Always Forever (Emerson Book 5)

by Maureen Driscoll

  “The Ridgeway fortune,” said Colin quietly, his voice breaking just the slightest. He cleared his throat. “The Ridgeway fortune began its journey home when Rose and Letty moved into the dower house. It continued when Ava, Victor and Maude followed. It grew immeasurably when James and Anna returned from America, then were joined by Irene. I felt like the richest of men when Win finally came home, bringing Alex. And my wealth was beyond compare when Nick brought Kate and when Rose chose her life’s mate from a castle across the village.” There were more than a few tears as Colin looked at his family. Then he added, “But I am happy to get the ring.”

  * * *

  Despite the demands of having to tend to four dead bodies and one injured man, Westfield, Mrs. Lyons and Mrs. Jeffries the cook were able to provide a simple, yet satisfying meal for the family.

  “Will you be keeping Westfield on?” Win asked, once the servants had departed.

  “I do not wish to have him here at the estate,” said Nate. “But unless Win has any objections, I will give him his choice of estates on which to work or, if he prefers, a generous pension. He was the one who sent Alex to the roof and had the presence of mind to send for the surgeon and the rest of the family. I have no direct evidence that he helped my father break the law and he would have been in a difficult situation while in residence here. Of course, I would rather not have him live full-time under my roof, either. Perhaps, Mr. Stemple would like the position.”

  “No, he would not!” said Colin. “Get your own butler. Now that I will finally be able to pay Victor and Maude their back wages, I hope they will consider staying with us forever.”

  “Actually, my lord,” said Stemple, looking uncomfortable. “I would like to discuss that later.”

  “What is wrong?” asked Colin.

  “I had not thought to discuss it in this forum, but, well, I believe Maude and I will be leaving for America.”

  There was a moment of stunned silence. “I see,” said Colin, looking like his breath had been knocked out of him. “We will not stand in your way. But I promise I will be able to pay you. As a matter of fact, you both deserve to be earning more. I shall double your wages. Triple them. If there is an amount that will keep you here, I will meet it.”

  “It is not that, my lord. You have already been more then generous. I owe you more than I can ever repay. Were it not for you, I am not certain how much longer I could have lasted in the London stews. And I never would have met my heart’s mate. No, it is not money. But, well, Maude finds herself in a delicate condition.”

  There was no stunned silence this time as the ladies shrieked and hurried to hug Maude. The men slapped Victor on the back with hearty congratulations.

  “May I kiss the mother-to-be?” asked Nate.

  Stemple frowned. “Make it quick, your grace.”

  “You can’t ‘your grace’ me, Victor,” said Nate as he gently and briefly kissed Maude’s cheek.

  “Is this why you want to go to America?” asked Colin. “To forge a new beginning for your family?”

  “I don’t want to go anywhere,” said Stemple. “But, servants don’t have children. And even though Maude says she’d like to continue on as the cook….”

  “I do, my lord,” said Maude, whose hands were being held by a very excited Letty and Anna.

  “But she will not be able to continue forever,” said Stemple.

  “Let me get this straight,” said Colin. “You believe for some unknown reason that even though I encouraged you to marry and, that I, being somewhat knowledgeable of the way babies come into the world…”

  “I hope for Ava’s sake that you are more than somewhat knowledgeable,” said James, as he motioned for Nick to refill his wine glass.

  “Despite being an expert on the subject,” amended Colin, “you believe I would somehow think having a family disqualifies you from continuing on in service? That is quite remarkably ludicrous, Victor. If you want to leave that is one thing.”

  “Don’t leave!” said Letty.

  “Don’t go to America and take your baby,” said Anna.

  “Thank you for your support, girls,” said Colin. “Victor, if you want to go, I will fund your voyage and give you enough for a new life. It is the very least I owe you. But if you want to stay, please know we very much want you to. While I cannot give you the title to a cottage because the land is entailed, you are most welcome to choose one where you can remain for the rest of your days. You will have your own home and you do not have to work in the house.”

  “You could assist me in my steward’s duties, if it would interest you,” said James.

  Stemple was clearly overwhelmed. “I do not know what to say.”

  “Say you’ll stay, Victor,” said Colin. “Please.”

