Two Years Later…

The Strathbran Estate was a hive of activity, as it had been all week.

Beatrice was at the center of that activity, sweeping across the large estate day in and day out as she put her eye towards the coming celebrations. It had been a long road to get to where they were, and with tomorrow being the big day, she looked forward to things finally settling down.

Settling down? Two years it has been since I moved here, and I wonder what that might feel like…if such a thing is even possible!

Today was one that Beatrice looked especially forward to, and every five minutes she found herself chasing down one of the footmen to ask the same question.

“Has there been any word yet?” she asked.

“Not yet, Your Grace,” the footman answered her. “Soon, I am sure.”

She clicked her tongue with growing anxiety. “Please, fetch me as soon as he arrives.”

“Of course, Your Grace.”

With tomorrow being the big day, most of the tasks were done, a shame too, as Beatrice needed something to distract herself with. With that in mind, she set herself two tasks.

The first was to collect her son from the nursery. He had just turned one, and he was of that age where he had finally stopped crying if for no other reason than he wanted attention, and when his personality was finally starting to be noticed. And as Beatrice had suspected, he was all his father.

“How is he?” She walked into the nursery and made straight for the cot.

“Anxious,” the maid said. “He knows something big is happening—all these people about. But I think he is excited.”

Beatrice laughed as she looked down at her son, Hamish. He had the same colored eyes as Beatrice, but his hair was already black like his father’s. And while he was still so young, with that round and chubby face, she was certain that, as he grew, it would have him looking like the spitting image of his father.

He saw his mother and eagerly held out his hands for her.

“Come now…” She scooped Hamish into her arms. “Would you like to visit Aunt Isobel?” she then asked as she held him to her chest and started to bob him up and down.

Hamish’s response was gibberish, but she liked to imagine that he understood. 

“I will bring him back in time for his feeding,” she told the maid as she left the room.

Despite how busy Beatrice had been this week, she always had time for her son. And as she moved through the house, seeing over various tasks in preparation for tomorrow, he was with her. That was unless his father stole him away, because Alexander was obsessed with Hamish and seemed determined to prove that he would one day be the greatest father to have ever lived.

Fitting, really, as I intend to be the best of mothers.

With Hamish on her hip, Beatrice hurried through the busy estate, keen to distract herself with her second task. Nothing too arduous, of course, but that was welcome. It had been a week of arduous tasks, and Beatrice needed a break!

A minute later saw her walking into Isobel’s bedroom.

She had expected Isobel to be with her handmaid, doing a last-minute dress rehearsal with the gown she’d had made for tomorrow. And because she had expected that, Beatrice had hoped to finally see her sister-in-law in said gown. She had seen the gown on its own, but she was desperate to see it properly fitted.

Thus, it surprised her when she walked into the room to find Alexander standing with his sister. And she was doubly surprised when she saw Isobel in tears.

Beatrice paused at the door, not understanding what she had walked in on.

Alexander stood behind Isobel, and it looked as if he was fitting a necklace around her neck. It was made of pearls, and as he clipped it into place, Isobel burst into tears.

“Am I interrupting?” Beatrice asked warily.

Alexander saw her and beamed. “No, actually. You are just in time.”

“Oh, Beatrice! Is it not beautiful?” Isobel gushed and indicated the necklace. 

“It is…” Beatrice walked carefully into the room. “But I sense its beauty is not the reason for those tears.”

“It was our mother’s.” Alexander reached Beatrice, and after giving her a kiss on the head, he scooped Hamish into his arms. “She left it for Isobel with strict instructions that she wear it on her wedding day.”

“Not that anyone told me!” Isobel cried through her tears.

Alexander chuckled. “It was to be a secret. She always knew you would wed one day, and she wanted you to have something to remember her.” He smiled warmly at his sister. “She would be so proud of you, Isobel. I know that I am.”

“Oh, stop it!” Isobel put her head in her hands to hide her tears.

“Have you seen Callum?” Alexander asked as he bobbed Hamish up and down. 

“Not today,” Beatrice said. “I presume he is riding, somehow. He told me that he would, to clear his head and set his thoughts straight.”

Alexander rolled his eyes. “I will go and look for him. He needs to be here to see over the preparations.” He handed Hamish back to Beatrice. “Can you keep an eye on her? I did not expect such a reaction.”

Beatrice laughed as she took her son, kissed her husband, and went to Isobel. “Best get those tears out now. It will not do to cry all through tomorrow.”

Isobel sniffed and then stroked Hamish on the head. “I know, I know. I am just so happy. Everything…these past two years. And now this.” She took a deep breath. “Can you believe it, Beatrice? Sometimes, I wonder if I am imagining things.”

“As do I.” Beatrice laughed. 

Tomorrow was to be Isobel and Callum’s wedding day. A day that was, in Beatrice’s opinion, long overdue. It had taken several months after Beatrice’s own wedding for Callum to finally work up the courage to ask Alexander if he might court Isobel, and while Beatrice had seen it coming, Alexander’s shocked reaction suggested that he had no idea.

Not that he begrudged his best friend and sister. In fact, no one was more supportive than he was. Now that Alexander knew how love felt, how important it was, he wanted his sister and his friend to experience the same.

How far that man has come. Sometimes, I cannot believe it myself.

“Your Grace…” A knock at the door had Beatrice turning. And when she saw the footman, her heart soared in her chest because she knew what he was there for. “He is here, Your Grace. Having arrived just now.”

“Oh!” Beatrice cried out. “Good. It is about time. Isobel…” She turned to her sister-in-law. “Might you watch Hamish for a moment?”

“Gladly.” Isobel took Hamish into her arms, and he wrapped his little arms around her neck. 

