by Fiona Miers
“Carson,” she whispered in a hoarse voice, her chest aching slightly from all the coughing. Her throat felt raw, so she swallowed hard, and spoke once more. “Carson?”
Carson’s eyes opened and as soon as their gazes met, he straightened up and leaned closer to her.
“Good morning,” she whispered, but her brow furrowed immediately after. “It is morning, is it not?”
“It is,” Carson answered with a smile. “How are you feeling?”
“As though I have slept for a lifetime,” Lizzie answered. “Has anything exciting happened?”
Carson chuckled and kissed the top of her hand. “Nothing at all.”
A short silence filled the bedchambers and Carson’s expression turned rather grim.
“What is the matter?” Lizzie asked.
“I am truly sorry that I didn’t listen to you, my lady.”
“What do you speak of?” Lizzie asked and shifted more towards Carson.
“You had told me that it was time to go before your brothers became worried, but I wanted you to stay with me longer. Because of that, I caused your illness,” Carson explained.
“Don’t be absurd. It was not your fault. Rain is not ideal for me to frolic around in even at the best of times. I have a weakness in my chest, caused by illnesses as a child.”
“But I should have been aware of that,” Carson sighed.
“Look at me,” Lizzie said with a hint of firmness in her tone and Carson glanced at her. “It is not your fault, and please do not blame yourself for this. You have done so much for me, and I do not possess the words to express how grateful I am for you.”
The corners of Carson’s lips finally lifted. “I love you very much, Lizzie.”
“And I love you, Carson. You are the only person whom I wish to have by my bedside, watching over me,” Lizzie said with the utmost sincerity.
“I would prefer to not see you in such an ill manner,” Carson said with a smile. “But there is no other place I would rather be.”
Lizzie squeezed his hand. “There is something I wish to show you if you would accompany me.”
“Accompany you? To where?”
“To the garden. There is something I wish to show you,” Lizzie muttered and sat upright.
“No, I cannot allow you to do that. You must rest.”
“Have I not rested enough?” Lizzie protested. “I have been in this bed for...”
“Over a fortnight,” Carson completed her sentence.
“Over a fortnight? Good gracious. It is most certainly time for me to breathe a breath of fresh air,” Lizzie exclaimed.
“My lady, you cannot.”
Lizzie threw the blanket off herself and glanced at Carson. “I feel fine, truly. But if it will make you feel any better, I shall wear a coat and a hood.”
“If your brothers were to find out that I allowed this to happen—”
“I will place all the responsibility upon myself. They are aware of how stubborn I am, and they will not give it a moment’s thought that you had anything to do with it,” Lizzie said.
Carson exhaled slowly and nodded. “Very well.”
Within a few minutes Lizzie was wrapped in a thick coat and made her way through the halls beside Carson, who seemed to watch her every move, her every breath, to ensure that she was not putting her health in jeopardy.
“Please stop fretting so much, Carson. I told you, I am fine,” Lizzie whispered as she lightly squeezed his hand.
They made their way down the stairwell and reached the terrace. There was not a soul in sight, which pleased Lizzie, as she knew that if either her brothers knew what she had planned, they would certainly send her back to bed.
“Lizzie, I truly do not understand why you wish to go to the garden at this particular moment,” Carson pointed out.
“You will understand soon,” Lizzie assured him and pointed to the spade resting against the wall. “Bring the spade along.”
“The spade?” Carson inquired with a furrowed brow.
She simply kept walking, and Carson grabbed the implement, following closely behind her.
Lizzie walked slowly to ensure that she didn’t tire herself out. She came to a stop a short distance from the hole in the wall and glanced at Carson. “Before I speak, need I remind you that I love you no matter what and that you have made my life perfect from the moment I met you.”
Carson’s brow furrowed once more and glanced at her quizzically. “Your words are both comforting and unsettling at the same time.”
Lizzie chuckled and shook her head, the hood of her cape shifting off her head. “I buried something here and I would like you to retrieve it for me.”
“It is not something that had been alive at one point, is it?” Carson cringed.
Lizzie chuckled once more, but her laughter soon caused her to cough and Carson shook his head.
“I insist that we go back inside,” he stated.
“Please, allow me to do this. I beg you. Then I promise, we can go back.”
“Very well. Where would you wish for me to dig?” Carson asked.
“Exactly there,” Lizzie pointed to a very specific area on the ground.
Carson hunched down and dug in the ground with the spade. As soon as he struck something hard in the ground, he dropped the spade beside him and dug with his hands. Lizzie knelt beside him and watched as he retrieved one of her favourite wooden boxes, flowers intricately engraved on the sides from the loose soil. He handed it to her, and she smiled at him.
“Why is this wooden box so important, my lady?” Carson asked.
“Please do not be angry with me, but do you recall the day I assisted you with sorting through your father’s things in the study?”
“I do.”
“I came across a few letters your mother wrote to your father, telling him how much she still loved him, and how she misses you all. She also asked your father if he would consider joining her in Aberystwyth. She said they belonged together, and she didn’t wish to be apart from you all any longer.”
Carson gaped at her. “You took my father’s letters?”
