Epilogue #4
The girl entered promptly, though her expression shifted at once upon seeing her mistress standing so still, her composure intact but her attention clearly elsewhere.
“Your Grace, are you unwell?” she asked, her tone cautious.
“I do not believe so,” Temperance replied, though she did not attempt to sound entirely convinced. “But I should like you to send for the physician.”
“At once, Your Grace?” the girl asked, clearly surprised.
“Yes,” Temperance said. “At once.”
Once she was alone again, the quiet of the room seemed to settle around her in a way that felt markedly different from before, as though something had already changed, whether she chose to acknowledge it or not.
“Well,” she said softly, “that would be…”
She did not finish the sentence, though she no longer needed to.
By the time the physician arrived, she had regained her usual composure entirely, though there remained a quiet awareness beneath it that could not be set aside, no matter how she might wish to approach the matter with reason rather than assumption.
The examination was conducted with all due propriety, the questions asked and answered with the same calm precision she would have applied to any other matter, though she found that she was listening rather more closely than usual, as though the confirmation, when it came, would not surprise her, but would nonetheless alter something in a way she could not yet fully define.
“Your Grace,” the physician said at last, stepping back with a faint, satisfied inclination of his head, “I believe I may offer you my congratulations.”
Temperance met his gaze steadily. “On what account?”
“You are with child but are in good health,” he continued, “and there is no cause for concern, provided that you take appropriate care in the coming months. I would recommend…”
“Yes,” she said gently, though with enough finality to suggest she required no further instruction at present. “Thank you. That will be all.”
When he had gone, the silence that followed did not feel empty, but rather full in a way that required a moment to absorb, as though the knowledge itself needed time to settle into something real. Temperance remained where she was, her posture unchanged, though her thoughts had shifted entirely.
With child.
It had been spoken of, after all, not as a distant possibility, but as something expected, something that would come in time, and yet she had not considered that time might be so immediate, so quietly arrived without any particular announcement beyond the subtle changes she had only now recognized.
A faint smile touched her lips, not with surprise, but with a certain satisfaction she did not attempt to deny.
“Well,” she said softly, “that was rather efficient.”
There was only one person she intended to tell. Harper was in his study when she entered, seated as he often was with some matter before him, though his attention shifted at once when she stepped inside, as though her presence alone was enough to demand it.
“Temperance,” he said, his tone sharpening slightly with concern. “You sent for the physician.”
“I did,” she replied, closing the door behind her with deliberate calm.
“And?”
She regarded him for a moment.
“Well,” she said, “it would seem that your preference for not delaying matters has been rather thoroughly accommodated.”
He frowned slightly. “I do not follow.”
She stepped further into the room, her composure entirely intact, though there was a quiet warmth beneath it now.
“You expressed a desire,” she continued, “that we should not treat the matter of a family as something distant or uncertain, but rather as something to be approached with a degree of intention.”
“Yes,” he said slowly.
“And you were quite clear that you saw no reason for delay.”
“I was.”
Temperance held his gaze.
“Then I believe you will be pleased to know that there has been none.”
For a moment, he did not move, though the meaning was already evident.
“You mean…”
“Yes,” she said.
A silence followed, though it was not long, only long enough for the reality of it to settle.
“You are certain?” he asked, his tone quieter now.
“I would not say it if I were not.”
He studied her for a moment, as though ensuring there was no uncertainty in her composure.
“And you are well?” he asked.
“I am perfectly well,” she replied, with the faintest hint of dry amusement. “You need not look as though you expect me to collapse at any moment.”
“I do not,” he said, though the concern did not entirely leave his expression. “I am confirming.”
“That I remain functional?” she asked lightly.
“That you are not unwell,” he corrected.
She inclined her head slightly, accepting that.
“Well, you may be assured that I am not. But there is something else.”
“Temperance…”
Instead of telling him with words, she gestured to her belly, which would soon be protruding with signs of life. His eyes widened immediately.
“Are you serious?”
When she nodded, he rushed over to pick her up and pepper kisses all over her face. “You do not know how happy you have just made me. I love you, and I cannot wait for us to start this new chapter.”
The End?