Leave a Widow Wanting More by Charlie Lane
Epilogue
Since moving the family to London for the season, Henry had come to expect the unexpected.
For one, Ada and Nora had not been nearly as popular on the marriage mart as he had been sure they would be. He’d begun to suspect they intimidated young men.
For another, he found he wasn’t as averse to the thought of having another child as he once had been. Probably good, that, since his self-control flew out the window around his wife.
He also never expected to ever utter the phrase “too many books,” but then he’d come home one day to find Sarah sitting on their bedroom floor surrounded by piles and piles of them, a few towering taller than her.
Despite all this, he apparently could still be shocked. He’d opened the parlor door thinking to find one of his favorite domestic scenes: the children playing some game in a corner, Nora perusing fashion plates while Ada and Sarah read, Jackson and Miss Smith pouring over maps in a corner.
The parlor did not contain any such domestic idyll. It contained a petting zoo. Or perhaps a circus. A play? There were too many elements to correctly discern in one glance what actually took place. Pansy hugged a goat. Ada and Nora wore long flowing robes and crowns like medieval princesses. Sarah wore a jester’s cap, and the twins were stripped to their shirtsleeves. Jackson read aloud from something or other, and Gwendolyn, defiant to the end, sat in a corner of the room, studying maps.
Henry cleared his throat. “Would someone please explain to me why there’s a goat in my parlor?”
Sarah turned laughing eyes on him, and he no longer cared about the goat, the shirtless boys, or the jester’s hat. He strode across the room, plucked the hat from her head, and swept her into a long kiss.
“Eeeeeewwwww,” the twins and Jackson said as one.
“Are you ever going to stop acting like a newlywed?” Jackson teased.
Sarah blushed, but responded, “I hope not.”
“Oh, well, of course you don’t. But the rest of us—” Jackson snorted. “I’m sure I’m not the only one to feel this way.” He shared a glance with Gwendolyn across the room then smiled broadly at Henry. “Welcome to our circus, Uncle!”
Pansy stomped a foot. “Not what it is. It’s a zoo.”
“I see that is certainly true, my love,” Henry assured her.
“But it started out rather harmlessly,” Nora said, throwing the crown from her head.
Ada fell into a chair. “It was a play.”
“But there were no bare-knuckle fighters in it,” Nicholas moaned.
Thomas nodded, his eyes serious. “Nope. So we wanted to play circus instead.
Sara looked up at him. “Then there was an argument.”
Henry tapped her nose. “So, naturally, you decided to do all the things at once. That still does not explain the goat.”
Pansy placed her fists on her hips. “He’s mine.”
“Yes, but where did you acquire him from, sweetling?”
“He was behind the house when I was hiding.”
Henry let go of Sarah and kneeled next to his youngest daughter. “What have we talked about hiding?”
“Don’t do it? Unless I tell someone where I’m hiding first.”
“Precisely.”
“But then it’s not hiding, is it?”
Sarah’s husky laugh broke the silence that had addressed Pansy’s question. “I think you have a future scholar on your hands, Henry. I believe the goat belongs to the man who delivers the vegetables. We’ll return him.”
“No!” Pansy wailed.
Henry stood. “We can discuss the goat later. Right now …” He held up the letter, the reason he’d sought them all out despite the quagmires facing him in the most recent draft of his next book. “It’s from Lady Stewart. Her gardener found some pottery shards while digging a ha-ha. I can’t be sure, but from the way she’s described it, it could belong to early pagans. I’ve always been fascinated by how little we really know of them.” He shook the possibilities away. “She wants to know if, since I’m in England to stay, I’d like to see them.”
“Henry.” Gwendolyn spoke slowly as if speaking to a child. “We don’t study pottery. We study people.”
“Yes. But people made the pottery, did they not?”
“But the people who made the pottery have been dead for ages.”
“That’s the challenge of it.” His blood soared at the thought of it, the old impulse for adventure returning.
A soft touch on his arm brought his attention to Sarah. “How long will you be gone?”
