This huge relief had accompanied the news that, after scouring England for Jemima for a month, Lord Deveril had left with his wife for the Continent on a journey of at least six months, if not a year.
“Soon, my darling Jemima, all of society will be clamouring to offer comfort and condolences to the orphaned daughter of this man of learning and wisdom, so brutally struck down but whose legacy to you has enabled you to discover a centuries-hidden treasure that has brought fame and glory to the whole of England.”
More passengers were clamouring on deck to catch a glimpse of land and Miles drew Jemima aside to make room at the railing.
The excitement communicated by their fellow travellers at returning to loved ones and the warmth of Miles’s embrace was fast filling Jemima with a reassuring faith in the future. Yes, all would be well.
Her aunt and cousins would be at the docks to greet her. Just the thought of that reunion brought tears to her eyes. But her overriding emotion as she snuggled against Miles and blinked through the salty spray while the wind whipped her hair across her eyes, was comfort.
A deep and all-encompassing sense of comfort and safety in the knowledge that what Miles said was true and that all the unanticipated difficulties that lay ahead could be navigated with him by her side.
“I think, Miles, that I could be the kind of wife your parents would have wished for you,” she told him in a cocoon of warmth and happiness despite being jostled by an exuberant father as he scooped up his young daughter to set her on his shoulders.
In a few months Jemima was almost certain she and Miles would have a child of their own. She’d weighed up whether to wait to tell him when they were on English shores once she felt more confident of her reception there. But Miles’s response to her remark earlier had emboldened her to share the news with him the moment they had a modicum of privacy and were no longer hemmed in by shouting passengers.
“My parents would have adored you,” Miles replied, kissing her nose. For a moment he stared down at her as if he couldn’t believe his good fortune while Jemima’s heart echoed the sentiment. Yes, she would tell him tonight. She gripped his hand and her heart felt very full when he added, softly, “And I believe you’re the very wife my brother Richard would have wished me to have, too.”
The End