“I can hardly criticize you for that, seeing as I came all the way back from Bath because I felt so ill at ease without you,” he admitted. “But at least we’re together now. And if it’s what you want, I’ll stay here with you as long as you’d like—as long as you promise to relax and try to sleep.”
“I’ll rest.” She couldn’t promise sleep. Not right now. There was simply too much going on. “Do Colin and Nancy know about Margaret?”
“To be honest with you, I don’t know what they know. I should send them a letter—I’ll dispatch a footman later this afternoon when I’ve had a chance to write one. As far as I’m aware, they don’t even know you’re ill, though it’s possible the staff thought to write to them. But if they did, no one has mentioned it to me.”
“I’m sure everyone was doing the best they could,” Lydia murmured.
She didn’t want to think that Edward might be getting angry with the servants for the way they had handled any aspect of this situation. She knew perfectly well that she wouldn’t be alive if things had gone even a little bit differently.
“You don’t need to worry, Edward. Everything is all right now.”
“You’re right, of course,” Edward said, leaning close to her. “I’m just so glad to be here with you. I’m so glad I came home when I did. If I hadn’t… I don’t know what might have happened. Without the antidote—”
“Yes, you mentioned an antidote…”
“Margaret gave it to me,” Edward explained. “She wasn’t going to, but in the end, I talked her into it.” He sighed. “I really thought I was going to kill her. I couldn’t believe she’d done what she had. And to think I could have lost you, just as I had finally realized what you meant to me. It makes me ashamed to think I took such a long time to realize it. If only I had discovered my feelings for you sooner, Lydia!”
“It’s all right,” Lydia said softly. “We know now.”
“I love you,” he said ardently. “I’ll never leave you in doubt about that again, I promise you that. I’ll be right by your side for the rest of our days. And I want to be a proper husband to you as well. I want us to have children. I want us to have everything.”
It was a thought that made Lydia feel as if a candle had been lit within her. But even so—
“Not yet,” she whispered.
“No?”
“Someday. Someday not too long from now. I’d like that. But first… I want us to have more time together, Edward. We never had a proper courtship, and the early days of our marriage were so fraught. I want us to spend time getting to know one another before we start our family. Would you be willing to do that?”
“I’ll do anything for you,” Edward told her. “We’ll take as much time as you deem necessary, Lydia. I’m just happy to be doing this with you—however long it takes.”
Lydia was sinking into unconsciousness again despite herself. She didn’t know when she had ever felt so happy. “Stay with me,” she breathed, squeezing his hand.
And as she drifted off to sleep, she felt him squeeze her hand in return.
“Always.”
EPILOGUE
“It was so kind of your parents to include us tonight, Lydia,” Nancy said happily as the four of them approached the front door of Haddington Manor. “I know they didn’t have to do that.”
“I think they were just so happy that Edward and I were coming over that they would have agreed to anything I wanted,” Lydia replied.
“They must have been worried while you were ill,” Nancy agreed. “Colin and I certainly were.”
Though a month had passed since Margaret’s arrest, tonight marked the first time the brothers and their wives were getting together since Lydia’s illness. Edward had insisted that she take her time recovering and make sure that she had her full strength back before attempting anything remotely strenuous—and according to him, that included seeing visitors of any kind.
“Well, I think they’re relieved about that,” Lydia agreed. “But I think they’re also relieved that we’re willing to see them at all. After all, the last time we all got together, there was a bit of a quarrel.”
It had been easy enough to allow herself to forget about that in the wake of everything that had come after—the kiss, the Bath trip, and then the poisoning. During her recovery, thoughts of the quarrel she’d had with her parents had been far away, and it wasn’t until quite recently that she had remembered what had happened and written to them, hoping for the chance to make things right.
She was pleased that they had taken her up on the idea. Clearly, the discord between them hadn’t suited them any better than it had her, and Lydia was hopeful that they would all be able to get back to normal after tonight. Still, she was glad to have Nancy and Colin along for support. Things would be much easier with a few more people in her corner.
Her parents greeted them at the door, and her mother embraced her. “I heard that you were ill, Lydia,” she said. “Your husband wrote to me. I’m so pleased to see that you’re doing better.”
“I’m just fine, thank you.”
They had decided against telling Lydia’s parents about the poisoning. Lydia didn’t quite trust her mother and father not to spread gossip, and besides, there was no need to alarm them unnecessarily. The family was still hopeful that Margaret’s disappearance from Society and into a sanatorium could be kept relatively quiet and that no one ever need know about the crimes she had committed. It would be best for everyone, they all agreed, if they could keep that business to themselves.
