There was nothing harsh or groping in the way they came together—nothing of performance. Just wedded coupling—inelegant, a measure nervous, a measure more embarrassed...but a fully wet, hot joining of man and wife.
Of future duke and future duchess.
He pulled her down against his chest. Her folded thighs gripped his sides.
“I have you,” he whispered into her ear. “I won’t let you go.”
She buried her face into his neck and he inhaled the scent of her hair. He rocked upward until the sensations sent him spinning and he only vaguely heard her satiated cry.
~~~
Penelope grasped her husband’s injured arm as they walked together through the coppiced wood that evening.
“What star is that?” he asked.
Of course, he knew the North Star.
“That,” she replied, “is the star that guided you home.”
He smiled down into her eyes and something inside unraveled. Something long and thin that she’d started to spool up tight the night he’d left.
She cut out this moment and set it apart in her mind.
Happiness was not a state, or an ever-after.
Happiness was a quilt.
Or a constellation...with moments like jewels. Like stars.
A sapphire evening. A Carnelian sunset. Emerald spring.
The brilliant white diamond euphoria—rare, like that rocking carriage ride to Scotland. Like the moment he’d shot that arrow through those axes, forever pinning himself to her heart.
“Tell me,” she asked, “do you still have an insatiable thirst for adventure?”
“I’ve had enough adventure for a lifetime, but I have an insatiable thirst for you.”
“You’ve experienced so much.”
“We’ve a lifetime to exchange stories. And,” he paused, “all that matters is you know my heart.”
His face was now shadowed by dusk.
There would be time for healing.
Time for passion.
Time to teach one another again.
He was a constellation—bright points, and vast spaces of unknown. An imagined shape, sometimes barely recognizable, but shining in the darkest night.
“I know your heart,” she agreed. “And I finally know who you are.”
“Who is that?” he asked.
“You are brave and strong and caring. And loyal and wise and good.” She held his cheeks and stood on the tips of her toes to kiss him. “And for all that and more, you are my hero.”
Epilogue
