyes and placed a hand on her stomach. ‘There’s just something I need to tell you.’
He looked down and then up again, his jaw dropping with the motion. ‘You mean…?’
‘Yes.’
He caught her up in his arms and then quickly put her down again. ‘Sorry. I shouldn’t lift you.’
‘Of course you should. I don’t even have a bump yet.’ She beamed. ‘It seems you’ve fulfilled your “first and most urgent task”, after all.’
‘I don’t care if it’s a boy or a girl, so long as it’s healthy.’
‘Me too, but if it is a boy, we are not naming him after all the former marquesses.’
‘Agreed. And if it’s a girl…’ he crouched down, plucking a small white flower from the grass ‘…what do you think of the name Daisy?’
She gave him a suspicious look. ‘I thought I told you about that poem?’
‘You did. It’s why I tried writing you a new one.’
‘You wrote me a poem?’ She pressed a hand to her chest, touched.
‘No.’ His expression turned sheepish. ‘I tried to, but it turns out it’s a lot harder than it sounds. I came up with a few rhymes. Petal and metal. Rose and nose. Leaf and thief. Only I couldn’t seem to put them together.’
‘Oh. Well, it’s the thought that counts.’
‘True, but it also occurred to me that Mr Archer was right the first time. You are a daisy.’
‘Sturdy and reliable?’
‘Innocent.’ He tucked the flower behind her ear. ‘That’s what daisies symbolise. That’s what I should have seen about you all along. Only try finding a rhyme for innocence…’
Florence stifled a laugh, batting away a bee as it buzzed too close to her ear. ‘Well, then, we’ll put Daisy on the list, since we have several months to decide on a name while it’s still just the two of us, the Marquess and Marchioness of Rainton, laughing stocks of the ton.’
Leo grinned, lowering his forehead to hers. ‘I wouldn’t have it any other way.’