Lizzie swallowed the awkward lump in her throat but pushed forward, nonetheless. “I did and I am truly sorry. I was trying to protect you. You must believe me. I wanted to show you for a while now, but with everything that happened the past few months, I thought it would be too much for you to handle. It was never my intention to keep it from you, Carson but you were mourning the death of your father, and you didn’t need this on your plate as well.”
“Normally I would be upset if people spoke those words to me, if they assumed they had known what was in my best interest,” Carson stated.
Lizzie drew in a shallow and anxious breath. She didn’t wish for Carson to be in any way upset or feel resentful towards her as she had taken his mother’s letters to his father.
She nervously bit her bottom lip and waited for Carson to continue.
“But, my lady, you have known me for such a long time, and you know exactly who I am and what I need.”
“You are not upset with me?” Lizzie asked.
“How can I be upset with the one person who means the world to me, and who would do anything in her power to protect me?” Carson asked with a tender smile.
Relief flowed over Lizzie like a cleansing rain. “I love you very much, Carson.”
“And I love you, Lizzie,” Carson whispered sincerely. “There is something I must share with you as well. You must be wondering what my mother is doing in Aberystwyth.”
Lizzie inhaled sharply and told the truth. “No. I already know.”
“You know? Of everything?” Carson asked, his eyebrows flying up on his forehead.
She nodded. “I do, and I have known for a while.”
“And you didn’t say anything?”
Lizzie shrugged. “It didn’t matter to me. I fell in love with your heart, your mind and the person who you are, not because you are the son of a princess. I love you because of who
you are in here,” Lizzie declared and placed her hand against his heart. “I have fallen in love with you so deeply, so intensely, and so perfectly. I simply wished we had realized this sooner.”
“I must admit that I have loved you since the very first time I saw you.”
Lizzie couldn’t help but smile at that. “You were five years old, Carson.”
Carson grinned. “The heart wants what it wants, whether you are five or fifty.”
“You are such a silly man, and I love that about you,” Lizzie smiled. “Why did you wait so long to tell me of your feelings?”
“I was terrified you would reject me.”
Lizzie couldn’t believe it! “Why would I reject you?”
“I thought you deserved better than me,” Carson admitted. “The only problem was that the love I had for you burned through even the rainiest night, even though I tried to extinguish it many times. I simply thought that you would never love a simple man such as I.”
Simple? She’d never thought of him that way. “There is no one better for me than you, Carson.”
“That I know now.”
“And I will keep on reminding you of that until our last breaths,” Lizzie whispered and pressed her palm against Carson’s cheek.
Carson leaned forward and kissed her sweetly on the lips.
“Did you mean what you said to me? About wishing to marry me as long as I promised to get better?” Lizzie whispered against his lips.
“I did. I love you, and I wish to spend the rest of my life beside you. I would marry you in a heartbeat,” Carson answered and brushed a strand of hair from her face.
“Perhaps we should stick to our originally discussed plan.”
“Springtime it is.” Carson smiled and kissed her sweet lips once more.
Her heart beat steadily in her chest, easing away the painful stabbing aches inside her.
“Carson! Lizzie!”
Their kiss was interrupted by desperate exclamations sounding from the manor.
“Did I not say your brother is going to be rather dissatisfied that I allowed you outside in your state?”
“I am not in a state,” Lizzie rolled her eyes. “And if you listened closely, that is not my brother’s angry exclamation. Something has him in a panic.”
“What could it be?”
Lizzie and Carson turned as they heard the terrace doors fly open and Will stepped into the sunlight. “Carson! Lizzie! There you are!
“What is the matter, William?”
“Come quickly!” Will called out to them. “The duchess has gone into labour.”
Lizzie and Carson glanced at one another and excitement filled both their faces.
“Come along, my dear,” Carson reached out his hand to Lizzie, and she placed her hand in his without a moment’s hesitation.
Epilogue
Four Years Later
Lizzie, known now as Mrs. Wallace, glanced down at her beloved baby daughter, who had celebrated her first birthday a week ago, and a smile formed on her lips. The young child was wrapped in a muslin blanket, light brown locks escaping from underneath a bonnet, and her light green eyes shining up at Lizzie. Eyes that resembled Carson’s perfectly.
“Are you ready, my dearest Rebecca?” Lizzie asked her daughter and the young child giggled happily. “Come along then. Your father is downstairs. Let us not keep him waiting any longer.”
Lizzie scooped her daughter up in her arms and held her close. She left the nursery and made her way down the stairwell. The bouquets of roses in the vases that were strategically placed around the foot of the stairwell filled the manor with a decadent and welcoming aroma that Lizzie adored.
For the past five years, she had been the happiest she’d ever been in her entire life. She had married Carson in the Spring, as they had arranged on that night in the stable at Lord and Lady Wealing’s estate.
She had married her best friend, the man who understood her better than she even understood herself. She had vowed to love Carson until the day she let out her very last breath, although she didn’t require vows to know that would be true. They were joined in matrimony in the gardens of Ferngrove Manor, under the clear blue skies and lush green grass, with only a handful of guests. Only those people who truly shared in their happiness.
