Dare to Love a Lord – Extended Epilogue

Eric watched his wife with Isabel, their daughter. Emma was fluffing the gown that she had made for Isabel’s seventh birthday. It was a day to celebrate, although there were not many people who bothered to recognise such trivial things as another year like this.

Isabel’s red hair and grey eyes stood against the pink of her gown. The gown was in the most current style for young children, but Isabel had insisted that it was just the sort of dress that her mummy wore on a regular occasion.

“Hold still, my dear,” Emma said, finished the gown and moving on to run a brush through Isabel’s mass of red curls.

The poor child had been doomed with both a mother and a father who had curl in their hair.

And yet, somehow, the boys did not inherit it. At four years of age, or very nearly, their hair was still straight, like Eric’s mother’s hair. He wondered if the boys hard got it from their grandmother.

“Isabel, I told you to hold still. I know that you do not like having your hair brushed, but the knots will hurt far worse if you pull away like that,” Emma said, trying to steady their stubborn little girl.

That was another thing that she had inherited from his side of the family.

“Mummy, I don’t want my hair brushed. Please, stop. I don’t like it,” Isabel complained.

“You have hair that is far too beautiful to be constantly amassed in a wreck of tangles. Be patient with me. I am getting the knots out and you will have lovely, smooth hair any moment. Just like mine,” Emma said, allowing Isabel to run her fingers over Emma’s curls.

Eric smiled. He was happy to watch his wife and daughter engaged in this activity. 

The boys were upstairs, with their nurse getting them dressed before Amelia and Reginald came with Daniel, their son who was the same age as the boys. But Stephen and Gregory were far more energetic than Daniel.

“Do you think that they will be on time? The road is partially washed out after the storm,” Eric mentioned, asking Emma his question.

“I am sure that they are aware. It is spring in England. Everyone knows to be prepared for inconveniences such as that,” Emma said.

“True, I suppose. Well, then, I shall ensure that the maid has the food going,” Eric said.

But it was not only Amelia, Reginald and Daniel that he was worried about. More than anyone, he was concerned about his mother and Liza. The two of them were coming from Finchley and he hoped that there would be no delays.

“I wish that your mother and father could have joined us today,” Eric said.

“As do I, but they promised to come next weekend. My mother said, in her letter, how she misses the children. I think that they will come as soon as they are able,” Emma said.

She seemed unbothered, but Eric knew that she missed them. Even after eight years of marriage, he had seen that it was still difficult for her to not be living with them as she had before.

But London was Emma’s home now, even if she was often wishing otherwise. Eric had tried his best to help her through the transition to this new city and she had done very well. She would always tell him that she was perfectly content and had no other desire than to stay there.

But his own mother would be coming, and he was thrilled to be able to see her. She had been staying with Liza for the past few weeks as the two of them had grown to be very dear friends.

No one had expected such a change between the two of them. Of all of the things that had taken place and all of the dramas that had caused any of them to have a change of heart, this was, perhaps, the strangest.

It had begun slowly. First Liza had decided that she would except the fact that Eric and Amelia wanted to know one another. And upon having accepted such a thing, she even allowed Eric to come and see her now and then. At times, his interactions with Amelia would take place at the tenements.

By the time Liza had fully accepted Eric, he had greatly warmed to her.

And then, from there, it had stretched to his mother.

That was a twist that none of them had seen coming. It was a massive change for Liza, having gone from sure hatred do a deep friendship.

Eric heard the sound of a coach approaching. He made his way to the window and saw that it was indeed coming.

He assumed, rightly, that it was Amelia and Reginald having arrived with Daniel.

Once he let them in through the door, he was thrilled to offer them a seat.

His own boys came down and took off with Daniel outside, being watched by the nurse.

But Emma and Isabel sat with the rest of them. It was an exciting time to catch up and to see how one another was doing.

“Oh, we have missed you so much! Ever since our trip to Italy, we have wanted nothing more than to come and see the both of you and tell you all about it. And how are things here? Is there anything new?” Amelia asked.

“Ha! Now that you have returned from your fancy trip abroad, you remember us,” Eric teased.

“Yes, you must forgive us for not having written more. It was difficult at first because we did not know where to take the letters. It turned out that we were able to give them directly at the inn where we were staying, but we did not figure that out until nearing the end of our trip,” Reginald said.

“But you were gone for so long. We missed you terribly,” Emma said.