“I won’t go anywhere if you don’t wish it.”
“I do wish it. Just come back soon.”
“Not more than a month. The travel will take the longest, really. And I’ll stay just long enough to set Jackson and Gwendolyn up on their own.”
A chair clattered to the ground as Gwendolyn swept to her feet. “You’re sending us to study pottery in Scotland alone? How long could that possibly take? We can come back when you do.”
“No,” Henry replied. “Not if there is more of it to be found. We’re bringing a crew. They’ll dig. You’ll supervise and study. This could be a significant find for the study of our own history and culture.” And he’d not feel guilty publishing his findings. He’d not ruin any lives.
Jackson walked calmly across the room, righted the chair, and encouraged Gwendolyn to sit. “Scotland?” he asked. “Uncle Henry didn’t say anything about Scotland.”
Gwendolyn’s face turned red, and she traced the lines and curves on the map. “It’s where Lady Stewart lives, is it not?”
“It is,” Henry said. “You don’t have to go, either of you. I thought you were itching to escape domesticity, though.”
Gwendolyn’s gaze bounced around the room before settling on the books she’d been studying. “Yes! I’ll go!” She shook her head and closed her eyes. “Of course I’ll go.”
Jackson nudged her shoulder. “I’ll be there with you.”
She didn’t seem to take comfort in that. “When do we leave?”
“In a few days’ time.” Henry took Sarah’s hands and led her out of the room. He kissed her on the knuckles of first one hand, then the other. “Can you do without me for a month?”
“It will be a trial, but I shall muddle along.”
“You’ll be happy to be rid of Gwendolyn, I think.”
Sara tilted her head thoughtfully. “She’s not been particularly happy with me. Or you. But just now … it didn’t seem like she simply wanted her own way. Henry, do you think she’s running from something?”
Possible. He knew next to nothing of her history. She spoke with the educated tones of a lady, had a lady’s education, and when he’d threatened to turn his ship around after he’d found her hiding behind a barrel of apples, she’d pleaded.
“Just watch after her, Henry.”
He nodded. “Of course. And you watch after our children.” He frowned. “Why have Ada and Nora had no marriage proposals yet? I would have thought …? Are they that unconventional? No one knows about Nora’s hobby do they?”
Sarah patted his arm and went up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “They’ll find their happiness. You have. And I’m about to, I think.”
“Oh? And how will you do that, Sarah-mine?”
“First, I’ll mention that I’m not wearing stays. Second, I’ll leave my lion of a husband staggered in the hallway. Third, I’ll undress in our bedroom and lie in wait, naked on the bed.”
“Reading a book?” A man could hope.
“I was hoping to do something a bit more active, Henry. Really, do keep up.” She sauntered away from him, casting a saucy glance over her shoulder. He watched her swaying hips until they disappeared, giving her time to divest herself of her clothing and drape herself over the bed as she’d planned. If he waited long enough, she’d need to do something to pass the time.
No, he couldn’t wait. He wanted her—her body, her mind, her heart. She had made him whole again, given him a home again, so everything he was belonged to her.
Her head peeked around the corner. “Henry! Are you coming? You leave in a few days, and I wish to make the most of your remaining time at home!”
Within three heartbeats, he caught her to him and lifted her in his arms. “We have a few days until I leave. But I’ll be back sooner than you can miss me. And then we’ll have the rest of our lives.”
He kicked the bedroom door closed behind him and spent the rest of the afternoon showing her how much he loved her.
* * *AUTHOR’S NOTE
Thank you so much for reading Leave a Widow Wanting More. I hope you enjoyed Sarah and Henry’s journey as much as I do. I’m so excited to start off this new series and dig into the lives of some of my favorite side characters from London Secrets. Speaking of …
Want to know what happens when Ada has her London season? Will she settle for Lucas or is something—someone—else waiting for her in the city? You can preorder your copy of Teach a Rogue New Tricks to find out! It will be delivered directly to your kindle when it releases so you won’t miss a minute of laughter and love.
Turn the page for a sneak peek at Ada’s story!