The Fearless Miss Dinah by Laura Rollins
Epilogue
Charlotte stepped out the door and then turned and looked back up at Angleside Court. What a relief that Dinah was back home once more, and all was again as it should be.
Or, at least, most was as it should be.
Seth followed her outside, not even bothering to replace his hat, though the butler had handed it to him just now. He walked past her with a heavy step, his head bent down. Poor man. He looked quite as though he carried the entire weight of the world.
Charlotte caught up to him. “I cannot begin to voice my joy that you were able to rescue Dinah.”
Seth only nodded as he pulled open her carriage door. Charlotte climbed in, and he followed, sitting across from her.
It was just the two of them. So much of this summer had consisted of them and one of his girls or another. But now . . .
“I know we both were concerned for her and Lord Stanton, but seeing them today has quite put my mind at ease.”
“Has it?” Seth’s gaze moved back to Angleside Court, which was quickly growing smaller.
“Yes, I am quite certain they will be happy now.”
“Good.”
The carriage fell silent. Charlotte smoothed her skirt but kept an eye on the man across from her the whole time. She wished he would allow her to cheer him up. After so many months of seeing one another nearly every day, she knew worry for his girls could often drag him down into the worst of blue-devilments. But usually a bit of positivity helped him brighten once more.
“You do know what this means, right?”
He finally looked her way.
“You’ve done it,” she continued. “You’ve seen your three girls settled and happy, and all during one Season. A feat not many can boast, to be sure.”
“I guess I have.”
“And they will be happy. You’ve found good husbands for them. You should be proud of yourself.”
Seth slowly nodded. “If you feel Dinah is settled as well as her sister and cousin are, I suppose I’d best remove myself to the country.”
He was leaving? The carriage jostled a bit, and Charlotte placed a hand on her seat to keep herself upright. She had known he would leave . . . someday . . . only she hadn’t thought he’d jump to that next step so fast.
“Or,” she said, drawing the word out, “you could stay a bit longer. London can be quite enjoyable during the autumn.”
He seemed to think on this for a minute before saying, “If I am not needed here, then I think it’s time I slip back off to that bit of country from whence I came.”
He was. He was leaving already. Charlotte drew herself up. The very thought of London without Seth was ghastly. Bleak. Depressing in the extreme.
She wasn’t sure when he’d come to be such an important part of her day, but she suddenly knew she didn’t care to become reacquainted to a life without him. He’d become a constant, and she liked it that way. Good friends were hard to come by, and though their backgrounds were vastly different, she’d found a good friend in him.
Yes, he was prone to long bouts of silence.
And heaven help her whenever he used that insipid word nonsense.
But for all of it, he was a good man. He was easy to relate to, and she liked to believe he found comfort in her company as well.
“I have decided,” she said, “that I am going to host a ball in three weeks’ time.”
He nodded that he was listening but didn’t say anything aloud.
“I would find it frightfully rude if you weren’t here to stand up with me at least once.”
He cast his gaze heavenward. “You know I don’t dance.”
“After all I’ve done to help you, I didn’t think you’d deny me this one pleasure.” She was being far more petulant than she’d even been before. And where had the idea for a ball suddenly come from?
“Standing up to dance with me is a pleasure for no one in the room.”
Charlotte pursed her lips. “Don’t tell me you’re scared to stand up with a woman at a ball.”
“I, your ladyship, am scared of nothing. Not society, not whispering matrons, not even gun-holding highwaymen, need I remind you.”
Charlotte could think of one thing that scared her. Seth leaving. Seth stepping out of her life for good.
“Then prove it,” Charlotte pressed. “I will promise you the midnight dance.”
Seth only shook his head. “I can’t stay another three weeks. It’s time I returned home and began figuring out my next steps in life.”
Perhaps it was the night air or the aftereffects of knowing Dinah was safe once more, but Charlotte felt she simply could not allow him to leave London just yet.
She opened her mouth to say something—what exactly, she wasn’t sure—but Seth spoke first.
“I’m sorry, Charlotte, I truly cannot stay.”
It had been years—decades, actually—since a man had spoken her name, and hearing it now made her stomach flip and her cheeks heat.
“Then,” she said, willing her face to return to its normal shade, “promise me you’ll return for my ball.”
“Come all the way back to London for a ball?”
“Not for a ball.” She drew the word out with derision as he had. “For me.”
She hadn’t meant to put herself out there quite like that. But the words were spoken now, and there was nothing left but to take whatever response he gave her.
Silence is what he gave her, several minutes of it.
Then, finally, he spoke. “Very well. Let me know the exact day, and I will be back in London as you desire.”
Charlotte felt her lips tingle with the desire to smile, but she kept them at a demure upward turn. “I believe that will be acceptable.”
The carriage rolled to a stop, and Seth opened the door before the footman could get to it. He hopped down and then turned and faced her.
“Then I guess this is farewell until your ball.”
Could she not see him before he left? Then again, now that he had no daughters at home, she couldn’t very well call on him. And apparently, he had no designs to call upon her. Three weeks suddenly felt frightfully far away.
How thankful she was now that she’d at least thought of hosting a ball.
She could only hope the three weeks flew by.
Charlotte inclined her head. “Until the ball.”
The End
The romance continues in
The Tenacious Lady Blackmore