Epilogue
ONE MONTH LATER
Marigold felt the morning light play through the curtains.
She slowly opened her eyes. She had some sweet ache all over her body, but she was warm and completely content.
Brandon’s arm was draped around her waist, possessive even in his sleep.
His chest pressed against her back, and feeling his heart rate and the rhythm of his breathing calmed her down even more.
Ever since that day at the docks, they had never slept apart. It was as if he was trying to make sure she would never be threatened again and that she wouldn’t slip out of his sight, no matter how Marigold reassured him that there was no other place in the world she would rather be.
“Good morning,” he murmured in her ear.
“Good morning,” she said and tried to get up.
His arm tightened around her and kissed the back of her neck.
“Not yet.”
“Sounds like a very good plan.”
“I am known for proposing the best of plans,” he whispered in her ear. “And I am even better at executing them.”
The maid then knocked and announced that she had brought breakfast to the sitting room and left as she was instructed.
“Let’s eat,” Marigold said.
“I couldn’t agree more,” he nuzzled closer.
“Brandon!”
“Fine.”
Marigold went and brought a simple tray with breakfast, fresh bread, butter, jam, fruit, his favorite coffee, and her tea. Brandon propped himself up against the headboard and admired her, especially after she couldn’t cling to that sheet anymore, and it fell around her.
“You are staring,” Marigold accused.
“You are worth staring at.”
She laughed as she sat down and began fixing him a slice of bread with butter and jam. She fed it to him, and he kissed her fingers. For a while, they just sat and shared the simple breakfast, feeding each other. Brandon leaned over to lick some jam from the corner of her mouth.
“Is it one of those well-laid plans of yours to sit around in bed all day?” Marigold said.
“It really sounds like a genius plan.”
“I need to tend to my garden.”
“And I need you to tend to me,” Brandon demanded.
Marigold chuckled and kissed him. It was not that this morning was anything special. The special thing was that most mornings with him were like this. Easy, playful, teasing. And slowly her heart settled day by day, sure that from now on this would be her life.
* * *
After breakfast, Marigold changed into a simple dress and put on a work apron over it.
“So you are really abandoning me?” Brandon pouted.
“It would do you very well to be less dramatic.”
“If that’s the case, I am going to join you and help,” Brandon said, pulling on thick boots and an assembled shirt.
“Help?” Marigold inquired.
“What? I love seeing you getting dirty and sweating,” he smirked her way.
“Brandon!”
Still laughing, they made their way to the vegetable patch.
The moment they stepped outside, Duck came close, demanding her cuddles.
There was that part of the garden with rows of potatoes, carrots, onions, and cabbages.
The shed was fully equipped, and Marigold smiled, happy to see the soil rich and dark.
Without ceremony, she knelt on the ground and checked the leaves of every plant, pulled a few weeds, and touched and refreshed the soil. Brandon made good on his promise and followed her, learning from her, listening to her talk about her garden so passionately.
“You’re obsessed with this garden. Should I be jealous?”
“I am not obsessed, I am devoted,” Marigold corrected him. “As for you being jealous, I will skip the fact that it would be utterly ridiculous for a duke to be jealous of his own garden and go straight to the part where I tell you that I love you like nothing else in the world.”
Brandon didn’t let her react anymore or add to this.
Truthfully, there was nothing to be added.
He just got up and pulled her into his arms. He leaned in and kissed her deeply.
But he didn’t stop. He advanced, making her backtrack, and led her to a large oak tree at the edge of the garden.
The branches were full and clean and made it seem as if they were in a private alcove.
Her back hit the trunk of the tree, and Brandon cushioned her head with his hand. He never stopped kissing her, exploring her mouth with his tongue. His other hand tightened around her waist, his thumb pressing into her hips.
She melted into him, unable to resist him. One hand tangled in his hair, and the other found that small pouch of flesh shone that through the half-opened shirt.
“Brandon,” she whispered, and she wasn’t sure if she was complaining or urging him on.
His hands slipped down her body, strong hands gripping her thighs. He pulled her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Her husband was insatiable, unable to get his fill of her, but she wouldn’t get to complain because she too could not get enough of him.
The kiss became slower, but that made it more devastating, his tongue sliding across hers in slow, sensual moves.
“It must be somewhere around here,” Owen’s voice cut through the air.
“How could we not remember where the vegetable patch is?” Lily was heard as well.
Brandon groaned and dropped his forehead to Marigold’s shoulder.
“I am going to kill him.”
“You’re not going to do such a thing. Instead, you’re going to step back and let me down on my feet,” Marigold smiled.
“No,” Brandon said.
And to make her realize how serious he was, he kissed up her neck, grinding against her.
“They will find and see us.”
“Those siblings share the same trait,” Brandon murmured against her skin. “No sense of direction.”
“We can’t ignore them!”
“We can, and we will. Let me demonstrate.”
“Isn’t it behind this large oak tree?” Lily was heard closer.
Marigold tried to push Brandon away, but it was impossible. He held her captive with his body, his hands on her, and that wicked tongue of his wreaking havoc on her sensitive skin.
“You are a terrible host,” Marigold hissed in his ear.
“If I hide out here, I technically never hosted them.”
Marigold chuckled and pushed his chest once more.
“Lily, is that you?” she said aloud.
Brandon looked at her, utterly hurt and betrayed. Marigold left one peck on his lips and let her feet touch the ground.
“You will pay for this,” he threatened.
“Gladly,” she said and straightened her clothes.
“Marigold?” Lily was looking for her.
Marigold got out of the safety of the tree and made her way towards her friend. Lily must have seen her rosy cheeks, but she commented nothing.
“There you are!” Lily said and took Marigold in her arms. “You shouldn’t be working out in the heat. You look… flushed.”
