Epilogue
S everal months later Victoria was watching snowflakes through the window of the Macclesfield carriage as she and Robert returned home from supper at Castleford. Robert hadn't wanted to visit his father, but she had insisted that they needed to make peace with their families before they could think about beginning a family of their own.
Victoria's reunion with her own father had occurred two weeks earlier. It had been difficult at first, and Victoria still wouldn't say that their relationship was completely repaired, but at least the healing process had begun. After this visit to Castleford, she felt that Robert and his father had reached a similar point in their own relationship. She let out a soft sigh and turned back to the carriage's interior. Robert had dozed off, his dark lashes sinfully long against his cheeks. She reached out to brush away a lock of his hair, and his eyelids fluttered open.
He yawned. “Did I fall asleep?”
“Just for a moment,” Victoria said. Then she yawned, too. “Goodness, it must be catching.”
Robert smiled. “Yawns?”
Victoria nodded, still yawning.
“I didn't expect that we'd be there so late,” Robert said.
“I'm glad we were. I wanted you to have time with your father. He is a good man. A bit misguided, but he loves you, and that is what is important.”
Robert pulled her closer to him. “Victoria, you have the biggest heart of anyone I have ever met. How can you possibly forgive him for the way he treated you?”
“You forgave my father,” she pointed out.
“Only because you ordered me to.”
Victoria swatted at his shoulder. “If nothing else, we can learn from their mistakes. For when we have our own children.”
“I suppose if one must find a silver lining,” he muttered.
“I would hope we could learn soon,” she said pointedly.
Robert was clearly still sleepy, because he didn't catch her hint and just gave her a dutiful nod.
“Very soon,” Victoria repeated. “Maybe by early summer.”
He wasn't such a dolt that he missed her meaning twice. “What?” he gasped, sitting up straight.
She nodded and placed his hand on her abdomen.
“Are you certain? You haven't been queasy. I would have noticed if you had morning sickness.”
Victoria gave him an amused smile. “Are you disappointed that I am not having trouble keeping my breakfast down?”
“No, of course not, it's just…”
“Just what, Robert?”
His throat worked, and Victoria was surprised to see a tear forming in his eye. She was even more surprised when he didn't move to brush it away.
He turned to her and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “When we finally married I never thought I could be happier than I was at that very moment, but you've gone and proved me wrong.”
“It's nice to prove you wrong from time to time.” She laughed. Then Robert suddenly stiffened, startling her. “What is it?”
“You're going to think I'm mad,” he said, sounding a bit baffled.
“Perhaps, but only in the nicest possible way,” she teased.
“The moon,” he said. “I could swear it just winked at me.”
Victoria twisted her head to look back out the window. The moon hung heavy and low in the night sky. “It looks perfectly normal to me.”
“It must have been a tree branch,” Robert muttered, “crossing in front of our window.”
Victoria smiled. “Isn't it interesting how the moon follows one wherever one goes?”
“There is a scientific explanation for—”
“I know, I know. But I prefer to think it follows me.”
Robert looked back up at the moon, still dumbstruck over the winking incident. “Do you remember when I promised you the moon?” he asked. “When I promised you everything and the moon?”
She nodded sleepily. “I have everything I need right here in this carriage. I don't need the moon anymore.”
Robert watched as the moon followed their carriage, winking at him once again. “What the devil?” He craned his head to look for a tree branch. He didn't see one.
“What is it?” Victoria mumbled, burrowing into his side.
Robert stared at the moon, silently daring it to wink again. It remained mockingly full. “Darling,” he said distractedly, “about the moon…”
“Yes?”
“I don't think it matters whether you want it or not.”
“What are you talking about?”