Maeve
Two Years Later
“Can you remember when the house was last this busy?” Maeve asked, shaking her head in bemusement as she looked back and forth.
“I was just wondering about the last time I saw poor Mrs. Manvers look so stressed,” Benjamin said at her side and chuckled. “The poor housekeeper will make herself ill. Look at her.”
Maeve looked between the servants who were hurrying back and forth, her gaze settling on the poor housekeeper. The elderly lady had tugged at the white cap on her head so much that it was now askew.
“Oh, dear, she’ll have to straighten that cap before the wedding,” Maeve said with a giggle and looked about once again.
“People!” a boy cried and pointed to the crowds.
“Yes, people, love.” Maeve laughed and looked at the boy in Benjamin’s arms. He was the spitting image of his father in many ways, with Benjamin’s same fair hair and sharp features. Yet his eyes were Maeve’s, and the sight of those eyes sparkling as they looked at all the servants running around the entrance hall and the stairs made her smile.
“He’s learning more words,” Benjamin said and gestured to their son. “Watch.” He tickled the boy who promptly squealed and wriggled in Benjamin’s arms.
“No!” he cried.
“Ha! A very important word to learn. Well done, Nathan.” Maeve reached up and kissed her boy on his forehead as he fell still again in Benjamin’s arms.
Nathan relaxed at once. Named in honor of her former pseudonym, Nathan was always proving himself to be mischievous for one who could only just about walk. If he was not wriggling in Benjamin’s arms then he was running around the house, hiding from Maeve or poor Mrs. Manvers.
Nathan seemed to grow sleepy. He closed his eyes, yawning, and placed his head on Benjamin’s shoulder.
“I like these moments,” Benjamin whispered so only Maeve could hear him.
“Why? Because he is not running us ragged?” Maeve teased as she brushed the hair back from her son’s head and then lowered her hand, allowing him to doze.
“Perhaps,” Benjamin said. “Or perhaps because I know he is safe here.” He turned such a doting smile on their son that Maeve felt more content than she had ever thought possible.
Since Nathan had come into their lives things had changed, but for the better. Benjamin and Maeve had already been happy, yet their lives had become blissful with Nathan’s arrival. Never mind the panic when he had hidden for so long under a frock coat by the coat stand one day that they were fearful they had lost him.
“He might sleep through the ceremony,” Maeve whispered, looking down at their son.
“It might be for the best,” Benjamin agreed. “He could come down for the wedding breakfast then.”
“That would work.” Maeve nodded in approval. “If there is a wedding breakfast, poor Mrs. Manvers looks ready to strangle the butler.” Maeve gestured to where Mrs. Manvers was waving a hand at the butler, who was carrying a full tray of silver in his hands rather precariously.
“She does rather. That could be your next book. The murderous tale of who killed the butler,” Benjamin said with a mysterious voice, prompting Maeve to chuckle.
“I need a break from writing, even if it is for a short while.” She smiled at the thought and looked back at Nathan once again. The last couple of years had proven successful indeed, with her books selling fast, much to Benjamin’s joy as well as her own. Yet for now, she wanted to take some time off to be with Nathan. In a little while, she would take up her quill again, but she was content to spend her time with her family.
These are precious moments. I do not want to miss them.
As if to emphasize her words, her son wriggled in his father’s arms and yawned, before turning his face into the crook of Benjamin’s neck. Benjamin smiled and held onto their son just that bit tighter.
“He might be coming to the ceremony after all,” Benjamin whispered to her. “For I do not think I can put him down.”
“You have to.”
“I like him here.”
“As do we both.” Maeve walked around Benjamin’s other side and kissed his cheek so that she did not disturb their son. Benjamin moved in time, stopping her from parting from him completely by kissing her on the lips.
Maeve grew languid at his touch, happy to stay exactly where she was and bask in the feeling of his kiss. The same thrill passed through her that always did whenever Benjamin kissed her. As he leaned back from her, his smile grew.
“You are hardly in a hurry to run off to your post either, I see.” He teased her, prompting her to stand taller.
“That was your doing, by kissing me. Yet you are right, there is someone’s side I need to be at now.”
“Very well, you hurry off, I’ll have to save my kisses for later.”
“Oh, do not tempt me to stay,” Maeve moaned as she reached for the staircase. “Besides, you have jobs of your own to see to. Didn’t you promise to oversee the wedding breakfast? And you are meant to be at the chapel soon.”
“Shame, it will mean putting Nathan down.” Benjamin angled his head to kiss his son’s forehead then sighed with resignation. “Oh, well, it must be done. Perhaps I’ll take him with me.” He walked off to check on Mrs. Manvers, still carrying Nathan.
“Benjamin!” Maeve called after him, laughing and thinking of stopping him, but he glanced back her way with a triumphant smile as he left, showing he had no wish to leave Nathan behind.
