Epilogue
Three Months Later
“Where is my brother?” Mary asked for the fifth time that morning as she paced back and forth in her bedroom. She was still in her undergarments with her hair half pinned up as she waffled between which earrings she wanted to wear. Mary’s wedding dress hung over the edge of her four-poster bed, ready and waiting for her if only she would stop pacing long enough to put it on.
Cordelia smiled kindly at her sister-in-law. “You asked him not to see you before the wedding. Remember?”
Mary nodded, her hands rubbing together anxiously. “What if he says something to Patrick? What if he scares him away?”
“That is just your cold feet talking, Mary. You and I both know that he would not do such a thing. I know he can be hard-headed, but he would not do anything to keep you from your happiness.”
“I do not have cold feet!” Mary protested.
“Perhaps I am mistaken.” Cordelia walked over to Mary, standing directly in her path and forcing her to stop pacing. “It would be only natural for you to feel apprehensive over this.”
Mary nodded. “I mean, the last time… the man who was supposed to marry me, he–”
“Mr. Hislop is not like that; he adores you. He is going to treat you properly, you and Georgie both. And if for any reason he does not, then you can allow your brother to lose his temper… or me,” Cordelia said with a grin.
“You cannot do anything; you are with child,” Mary countered, her brow arched.
“That is all the more reason that you ought not to anger me then, is it not? Would not wish to distress the baby,” Cordelia teased, her hands falling to the slight swell of her abdomen. It would still be a few months yet before she was truly starting to show. Every milestone the physician had warned her about thus far had only been exciting, and she could not deny that she was looking forward to all of them still yet to come. Mary had been an indispensable help so far with her pregnancy, and she only wanted to repay every bit of kindness shown to her.
“For now,” Mary sighed. “I am nervous.”
“I know.” Cordelia released Mary’s hands and moved to the wedding dress waiting for her. “I think it is time to put this on. Do you agree?”
Mary nodded, smiling softly. “I never thought that I would ever get married. I know that I shall be joined with him before God so very shortly, but it still feels so surreal.”
“I think Mr. Hislop came along right in time for you to have what you truly needed. You deserve a happy marriage with a man who truly loves and cares for you… that will treat you and Georgie well,” Cordelia assured her as she helped her friend into her wedding dress. Mary’s maid stepped forward to finish all of the buttons and laces, making sure that every part of the gown fit perfectly.
“I just do not wish for anything to go wrong. Georgie is so excited about having a new father figure in his life… what if I have allowed myself to move too quickly?”
Cordelia laughed. “You have not moved half as quickly as I did, so do not fret. Every couple will face their own challenges and strife, but I know that you are more than stubborn to work it all out.”
Mary grinned. “You are right about that. I will not have any qualms about expressing myself.”
The maid finished applying just the slightest hint of rouge to Mary’s cheekbones and finally, they were ready. “You said that Georgie was waiting downstairs with Dorian?”
“Yes. I am sure he has driven his uncle half insane by now.”
“Good. He should get used to a little madness, it is good practice for him and what is to come.”
Mary snorted a laugh. “I still cannot believe that I am going to be an aunt. That is something that I never thought would happen. I cannot tell you enough how happy I am for the two of you and how happy I am that all of the rest of this has been put behind us.”
“So, does this mean that you and Dorian have worked things out between you?”
“I… We did talk. I admit that I have been unfair to him and blamed him for all the bad things that happened to me. But I forgive him.” Mary tried her earrings on. “How do you feel about the issues with your family?”
“You mean the unpleasantness with my cousin?” Cordelia said with a somber tone. “I am glad that it was all over.”
“Dorian finished with the trials last week, did he not?” Mary asked gently.
For the entirety of last week, Dorian had been in and out of the estate. He had been obligated to split his time between London and home as he had to attend Matthew’s trials and give his statements. Cordelia had been tempted to go, but secretly, she had been relieved that her husband had been able to handle those issues for her. She did not know what she would have done if she had to face Matthew again. So many years of friendship were just thrown away like nothing.
“He did, and Matthew was sentenced to exile to…” Cordelia answered simply. “I think either North Holland or the West Indies.”
“Are you… all right?”
“It is for the best.” Cordelia forced a smile. “It is as it ought to be. I am just happy that we can all move forward and close that chapter of unsavory darkness. Now we can focus on much happier things like your union! Though, it will be strange not hearing Georgie running around the house and seeing you every day.”
Mary surprised her by throwing her arms around her and holding her tightly. “I never thought I would be so lucky to have a sister like you. I am going to miss you, and I promise to come to visit all the time!”