True to his word, Carson had told Adrienne to leave the estate, as he would not have her disrespecting the woman he loved, and she had agreed. Perhaps she truly wished for him to be happy, but she simply was not sure how to show it?
Nevertheless, she had written to him a few times, but they ultimately seemed to lose touch when she was offered a position at the Royal London Hospital, which she accepted without a moment’s hesitation.
Both Carson and Lizzie were delighted for her, but they didn’t keep in contact much. It was perhaps better that way. Lizzie believed that everything in life worked out as it should.
As Lizzie reached the Great Hall, the front doors opened and Carson approached her, greeting her with a happy smile.
“The two most important and most beautiful women in my life,” Carson beamed, and he kissed both Lizzie and Rebecca on the cheek. “Are you ready?”
“Indeed, my love, but I do not understand why it was necessary to prepare a coach when we can simply climb through the hole in the wall, as we would always do.”
“Why must your mother always question everything I do, my dear Rebecca?” Carson asked his daughter and the young child tapped her small hands against Carson’s face. “You will not question everything I do one day, will you?”
Lizzie scoffed with amusement and shook her head. “She is a woman, after all.”
“Indeed. Clearly, I am outnumbered,” Carson chuckled.
Carson and Lizzie exited the manor and climbed into the coach. They had barely settled in their seats when the coach began to move.
“I cannot believe that Emmett is four years old already. Time has certainly flown by,” Lizzie said as she glanced at Carson with Rebecca on his lap.
“I cannot believe that it has been four years since the day you made me dig up that old box with letters from my mother.”
“It feels like just the other day, to be truthful.”
“Indeed,” Carson said quietly and smiled at her. “And from that day on, it has been the best four years of my entire life.”
“Mine as well, my love,” Lizzie replied with a grin.
The coach came to a stop as they reached Woodlock Manor and Carson was the first to climb out with little Rebecca in his arms. Of course, Emma was the first to take Rebecca from him and cuddled her lovingly.
Shortly after Emmett was born, Emma had received bad news from the physician that she would not be able to bear children. It had certainly saddened both Emma and Will, but it didn’t stop her from adoring Emmet and Rebecca.
Carson helped Lizzie out of the coach and greeted James and Kitty, and Emma and William, with happy embraces and cheerful chatter.
Kitty’s parents, Lord and Lady Montague were there as well to join in the celebration.
After they all exchanged pleasantries, they congregated in the garden, where tables and chairs were arranged in a crescent. The tables were stacked with delicious food, cakes, pastries, fruits and meats of all sorts. Flowers adorned the chairs and ribbons were weaved into the hedges and the trees.
When everyone was seated, James stood and glanced at his family and smiled. “I only wish to speak for a short while, and I promise not to bore anyone with my words,” he stated and glanced briefly at Will with a snicker. “I simply wish to say that I am sincerely grateful to each one of you who is here this afternoon, celebrating Emmett’s fourth year of life. We are not only blessed to have such a delightful and remarkable child, but we are also blessed to have you all in our lives. We are grateful for you all, and we love you very much.”
“And,” Kitty started as she stood holding a glass of water, “we would simply wish to say thank you for being here. You mean the world to us.”
Wil
l stood and raised his glass to James and Kitty, “To the duke and duchess, and their wonderful son, Emmett.”
The other guests raised their glasses as well and murmured, “Here, here.”
The sound of horse hooves sounded through the air and Will glanced over his shoulder to the entrance of the estate.
A coach of dark wood appeared at the furthest end of the path that led to the estate, where the path met the country road.
“Are you expecting someone else, James?” Will asked as he motioned to the coach, which approached rather quickly.
The two black horses harnessed the coach were eye-catching, large and brawny, their manes perfectly braided and their coats sparkling in the sun.
Emma glanced at Will, who stood beside her, seeming inexplicably quiet and perplexed. “The horses are magnificent. I have not seen horseflesh like that since our visit to Denmark.”
Will glanced at her, and as soon as his memory was triggered by her words. “Royal horses?” he whispered, and his eyes widened.
Will glanced at Lizzie, who had overheard their exchange of words, but she didn’t utter a word.
“Carson?” Will called him over. “Do you mind if we have a word in private?”
“Now?” Carson asked.
“Indeed. It simply cannot wait.”
Carson nodded and handed Rebecca to Lizzie. “I will not be long. My apologies, my love.”
“No need to apologize. It must be important if he wishes to speak to you and cannot wait until later,” Lizzie assured him.
Carson kissed her on the cheek and lightly touched Rebecca’s head before he stepped away from the table. He joined Will, who was already halfway across the lawn and noticed the coach approaching them.
Lizzie smiled. She knew who was visiting. Finally.
“WHAT IS IT, WILLIAM?” Carson asked Will.
“Do you see the coach coming this way?” Will asked and Carson glanced at the vehicle.
“I am most certainly not blind.”
“Those are warmblood stallions. Notice how much larger they are than even the finest horses we own?”
“Indeed,” Carson answered with a nod, still confused about his friend’s urgency.