Beatrice hurried from the room, down the hallway, and soon found herself at the top of the staircase. She paused when she reached that spot, laughing gaily as she spotted none other than her uncle standing in the middle of the foyer. He saw her arrive, his bushy eyebrows rose up his forehead, and then he opened his arms wide and gave her a smile so warm that she felt its embrace from the top of the steps.

“Uncle!” she raced down the stairs and threw herself into his arms. “You made it!”

“Of course I did,” he said as he held her. “Did you think that I would miss this?”

She laughed as she held him, and Beatrice realized in that moment how much she had missed her uncle. Two years it had been since she last saw him, and she could not believe that it had been so long.

They spent the rest of the morning together.

Beatrice walked her uncle through the estate, showing him her new home. And not the building, but the surrounding fields and lush scenery that she had finally started to grow used to. Alexander had often spoken of the Highlands to her, painting them as the most picturesque and perfect landscape in the entire world. Now that she had seen it and lived it for herself, she could not help but agree.

She spoke much of the past two years, how she was coming to enjoy being a duchess, how she had settled into her new life, and how she and Alexander were happier than ever.

He told her of Lord Stanhope, whom he had not heard of in nearly two years, as the man was sent to the Americas where he was now living…at least that was assumed, because there was no word of him whatsoever. Which, Beatrice concluded, was a good thing.

She told him how Aunt Millicent had written to her to wish Isobel well for her marriage, and to apologize. Beatrice had accepted the apology, but had asked that she not write again. Alexander did not like the idea of her communicating with the woman who had nearly ruined their lives, and the less said about her was for the best.

“I tried to make things work.” Her uncle sighed as they sat down on a stone bench. 

It gave them a view of the Highlands, and with the sun sitting high in the sky, the setting was perfect for gazing upon as lush greenery and rolling hills spread as far as they could see.

“Oh?”

“Sadly, I came to see that she had fallen too far,” he said with a sigh and a bow of his head. “Eventually, she admitted to me that the love was gone, and while she wished that it had not…” He shrugged. “I suppose these things are for the best.”

“I am so sorry, Uncle.” Beatrice took his hand. “Truly, I do wish that things had worked out. I only ever wanted you to be happy.”

“Oh, do not worry about me…” There was a sudden twinkle in her uncle’s eyes.

“What is that?” Beatrice asked him with a wry smile. “That look. What are you not telling me?”

He laughed. “Just because I am no longer with Millicent does not mean that I have given up on love, Beatrice. After all, you and His grace make it seem so wonderful. I thought I owed it to myself to give it a try.”

“Does that mean…”

“Yes,” he said. “I have met someone else.”

“Oh, Uncle Henry!” Beatrice embraced her uncle. She laughed, and then she started to cry. 

To Beatrice, that her uncle had moved on and found someone else was the last indication needed that her past was truly behind her. What had almost happened was tragic, and it could have been much worse. But she and Alexander had moved on, Isobel and Callum had, too, and now that her uncle had his own love life to look forward to…Everything is finally as it should be, as we all deserve.

The rest of that day moved quickly.

Alexander and Callum returned, at which point Isobel brought down Hamish, which saw the five of them sit in the back garden and relive recent memories. After that, they supped together; an effortless evening, one filled with laughter and joy.

Once her uncle retired to bed, and once Hamish was down and settled, and once Isobel and Callum went their separate ways—as was expected, for tomorrow was their wedding—Beatrice and Alexander did as they often did when they had time alone.

They made their way outside, they walked beyond the garden to the surrounding fields, and they sat by a small loch that stretched across the estate before being swallowed by the night sky. There was no moon to speak of. There was not so much as a breeze. And behind them, the manor sat in perfect stillness.

Alexander sat with his legs apart, so that Beatrice could nestle in between them. He wrapped her in his arms, and she leaned back so that her head rested on his chest.

“What a day,” Alexander said as they gazed across the water.

“What a week,” Beatrice said.

“What a two years,” Alexander added.

She laughed. “Shall we keep going?”

He held her tighter. “No, I do nae think so. In fact, I think we have spent so much time thinking about the past that we ought to start looking to the future. That is all behind us, and truly, it is about time.”

“I was thinking the same thing earlier,” she agreed as she looked across the water. “The future…I rather like the idea of focusing on that. Hamish, and what his life might turn into. Isobel and Callum, and all that awaits them.”

“What of us?”

She shrugged. “Oh, that is not such a hard thing to imagine.”

“Ye think so?”

She shuffled forward and turned back so that she could look into his eyes. They sparkled in the darkness, love found in them that was commonplace now and expected. He held her with his eyes, and she was sure to meet them so that her words would not be missed.

“I know what to expect, Alexander. Tomorrow, the day after that…next year. There is no sense in worrying, because I know that so long as we are together, they will be days worth living.”

“I might change?” he offered. “It happens.”

She scoffed. “You have changed enough, thank you. So, stay as you are, and I will consider myself happy. Be who you are, and I will be happier still.”

“Consider it done,” he said. 

With that, Beatrice leaned up and kissed Alexander fully on the lips. He kissed her back, holding that kiss, letting it take them both. For those few perfect seconds, the world around them vanished completely. The loch…the estate…the manor and all those inside…they mattered not, totally unimportant when compared to that kiss and the two people who held it.

Not their first kiss. Not their last. It was a kiss that told not only of their love for one another, but their trust, what they had been willing to fight for to earn it, and what they would continue to do so that there would be more kisses to come.

And as they kissed, Beatrice knew as she had known now for two whole years that she was hopelessly in love with her husband, and may that never change. Based on how he kissed her back, she knew that it never would. 

 

The End