But it was something.
Aunty Violet was not giving up.“Rowan, that’s not—”
“There’s no room here for me to sleep,” he insisted.“Every chamber is overflowing.I’m going to Father and Mum’s house.I’ll see you there tomorrow.”
“Rowan—”
“Let him go, Violet,” Uncle Ford said.“Good Lord, they’re just next door.”A slight exaggeration—though the Trentingham estate shared a border with Lakefield, that border was a mile away.“Fetch your things, Rowan, and then we’ll see you off and join you at noon.Everyone else, bring your gifts to the drawing room in twenty minutes.And Hilda?”
His portly housekeeper poked her head in.“Yes, my lord?”
“We’re going to need alotmore mulled wine.”
Jewel raised her cup.“Hear, hear!”she agreed with a grin.
Thirty-One
Amy
AMY LOVEDpresents.Giving them, receiving them, watching others give and receive—she loved all of it.For close to two hours, she’d been basking in the pleasure of watching her loved ones exchange gifts…with no end in sight.
She sipped from her cup of mulled wine, feeling pleasantly relaxed while her niece Elspeth opened yet another present, this one from her mother.
“Oh, my heavens!”Elspeth held up a bow-shaped galant, its gold and jewels flashing in the firelight.“This is lovely!”
“Your Aunty Amy made it,” Kendra told her daughter.Toying with the stones on her amber bracelet, she looked to Amy.“I hope you don’t mind that I’m passing it along?”
“Of course I don’t mind!”Warmth flooded Amy’s being, and not just from the wine.She remembered making the delicate brooch—well before she’d met Kendra—setting rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds in it, seated at her jeweler’s bench at Goldsmith & Sons so very many years ago.It seemed a lifetime had passed since then, and also since she’d given the galant to Kendra as a thank-you for befriending her after the Great Fire.Kendra hadn’t been much older than Elspeth when Amy gave her the galant; the piece was perfect for a young lady, and she was thrilled to see it stay within the family.
Sipping more mulled wine, she looked around the chamber, so pleased to see other pieces she’d made over the years.
Violet was wearing her wedding ring, a large rectangular amethyst with a row of small diamonds flanking each side.When Ford asked Amy to make it, she had been delighted—then even more delighted to see how much Violet loved it.
Complementing her brilliant aquamarine gown, Caithren was wearing the emerald stomacher brooch that Amy had given her as a wedding present.Set with a large oval stone surrounded by diamonds and pearls, it was the first thing Amy made in the workshop Colin built for her at Greystone the year after they’d wed.Seeing it made her remember that and smile.
The jewels in this chamber told the story of her life.
Kendra was wearing the amethyst, diamond, and pearl locket that Colin bought for her birthday so many years before, which Amy had made as well.That had been Colin’s first and last visit to Amy’s shop—the day the two of them met.So much had happened since then!
The emerald ring on Kendra’s hand reminded Amy of her first Christmas as a Chase—and what a magical Christmas that had been.She’d been delighted to celebrate with her new husband’s family, and even more delighted to reveal that she was carrying her first child.
On that long-ago Christmas Eve, when Amy gave Kendra that ring, she’d been her only sister-in-law.Now she had three, and she loved them all dearly.Although she’d been raised as an only child, she now found it difficult to imagine life without Kendra, Caithren, and Violet, the sisters of her heart.
Tonight Colin was wearing the cameo cravat pin she gave him before they wed, when she thought she was moving to France and would never see him again.The girl she’d carved into the coral looked very like she had back then: a pert profile with long wavy hair, wearing a little gold wire necklace with a tiny diamond pendant.He also wore the signet ring she’d made for him—well, the second one she’d made, since the first had been taken by a highwayman.He rarely wore any other jewelry, and this occasion was no exception.
Whoever thought she would marry an earl?She still adored him, after all these years.She’d hated being at odds with him—she was so happy the two of them were once again in harmony.
“Why does this always take forever?”Jason asked, pulling out the pocket watch Amy’s father made long ago.It had an enamelled face and an open-work lid set with one enormous oval sapphire and eight smaller ones.Following the Great Fire, Amy had given it to Jason as a thank-you gift for letting her stay at his home.
How proud Papa would have been to see a marquess owning his watch, Amy thought now.He’d been a good man, but not a humble one.
Jason flipped the watch open.“It’s ten o’clock already, and I swear we’re but halfway through.”
“There are a lot of us now,” Cait reminded him.
“And soon there will be more,” Colin added.“Your new little one, plus Jewel will bring Henry.”
And maybe Jewel will also bring a little one, Amy thought with a secret smile.A grandchild—she could hardly contain her excitement at the mere possibility.
