Page 73 of What's a Duke Got to Do With It
Now that found family stood on Seacliff’s steps, smiling broadly as, having been helped up into the carriage by Sebastian, Katrina turned to glance back. More than one face was red from crying, more than one set of eyes swollen. Yet their love and happiness for her shone through the sadness. Not for the first time—or even hundredth time—that day, Katrina felt tears well up. But she resolutely wiped them away as Mouse and then Sebastian climbed into the carriage. She did not want anything marring the view of her friends and Lady Tesh and even Freya saying their goodbyes to her.
“Be sure to write often,” Bronwyn called.
Adelaide blew her a kiss. “I shall send you your favorite biscuits every month.”
“Give Mouse a kiss from me every night,” Honoria said.
“We love you.”
That last came from Seraphina. As one the other Oddments stopped waving and gaped at Seraphina; out of everyone, she was the last they expected to say such an emotional thing.
Seraphina caught them staring, and her face, red with emotion though she had not shed a tear, deepened to burgundy as she scowled at them.
“I can say such things, too, you know,” she snapped.
Katrina laughed along with the others. Just then the carriage jolted into motion.
Suddenly Lady Tesh’s voice sounded above the rumble of the wheels on the gravel. “Take care of my girl, Your Grace!” she cried. And then, “Be sure to visit often.”
“I will, and we shall,” Sebastian called back, just before the carriage turned down the drive.
The moment Katrina lost sight of those women she loved so well, the tears started in earnest. Sebastian pulled her into his arms, his hands on her back and his voice in her ear soothing her.
But her tears did not last long. Especially when Mouse decided he must join in. He pushed his nose under her hand, giving her a wet kiss and a low woof before, hefting himself up onto the bench across from them, he stuck his head out the open window, ears and jowls flying in joyful abandon in the wind.
Katrina and Sebastian, laughing, settled back against the plush squabs, their arms wrapped about each other.
“I think he will do well at Ramsleigh Castle,” he said. “Very well indeed.” Suddenly his tone turned thoughtful. “But will he miss the Isle, do you think?”
She rather thought he was asking about more than Mouse, if the sudden concerned divot in between his brows was any indication. Smiling, she cupped his cheek. “The Isle will always hold a special place in his heart. But I rather think,” she murmured, “that Mouse—and me—will be happy to be wherever you are.”
He smiled, the future shining from his eyes as his gaze caressed her face. “Happy, my love?” he murmured.
“More than words could ever say,” she said before dragging his head down for a kiss.
Epilogue
Katrina, some mail has come for you!”
Katrina, in the process of helping Ramsleigh Castle’s cook pack the last of the care baskets for the villagers, looked up as Sebastian’s youngest sister, Gracie, bounded into the kitchen, Mouse at her side and a handful of letters and packages held above her head. Smiling broadly, she quickly wiped her hand on her apron before turning to the cook.
“Mrs. Aldred, do you mind finishing up here?”
“Not at all, Your Grace,” the cook said, helping Katrina off with her apron before turning to bark orders to the kitchen maids to help pack up the baskets into the waiting cart.
Katrina gave Mouse’s ears a quick scratch before taking the mail from Gracie with a smile of thanks. The girl, not above seventeen, bright-eyed and smart as a whip, peered over Katrina’s shoulder as they made their way from the kitchen and up to the main floor.
“There is a package from Miss Peacham,” she piped up, bouncing along at Katrina’s side—a perfect match to Mouse, who gamboled along her other side. “What biscuits do you suppose she has sent this time?”
“Whatever they are, I’m certain they will be delicious.” She gave a happy sigh. “I have missed her baking something terrible. And so has Mouse,” she continued, giving the dog a fond look. His tongue lolled out of his mouth as he gazed in adoration up at her.
They made it to the green sitting room, a large space that had quickly become a gathering place for their little family.Family, she thought happily as Sebastian’s nineteen-year-old sister, Rachel, seated in the window seat reading a book, spied them and jumped up to greet them. It seemed an age ago that Katrina had mourned the fact that she no longer had any family, when she had been desperate for a word from her brother.
Now not only did she have her found family on Synne, but she had Sebastian and his sisters and all the people at Ramsleigh Castle she had come to love in the two years since her marriage.
The two girls and Katrina and Mouse gathered about a low table. The package was quickly opened, their exclamations of delight ringing through the room as they spied the collection of ratafia biscuits within. Then, with the girls’—and Mouse’s—mouths full of the delightful almond-flavored concoctions, Katrina went about shuffling through the small pile of letters. There was one from Bronwyn, and one from Lady Tesh. And there, on the bottom, was one from Miss Bridling.
“Oh!” Gracie exclaimed in delight. “Is she still with Lady Tesh? Will we see her when we visit next month do you think?”
