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Most of all, he saw a family who had welcomed him with open arms. And with love.
“No, Mother,” he replied. “What I see is entirely uncommon, and I am grateful for it.” He bent over and kissed her on the cheek. “I am glad you were here for the wedding. I am glad you got to meet Rose.”
“I am, too, Winton,” she said, offering the warmest smile he’d seen since her arrival in Lower Alderwood. “It has all been a bit of a blur, I must confess. But I can see that you are happy—happier, perhaps, than I have ever seen you before. And I am glad of that. Ah, I see your beautiful bride trying to gain your attention.” Rebecca had been enjoying the antics of Artie and Delia along with the children, but she was now walking to them and waving. “She is a lovely young lady, Winton,” his mother continued. “Despite the rather unruly scene around me, I cannot help but approve.”
“Thank you, Mother,” he said.
“I’m afraid Kelso is anxious to be off. Hunting season begins shortly, you know. I daresay you’ll be involved with your bride and your daughter, so I doubt we will be missed very much.”
“I shall miss you though,” he said. And he realized that he meant it.
She smiled. “I shall miss you too.”
“One would think that Artie and Delia would be getting too old for such antics, but the energy they manage to find when entertaining seems to make them years younger,” Rebecca said when she arrived at their side.
“Delia,” Ben’s mother said. “DeliaWeston? I recall seeing her perform on stage when I was making my come-out . . . and a few times since.”
“The very one,” Rebecca said.
“Well, perhaps I ought to go over and see the performance, then,” she said. “My felicitations to you both. You have my love.” And then she wandered over to stand near the children.
Ben choked with laughter and surprise at his mother’s response. “Come,” he said to his beautiful bride. “We are finally alone, the guests seem happy celebrating in their own particular ways, and there is something I wish to show you before our wedding day draws to a close.”
“I’m intrigued,” she said.
He took her by the hand and led her down a familiar path that led through the parkland to his own property. A path he had walked during one of his first days in Lower Alderwood.
They walked silently, holding hands. Rebecca brushed her free hand against the grasses that had grown long over the spring and summer months and now lined the path where they walked.
It wasn’t long before the trees at the edge of the Alderwood property came into view, and through those trees, the fence that ran between Ben’s land and Thurlby’s. Ben held a branch out of the way so they could walk farther into the trees.
Rebecca suddenly gasped and turned to look at Ben, tears welling in her eyes.
“What do you think?” Ben asked her in a soft voice.
The stile—the stile that had played such a large part in their accidental meeting and subsequent romance—had been enhanced. Ben had asked MacKay to assist him with the work just this past week, fearing that Rebecca or someone else would travel this way and ruin his surprise. They had secured any loose boards and sanded them until they were smooth. But then Ben had added a stone bench with pots of shade-loving shrubs and flowers around it, making it a beautiful, private space.
A special place just for Rebecca and him.
“I won’t begrudge others walking this way and enjoying this spot,” Ben said. “But I am having MacKay put another stile in a few meters away, and he will also make a detour to direct people—family, friends . . . trespassers of all kinds”—he smiled teasingly at Rebecca—“in that direction. Because this isourplace. The beginning of our story, our life together.”
“It’s beautiful!” Rebecca exclaimed breathlessly. “I cannot think of a more perfect wedding gift than this. Thank you!” She threw her arms around Ben, and he gladly reciprocated and held her close.
“Now, if you’ll allow me,” Ben said after ending their embrace, “I intend to carry my bride over the threshold of my property. I carried you home on the first day we met under accidental circumstances, and I intend to carry you to your new home in like manner—under very deliberate circumstances.”
And then he lifted her into his arms, carefully took the steps up and over the stile, and didn’t stop until they had crossed his property and were well over the threshold of their house, their home, as man and wife.
Ben stooped to kiss her . . .
“Ma! Da!” he heard a little voice squeal from the top of the stairs.
He let out a sigh, and Rebecca laughed.
“She just awoke from her nap. I was about to take her over for the festivities,” Rose’s nurse said as she brought her down the stairs to her papa and her new mama.
“And so our lives begin,” Ben said.
Rebecca laughed again and took Rose into her arms and cuddled her, and then Ben wrapped his arms around the both of them, utterly content.
The End