  With a look at Maude, Stemple nodded. “Thank you, my lord. We would like that.”

  That elicited more exclamations of delight and additional hugs.

  It was the best possible ending to a very difficult day.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Once again, Nate thought about his wife. His duchess.

  They had decided to have a small funeral for Nate’s father at the estate. Canning’s body was sent home and, at Frederick Mortimer’s suggestion, Mirabelle was sent to a private cemetery in London where he had paid to have her sister laid to rest. No one knew she even had a sister, but Mortimer assured them it was a fitting final resting place, even if neither of the two ladies would have been pleased. Jones had no family, so Nate decided to bury him on the estate in a section reserved for servants, since he had worked for Bancroft for some time. Rose was not quite in charity with the situation since the man had tried to kill her husband. But in the end, it was decided that the dead would be buried and the living could go on with their lives.

  Mortimer returned to London to report to the Home Office. Alex had already sent his report via express post.

  The staff at the castle had initially been in an uproar and a chastened Westfield has asked for help in calming them. Nate had wanted to do it, but Rose had done so, instead, delivering a speech worthy of any general. She told them that everyone would be safe and no one’s position was in jeopardy, provided, of course, that they remain loyal to the new Duke of Bancroft.

  Nate was now the Duke of Bancroft. Frankly, he never thought he would live to take the title. Nor had he thought his father would ever die. He had been too vital, too stubborn for it. But in the end, he had finally succumbed and not without some redemption.

  Nate was standing at their bedchamber window and could see Rose approach by her reflection in the glass.

  “You said you used to look at the castle at night from your room in the dower house,” said Nate. “But I never told you my thoughts from the past year.” He held out his hand and she moved into his arms. “I had a lonely childhood and a challenging career with the Home Office. A part of me knew my father was dishonest and I had known my mother cared little for me. I was afraid that I would become like both of them. I wanted, I needed an anchor of goodness and love. I had always been quite fond of you, of course. Though the age difference did not allow me to think of you as anything other than my friends’ sister.”

  “This is not very romantical, Nate.”

  “Hush, love. I am getting to the good part. When I came home at Christmas, I saw the exterior of you with new eyes.”

  “Eyes which were blurred with drink, if I recall correctly.”

  “It is difficult to be romantical when interrupted by insignificant details. I say that the exterior was new, but your heart had never changed. The heart of the kind, clever, brave and loving girl was still there. Only now she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Unfortunately, I knew I had to keep my distance, given that I was playing a deadly game with my father. But from that moment on, you were all I thought about. Dreamed about. And you will forever have my heart.” He kissed her. “Was that romantical enough?”

  “It will do,” said Rose with a smile. “Now, may we go to
bed where you can show me just how much you love me?”

  “Always and forever, love. Always forever.”

  EPILOGUE ONE (THERE ARE TWO)

  One Year Later at Ridgeway Manor

  Colin found Ava in the gallery, just as her note had said she would be. Their son was being cuddled downstairs in the sitting room by his Aunt Rose. There was no longer a need to lease the manor, so Colin, Ava and Letty had moved in, leaving the dower house to James, Irene and Anna. But since the two girls hated spending even one night apart, James, Irene and Anna slept at the manor almost every night.

  Win and Alex were enjoying their cottage on the grounds of Bancroft Castle, which enabled the two sisters to see each other every day, though more often than not everyone was either at the castle or the manor. They saw Nick and Kate almost every week, alternating visits between the estates.

  The family did not like to be separated.

  As Colin caught sight of his beloved wife, she was in the gallery, looking up at a portrait of one of the former Earls of Ridgeway. Colin was about to announce his arrival, when he heard her speaking to the portrait.

  Odd that, since it was what she had been doing the very first time he met her.

  “My lord,” she said to the portrait, though Colin could swear she knew he was there, “I would like to speak to you about your great-great-great-something-or-other-grandson Colin, the current Earl of Ridgeway. He is, in a word, extraordinary. I do not know what you predicted for your family so many generations down the line. I do not even know if you yourself were a good man or a decent earl. All I know is that my husband, Colin Emerson, is the greatest man I have ever known. He most certainly must be the best earl in this family.”

