Epilogue
One Year Later
F rom the corner of her eye Caroline spotted it—a small shoot of bright green with a chubby leaf glowing in the sun. With a gasp she flew to it, sinking to the soil, her skirts puffing up with air.
“Oh, hello, you. Aren’t you beautiful?”
Sun poured through the conservatory windows, igniting the rich scent of the new soil. Perfection. And it had only taken a year and three months.
“Caro!” Chloe called from somewhere far away. “Caro!” Again, closer this time. “Are you in here?” Chloe’s voice from somewhere behind Caro.
“Yes, I’m here. Come see!” Pink skirts stopped just at Caroline’s shoulder. “First new growth.”
“Growth of what?” Chloe asked.
“I haven’t a clue,” Caroline admitted. “But it doesn’t matter. What matters is… we’re done. The house is complete.”
Burnt conservatory replaced, questionable structural issues addressed, lawns rolling and serene, garden a riot of summer blooms. The house had become a home. It was ready. Hawthorne seemed to know it, glowing in anticipation of its purpose.
Caroline glowed, too. Yet… she’d not expected another feeling. Her legs itched to move, her arms to do. Just as Hawthorne was ready to settle into peaceful usefulness.
“Far from done,” Chloe said. “I think we’re only beginning.”
Caroline rose, brushing the dirt from her skirts. “Yes. Have you discussed my idea with Garrett?”
“I have. He’s rather eager to begin. In fact”—Chloe chuckled—“I think you should see what’s happening in the parlor.”
“Oh?” Chloe made for the door with a wide grin, and Caroline followed her into the hallway. “What is it? You know I dislike surprises.”
“Well then, answer me this. What has four legs, two heads, but only one brain?”
“I’ve not heard of that one.” She tried to puzzle it out for a moment. “I’ve nothing. What is it?”
“Our husbands.”
Alarm quickened Caroline’s pace. When she reached the parlor, Garrett and Felix sat at opposing ends of a table, cards stretched between them and held in their large hands. Grandfather snored in a large wingback chair in the corner of the room, boots propped onto an ottoman.
Beneath the table, Felix had stretched one, long leg. Anger raged red across his face, and his hair stuck up in every direction.
“What is all this?” Caroline asked.
“He’s a cheat and trickster,” Felix growled.
“I didn’t cheat.” Garrett slapped his cards on the table, flattened his palms over them, and leaned toward Felix. He flashed a wicked grin. “But I might have tricked you a smidgeon. You should not have agreed to the terms without knowing the full stakes.”
“Which were?” Caroline demanded.
“Unknown until game’s end.” Garrett gestured over the table, sinking back into his chair. “He writes on a bit of paper what he gets if he wins. And I write on a bit of paper what I get if I win. There they are. And I won.”
“Don’t worry, Caro,” Felix said, “We’re playing another hand. I’ll win it back, I swear. If I’d had any idea what trick he planned to pull, I’d not have wagered an ale at the pub. Frankly, I do not think he’ll hold me to it.”
Caroline picked up the slips of paper at the center of the table.
In Felix’s scrawling hand: a pint of ale.
In Garrett’s steady pen: Hawthorne House.
The paper fluttered back to the table.
“I’m dealing this time,” Felix said. “Clearly the man is mad. He’s playing a prank, but just in case he’s not, I’ll win it back. I swear.”
“I need to speak with Felix for a moment,” Caroline said, settling a hand on his shoulder.
The face he lifted to her mixed rage with sorrow. She needed to put the poor man out of his misery, so she pulled him into the hallway.
Felix looked as if he might hit his knees before her, beg for mercy. “He won’t hold us to it, Caro. It was a mad prank. Stupid of me to jump in without knowing the true stakes, but I do like a bit of risk. You know that. And since I’ve stopped risking my life—”
“For which I daily thank you.” She popped up on toe and kissed the tip of his chin.
A year ago, when he blazed into the fire to save Hawthorne, she’d realized no house, no plan, no greater purpose mattered if Felix lost his life.