“And we missed you as well. But it takes time to get there, around a week anyway. And then there is so much to see. It was extremely beautiful. It was easy to go with one young child, but I think that you ought to wait until the children are a bit older before you take them all,” Amelia said.

Emma scrunched up her face in mock jealousy and Eric was sad that his sister was certainly right. He would have loved to have taken his family to Italy, but with the children being so young, it would have been terribly difficult.

“Anyway, tell us more about it,” Emma urged.

“There is too much to go into and I do not want to make you envious. But the art, the food, the music, all of it was utterly astounding. Beautiful, romantic, in a word? It was ideal. It was a trip that we enjoyed and I suggest that you go whenever it is convenient,” Amelia said.

“Yes, well, convenience seems a long way off,” Eric said, thinking how old he would want the children to be by the time they would go.

“Don’t worry. I imagine that Italy will still be there a very long time from now,” Amelia said.

He could see that Amelia looked different. Perhaps it was a little bit more roundness in her face.

He suspected that there might be a forthcoming announcement about another child. But for now he decided that he would keep his mouth closed and will wait until they were ready.

Eric and Emma had looked at one another and he saw in her expression that she too had figured it out. At least he was not alone. At least, even if it was not to be discussed, he had his suspicions confirmed.

“Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing Mother, and your mother as well,” Amelia said to Eric.

“Yes, I know that they are both thrilled to see you as well. And Daniel, of course. Your mother has missed you. I am glad that mine was able to keep her company for a while,” Eric said.

It was then, When everyone had grown quiet, that he heard the sound of another coach.

“Ah, there they are!” Eric said, standing to greet his mother.

She was still as beautiful as ever and he wanted to remind her of that as often as possible.

Eric gestured for the two women to take their places amongst the rest of them, sitting comfortably on the sofa.

He was delighted to see them, and he was thrilled that they still appeared to be getting along so well.

Eric looked at Emma and wished for a moment that they could have just a private time to share all of their thoughts based upon the day. But he knew that it would have to wait. There was still much of the day to go.

He saw how happy each of the mothers looked. There had to be something going on. He was curious, but he didn’t know how to interject into the conversation and ask them as to whether or not they had something they wished to say.

However, Eric had never been one to refrain from questions. Therefore, he boldly decided to ask.

“The both of you look nothing short of giddy,” he said, choosing the word that most closely represented their clear emotion.

Liza and his mother looked at one another and laughed.

“Yes, well, I suppose that we both are,” Liza said.

“Oh? And why is that?” Amelia asked.

“Mr. Oberon has asked for my hand in marriage,” Liza announce, stretching out her hand to show off the simple, but lovely ring that had been placed there.

Amelia squealed with delight and Eric was thrilled as well. Emma and Reginald both appeared ecstatic for her.

“Who is this Mr. Oberon? Is he a good man?” Eric asked.

“He is a perfect gentleman. I should know. I have met many a scoundrel in my day, it makes the good ones far easier to spot,” Liza said, laughing.

“I am glad to hear it. And it is clear that my mother is happy for you as well. I see quite a smile upon her face,” Eric said.

Liza looked between him and his mother and Eric could see that she was confused.

“Oh, it is not for my own engagement that your mother is happy,” she said.

Eric’s jaw dropped and he searched his mother’s hand.

There, upon her left ring finger, there was a large ruby surrounded by little white diamonds set in gold.

“Mother?” he asked, the shock overwhelming.

“Yes, my boy. I too am engaged to be married,” she said. “Even now, even in my old age.”

The news was astonishing. It was not anything that any of them had ever expected. He had known that Liza had been courted by one of the men in town, but he had not known that it was nearing engagement.

It appeared to him as though Amelia had not been aware either. Her face was lit up with delight and joy, but also surprise.

And when he looked at his own mother, his heart was moved. She had not told him anything, but he had seen the way that Lord Holmestock had looked at her at the last ball.

“Lord Holmestock, I assume?” he asked.

“Yes, indeed,” she replied.

“He is a good man, Mother. I am happy for you. You deserve something so wonderful in your life. I do hope that he makes you happy,” Eric said.

“He does, indeed. He is a truly lovely man, Eric. I never thought that I would find love. I never thought that happiness in marriage was something that I had earned. But this is a man who I truly love and he truly loves me,” she said.

“Why did you never speak of it?” Eric asked.

