Epilogue
“I don’t want you to get your hopes up,” Antony said, speaking gently.
“Antony, I’ll be fine,” I said, impatient to get inside the inn we were standing outside.
“Gossip is often unfounded and—”
“Yes, yes,” I answered with a dismissive wave of my hand. “I know that already.” My husband stilled me with a firm look that got me right down to the core. I swallowed hard before offering an apologetic smile. “I meant, yes, sir.”
“Be sure you remember that,” he warned before opening the door for me. “Wait right here.”
Although I wanted to protest, I knew I was closer to getting in trouble than I would like. Best not compound my problems. So instead I watched Antony as he walked toward the innkeeper. I sucked in my breath and held it, as I would until he turned back to me and sadly shook his head, as he had every time before. After that, the air would spill from me in a disappointed exhale. One would think that after a certain amount of disappointment it would stop hurting so badly, but thus far I had felt it as keenly each and every time.
After Wallace’s sudden reappearance, Antony had indeed notified the captain he’d scouted for, after which he’d begun placing delicate inquiries and discovered that there were women from Hohenzollern living in nearby communities. He only brought the news to me after he had found a woman who he’d hoped was my mother. Unfortunately, it had turned out to be a woman I didn’t even recognize. But she knew the locations of some of the older women taken from the castle, and thus began the hunt that we’d been on for the last fortnight.
Each and every time we thought we’d found her, it turned out to be only wishful thinking. Yet, now that the seed had been planted, our reunion was the only thing I could think of. Antony, for his part, could have said long ago that it was a lost cause, he could have instructed me to stop hoping to find her, but he didn’t. Instead, he accompanied me any time we had a good lead and was there to hold me each time my hopes were dashed.
My foot was bouncing up and down of its own accord, yet I hardly noticed. I only had eyes for my husband. I watched as he spoke with the innkeeper, and I wished I could hear what he was saying. I knew he would be relating key portions of the story and asking to see the baker, who we’d been told bore a good resemblance to the description I’d given of my mother. The man Antony had spoken with had said that the baker came from Hohenzollern, but we wouldn’t know the truth of it until we saw her. I was so anxious that I felt like I would burst at any moment. Antony had often scolded me for my impatient nature during this venture, but even his scoldings and the spanking I’d earned for being impertinent could not cure me of this tendency.
I bit down on my lip as I caught sight of Antony walking back toward me, and I tried to read his expression. The innkeeper hadn’t refused, had he? No one had thus far, but it was always a fear in the back of my mind. “Antony?”
“Shh, now,” he soothed as he stood by my side, reading my expression easily. “She’ll be out in just a moment. But, Cecily, if it isn’t her, I don’t want you to be upset. We’ll keep looking, I promise you.”
I slipped my hand into his and squeezed hard, unable to convey the extent of my gratitude. I knew that I might never find my mother, but I thought I could make peace with that as long as I had my husband.
Just then I glimpsed a movement out of the corner of my eye that caught my attention. I turned, and then I saw her. She was standing stock still looking back at me, her face the most beautiful thing I’d seen. Her hair had more silver than I remembered and was held tight in a thick bun on top of her head. Her face contained more wrinkles, but was infinitely dear. It was her. Atlast—my mother.
“Cecily?”
“It’s her,” I answered, my heart so full that it was overflowing. We began to move toward each other at the same moment, and when we reached one another, we were both in tears.
“How can this be?” she murmured as she pulled me to her and wrapped me in her embrace. She held me tightly, as though she would never let go. “God has finally answered my prayers.
“I have been looking for you so long,” I told her through my tears. “Even before I began to hope…”
“I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see you safe.” She pulled back, beaming at me. “You look well, Cecily. You were taken?” Her brow wrinkled with concern. “When the castle fell?”
“I… it’s a long tale, Mother. I would like you to meet my husband.” I turned to gesture toward him, and seeing me, he came forward. “May I introduce my husband, Antony?”
“It’s an honor.” He gave her an elegant bow that made her smile.
“The honor is mine,” mother replied graciously. “It is obvious you’vetaken good care of my daughter, and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.”
“That has been my pleasure. Though not always easy,” Antony allowed with a smile.
To my surprise, my mother laughed. “Oh, Cecily has always been a bit stubborn. There is no doubting that she has her father’s spirit,” she said, smiling as she patted my arm.
“How did you come to be here?” I asked, still unable to believe we’d actually found her. “You made it out of the castle safely?”
“Not to parrot you, sweeting, but it’s a long story. One saved for another time, perhaps.”
The thought of leaving her had never occurred to me. I’d only just found her!
“On that matter, I would like to offer you our hospitality, my lady.”
I turned to Antony in surprise. Though we’d never spoken of mother living with us, the thought filled me with unspeakable joy. Truly, I had the most thoughtful husband in all the world.
“We have the room,” he remarked, nodding at me. “It isn’t a castle, of course, but you’re welcome to any comforts we have.”
