To Love a Brooding Marquess – Extended Epilogue


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Southend-on-Sea, England, 1817

Five years later, preparations were underway for a grand celebration. It was five years since the resort at Southend-on-Sea had opened, and Marcus had planned a spectacular celebration in honour of the auspicious occasion. Guests had been invited from far and wide, chief amongst them the principal investors, including Nathaniel, Tristan, William, and Robert. There was to be a dinner and a ball, with dancing long into the night, fireworks and speeches, and all manner of celebrations. Georgiana was looking forward to it, not least for a chance to unite again with the women she called her closest friends, the wives of her husband’s friends, the men who had once so proudly boasted of their bachelorhood, and each of whom was now a happily married man.

“Charlotte, you must let me finish this,” Georgina said, putting down her quill for perhaps the tenth time that hour. Charlotte, her eldest daughter, pulled herself to her feet and placed her hands up on Georgiana’s writing desk.

They were in the cottage drawing room, which looked out over the gardens of the resort. It was comfortably furnished, with wallpaper depicting scenes of exotic birds. It was here that Georgiana liked to write—her fourth novel was currently a work in progress. But it was also where Charlotte liked to play, and the two activities were not always conducive to one another.

“Shall I take her for a walk, My Lady?” Rose asked, but Georgiana shook her head.

“No, thank you, Rose. I shall soldier on with her here; she is a delight, albeit a noisy one,” she said, smiling at Charlotte, who put her head to one side and gazed up at Georgiana with the eyes she had inherited from her father.

Her brother, Sebastian, was asleep in a crib by the window, through which the sunshine was pouring in, the day being bright and breezy outside.

“Play, Mama,” Charlotte said, pointing to the pianoforte in the corner.

She loved to hear Georgiana play, and Georgiana sighed, leaving her heroine on the edge of a cliff, facing a band of marauding Scots, in favour of playing for her daughter—she would get no peace that afternoon, and besides, it was the day of the celebration, and soon the guests would begin to arrive.

“I shall play one piece, and you and Rose will dance, just like we showed you. A one, a two, a one, two, three,” Georgiana said, running her fingers along the keys and playing a merry ditty so that Charlotte began to leap about the room, with Rose taking her by the hand and attempting to have her twirl.

“I do not think we should introduce the waltz soon, My Lady,” Rose said, and Georgiana smiled and shook her head.

“No, I think we shall leave that a few more years,” she replied, increasing the speed of her playing, just as the door to the drawing room opened, and Nathaniel appeared, smiling at the sight of his daughter dancing around with the maid.

“I thought I heard a pack of elephants in here,” he said, stooping down to lift Charlotte onto his shoulders.

She was the very picture of her father, though she had inherited many of her mother’s characteristics. A happy child, always smiling.

“Are all the preparations complete?” Georgiana asked, and Nathaniel nodded.

“The first carriages will arrive shortly. I can guarantee my parents will be late, and yours will be early,” he said, and Georgiana laughed.

“They love to see their grandchildren. I have nearly finished here, and then I shall go and prepare myself,” she said, and Nathaniel nodded.

“Is it happily ever after yet?” he asked, and Georgiana rolled her eyes.

“No, you know I have hardly begun. She is being chased by Englishmen and has just met her first Scot—a thoroughly unpleasant man, the leader of a band of robbers,” she replied, and Nathaniel laughed.

“You have a remarkable imagination. It is one of the things I love about you,” he replied, setting Charlotte down and kissing Georgiana on the forehead.

“Goodness, is that the time?” We must be getting ready,” Georgiana exclaimed as the clock on the mantelpiece struck the fifth hour.

***

These days, it was rare for the five couples to be together. Marcus and Gemma were often staying at the resort, and Georgiana and Nathaniel saw them regularly to dine or for the children to play together— Gemma having given birth to another child, Lawrence, two years previously. Tristan, too, was a regular visitor to Southend-on-Sea, bringing Emily and their children to take the air, and Georgiana knew she could always rely on the doctor, now a physician at court, to tend to her family’s medical needs. But William and Katherine had their own interests in Bath, and Robert and Imogen and their children spent much of their time in the north at an estate on the Yorkshire moors. Tonight was to be quite a treat, and Georgiana had looked forward to it for many months.

