“Nae.”
The case clock ticked in the otherwise silent room.
“And you are all that I would hope for her.”
She was looking at him and he looked back at her, carefully. She appeared sincere.
“I just— I just still have a hard time remembering she is a woman and not a girl. You will have a daughter, yourself, one day, Dr. Andrews, and you will understand.”
“Alasdair.”
She was startled. “Pardon?”
He cleared his throat. “Ye said ye would call me Alasdair.”
“Yes, I did, didn’t I?” She smiled and then her face became serious. “I wonder if you might tell me why Arabella never wrote to me.”
“I dinnae know, Catherine. But I will tell ye that yer daughter, whom we both love, dinnae like to return to the past. She dinnae like regret.”
“Yes.” Catherine bit her lip. “Yes. She wants to move forward.”
“Nae, shehasmoved forward. In fact, she has moved all of us forward.”
Catherine was silent again. Then she stood and he stood after her and she took his hands.
“I am very sorry for disturbing you, Alasdair.”
“Ye dinnae disturb me, Catherine. I am always happy to talk about my favorite thing in all the world. Yer daughter.”
“Yes.” And she squeezed both of his hands tightly and then turned, her skirts whirling, and she was gone from the library.
That night at dinner, he was happy to note that Catherine smiled a great deal and laughed more easily than the night before and there was no trace of tension or worry in the looks she gave Arabella, only affection.
After dinner, over port in the dining room with the other men, James first told Alasdair how he envied him his time in the navy and then leaned forward and said to him in a confiding tone, “I don’t know what you said to my wife this afternoon, but thank you, Andrews.”
Alasdair mumbled something noncommittal, but Thomas had overheard what James had said. “Yes, Alasdair is the chief luller of wives. He invariably soothes Harry. It’s the physician’s touch. I can’t think but that he will never have any problem with his own wife.”
Alasdair shook his head, thinking of Arabella’s temper. There would be disagreements in the future, how could there not be? But he trusted that he and Arabella would be able to kiss these out.
And that night, in their house, even though there were no disagreements pending, Alasdair found Arabella entirely amenable to the idea of kissing.
Epilogue
The ever after.
Arabella published an advertisement in a London paper and quickly found a teacher, a wiry, brilliant spinster named Miss Finley, and sent her up to Dunburn to take over the school. Arabella said she was not at all surprised a year later when Miss Finley accepted Mr. Cormack’s offer of marriage. Arabella then promptly hired another teacher and sent her up to Dunburn. She wondered aloud if this teacher too would be seduced by a Highlander. Really, she would not blame her if that happened.
Maggie Gunn returned to Dunburn to take care of Miss Finley and all the school teachers who came after her. Maggie’s sister’s husband was never heard from again and Maggie reported via letter that her sister felt well shut of him and was happy to move back home to Dunburn with her children.
Ewen MacEwen never lost his freckles but he did eventually hold fifteen patents, all related to steam locomotives. Paterson met a nice Lowlander girl in Edinburgh and stopped driving coaches long distance and took up driving a hack so as to stay close to his lass, who eventually became his wife.
Within the next year, the butler Andrews took a brief holiday from service to travel to Caithness County and found that his great-grandfather was brother to Alasdair’s great-great-grandfather, which made Alasdair his third cousin, once removed. Alasdair was glad to have found more family.
Lady Rebecca Dalrymple did find happiness. That is a story for another book.
Lady Juliana Colborne found motherhood, with a son born six months after the snowstorm, but never settled happily into her marriage. That isnota story for any book.
Nurse Gaskell was prosecuted for poisoning Lady Morpeth and sentenced to seven years in a prison. Alasdair had to travel back to Northumberland for the trial and he was glad to leave Arabella at home and then hasten back to her. His appraisal of Lady Morpeth in the courtroom showed her appearance and her health were much improved, despite being eight months pregnant.
