Epilogue
“Good morning, my love.”
Atticus’s familiar, sleepy voice drifted through the dressing room. His soft footsteps approached behind Felicity. She did not turn. She did not remove her eyes from the mirror or her hands from her middle.
“Are you quite well, Felicity?” Atticus prodded as his reflection joined hers in the glass. His hands settled upon her shoulders. “It is a rare day that you rise before I do.”
Felicity inhaled a shuddering breath as she continued to examine herself. Her fingers curled into the soft fabric of her nightgown. Nothing looked different, yet she had never felt stranger. In the mirror, Felicity’s eyes drifted up to meet Atticus’s.
“Darling?” Ever so gently, Atticus turned Felicity to face him and grasped her face in both hands. “You do look frightfully pale. And yet no fever?”
“I awoke in the early hours. My stomach was in such a state. I snuck out the chamber pot and called for Hammond to assist me in my old quarters so as not to disturb you.”
Alarm flooded Atticus’s face. “Heavens, my poor wife! We must send for the physician at once!”
“Not yet,” Felicity insisted with a muffled chuckle.
Just like that, the terror that had been coursing through her veins—and turning her stomach out into her chamber pot—evaporated. Not completely, to be sure, but enough to free Felicity to relish the moment, a skill she had been diligently developing with Atticus’s support.
What had she to fear with this man by her side?
“B-But, darling, we must act quickly, lest your ailment return or worsen. And please, whatever troubles you, you must promise to wake or fetch me in the future, I care not for the hour—”
“I wanted to be certain first—quite certain—before I said a word to you.”
The line between Atticus’s thick brows deepened. He clung to her, desperate. “You know you are at liberty to share anything with me at any time—”
Atticus’s anxious rambling fell away the moment Felicity pressed the palm of his hand to her stomach. “Felicity?”
Emotion squeezed Felicity’s chest at the hesitant hopefulness in her beloved husband’s voice. “Atticus…”
“Are you…? Are we…?”
“I am. We are.”
Atticus grasped the back of Felicity’s head and kissed her as if all his dreams had just come true. Draping her arms across his broad shoulders, Felicity kissed him back with the very same passion. She knew hers certainly had.
“A baby.” Atticus gasped when they finally pulled apart for air. Tears glittered in the eyes Felicity prayed their little one would inherit. “Perhaps he or she will arrive in time to enjoy the strawberries and cornflowers with us.”
“You are to be a father,” Felicity announced in a deliriously gleeful giggle.
Trailing his knuckles across Felicity’s skin, Atticus tucked a loose lock behind her ear. “And you are to be a wonderful mother.”
Felicity bristled against the pinprick of doubt in the back of her mind. It had demanded her attention with decreasing frequency as she and Atticus had fully embraced this new chapter of their married life…until three months ago, when her suspicions had first begun. As she had said, she’d needed to be quite sure.
“You believe so?”
Atticus kissed Felicity’s forehead and left his lips there for several long breaths before answering. “I have never had a moment’s doubt. In fact, I am surprised you still doubt yourself. Look at you.”
Taking Felicity’s hand, Atticus turned her back to the mirror. They stood side by side, Felicity still in her cap and robe, Atticus still sporting his morning jacket and slippers and daily mop of tangled hair.
“Look at you,” Atticus repeated. “You are radiant with happiness. Such happiness could not exist without great desire and great love.”
This time, Felicity looked not at her unremarkable stomach, but at her face. Into her own eyes. She smiled. She saw it—the radiant happiness Atticus had brought into her life. And now it had made another life.
“It is entirely thanks to you,” she whispered, reaching up to cup her husband’s cheek. “Whatever lies ahead, whatever past or future fears we find ourselves facing, we are never alone in them.”
“Even more so now,” Atticus added as he returned his hand to Felicity’s middle. “We will always support each other. All of us. Exactly as we are. I love you so very, very much.”
“I love you, too, darling Atticus. And I pray that means you will support my idea.”
Atticus peered down into Felicity’s face. “Anything. Name it and it is yours. My life’s mission from this moment forward is to dote upon you and fulfill your every whim.”
Warmth prickled under Felicity’s skin. “You do that already, and magnificently, I might add.”
“Ah, tonight’s dinner. Do you wish to cancel? You know I will never be opposed to canceling.”
Felicity chuckled and shook her head. “No, as a matter of fact, the dinner happens to be perfectly timed. But about the impending Season…”
Several hours later, Felicity and Atticus stood in the center of Setherwell’s drawing room, every curious eye upon them. Felicity tucked her hand into Atticus’s, relaxing his anxious fist.
“Thank you all for joining us tonight,” she began, forcing herself not to rush through the words. “Though this was not the original intent for the evening, we thought this a fine opportunity to make an announcement to our dearest ones.”
The companionable stillness in the room shifted. It became heavy with anticipation. Only Mercy and Mr. and Mrs. Wheadon did not appear perplexed.
Felicity fought a grin as Clara perched on the very edge of her seat, Ellen pinching the back of her bodice as if to keep her younger sister from flying away. Lydia, absentmindedly rubbing circles over her stomach—which looked fit to burst any day now—and Isabel exchanged suspicious glances while Sebastian remained primarily focused on massaging his wife’s shoulders, a favorite activity of hers as she neared her own special arrival.
