Two Years Later

It was summer, and the estate was abuzz with life and activity. As Cassandra walked through Calder Castle, she catalogued everything that she could hear. She began upstairs in the family bedchambers. As she passed the nursery, she heard Lillian reading out loud to Annabelle. Her daughter was seven now, and she no longer thought of her as Ewan’s daughter, or as her stepdaughter. It had been more than a year now since she had considered Annabelle entirely her own, as much her own as the little boy that she could hear shouting and playing downstairs with his father. 

As she paused outside of the nursery, Cassandra listened with pleasure as Lillian spoke to her daughter. 

“It is a difficult passage, is it not?” Lillian was saying. “We cannot always understand what Homer is saying, but we must try to work through it. This is what is not only important but enjoyable about learning. It makes us think about the world differently.”

“I like this one a lot,” Annabelle responded. “Papa says that war stories are not suitable for little girls, but I think it is very exciting!”

Lillian laughed. “And that is why you are the best student a governess could ever ask for. You are always surprising me and teaching me something yourself.”

“I teach you?” Annabelle’s voice sounded full of wonder. “But I am only seven!”

“And the smartest seven-year-old I have ever met.” 

Through a crack in the door, Cassandra watched as Lillian leaned forward and tweaked Annabelle’s nose. “But do not tell anyone that!”

Annabelle giggled. “I will not!”

Smiling, Cassandra moved away, continuing down the hall. She was very grateful that Lillian had agreed to stay on as governess to Annabelle after she had married. Most women would want to stop working so that they could care for their households and raise their own children, but Lillian had insisted that she wanted to carry on her duties. It was not only that she wanted the wages. She was also very fond of teaching, and Annabelle was like her own family now.

“I must be responsible for her education,” Lillian had told Cassandra and Ewan when she had said she would like to stay on. “It would torment me to see someone else teaching her.”

Ewan and Cassandra, of course, had been more than delighted to keep her on. Lillian, Alaric, and their son lived in a small cottage on the Calder Estate, and they all saw one another almost every day. Their children were close in age, and they had already become fast friends. 

As Cassandra passed a window, she glanced outside, where she could see Alaric now walking through the gardens, his son Edward, on his hip. He was probably coming to check on his wife and bring her back home to change for dinner. The castle would be full that evening with guests. 

Downstairs, Cassandra passed the servants’ staircase that led down to the kitchens. From it, she could hear her mother’s voice drifting up, followed by Mrs. Drummond’s quick retort. Something about scones… 

Cassandra paused for a moment to listen, curious and amused. 

“You are doing it all wrong!” she heard her mother say exasperatedly. “They will be far too dense now! And you have put raisins in them. My grandson hates raisins.”

“If you think I am doing it wrong, then you are more than welcome to do it in my stead!” Mrs. Drummond retorted. “But I very much doubt a highborn lady would be seen baking in the kitchen, and if that is true, then I would ask you to allow me to bake in peace!”

“But the raisins!”

“That is how I was taught to make scones by my mother,” Mrs. Drummond insisted. “And that is how I shall keep making them until the lady of the house, which, I might remind you, is not you, Lady Pembury, tells me otherwise.”

Cassandra did not hear her mother’s response. Her eyes were already watering with mirth. She turned away before she laughed out loud and alerted the women to her eavesdropping. 

To anyone else, the conversation might have sounded like a terrible fight. But to Cassandra, who had been listening to her mother and Mrs. Drummond bickering for the last two years, she knew it was the two women’s way of showing their affection for one another. 

In the last two years, Lady Pembury had become a semi-permanent fixture at Calder Castle. She preferred the Highlands to her London townhouse, and since Lord Pembury often had business in Edinburgh, it gave her an excuse to visit often. She and Mrs. Drummond had become fast friends, although they always hid it under bickering and disagreements. Lady Pembury was too proud to admit that her closest friend and confidant was a housekeeper, and Mrs. Drummond was too stubborn to admit she actually liked the proud, imperious Lady Pembury. 

But Cassandra knew their love ran deep, and it warmed her heart. Her mother had never had many friends among the gossiping, cruel matrons of the ton. She was glad that Lady Pembury finally had someone she could call her companion. 

As for Cassandra’s own companion, there he was—standing in the courtyard, hands on his hips, the wind tousling his hair in a roguish way that made Cassandra’s heart hitch. He was watching as his son, Thomas, stacked stones into something that appeared to be a castle. 

“He is getting quite good at that,” Cassandra said, as she joined her husband in the courtyard. She nodded down at the stones. “It almost looks like Calder Castle.”

“Almost,” Ewan said, frowning. “Although I think his architectural knowledge could be somewhat improved. And his engineering skills. He has not built any doors or windows. All the inhabitants of his castle are going to be stuck inside.”

