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Sebastian didn’t mind. He fully meant to make good on all their assumptions.
By the end of the gathering, only Douglas and the two sisters remained. Miss Seraphina was quite smitten with Shadow and was giving the quickly growing lamb a great deal of attention. Douglas was teasing her a bit about it.
“I wish I didn’t have to go.” Cordelia smiled, a bit of embarrassment and a lot of regret in her expression. “I miss you when we’re apart.”
“An experience that is entirely mutual, my dear.” He slipped his arms around her. “Someday, I very much hope you will not be required to go at the end of the day.”
“I would like that,” she said quietly.
“If I offered you a humble home in a beautiful glen, a future that was not entirely devoid of possibilities but a present that is filled with rejection from the one person who might make it more temporally comfortable, would that be enough?”
She pressed a kiss to his cheek. “More than enough.”
Her declaration encouraged him to be bold. “You would consider marrying a man who was, days ago, a home farmer?”
“I would more than merely consider marrying Sebastian of Dalwyck Glen. There is nothing I could ever want more.”
“Not even a return to London?” He knew how much she loved Town, how much she missed it.
“Not even that.”
“And if the laird never bestows any approval or favors on us?”
She touched his cheek lightly. “I am not in love with the laird. Not the current one, at least.”
He could not have hoped for a better answer. There, standing near the house he ought to have claimed from the moment he returned to Teviotbrae, surrounded by the land he’d learned to love, and holding in his arms the lady who’d claimed his heart, he felt at home in a way he hadn’t in years.
She offered a sweet and affectionate kiss, one he accepted and deepened. Life, in all its uncertainty, had brought them together. And Fate, in all her glory, was offering them the hope of a very bright future.
* * *
Shadow had grown in the months since Cordelia had first encountered her as a small lamb. As Cordelia painted the idyllic scene, making certain to include the sweet creature and the newly obtained donkey, she was struck by how much Shadow was beginning to resemble the grown sheep she would one day be.
But it was not Shadow nor the donkey that held her attention. Her Sebastian, her husband of only a few days, stood across the glen, looking out at the mountains, the breeze rustling his waves of dark hair.
Leaving London had felt like the greatest of tragedies. How she’d mourned and railed at Fate. But that departure had led her here to this time and place and a love she could not have even dreamed of. It had happened so quickly, so unexpectedly. She couldn’t have been happier.
With careful strokes, she painted Sebastian into the landscape she’d been recreating on the canvas with the paints he had safeguarded for her. She filled the painting with the rainbow of colors and variety of textures found in this magical meadow. She painted their small, welcoming home, the garden plot they carefully tended, the no-longer-tiny lamb and newly arrived donkey. She created a picture of the most beautiful moment she could imagine.
As she put the finishing touches on her work, Sebastian slowly crossed the meadow toward her. A skip of delight disrupted the calm beating of her heart. She never tired of having him near.
He smiled as he approached. “You always look so happy while you’re painting.”
“And you always look happy here on your own land.”
“Our own land.” He sat on the empty stool beside hers. “I see Shadow managed to make an appearance in this latest painting.”
“So did you. She would not wish to be in any painting or meadow or place where you weren’t.” Cordelia leaned a little against him. “I cannot say that I blame her.”
“She will have to learn to be apart from me for a time.” Sebastian set his arms around her. “A sheep, however loyal, cannot be brought to London.”
Cordelia turned to look at him. “To London?”
“I wish to see the city through the eyes of one who loves it. And I wish for you to return to the museums you have missed and obtain more supplies and canvases.”
“Truly?”
He nodded. “And I believe we should bring Seraphina so she can enjoy the music she has longed for.”
“Have we the means of doing so?” She dared not get her hopes up until she was certain.
“We do. Our visit will not be extravagant, but we can go for a time. And Douglas will insist on making certain we are introduced to anyone in Town we do not know yet.”
“I know you did not care for London when last you were there.” She would give him a means of escape if he wished for it.
“I am convinced, my darling Cordelia, that I disliked it only because I was not afforded a chance to meet you when I was there. Had Fate been kind in that, London would have instantly become my favorite city in all the world.”
“I think you like me, Sebastian of Dalwyck Glen.”
“I love you, Cordelia, Love of My Heart. Utterly and entirely.”