“You better not dare to come to visit me!” Cordelia laughed. “Not for a good long while anyway!”
Mary nodded. “All right, I will wait until after the honeymoon, at the very least.”
“You shall have to come back to collect Georgie anyway!” Cordelia continued. They were going to be keeping him here during the period of the honeymoon so that the newlyweds could have some proper time together.
“I still think that I am going to end up caving and cutting the honeymoon short because I will miss him so much. This will be the first time I have ever been away from him; do you know that?”
“He is going to be but a carriage ride away, never fear.”
“With you? Never,” Mary teased as they linked arms with one another. “Do I look all right?”
“More than all right! Mr. Hislop is not going to know what to do with you.” Cordelia winked as they headed downstairs, where the sounds of conversation and distant music greeted them. Mary had chosen to be married at the estate. The lanes had been transformed beautifully with every color flower imaginable from Cordelia’s own garden. She had taken great care to make it a veritable floral wonderland for her and Patrick to be married. She had even managed to decorate an archway with the flowers for them to stand under. It was certainly pretty enough to be a painting, and she hoped that the artist they had commissioned for the event was going to capture their image quickly enough.
Mary and Cordelia stood at the end of the long aisle with all their friends and loved ones seated in rows to either side. Slowly, Mary released Cordelia and walked up the aisle, and Cordelia trailed behind her at a respectable distance before taking her own seat next to her husband. She had been incredibly honored to be asked to accompany her sister.
Rhysand and Penelope stood proudly watching from the front of the aisles. Patrick’s younger sister, Lydia, and her husband, Phillip, smiled as Mary moved toward her future husband.
The happy couple stood facing one another, the priest reciting the familiar words and having them repeat their vows, even if Patrick stumbled over the words in quite an adorable fashion.
“He had better make her happy,” Dorian muttered under his breath so softly that Cordelia almost did not hear him.
“Oh, hush now, they love one another very much,” Cordelia silenced him with an eye roll.
“And if he mistreats her?”
“You know that he will not. Do not fret, my dear husband, you will not make the same mistakes twice with her. You are not the same man that you had been before, and we both know that to be true, do we not?”
Dorian nodded somewhat reluctantly.
“And besides, you are thrilled to spend more time with your nephew, are you not?”
“He has insisted upon riding lessons every day for the next fortnight,” Dorian groused.
“And what if he has? Presuming that he does not tire of it, there is certainly no harm.” Cordelia sighed. “And then, when this is all over with and he is taken to his new home, we both know that you shall miss them both dearly.”
Dorian did not answer, though he shifted his weight anxiously from one foot to the other with a curt nod. It was more difficult for him than he wished to admit, the thought that his sister might be out and vulnerable again, but he could not hold too tightly to what he loved.
“Then, I shall have you all to myself, shall I not?” Cordelia whispered just low enough for him to hear.
The tips of Dorian’s ears reddened and he did not answer that either.
Most of all, Lavinia had moved back to her London home for good. She had been true to her word, and she had not had so much as a single drop to drink since that night that they had dumped everything. She was thriving again, so much more the mother she had grown up with instead of the dramatic mess that she had become. With the amends she was making to her reputation, Lavinia hoped to be back in the good social graces of the ton with proper standing… no more making a fool of herself because of how her heart ached.
Her mother was healing, and Cordelia was working on doing the same. She felt that so long as she had Dorian by her side, all things were going to be possible moving forward. It would be a whole new chapter for the pair of them to live alone in the great house, but it was an adventure that she was greatly looking forward to undertaking.
Before she knew it, applause came from every direction for the happy couple and Mary’s smile was so wide that it almost looked like it would split her face from how happy she was to be on her now husband’s arm.
The quartet played them out of the garden as they headed inside, but Mary stopped for but a moment just before she went into the house to look back for Dorian, who tightened his grip on Cordelia’s waist the moment that he caught Mary looking at him.
It was their own silent goodbye to one another as she smiled softly at her brother, and Cordelia almost felt as if she were witnessing something too intimate. At least, until Georgie jumped down off of his chair and started to sharply pull at her dress.
“Do we get to go to dinner now, Aunt Cordelia?”
Dorian sighed and bent to scoop his nephew up to carry him into the house after all the other guests. Her hands dropped to the rounded swell of her belly as she watched Dorian and Georgie speaking to one another. Her heart fluttered in her chest at the sight of it. She just knew that he was going to be a great father. Cordelia could not be more thrilled.
The End?