Epilogue
“Now that you’re really married,” Noah said, “does that mean I can call you my mother and father, and that it wouldn’t be wrong?”
The question had come out the moment they had all sat down to the wedding breakfast. It was obvious that he had been waiting all day to ask it, and Violet couldn’t suppress the swelling of joy in her heart.
“Of course it wouldn’t be wrong for you to call us that,” she told Noah. “But it was never wrong.”
“It was sort of wrong,” Noah said. “But now it’s definitely right, isn't it? Because we’re all family.”
“We’re all family,” Violet agreed. Her stomach fluttered as Jonathan—her husband, as of the ceremony this morning—took her hand on top of the table.
There were so many new words that had come with today’s events.
Family was perhaps the one that meant the most to her.
It was miraculous to know that she could look at Jonathan and at Noah and say that they were hers in this new and wonderful way.
They belonged to her now. There was no undoing that, and no arguing it.
But there was also the word husband, one that filled her with almost as much joy, and the word wife, a new way of thinking about herself.
And, of course, there was Duchess…but that would take a bit longer to feel comfortable, she was sure.
In the meantime, she would enjoy being a part of this new family she was creating for herself.
Her old family was represented at the table by her father.
After some discussion, they had determined that he ought to be present at the wedding.
He had given his blessing for Violet and Jonathan to marry when Jonathan had asked, and that meant a great deal to Violet.
He was responsible, in a small way, for the happiness that she had found.
“I would have married you anyway,” Jonathan had told her when she’d pointed this out to him. “I asked him as a matter of courtesy, not because I truly needed his permission. Once you had said yes, I had all I needed.”
She smiled at that. “I believe it,” she said. “But isn’t it better that we got his blessing too? I don’t know about you, but I feel easy in my mind about all this knowing that we haven’t had to go against his wishes to do it.”
“I suppose,” Jonathan allowed. “At any rate, if it means something to you to have him at our wedding, I don’t mind his presence.”
And so he had been invited. They hadn’t been sure he was going to come, but he had arrived at the church on schedule and had returned to their shared home for breakfast.
There had been some discussion over whether they would both go on living here in the days leading up to the wedding—would it be better, more appropriate, to separate until things were official between them?
It was for Noah’s sake that they had decided otherwise.
He’d had too much disruption in his life already, and he longed to have his mother and father in one home.
They had decided not to make him wait for that, and simply to go on living in separate parts of the house until they had said their vows.
Laura Trevet was not in attendance. She hadn’t been invited, of course, but there had been a small concern that she might turn up anyway.
Violet, in particular, had lain awake a few nights, wondering what they would do if she did, and though Jonathan had assured her that Laura would simply be turned away if she tried to come, the idea made her nervous.
It wasn’t until the ceremony had been over that Agnes had stopped her on her way out of the church with a smile on her face. “You’ll be happy to hear this,” she’d said. “Laura Trevet isn’t in London any longer.”
“She isn’t?”
“Apparently she’s gone off to Paris with a Frenchman. Gabriel thinks she’s hoping he’ll marry her. She’s out of England, regardless,” Agnes said. “So you don’t need to worry about her anymore, or ever again, most likely.”
Even now, thinking about that fact, Violet felt both relief and sadness.
It was good to know that Laura wouldn’t try to interfere in their lives, that she wouldn’t try to reclaim Noah from them.
But it was also very sad to think that Noah’s mother had, in a sense, rejected him for a second time.
How could she not have fought for him? How could anyone not want the sweet boy sitting across from Violet right now?
At least he’ll never have to fear not having someone to love him. Jonathan and I will always be here to care for him now. He will never be alone again.
And Noah wouldn’t be sad to hear that his mother had gone.
They’d made the decision to tell him as much as they felt they responsibly could about what had become of her, and had offered him the chance to try to connect with her over the past few weeks, and he had refused it soundly.
“She didn’t want to be my mother,” he’d said. “I don’t have to be her son.”
“That’s right,” Jonathan had agreed. “You don’t have to.”
“It’s good,” Noah had decided. “It’s good that we feel the same way about it, because now I don’t have to think of her anymore. I can just be happy with you and with Violet. That’s more than enough for me!”
He had been through far too much for someone so young, Violet mused as the ham was brought to the table. She wished she could take some of it away from him. But what she could do for him now was make sure that his future was as bright as it could possibly be. And she intended to do exactly that.
