Page 118 of The Governess and the Brooding Duke
She had never belonged to anyone. And she would belong to him.
‘One can never be prepared for a duke,’ she said, touching his face.
‘I don’t understand.’
‘It is what I thought when I first saw you. But I really did not know. I could never have prepared for how you would change my life. I never believed that love would be for me. I never believed that I would truly have a home. All I wanted was stability. All I wanted was to survive. But you have given me...’
‘Look at all that you have given me. To not make the mistake of thinking that I have been overly generous with you. I would’ve stayed locked in that study for the rest of my life. I would never have known my children. I would never have picked up a wooden sword again. Lachlan would never have been my son. You showed me how to love in a way that reached beyond boundaries. And that was what we all needed.
‘My Duchess,’ he said.
‘Your Grace.’
‘I rather hope that with your elevated title you will still genuflect.’
‘When naked, Your Grace.’
‘I love you.’
And she knew that she would never tire of hearing it. Not ever. For all her days. And she knew also that she would hear it every day for ever.
She had been looking for stability. But she had got so much more.
She had got a family.
She had got love.
Her canvas had been painted impossibly bright. Because she was never ruined. She was loved.
Epilogue
They had known that he was coming.
There had been letters exchanged between Lachlan and Samuel, Penny and Mary. They had known that he was coming. But of course that did not mean they felt prepared.
One thing about the way that they had chosen to conduct their lives these last ten years was that they had been honest, always. Their honesty with Elizabeth had caused some trouble, particularly when Elizabeth had explained procreation to her friends during her first season.
Elizabeth felt that every woman should be prepared. She felt this strongly, because her mother felt that strongly.
They did call Mary Mother eventually.
Mary had been very conflicted about it, because even though she had held some ill will towards Jane for the difficulties that the two of them had had, she respected the love the children had for her.
Elizabeth had assured her that she could think easily of both women as her mother. And that it was not about forgetting Jane, but loving Mary.
Lachlan, of course, knew no other mother.
And he was theirs. As surely and certainly as Elizabeth and Michael. And Victoria, Florence and Daniel. The three that had come quickly after Lachlan. At least they had been married six months before she had got with child. There had been no opportunity for the ton to start rumours that they’d been obligated to marry.
But of course he was a duke, and he was obligated to marry no one. And Mary was so lovely and delightful that in the end they could never freeze her out entirely.
She had actually become a rather scandalous darling in society. And now the half-brother they had been told of but had never met was coming.
After Mary and Samuel had wed, she’d finally written to Lachlan and Penny to ask after her son. To say she wanted to be kept informed of his life. She’d discovered that they had raised their son with the knowledge that he had been born of a woman that he didn’t call Mother.
Mary had always thought it best to keep her distance when he was a child. Samuel had offered to take her to Scotland. And Penny and Lachlan had been open to that as well.
But she had felt it best to give them space and time. And that if he wished to ever see her, he would be welcome. And it so happened that he was coming to London for the first time. And had decided that he did in fact wish to meet the woman who had given birth to him.
