Epilogue
Louisa finally visited the Roman folly in person the following August.
Her jaw dropped the moment she stepped onto the belvedere. “You said this location was remote. There is a village right there. I can see into the windows of the cottages.”
“I realized that only when I came to place the dress dummies here before our wedding,” her husband answered, grinning. “It wasn’t as if I visited frequently—silly place.”
“How come you never said anything to me?”
“You were willing to make love in the Greek folly in the middle of an outdoor party. You don’t lack for courage—or perversity.”
She hit him on the arm. “That was at night. I am much more respectable during the day.”
“We don’t have to do anything naughty. We can just enjoy the view.”
She linked her fingers with his. The view was quite ordinary, but the day was warm and lovely and she was inexpressibly happy.
“Still over the moon about your comet?” he asked, smiling at her.
“It will always be my first.”
It had been an accidental discovery, as she compared photographs taken of the same patch of sky on successive nights.
Together they did the work afterward, comparing the timing and trajectory of the comet to those that had been observed before, eliminating the possibility that it was one of those on a returning trip—and that was when she first learned that Felix had discovered other comets before.
But now it was confirmed: a previously unknown astronomical body. She hadn’t stopped smiling since the letter from the Royal Astronomical Society arrived.
And she couldn’t help wrapping her arms around him. “Oh, all right, why not? We came all the way here. Let’s give the villagers an eyeful.”
He guided her to a corner of the belvedere where it would be difficult for anyone below to see anything. “I know I love you for a reason. I will love you even more when they come for you with pitchforks.”
She laughed, cupped his face, and looked into his eyes. “And I could never be this happy with anyone else.”