Epilogue
It wasChristmas Eve and most of the wedding guests had already arrived. Because the wedding was tomorrow, it had been decided that Christmas would be celebrated this evening. There had been a number of Christmas services in the smallBalfourchapel throughout the day for the guests who wished toattend.
The house was alive with activity. There were so many guests, the dinner table stretched the whole length of the large dining room with place settings for one hundred. But that was only half the party, so another dining table had to be set up in the library to accommodate theoverflow.
All the great public rooms were alight with hundreds of candles and great roaring fires warmed the mingling guests. Garlands of evergreens decorated each room which also had a Christmas tree. Servants were busy keeping the guests plied with mulled wine and cider, as well as eggnog and champagne. A small orchestra was playing carols in the great hall with the large Christmas tree which had all the small candles blazing. Sithens was masterfully overseeing the entire operation of the household staff—managing the dinner and the before dinnerdrinks.
Robert had donned a Father Christmas suit and beard and, with Diana at his side, was passing amongst the guests handing presents to everyone. They finally came to Diana’s parents who were chatting with thetwins.
“Ho! ho! ho!” Robert said, pulling at his fake beard. “What have we got here?” he asked as he poked into his gift bag. “Oh, nothing. You must have been very bad boys andgirls.”
They laughed. But Diana reached into a smaller bag she had and said, “Oh, look what I found. Here is one for the Brownings. And here is one for the Sinclair twins.” She handed them each a present with their names onit.
Mother opened their present. Inside was a door key. “What isthis?”
Robert said, “The key to your own rooms here atBalfour. Come and go as you wish.” He lowered his voice. “And we may call upon you from time to time to mind thechildren.”
Then Geoffrey opened their gift. It contained a pair of work gloves and a receipt for a year’s paid tuition at the college that Miriam was attending. They looked up insurprise.
“That is for a year at your college,” he said to Miriam. “And those gloves are for your new job as the gardener’s assistant,” he said toGeoffrey.
The twins went wild and had to be restrained by Diana or they would have disrupted the whole room by hugging every guest inattendance.
A minstrel appeared amongst the guests singing that it was time for dinner to be served. And as the guests gathered for dinner, Amelia and Ludlow came over to Robert andDiana.
“What a lovely evening, old chap,” Ludlow said to Robert. “And to think tomorrow we shall be brothers-in-law.”
“We shall. And welcome toBalfourand Happy Christmas. And may our up and coming years be peaceful and prosperous.” Robert then leaned in and whispered to Ludlow, “Oh, and by the way, I am going to be republishing my book under my ownname.”
Ludlow was startled. “But is thatwise?”
“It is time for a change, myfriend.”
* * *
The dinner was magnificent.The preparations in the kitchen had taken a full week and Sithens had commanded the staff like a victorious, advancing army—and it had come off with only a few minorhitches.
The guests were so happy and boisterous that it was well after midnight before the house began to quiet down after they began to drift off to theirrooms.
Tomorrow Amelia would finally become a wife and Lady Berwick. She stood before her full-length mirror and admired what she saw. She had aged well and turned toward the firelight to let it highlight her bestfeatures.
There was a knock at her door and Robert camein.
“It went very well, do you not think?” he said. “You and Diana are to be commended on your fine organization of a very large and complexevent.”
Amelia was still studying herself in the mirror. “The guests seemedpleased.”
Robert went over to her and put his hands on his sister’s shoulders from behind, as he gazed at her in the facingmirror.
“Tomorrow is an important day. And you will be leaving this house after all theseyears.”
“I will not be faraway.”
“I know. But you have been my only family for many years now. And it is not something that I can let go of lightly. I am what I am because of you, dearsister.”
Amelia reached up and patted her brother’shand.
“It was my greatest honor to care foryou.”