Marigold realized that it was too much to ask for her best friend to leave her appearance without a pointed remark.
“I see,” Owen was even less subtle. “We interrupted something.”
Marigold turned and saw Brandon come out from under the tree, trying to look civil while still adjusting himself.
“Owen!” both women exclaimed.
“What?” Owen moved to tease his friend. “It is obvious we interrupted something. But then again, with these two, in order not to interrupt something, we would have to visit in the middle of the night. And then again, I am not sure they wouldn’t be—”
“Owen!” It was Brandon’s turn to issue a warning.
“I completely understand your frustration,” Owen assumed a fake apologetic look. “It is, to say the least, annoying to be interrupted while you—”
“Finish that sentence, and the garden will have a good fertilizer.”
“I am sympathizing, my friend. I still remember being in the arms of the unhappily married Lady Harriet when her husband decided to make a rather unexpected and frankly rude appearance, leaving me no choice but to jump out the window with my needs unattended.”
“Lily,” Brandon turned to the girl who was giggling behind her hand, “I promise you that I will take good care of you once I kill your brother.”
“Please don’t,” Lily burst out laughing. “Despite his many flaws, I am rather fond of him.”
“Let’s head back to the house for some tea,” Marigold decided to defuse the situation.
They walked back through the garden, Lily with her arm around Marigold’s, and Owen following with a very disgruntled Brandon.
“So,” Owen asked, “how does it feel to have the weight of the world off your shoulders?”
Marigold looked back at her husband only to find him already looking at her. They exchanged a soft smile.
“It feels good. Calm and peaceful,” Brandon replied with a smile.
“And why wouldn’t you feel calm? The gang is behind bars, Johnny will never see the light of day again, and on top of that, once in the custody of the police, everyone started talking. The Runners now have information on almost all illegal activity in the docks.”
“I too was surprised to see how efficiently the police handled this,” Brandon acknowledged the corruption within the ranks.
“Effectiveness has its way of multiplying when at least five dukes are overseeing the results.”
Brandon smirked. Duncan kept his promise and stayed on top of this particular mission. The fact that he was making regular visits to the police headquarters, accompanied by Victor who sometimes had difficulty getting through the doors of the district, had forced exactly what Owen said. Efficiency.
“Greta can finally rest,” Brandon said quietly.
Marigold felt a smile bloom on her face. The man she had met was obsessed with this mission, unable to rest or enjoy anything because of it. The revenge had taken over most of his soul. But he had grown into so much more. She couldn’t be more proud and honored to be his Duchess.
“I still can’t wrap my head around the way your mother treated you,” Lily said to Marigold.
Marigold felt her hand tighten around her friend’s arm. Lily patted her hand in reassurance. They entered the drawing room and sat down.
“Owen and I have lost our parents, and I cannot even fathom how it is to have your own mother treat you that way.”
“Giving birth to someone does not automatically make you a parent,” Marigold said.
She herself was only slowly coming to terms with what her mother had done.
How could she ever think that any of this behavior was normal?
Hurting her own child to protect reputation was cruel enough.
But to put down her own daughter as collateral, so she could have more money for new gowns—that was inexcusable.
“Do you talk with your cousin now?” Lily inquired.
“Brandon and I went to talk to him. We exposed every single lie my mother had said. The worst part was that I had to corroborate my claims using the words of a convicted felon and notorious gangster. My cousin couldn’t even believe it when he heard that Johnny had confessed to taking part in everything my mother had done.
And my cousin was even more shocked to find out I was almost killed because of those actions. ”
“I was not going to show leniency,” Brandon ground his jaw. “If he had agreed to take Marigold in that day, she wouldn’t have been hurt. But Marigold insisted.”
Marigold smiled. She hoped that the same way she let go of the guilt he felt over Greta, Brandon would more easily forget his guilt over her burns because she had overcome them already.
“I think throwing her in Bedlam,” Owen said, “was a very magnanimous decision.”
Marigold looked up at her friend and met his eyes, seeing a flash of dark anger, a sight so rare for the usually light Duke.
“She’s out of my life and unable to do any more harm. That is what matters,” Marigold said softly.
“You are by far a better person than I am,” Lily said.
After that, conversation grew lighter. Owen shared stories, and they all laughed. Marigold felt warmth and fullness in her soul. Even Brandon, who was still grumpy, succumbed to Owen’s charm eventually.
“And this is exactly how we are inviting ourselves to dinner,” Owen dared to propose even though Brandon was throwing him dagger looks.
Marigold gave orders to the kitchen accordingly and asked the staff to prepare two rooms for the siblings to rest before dinner and refresh themselves. She was, in fact, on her way to ask Lily if she wanted to borrow one of her gowns when Brandon cornered her.
“Am I being ambushed in my own house?” Marigold smiled.
“That is your punishment for allowing those two to stay for dinner.”
“You turn down most invitations to balls as the season comes to an end. You never invite our friends over. Do you mean to keep me in here like some mythical heroine of old?”
He pushed her against the wall, his mouth finding her neck.
“Don’t you know why, Marigold?” Brandon purred. “All my life I was fighting for one single goal. And then you came along, and the fight became so much more. The gang, my pain, your suffering, and then almost losing you…”
Marigold felt the pain piercing through his passion. She knew what he needed. To keep her to himself. It was to calm his raging soul that still feared he would lose what he loved most.
“Come with me,” he asked.
“Brandon, we have guests.” Marigold bit her lip as he kept kissing her neck.
“And whose fault is that?”
“Are you going to punish me?”
Brandon chuckled darkly, pulling back to look into her eyes.
“It depends.He” his voice dropped low. “Are you going to be my good girl?”
Marigold smiled. She didn’t know what life had planned for them, but one thing she knew for sure was that she would always be his good, good girl.
The End?