Maeve walked up the stairs, starting slowly, but when she heard a clock chiming in the distance, marking that the hour had come, she began to hurry. Toward the top of the staircase, she began taking the steps two at a time in her hurry.
When she reached the chamber marked out for the bride, she knocked eagerly, barely pausing to wait for an answer.
“Good lord, you will break down my door at this rate! Sooner step through it then keep banging.” The unmistakable voice of Chloe beckoned her inside.
Maeve stepped in hurriedly and closed the door behind her, before turning her focus on Chloe.
“Oh, Chloe. You look quite stunning.”
“Do you think so?” Chloe was clearly nervous. She could not even meet Maeve’s gaze, for she was so busy looking in the mirror. “I have not made a gown like this one before. Do you think he will like it?”
“If you mean your husband to be, then, yes, I am sure he will.” Maeve smiled and crossed the room to come and stand behind Chloe. “Though if you ask me, he will marry you even if you turn up in rags, let alone this thing of beauty!” Maeve gestured down at the gown in emphasis.
It was gold and cream in color, with a bright brocade across the chest embroidered in golden thread, the skirt shimmered down to the floor in long lines of cream chiffon. It was perfect, and in the sunlight shining through the window, it seemed to glimmer.
“Oh, why am I so nervous,” Chloe said, attempting to straighten out non-existent creases in the skirt of her gown.
“Because you are getting married. It is a natural feeling, even when you are confident in your husband. Now come, give me those hands before you put creases in your skirt from all this fussing.” Maeve took her friend’s hands and clutched them in her own, urging Chloe to stop her fidgeting.
“I am afraid I will swoon in the aisle, Maeve. Good Lord, what if that happens?” Chloe’s eyes widened. “Oh, my, it could happen. I could faint in the middle of my wedding, there in the aisle. It is such a hot day, is it not?” Chloe said, taking back one of her hands to pull at the neckline of her gown.
“Calm yourself, this is just nerves.” Maeve pulled on her friend’s hand, capturing her attention. “Rest assured, you will not swoon, and if you do, then your husband will simply have to run forward to catch you.”
“Do you think he would do it in time?”
“Let’s find out.” Maeve began to pull Chloe gently toward the door.
“That was not the answer I was hoping for!” Chloe laughed, though she followed all the same, pausing only long enough to pick up her bouquet from the table. “Very well, I am ready.”
“Good. Trust me, Chloe, all will be well.” Maeve urged her out of the door and into the corridor. “Nerves are natural. If you are anything like me, then the moment you see your groom, all your fears will vanish because it will just be about the two of you.” She could see her words had done some good, for Chloe breathed deeply as they walked down the corridor together.
“Yes, I am sure you are right. Oh, I just want to be with him at this moment.”
“You very soon will be.” Maeve linked their arms and escorted Chloe down the stairs.
By the time they reached the hallway, Maeve could see much had changed in her short absence. The servants were now mostly in the dining room, and through the open doors she could see them hastening back and forth with silver tableware and crystal glasses. At the front door stood Benjamin, no longer with Nathan in his arms, but ready to go, with a flower in his buttonhole. Opposite him was Baron Maywood, waiting for his daughter to arrive.
“Ah, Chloe,” he said, his voice rather breathless as he turned to face her. “You remind me so much of your mother at this moment.”
“Do I?” Chloe said, pleased and equally excited as she loosened her arm from Maeve’s and ran to her father’s side.
“Very much so.” He pulled her arm through his. “Come, I know she would be as thrilled to see you marrying as I am. Never have I seen such a smile on your face.” As Baron Maywood led his daughter out of the door toward the carriage awaiting them, Maeve turned to Benjamin.
He was waiting for her, looking as happy as Chloe.
“I was just remembering our wedding day,” he murmured, offering his hand to Maeve. She took it gladly, moving closer to him.
“Which part? The nerves? The excitement? Or Leo nearly dropping the ring?”
“Yes, the ring could have been lost forever before even getting near your finger.” Benjamin laughed heartily and lifted her hand between them, on which was the ring. He turned her hand over and kissed her palm in such an intimate way that Maeve bit her lip, trying to hold back the excitement his kiss always caused in her to escape. “Today it is another couple’s turn. So, shall we?” Benjamin offered to lead the way down the stairs.
“Let’s!” Maeve said eagerly. “And let us hope Leo has no mishaps today to upset this ceremony either. Can you imagine what Chloe will say if he falls flat on his face?”
“I shudder to think.” Benjamin laughed as they crossed to their carriage where it waited in front of the bride’s. Both vehicles and teams of horses were bedecked with white ribbons, to celebrate the day.
As Maeve stepped up into the carriage and looked back to see her friend sitting in the open coach of the phaeton, she smiled with contentment. She had not known the happiness she was used to feeling these days was possible. But had she known, she knew she would have run toward this moment.
If it were possible to go back to the time when her father had first offered to send her to London with Chloe, Maeve would have stood to her feet and gone to pack her bags there and then.
The End.
