Extended Epilogue
Six years later
Dreams do become reality, and mine have.
“One!” the little voice called, and Colin raised his head from the correspondence he was reading, glancing at the closed library door.
“Two!” a second tiny voice called.
“Three!”
Thud!
Colin shot to his feet, dropping the letter and striding across the room to yank open the door. Footsteps shuffled about, and someone said, “Quick, hide!” His eyebrows slowly ascended toward his hairline when he saw what was happening. Dorothy, his five-year-old daughter, was pushing a sack of flour on one side, her three-year-old brother, Harry, was pulling from the other side, and Frobisher’s ten-year-old son, George, was lifting the sack from the middle.
The sack was larger than all three of them, and Colin was trying to understand how they managed to get it to the front of the library. The entire scene was ridiculous. They all straightened when they saw him. “Can someone explain to me what is happening here?”
Harry promptly pointed a finger in his sister’s direction, while Dorothy pointed at George, who was immediately annoyed by the silent accusation. Colin waited for them to speak, and when no one said anything, he said, “Since you all have no wish to tell me what you are doing, I will tell Cook you have been in the pantry.”
“No!” Harry was the first to protest.
“We did not get the sack from the pantry, Your Grace,” George said.
“Oh?” Colin tilted his head. “Pray, where did you get it from, then?”
“From the cart outside the kitchens,” Dorothy admitted, her head bowed and one of her feet shuffling against the floor.
“My, you all must be very strong to have carried something that heavy all the way here.”
“Johnny helped uth,” Harry answered.
“Ah, I see. Where is Johnny now?” Colin asked, and Harry shrugged. Johnny was a rambunctious youth in Ashden, who was fond of coming to Dawnton to visit the children. He taught Dorothy how to climb trees.
“He had to leave,” George supplied, and Colin caught the look he exchanged with Dorothy. He looked around the hallway and thought he saw boots peeking from the other side of the grand clock to his right.
By now, Colin was trying not to laugh. “And what do you intend to do with the flour?”
The children looked at one another before George cleared his throat and answered. “We wish to bake Her Grace a cake for her birthday.” They appeared to have thought out their explanation.
“How marvelous!” Colin chuckled. “She will be most impressed.”
“Oh, yes!” they chorused, their heads bobbing.
“Should you not be taking the flour to the kitchens, then?” Colin stroked his chin thoughtfully. “After all, that is where the oven is, and the sugar and butter and cream.”
Harry pressed his lips together, while Dorothy and George’s cheeks colored. “Do you want us to be honest, Papa?” Dorothy asked after a moment, her guilt pronounced in her vibrant green eyes.
He crouched until he was the same height as her. “Yes, I want you to be honest, my little one.”
Dorothy glanced at George, and he quickly looked away, his face further reddening.
“Well, we are not baking a cake for Mama. We are making a painting for Mama’s birthday, and have exhausted the white paint we have,” she explained. “Johnny said we could use flour.” Anna’s birthday was in a fortnight, and every year, since they knew how to color, the children painted something for her.
“I see.” Colin glanced to his right. “You may come out now, Johnny.” Colin now understood the reason the children had not simply asked for more paint. It was much more entertaining to play with flour, and making paint was not the only thing they had in mind.
Johnny stepped out from his hiding place with a sheepish grin and made an exaggerated bow. “Your Grace.”
“Would you be so kind as to return this sack from whence it came?”
Johnny looked at the children’s alarmed faces before quietly saying, “At once, Your Grace.” He stepped forward and began to pull the sack, while Colin turned to the Children.
“I will acquire all the paint you need for your Mama’s painting. May I see it?”
They led him down the hall and into their playroom. Anna had wanted the children to have several rooms to play in, and each floor had one. They preferred the room on the first floor, the one they were walking into now. A large canvas stood on the easel at the far end of the room with an unfinished painting under the glow of the afternoon light that beamed through the windows. It seemed they were painting Anna, and Colin would never have guessed what it was if there wasn’t a form of a woman with very pale skin and ebony hair.