  “That is not such a great accomplishment, given how many rogues have come before me,” said Colin, as he kissed his wife. “I believe one was even a pirate. Mayhap more than one. That alone should place me at least in the top quarter of the Earls of Ridgeway.”

  “You are almost certainly a better earl than a pirate would have been,” said Ava, as she relaxed into her husband’s embrace. “Though I have always thought an eye patch added a bit of dash to a man.”

  “Are you saying I do not have enough dash, Countess?”

  “How could I ever say such a thing to my husband, my son’s father and the owner of my heart?”

  “I am certain you could say such a thing quite easily and with more wit than one woman should have.”

  “I thought you admired my wit.”

  “You have many admirable qualities, Lady Ridgeway, too many to enumerate here. But if I might, I would like to pursue this further on that velvet settee over there.”

  “As you wish, Lord Ridgeway.”

  He led her to the settee, where they did not speak much over the next hour.

  Just as it should be.

  EPILOGUE TWO

  Wiltshire, December 1843

  “Bloody hell!” Colin threw the book down, then, since it was a book, he picked it back up, inspected it for damage, then laid it gently on the desk. He was a man of fifty-one years, greying at the temples, but still in good shape. The book was lucky he hadn’t flung it across the room as hard as he’d wished to, for certainly the binding would have split apart. But that was no way to treat a book, regardless of how frustrating the contents.

  Colin had a great respect for books. In his two decades as a writer, he had written several articles about reform, most notably those concerning the treatment of veterans. He had also published three travelogues detailing the journeys he and his family had taken through the years. But he was most proud of his six novels. They weren’t the romantical ones he had threatened Ava with so long ago, but in his stories of spies and explorers, he had described the power of love and redemption. He no longer needed the income from writing, but he enjoyed the challenge of it.

  “Is everything all right?” asked Ava, as she entered the library. “I thought I heard a crash, accompanied by expletives.”

  Ava still looked as beautiful as she had two decades earlier. He thanked God daily that she had married him. He was a very fortunate man.

  “Have you seen that?” he asked, pointing to the book as if it had bitten him.

  “Oh, dear,” said Ava. “Your copy of ‘A Christmas Carol’ arrived. It is all anyone can talk about.”

  “This Dickens fellow, well, he is a very good writer, but that is just like the story I proposed those many years ago, other than the headmaster and the witches.”

  “And the cat.”

  “And the bloody cat.” He held out his arms for Ava, who always went into them.

  “But he had ghosts,” she said. “And ghosts are very powerful. Just ask Rose and Nate.”

  Colin nuzzled her neck. “Have Charlotte and her lover appeared recently?”

  “Rose says they run into them every once in a while in the old parts of the castle. Fortunately, they’ve never seen the Mad Duke since that fateful day.”

  Colin kissed Ava’s hand. “I still think my cat was better than that Tim character.”

  “My love,” said Ava, as she kissed her husband. “How long are you going to let this Christmas Carol story bother you?”

  “Not long. I suspect the story will soon be forgotten.”

  Ava was not so certain, but she did not want to contradict the man whom she loved with her heart and soul.

  “In the meantime,” said Colin, with a look she well recognized, “do you have any ideas on ways to console me?”

  “I might have a few,” said Ava, as she held him closer.

  “Excellent. I suggest we begin straight away.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I am both happy and sad to reach the end of the Emerson series, though they will be featured, along with the Kellington family, in the upcoming book NEVER AND ALWAYS, set in the future and focusing on Violet Kellington, and Letty and Anna Emerson.

  This has been a tremendous journey and I never could have done it without the support of my wonderful readers. I cannot thank you enough for urging me onward.

  My editor Melanie Friedman has been incredibly helpful in making these families come alive. Please check out her blog at Bookworm2bookworm.wordpress.com.

  And huge thanks for the ongoing support of Janice Minsberg, Amal Chaaban, Anabel Vazquez and Linda Thurmond DeCristofaro. Jennifer Omner at Allpublications.com did another amazing cover and makes this so much fun.

  Thank you for being so supportive. Please take the time to pursue your own dreams. They are within reach. You just have to keep moving forward.

  Best, Maureen

  Copyright © 2016, by Maureen Driscoll

  Cover design by Jennifer Omner, Allpublications.com

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  This is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales are strictly coincidental.