“Now and always,” she agreed, caressing his cheek.
He rolled to his side, taking her with him, and they held each other tight, their breaths mingling, their hearts thudding. He kissed her crown, so damn grateful for this woman, for her love, so desperately happy to be back where he belonged.
At last.
Epilogue
NELL WAS INa celebratory mood.
Which was why she held her daughter Emma in her arms whilst singing the Bridal Chorus fromLohengrin, twirling about the reappointed nursery at Needham Hall. The song was a favorite of hers, after all. She adored opera, even if she was abysmal at singing it herself.
But this was not any ordinary evening, and nor was it an ordinary emotion pulsing within her: this brilliant, wondrous sense of hope and peace and rightness. This was an occasion of celebration. She had endured three years of waiting. Three years of misery, heartsickness, loneliness, agony without Jack…
Until he had returned. Until their love had prevailed in spite of both their imperfections, flaws, and foolishness. In the end, love had won, just as it always should, and she felt fortunate. So blessed. So happy. Happier than she had ever imagined she could be.
At long last, she had what she had always wanted.
A family.
Specifically: her family with Jack. And their family was about to grow in number. No one knew that yet. She had only suspected it for several weeks, but she had not dared suggest it to him, biding her time until she could be sure. The absence of her monthly courses, the swelling in her belly, and the morning biliousness which had begun visiting her were too strong to ignore.
She screwed her face into a series of silly expressions for Emma’s benefit, twirled them about again, warbled a bit more. Jack would be here soon. He was finishing up the chapter in his latest travel memoir. They had recently returned from taking little Emma on a month-long trip to America, and Jack was busy penning his reminiscences of New York City and Philadelphia.
Emma beamed at her, two tiny teeth protruding from her upper gums. Emma would turn one year old tomorrow. Her pudgy little fist was closed round Nell’s thumb.
Nell gave them another quick whirl and then buried her face in Emma’s soft little neck, smacking it with kisses.
“Mama!” Emma cried with glee, dissolving into giggles.
Her daughter’s laughter was one of the best sounds Nell had ever heard. She finished singing and took one more whirl before pausing, breathless, when she noticed Jack standing on the threshold. There was so much love in his eyes that she had to swallow against a rush of her own emotion.
A brilliant burst of love erupted in her heart.
Love for this man, for their baby girl, for the new life they had begun together. Contentedness, too, for their fresh start.
Her lips twitched with the effort to contain her smile. “How long have you been standing there watching us, Papa?”
He grinned as he sauntered into the nursery, closing the distance between them. “Long enough to know you are dreadful at singingTristan und Isolde.”
She laughed. “Rotten man. You know very well that wasLohengrin.”
“Was it?” He reached Nell and Emma, drawing his arm around Nell’s waist and bringing them close. “I dare say I could not tell.”
Dressed informally in his shirtsleeves and waistcoat and trousers, the shade of his whiskers darkening his jaw, he looked nothing short of delicious. She could not suppress the tug of desire she felt for him. Nell slid an arm around him as well, and, ignoring his good-natured teasing about her singing, she finished the chorus.
“Brava, my darling,” he said when she was done, leaning in for a hasty kiss. “That was the song you were singing the night I returned. Do you recall that night?”
Her cheeks went hot, and she turned her attention to Emma, who was still smiling, her rosy cheeks and golden curls making her resemble nothing so much as a little cherub.
“Of course I remember that night,” she told her husband. “I was dancing on the table.”
“And I caught you when you would have fallen and done yourself grievous harm.” He pressed a kiss to her brow. “Thank God I arrived when I did.”
“I am grateful you did as well.” Indeed, had he not, and had her life instead turned out the way she had been so convinced it must, with her as Tom’s wife one day…
Why, she could not even bear to think of it now, with their darling in her arms and Jack surrounding them in his loving, protective embrace.
“You are happy, Nellie?” he asked solemnly, studying her with his intense regard.