His heart warmed, and a smile touched his face. Dorothy and Harry had her pale skin, and set against his sandy hair, they were quite fair. “Is that Mama?” he asked, walking toward the canvas.
“Yeth,” Harry answered, skipping forward. “Thith ith the green dreth she alwayth wearth. I painted it.”
“And I painted her hair, Papa,” Dorothy supplied proudly.
Colin noticed the flowers Anna was supposedly holding were neat, and they stood out from the chaos. “Who painted the flowers?” he asked, knowing who had.
“It is I, Your Grace,” George said shyly.
“She will love it,” he told them, imagining Anna’s eyes sparkling when presented with the painting.
“Truly?” they said all at once, jumping.
“Yes, truly.” Colin smiled. “Do you know what else we can do for her birthday?” Their eyes lit up and he dropped his voice to a whisper.
***
Anna smiled at the guests while her eyes roamed the ballroom in search of Colin. He had been gone for almost a half hour to fetch something after saying he would only be gone for a few minutes.
“Still looking for Colin?” Catherine asked in a whisper.
“Yes.”
“He will return. Soon.”
Something in her sister’s tone made Anna turn to look at her. Her eyes sparkled as though she knew something that Anna did not. Nathaniel joined them just then. His steel factory was now one of the largest in England, and Colin was happy he had invested when he had the chance, for he had designed most of the machines for Nathaniel.
“Have you seen Colin?” Anna asked him.
Nathaniel looked about the ballroom, and Anna could tell he knew where Colin was. They were supposed to lead the first dance of the evening—the waltz—and it was going to begin soon.
Nathaniel shook his head. “No, I have not seen him.”
“Here, have something to drink.” Catherine placed a glass of champagne in her hand, her smile broadening.
“Catherine, do you—“
“Ah, there he is!” Nathaniel said, pointing at the ballroom doors with his chin.
Anna turned to see Colin standing by the door, his back to her. Mrs. Willis walked in just then and went to stand on the dais that was the dance floor. Anna’s eyebrows furrowed when Chalker and Bishop walked in after Mrs. Willis, followed by six footmen and five maids, all taking positions on the dais. The ballroom was very quiet with every guest looking on curiously.
When Dorothy stepped into the ballroom in a frilly pale green dress with pink flowers, and Harry in a dark blue coat that looked like Colin’s, her heart melted with joy. Harry was leading their dog, Mercury, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, with a broad grin on his chubby face. Charlotte entered, she was all grown now, and Anna clapped her hands together, understanding what was happening, or about to happen. “I thought they were asleep,” she whispered to Nathaniel and Catherine. “I read them a story before the ball.”
Colin must have been getting them ready all this while, she thought. George was the last to walk in, and he was holding Sir Nips. The cat had become even more indolent, and he still slept most hours of the day. George set him down on the dais, and he went to rest against Mercury, who was seated near Harry, yawning.
Colin stood in front of them to conduct. Chalker picked up a violin and began to play, and the group started to sing. Anna first gaped, then she closed her mouth and watched in amazement, her heart lifting with every note. She never imagined a performance in her honor, and every important person in her life was here. She had thought the painting she received in the morning was the only present from the children.
Dorothy sang the final note and her beautiful eyes sparkled. When she finished, she grinned so widely that Anna laughed. Harry ran to her and wrapped his arms around her legs, and Dorothy followed him.
“Thank you, my darlings,” Anna said, her voice thick with emotion. She raised her head toward the stage. “You all have made this one of the happiest days of my life.”
Colin, the light of her life, came to her then, extending his arm. “Shall we dance, my love?”
“Yes, we shall,” she laughed and placed her hand on his arm. He swept her into an elegant waltz that had the guests applauding, especially Mrs. Gardiner, who was now one of Anna’s dearest friends.
“Happy Birthday, my love,” Colin said, twirling her.
“I shall have to do something grander for your birthday,” she giggled. They competed in pleasing each other, but the best reward was the glimmer in his blue eyes every time he looked at her.
Today counted only as one day in their lives, and there were many more to come, each fulfilling the promise that she was his, and he was hers. Forever.