“Look, there are William and Katherine,” she exclaimed, pointing to the pair now making their way across the gardens.

Georgiana was standing with Gemma and the children, and she waved to William and Katherine, who hurried over to greet them.

“Oh, I am reminded of how I delight in the seaside,” Katherine said, embracing both women and cooing over the children, her own being with their nanny.

“But you have the waters in Bath; is that not the same?” Georgiana replied, but Katherine shook her head.

“They smell of rotten eggs. I do not know what anyone sees in them. Here, the air is fresh and pure. I feel better already, and for seeing the two of you. Where is everyone else?” she asked, looking around at the other guests.

“They will be along in a moment. Here are Emily and Tristan, and look, Robert and Imogen,” Gemma said.

“We just need our husbands,” Georgiana replied as the others came to greet them.

Nathaniel and Marcus would be off seeing to some important matter or other, and soon, the party was served drinks, standing amidst the beauty of the gardens and reminiscing over all that had been since last they had met.

“How many children do we count between us?” Imogen asked, glancing around at the youngsters playing happily together.

“Eleven,” Georgiana said.

“No, twelve, surely,” Katherine replied, and they all laughed.

“A goodly number, and still to increase, I am sure,” Gemma said, smiling around at them all.

“These men never thought they would settle down and become fathers,” Imogen said, glancing at Robert, who smiled.

“None of us did. We were quite dead set against it. The awful wager, we were all determined to win. Is that not right, men?” he said, and the others nodded.

“We all thought we would, though I rather doubted William’s commitment,” Tristan said, smiling at William, who blushed.

“As each of us has discovered, when one falls in love, there is nothing one can do but accept the happy fate of it,” he said, putting his arm around Katherine as Nathaniel and Marcus came hurrying over.

“Greetings to you all, a pleasant journey, I hope?” Marcus asked.

“The northern roads are quite dire, but once we passed Peterborough, things became smoother,” Robert replied.

“And from Bath, the road is easy, for all roads lead to London, or so it seems,” William added.

“Well, you are here now, and tonight we shall celebrate,” Nathaniel said, raising the glass that a waiter had just brought him.

“We were just discussing the wager, Nathaniel. It was taken quite seriously, was it not?” Tristan said, and Nathaniel nodded.

“I was adamant I would win, so I did, though a little sooner than expected,” Nathaniel replied, glancing at Georgiana, who smiled.

The five women had all agreed that the wager was nonsense, and after Georgiana and Nathaniel’s marriage, the money had been divided—with interest—equally between the five couples to serve as an endowment for their children’s future education.

“I am only glad that no one won; otherwise, we would be the poorer for it,” she said, looking around at the group, whom she counted more as family than as friends.

“You know, I have to agree with you there,” Tristan said, and the others nodded.

“We would all be the poorer if someone was missing from our number, and how good it is to be together now on this happy day,” Marcus said, raising his glass with a smile. 

“I think we can all drink to that,” Nathaniel said, and he put his arm around Georgiana and raised his glass.

“To friendship, to family, to fidelity, and the future,” Marcus said, offering up his glass in a solemn toast.

They clinked their glasses together, sharing in the happiness of the moment. Georgiana looked round at the couples, whose lives were so intertwined. She would have it no other way than this, each of them with shared memories and stories to tell. She loved them all, and she knew, in turn, they loved her, too. What happiness the future seemed to hold, and she smiled, raising her glass again.

“And to the moment, too, where surely the truest happiness is found,” she said, grateful for all she had been given and all that was to come.

THE END


OFFER: A BRAND NEW SERIES AND 2 FREEBIES FOR YOU!

Grab my new series, "Delightful Dukes and Damsels", and get 2 FREE novels as a gift! Have a look here!




3 thoughts on “To Love a Brooding Marquess – Extended Epilogue”

  1. Greetings, my dear readers! I hope you enjoyed this delightful tale and the resolution of our couple’s loving journey! I eagerly anticipate hearing your impressions! ♥️📚 As this was the last of the series I hope you loved how the story concluded for our five heroes!

    1. I read all of these books and I enjoyed each one of them. It was a great series to read. The ending of Georgiana and Nathaniel was a good one bringing all the friends together. Georgiana and Nathaniel story was full of surprises and it ended beautifully. You did a great job Alice! Sonia

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