Extended Epilogue
One year later…
Rupert heard his wife crying as Hannah Drummond and Matthew Davenport exchanged their vows. He thought of their own wedding, of his determination that it would be a marriage in name only. It made him feel ashamed now and he tried to suppress the feeling. George, his young son, sat between his parents. Rupert could feel the child kicking his legs to and fro beneath the pew. He could imagine him craning his neck to see what was happening.
Rupert placed a hand on George’s head, the soft silky hair just beginning to thicken and curl. He was barely old enough to be sitting up but was an independent soul who wanted to be in amongst the adults around him at every opportunity.
As intrepid as his mother and as independent as I. He will make a fine Duke. How long it has been since I looked to the future with such hope. Since I looked to the future at all.
He could picture Matthew, grinning from ear to ear, unable to contain himself. Hannah would look radiant, he was sure, in her pure white. Audrey had described her friend to him and he thought he had a good mental image. Matthew had just received a good posting, as Deacon of a parish near his home estates. It would bring a respectable income to keep his wife and future family sated. Rupert wondered at how he had ever favored Isaac Masterton as a friend over Matthew. That once he had considered Matthew to be flighty and unreliable.
He has proved himself different. Meanwhile, Isaac was always the salt of the earth. The loyal retainer who had served two generations of Dukes. And he proved to be a killer and a criminal. It does not say much for my judgment. Except that I chose Audrey. Even before I was forced into marrying her, I had chosen her. So, perhaps there is hope for me.
Audrey had wept as they followed the happy couple from the church. When the bride threw her bouquet, it almost landed in Audrey’s arms. At the last moment, she told Rupert that she had ducked, allowing it to be caught by another, unmarried woman.
“You do not regret that we did not have a happy ceremony like this?” Rupert asked as they walked to the waiting carriage that would take them home to Westfront.
“No. I do not care about the ceremony. I know that you did not regard it as a true marriage at the time. What counts is how you see it now.”
“You are my world,” Rupert said simply.
He carried their son on his hip, one hand on Audrey’s shoulder as she led him to the carriage. George babbled and laughed in his ear and he grinned in response.
“If the church allowed it I would marry you again,” he said.
“Nonsense. I would not have it. Our marriage was earned,” Audrey said. “We proved ourselves to each other. And worked hard for what we have. I would not cheapen that for the sake of a romantic ceremony.”
“I obey,” Rupert replied wryly and Audrey laughed softly in response.
“Your Graces!” came a voice. “Begging pardon, Your Graces, but might I have a moment.”
Rupert recognized the voice of one of his tenant farmers, a man called Brewer.
“Now is hardly the time, Master Brewer,” Rupert said shortly, annoyed at the interruption.
Audrey quieted him with a gentle touch. “Not at all, Master Brewer, I know it must be urgent. Is it one of your cows?”
“Yes, it is, Your Grace. Won’t get up after calving. We’ve tried all the usual remedies but she’s just lying there. Don’t know what to do for the best.”
Rupert sighed and then smiled, knowing that his exasperation would have earned a stern glance from his wife. His wife who had applied herself and her knowledge of nature to the domestic animals kept by the men who farmed Rupert’s land. Her skills had subsequently led to them coming to her more and more often.
“Do not fret, Master Brewer. I will return home to change and then I will come out to you and we will see what can be done,” Audrey said, kindly.
“Oh, thank you, your ladyship. And thank you, Your Grace,” Brewer said.
Rupert heard the relief in the man’s voice and knew his gratitude would be sincere and heartfelt.
“We do have a wedding reception to attend, dear,” Rupert said reprovingly, as Brewer took his leave.
“Yes, but thanks to your generosity in allowing Hannah and Matthew to marry in the Wellington family chapel, it is happening in our own home. So, I have plenty of time to see to Master Brewer’s cow and then return for the feast,” Audrey said, happily.
“Your mother will be horrified when I tell her where you have gone,” Rupert said with a chuckle.
Audrey laughed aloud as they resumed their leisurely walk to the carriage. “A Duchess who gets her hands dirty with the ailments of cows, sheep, and horses. Yes, she will be suitably mortified. Are you?”
Rupert yelped as his adventurous son yanked suddenly on a lock of his hair. The yelp turned into a laugh as he turned his face to the boy and bared his teeth in mock fury. George laughed in delight at the face and Rupert resolved to keep making it all the way home. As long as his son kept laughing, he didn’t care how he looked.
“I am as proud as a man can be of the renown of my wife.”
And the fact that while my tenants respect me, I hope, they love and adore you. You are a ray of dazzling light that has shone into my world of darkness.
They climbed into the carriage which set off for Westfront Castle. The country through which they rode was clear to Rupert but the image that was most vivid was that of his beautiful wife and son. Two faces that he had never seen with his eyes but which, nonetheless, would remain etched into his mind’s eye forever.