No, she’d realized that sooner, but watching him risk himself to save her dream had put things into stark perspective.
“You do not seem angry.” He narrowed his eyes, held her out at arms’ distance. “Are you unwell?”
“I’m quite well. It’s only… I’ve been thinking, Felix. I intended to mention it to you sooner, but I wanted to construct the perfect plan to lay before you first.”
“Of course you did.” He pulled her close, kissed her well.
“Christ, that makes me want you. In our bed chamber. Now. Do you think Garrett will mind if we pause the game for a bit? I’d like to hear about this plan.
In bed.” Felix had moved into Hawthorne with her as soon as the house had been deemed structurally sound.
Thank God the fire hadn’t stretched much beyond the conservatory, but for the smoke.
He’d had nightmares here and there. He might always.
But he no longer seemed suffocated by the home where he lost his family.
He said he was building a new family and filling Hawthorne’s halls with happiness to decimate the shadows.
Caroline drew a heart on his chest with her fingertip. She took a deep breath. And she jumped without knowing all the answers. “I want to give the house to Garrett and Chloe.”
Felix froze, his eyes narrowing again. “Did Garrett know?”
“I’d mentioned it to Chloe. To see if they’d be interested.”
“That donkey’s arse.” When Caroline laughed, Felix stroked her hair. “This cannot be what you want. So I can only think you are anticipating my desires. And Caro, you must know by now that my desires are yours.”
She closed her eyes, savoring the feeling of being well and truly loved.
“Yes, you lovely man. It is only… Hawthorne is complete. The fixing of it, the creation of it. The planning of it. And I grow restless thinking of day after day sitting still. The work still to be done here is necessary, important, but perhaps I am not the one to do it.”
“What do you want, then?”
“To travel. To meet those thinking new ideas and changing the world. To plan, perhaps, another Hawthorne. Somewhere else in England. We will need to scout locations and find donors willing to be quiet about their largess. We will need the connections that come with your title, as well, and—”
“God, Caro-mine, you’re glowing.”
She felt like it. Felt bright as the sun.
“You’re sure this is what you want?”
“Yes. Every day I feel it more and more. But”—she flattened her palms in her chest, rested her cheek between them—“how do you feel? You’ve only just come to terms with remaining here, and I do not want to abandon this place if—”
“Here.” He pulled a note from his jacket pocket, held it out for her.
She unfolded it and read:
Dear Caro-mine,
If you are so inclined, meet me in our bedchamber in a quarter hour for a kiss. I can think of no one more suited for the activity than my wife. And just in case you are not adverse to children at some unfixed point in our future, it is wise we practice the making of them as much as possible.
Yours, Felix
“When did you write this?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Some days ago. Kept it in my pocket. Waiting to be used.”
“Are you sure? I’m not sure I want… not yet. But… if we do…?” She couldn’t finish the sentence.
“I’m quite sure.” He kissed the top of her head, the tip of her nose, her lips.
“Are you sure about leaving Hawthorne?” He tipped her chin up.
“I never thought this place would be a haven for me and not a torment. You have made it so. But my heaven is where you are, where you are happiest. And… I must admit, the thought of this new project is thrilling.”
Him too, then? That thrilled her. “I think you’ll enjoy this new plan. It will provide the adventure I know you still crave.”
“Me? Crave adventure? Never. I’m old and staid now. Smoke inhalation will do that to a man.”
“I know you boxed Freddy last month when I was visiting Chloe.”
He touched his eye as if it were still tender. “The shiner gave it away?” He grinned. “I supposed I’m caught.” He pushed the parlor door open and stuck in his head. “Game’s off, Garrett. You can have the house.”
Garrett swooped up his wife and swung her in a circle as they laughed and hugged.
And Grandfather snorted into wakefulness in the corner. “What’s happened? Why’s everyone happy?”
“I’ll let the Becketts tell you, Grandfather. I’ve got to go kiss my wife.”
He swung Caro into his arms and bounded up the stairs with her arms around his neck. He was already kissing her when he laid her on their bed.