Epilogue
Cecilia lay across her bed, her head propped up with one hand while with the other she tickled Hugh’s round little belly.
He lay in the center of the bed on his back.
Mary Ann had the afternoon off, which was fine with Cecilia.
She missed Hugh so much when she was in Devon that she delighted in the times Mary Ann was not around and she could have him to herself.
She tickled him again.
The boy laughed delightedly. When she stopped for a moment, he grabbed her hand to tickle his belly again. She obliged and laughed along with him.
“Sounds like the place to be!” James said, coming in the door. He had mail in his hand.
“No boots on the bed,” she admonished when he started to lie down on the other side of the bed.
“On the bed in the middle of the day and not properly dressed? What will our staff think?” he jokingly admonished as he went to his boot jack to pull off his boots.
“They will think we are enjoying time with our son,” Cecilia said as she leaned forward to nuzzle her son’s neck.
“True enough,” James conceded.
“Who did we get mail from?” Cecilia asked.
She hoped one would be from Mrs. Hargrave.
But perhaps it was too soon. After the events at the clay pit mine and she learned of her unwitting culpability in the death of Lord Jasper, she suffered a breakdown.
She and James had arranged for her to go to Camden House.
Under its new management it had returned to what it was meant to be: a place of healing and rest.
“You have a letter franked by the Earl of Monteith.” He handed her the mail. “And I have a letter franked by the Earl of Monteith,” he said.
“And the handwritings don’t match,” Cecilia said. She held her envelope up to her forehead. “Let me see if I can get intuition as to who mine is from… Ah, yes… Miss Nieves.” She lifted the wax stamp and unfolded the paper. “I was right! How nice of Gideon to frank it for her.”
She read through her letter and laughed. “She has agreed to let a certain Earl of Monteith court her.”
“She is the person you thought would be good for Gideon, isn’t she?”
“Yes. I love her humor and intelligence and thought that would be good for Gideon. And I thought she would be a good stepmother for Chelsea.”
“Is that the only thing she told you?”
“Isn’t that big enough news?”
“I have more,” James said archly. “Next week he leaves to go to Yorkshire to get Chelsea. With him are going…”
“Yes?”
“Miss Faith Jones…”
“Chelsea’s governess,” Cecilia said promptly.
“Mrs. Norcroft…”
“And Miss Nieves!” Cecilia finished delightedly. “I wonder how Mrs. Norcroft feels about playing chaperone.”
“We’ll be on trips at the same time,” James reminded her.
“The middle of summer, before the harvests, when the air is heavy and one doesn’t really want to do anything,” Cecilia said.
Hugh reached for her free hand.
“Oh, I’m derelict in my duty!” she said, tickling Hugh again. “What do you think the odds are of us having a nice, pleasant visit with my grandfather and grandmother?”
“Poor, very poor. But he will delight in his great-grandson and that might stand in our favor.”
“One can hope.”