“Something tells me that when it comes to engineering, he will be able to learn a thing or two from his father,” she said, linking her arm with his and grinning at him. “But there is still time. He is not even two years old.”

“Soon,” Ewan said. “And what a marvelous occasion that shall be. Perhaps I shall even get him some wood blocks so that he can build more easily. These stones are not the easiest to design structures with. I remember from my own childhood.”

Cassandra laughed. “You have always been an engineer, have you not?”

He smiled at her. “Oh yes. Always. And I think our son shall be as well.”

“As long as you are not disappointed if he should turn out to be something else,” she said. “A great poet, perhaps, or even an adventurer.”

“As long as he is not a gambler,” Ewan said, and for a moment, neither of them said anything. They were both thinking of Christopher, who was even now still in prison. He had been moved to a prison in Edinburgh, and last month, Ewan had visited him for the first time. It had been a painful visit, but he had insisted that it had to be done. Two years was enough time to see if his brother had changed at all. 

And to Cassandra’s surprise, he had changed. Ewan had returned from the visit speaking of his brother’s remorse.

“I am cautious still, of course,” he had told her that night, as they lay together side by side in their marriage bed. “I am not going to trust him right away. I will keep visiting over the next few years to ensure that it is sincere. I shall stay wary. But it is encouraging to me to think that he could show genuine remorse and rehabilitation.”

“It is encouraging,” she had agreed. Of course, she would never suggest that Thomas were to meet his uncle, nor would she bring Annabelle to see him in prison. He could not be trusted around the children, not after what he had done. Even though he had been stripped of all inheritance rights, she could never be sure. But she was happy for her husband if he was able to find some kind of peace and reconciliation with his brother. 

That night at dinner, the table was very full. Not only were Lillian and Alaric joining them for dinner, but so were Lord and Lady Pembury. Lord Pembury had arrived that afternoon from Edinburgh, where he had been meeting with other politicians, and he was in merry spirits. 

“Your drainage system is being adopted by more and more lairds every day,” he told Ewan excitedly as the main course was served. Lord Pembury was seated in the position of honor to the right of Ewan, while Cassandra sat on his left. She was amused and pleased to see the way her father’s face  lit up with joy and excitement while talking to her husband. Not that long ago, they had been wary of each other. But Lord Pembury now seemed to think that Ewan was the most brilliant duke in the land. 

“Everyone is talking about how it is improving their agricultural yields,” her father continued. “I have had farmers and lairds inundating me with letters telling me how much the drainage system is improving their crops.” He clapped Ewan hard on the back. “You might just be a genius, Your Grace. My son-in-law, a genius!” 

He shook his head. “Hopefully my grandson will also be a genius.”

“I am certainly going to be a genius,” Annabelle said, crossing her arms. “Girls can be geniuses, too.”

Annabelle was now sometimes allowed to sit at the formal dinners with the adults, and Cassandra’s eyes shone with pride as she winked at her daughter. 

“Yes, they are,” she agreed. “And you are well on your way to becoming a genius. Lillian tells me you are brilliant with sums, and the fact you are reading Homer already, well…” She looked at Ewan. “You truly are your father’s daughter.”

He smiled at her and took her hand. “I am lucky to be surrounded by such strong, intelligent women,” he murmured. 

Lord Pembury, however, was not done. “You really ought to come to Edinburgh with me in the next few days,” he said. “There are men there who are eager to have you begin designing a new bridge.”

Ewan blinked and sat forward. “A bridge?” 

Lord Pembury smiled widely, sensing Ewan’s excitement. “Yes, a bridge. Word is abuzz in Edinburgh that you are the most brilliant engineer on the scene. Many of the builders and renown engineers are dying to work with you, and the designers of the new bridge project in the West are clamoring for you to be part of the team.”

Ewan looked at Cassandra. His eyes were shining with excitement, and she squeezed his hand.

“You should do it,” she said. “You would be brilliant at that.”

“But…” Ewan’s brow knit together. “It might mean leaving you and Thomas and Annabelle for weeks at a time…”

Cassandra laughed and shook her head. “I think that we can do without you for a few weeks in order to let you pursue your dreams and improve the lives of the farmers and tenants of the Highlands. It is your passion. And we are proud of you. All of us.”

He squeezed her hand back. “Well, I shall have to speak to more people about it, but… It does sound exciting.”

He smiled at her, and she smiled back, her heart swelling with love in her chest. She had everything she ever could have dreamed of: a home she adored, dear friends, children she loved more than anyone on earth, and a husband who made her proud every single day. Who cherished her every single day. And who she trusted above anyone else to always be the best and most honorable version of himself. 

She really was the luckiest woman in the world. 

THE END