As the breakfast wound down, people began to rise from the table and move through to the ballroom, where there would be drinks and a bit of dancing before the party came to an end.
Violet was eager for her first dance with her new husband, so she headed in that direction—but before she could get there, her father’s hand on her arm stopped her.
“I need to speak with you,” he said in a low voice.
“Father, I’m trying to get to Jonathan. He’ll be expecting me for a dance.”
“You have the rest of your life to dance with him. This is the last day I have to give you advice as your father,” he said. “I want you to come with me, Violet, and hear what I have to say to you, because this is important.”
Violet looked toward the ballroom. She could walk away from her father right now—but perhaps it would be best to give him the chance to say whatever it was he wanted to say. At least by doing that, she would be able to move on from this moment. If she resisted, he might keep trying.
“Very well,” she said, stepping to one side, into the hallway leading off the foyer. “Let us be quick about it, then.”
He joined her in the hall. “You’re married now,” he told her.
“Your life and your duties as a married lady—a duchess—are going to be very different. And I wonder how much you have thought about this, because I know it was never your intention to marry at all. I want to be sure you have thought through everything that this is going to require.”
“You want to be sure that I don’t come back to your house again in a few months’ time,” Violet said, feeling shrewd. “You’re not worried about my well-being. You just want to make sure that I don’t interfere in your life any further.”
“There’s no need to be this way about it,” her father said. “Surely we can acknowledge that it’s to both of our benefit if you are able to make this marriage work. You don’t want to end up back in my house either. So listen to what I have to say. My advice may be useful to you.”
“Go on,” Violet said.
“I want you to remember, when you are with this man, that no gentleman wants a lady who speaks up to him and contradicts him all the time,” her father said.
“It’s a very bad habit you have, Violet, and I don’t want you to fall into it to the extent that you damage the life you’re beginning to build.
When your husband says something, you must agree with him, even if you do feel an impulse to be contrary.
You must suppress that impulse, because that will drive your husband away from you. ”
Violet couldn’t restrain the laugh that bubbled up within her. “Oh, Father,” she said, and all she felt was pity for the man. “Is that truly what you think? That my husband would turn against me if he discovered I had a mind of my own?”
“No gentleman looks for that in a lady, Violet.”
“Perhaps you don’t,” she allowed. “But Jonathan has always known the kind of person I am. He loves me because of my mind and my spirited nature, not in spite of it. He would never want me to hold back those things about myself, and I will never attempt to do it. I know you can’t see how anyone would value me for being my true self, Father.
But I promise you, Jonathan does. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go share a dance with my husband on our wedding day. ”
She didn’t wait for a response. Turning away from him, she walked toward the ballroom, her heart lighter than it had been in recent memory. She couldn’t believe she’d had the courage to speak to her father that way, but she was deeply proud of herself for doing it.
She found Jonathan waiting for her right in the middle of the room, forcing everyone else to move around him as they began the steps of a familiar dance. She joined him there, and he took her in his arms and eased her into the movements. “What kept you?”
“My father.” She smiled up at him. “He was reminding me that I need to acquiesce to you and make myself easy to get along with, because gentleman don’t like ladies who challenge them.”
“Oh, my.” Jonathan’s eyes widened. “Please tell me that you didn’t listen to him.”
“Of course I didn’t.” She laughed. “The reason he feels the need to remind me of this is that he knows listening and obedience are not in my nature. He just can’t imagine that’s something any man would value in me.
But I know that you do. And that’s the reason I value you, Jonathan.
It’s the reason we are so well suited to one another.
Don’t worry. Nothing my father could ever say to me would make me forget that fact. ”
He stopped dancing, pulled her close, and wrapped his arms around her.
She smiled, forehead pressed against his chest. “People can see us, you know,” she murmured.
“And why should that bother me?” he asked. “You’re my wife. I want people to see my wife. How beautiful she is. How lucky I am. I want everyone to know that I am the luckiest man in all the world.”
And so saying, he met her eyes for just a moment as if to ask permission, and then he bent to kiss her.
He was right, she reflected as she sank into the warmth of his kiss. The fact that everyone could see this beautiful thing she had found—it wasn’t a deterrent at all. Let them look, in fact. The only thing that really mattered to Violet was that she was his, and he was hers.
She lost herself in his kiss, and it was a very long time before she emerged.
The End?