Their families wore politely confused expressions and whispered amongst each other while glancing to Mr. and Mrs. Wheadon by the fireplace for any hints. The older couple clutched each other’s hands, barely containing the excitement of the secret knowledge they, along with Mercy, had gained during breakfast. Lord and Lady Eldmar, who had decided to begin their Season early, would learn of it in a letter.
“Atticus and I will not be accompanying you all to London this year.”
Their guests deflated.
“Come now, dear wife, do not keep them in suspense,” said Atticus in an intentionally loud whisper.
When Felicity looked up at her husband, she found him smiling down at her with a lovely mixture of fondness and mischief. She lost the battle with her own grin and looked out at her new mother and father, her sister, and her beloved friends and neighbors.
“We will not be joining for very good reason, I assure you. The long journey will aggravate this one, I am afraid.”
Felicity patted her abdomen and marveled once more that in several months, she would be as round as Lydia. The drawing room erupted in gasps, which transformed into cheers and claps. Five young ladies raced toward them.
Before they knew it, the couple found themselves wrapped in an embrace of seemingly countless arms. At the center of the mad celebration, their laughter rang the loudest.
“Come, Atticus. I believe I have some words of wisdom to share with you from my recent experience of maintaining a wife’s happiness during this delicate time,” announced Sebastian as he dutifully followed after Lydia with a sympathetic smile.
“Oh, thank goodness.” Atticus sighed with relief. He hurried after his friend, wringing his hands. The poor fellow’s anxiety had come and gone in waves all day. But his sheer joy and excitement had been constant.
“How absolutely wonderful, Felicity!” Ellen whimpered before turning away to wipe her button nose.
“Congratulations to you both.” Lydia gasped as she patted Ellen’s back.
The larger her belly had grown, the more difficult it had become for her to inhale a full breath. Felicity was grateful that Lydia had embarked on this adventure before her. She already had a dozen questions about what was to come and what was already happening—such as when the aroma of freshly cooked eggs would become welcome to her once more.
“Two babies! We are to have two babies in Bainbridge!” cheered Clara as she dreamily spun about their group, earning chuckles from the other guests. “Perhaps more, if Lady Swan’s successes continue,” she added in a half-whisper, half-giggle behind a gloved hand.
“Now, Clara, you are getting quite ahead of yourself. Allow us to celebrate Felicity’s blessing first.” Isabel laughed, one arm around Felicity’s waist.
“A blessing, indeed,” said Mercy from Felicity’s other side. Her voice quavered, tears in her eyes. Felicity extracted herself from Isabel and walked a few steps away from the others with her twin.
“I simply cannot wait to spoil my precious niece or nephew,” Mercy continued. “I am so, so pleased for you, dearest Felicity.”
“This child will never know what it is to be without love,” she replied around the lump in her throat. Heavens, she was so prone to fits of weeping these days!
Mercy reached up and touched the corner of Felicity’s eye with a gloved finger. “You and Atticus will make certain of that.”
Felicity nodded and glanced over her shoulder at her husband, who diligently scribbled Sebastian’s advice into the notebook he kept in his pocket. “We certainly will.”
After another few hours of food and merry conversation, the exhaustion of pure happiness settled into Felicity’s bones. She did adore hosting, yet it could be taxing even without the additional responsibility of growing their child within.
“Let us rest, my loves.” Atticus sighed as he guided Felicity out of the drawing room with one arm around her shoulders. “You do promise to wake me should you feel unwell, yes?”
“I promise, dear Atticus.” Felicity chuckled and rested her head against her husband’s shoulder.
“Madam!”
The pair paused and turned. The butler rushed toward them from the stairs, something in his hand.
“Another odd occurrence, madam. It was left on the doorstep yet again, addressed to you.”
Felicity and Atticus smiled at each other as she accepted the letter. “Thank you, Lambert. There is no need for concern.”
As he bowed and retreated, they turned their attention to the purple seal.
“Strange how this familiar swan inspires such feelings of gratitude in me now when, months ago, the sight of it filled me with dread.”
“I am forever grateful that you decided to open her first letter,” Atticus whispered as he came around behind Felicity and wrapped his arms around her middle, not too tightly.
“I suspect she has had word of our news, but how? How can it be possible if only a select few knew until just a few hours ago?” Felicity mused, her mind catching onto the thought. “Could Lady Swan have been among them, after all? Still, I suppose servants may have already gossiped—”
Atticus chuckled, his chest firm against her back. “Perhaps, my dear, some mysteries are best enjoyed when they remain unsolved.”
Remembering herself, as if eager for word from an old friend, Felicity snapped the seal open and read aloud, Atticus’s chin resting on her shoulder.
“Dearest Mrs. Atticus Wheadon, it has come to this writer’s attention that a most hearty congratulations are in order! Nothing brings a champion of romance greater joy than to welcome another generation raised in a foundation of the deepest love, as you and your sweet husband clearly share.
“Your individual challenges, though different in many ways, shaped who you must become in order to find and heal each other. Together, no matter the circumstances, you achieve balance and peace—the unsung gifts of true love. Thank you both for seeing past fear to the wonders waiting beyond. Your hearts will lead you now to more beautiful dreams you can yet imagine.
“Yours Always, Lady Swan.”