“Oh, I am an old woman. No one cares to hear anything about the romance of an old woman,” she said.

“I do! You are my mother. Nothing is more important to me than your happiness,” Eric said.

She smiled at him and he knew that she understood him. Then he turned to his own wife and saw that she was happy, her eyes filled with tears from the news.

It was a strange thing to acknowledge the divide that they had all once experienced. But now, now they were happy.

Later that evening, the guests had all left and the children had been changed and taken to their beds. Eric made his way into his room where he found Emma already lying back in the bed, resting with a book in her hands.

“Are you planning to read yourself to sleep again tonight?” Eric asked.

“I fully intend to do so every night,” she replied.

“That’s my girl. My intelligent, charming, beautiful wife,” he said, sliding into bed next to her.

“You must be overjoyed for the sake of your mother,” Emma said.

“I am. And I am shocked. She and Liza both hid things so well. I knew very little about Liza’s courtship but I knew nothing of my own mother’s,” he said.

“She probably felt that it was more appropriate not to share something like that with you unless they reached the point of engagement,” Emma said.

“Yes, and I think that she was right. I would have been anxious, probably trying to speak up and convince him to hurry up and propose,” Eric confessed.

“Precisely. And that would not have done anybody any good at all,” Emma said.

“No, it would not have. But it would have rushed the process along and they might be married already,” he said with a shrug.

“And it would have been you pushing them rather than their own decision,” she laughed, unwilling to allow him this justification.

“All right, well as long as they have now found one another and decided to marry, I am happy,” Eric said.

“And that they have,” she replied.

“And what about you? Are you happy? I mean, you spent the day with a woman who had once worked so hard to make me miserable that you were gossiped about rather cruelly. But you appear to have forgiven her easily enough,” Eric said.

“Liza made many mistakes, but she has more than atoned for them. Her change of character has been like none other that I have seen in my life. I mean, when I look at Isabel’s first year of life, or the first year for each of the boys, that transformation was drastic. That is what I compare Liza’s character to,” Emma said.

“Yes, I understand. She did change rather significantly,” Eric agreed.

“Anyway, I am happy for her that she is now happy, and I am thrilled for your mother as well. I want to see this Lord Holmestock” Emma said.

“Oh, believe me. We will be having him over for dinner and I shall take my time, asking him many questions and learning a good deal more about him,” Eric said.

“Ha! All right, but you must be kind. Your mother said that she is in love and you know that she has never had that before. Do not ruin this,” Emma teased him.

“I shall not. I promise,” Eric said.

“Very well. We have learned by now that even someone who makes us all miserable, someone who tried to keep us all apart, may change. Such a person may become someone else entirely. A joy in our lives,” Emma said.

“Yes, there is no doubt to that. Even if it takes time, everyone has the capability of changing. If I have a problem with my mother’s new husband, I may cling to that hope. I may recognise that we had given up running our circles with Liza and it was on her own terms that she finally decided to change,” Eric said.

“And were it not for her, who knows? Perhaps we might never have had something worth fighting so hard for. Maybe we would have given up and assumed that society would not accept our class difference. Instead, we had something else to prove and that turned into our greatest strength,” Emma said.

“Yes, my love. You are right,” Eric said, yawning. He was trying to pay attention, but sleep was overwhelming him and his wife laughed and leaned over to him.

“You are the most amazing man in all the world, you know,” she said.

“Am I?” he asked.

“You are. Because you make me laugh even when you are failing to listen closely to my words,” she said.

“Yes, most women would be terribly angry about that,” he confessed.

“That is because most of the men are not you. But there is nothing about you, my darling Eric, nothing that I do not love,” Emma said.

“And there is nothing about you, my darling Emma, nothing that I do not love,” he replied.

“Then we shall rest together and when we wake in the morning, we may rejoice over the fact that your mother is going to be the most beautiful bride. And we must do all that we can to assist her. I shall make her gown, we can find someone who is beyond excellent to make the food for the reception. It will all be perfect,” she mused.

Eric smiled dreamily as his wife listed her thoughts and ideas. So much for her idea to sleep and discuss it all in the morning. But then, that was a part of her charm, was it not?

Eric leaned close to her and whispered, “Goodnight.”

She laughed and echoed it in reply.

With that, Eric gave her a tender kiss on her lips and closed his eyes. He had lived a wonderful day, now he would sleep with wonderful dreams.

THE END

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