AllFreeNovel
Share Us
EPILOGUE
Two years later
THESKYOVERHEADwas a vibrant blue. Fluffy white clouds drifted over in the gentle breeze that offered some relief from the unusual summer heat. It was a beautiful day. Serene. Even the horses in the paddock seemed to be enjoying the sun.
Emma sat on the red-and-white-checked blanket that was laid on the grass, her back against the trunk of a tree. Fingers stroking through Alex’s black hair as he lay with his head in her lap. The sunlight was catching his blue eyes, making them even more vivid than normal. Almost otherworldly.
Emma still couldn’t believe that this amazing specimen of a man was hers. He had been for a little over two and a half years now, and in that time so much had changed.
There was no fear of love, nor feelings of inadequacy.
They’d left Melbourne, but travelled back often enough. In fact they travelled extensively, as Alex grew Hastings International. Their most frequent trip was back here, to Greenfield House. A place that Alex had grown to love.
They had come here when he’d proposed to her, in the middle of the maze, when he had set up a scavenger hunt that had ended with him in the centre, waiting on a bended knee. They had come back again when they’d got married in the gardens. And now they were back here for a few days, and intended to stay for a few more.
Alex kissed Emma’s swollen belly. He couldn’t wait to meet his baby. It had been Emma’s idea that they—including Lucky—should spend the pregnancy and the year afterwards in London. She wanted his father to be as close to his grandchild as possible, and Alex had gratefully agreed.
His father had, after all, accepted Emma as the daughter he’d never had, and she’d got the father she always wanted.
Having been back for a few months already, those plans had morphed. They had decided to stay in London permanently. Alex was finally embracing every part of his life. Being heir to an earldom no longer felt like a shackle, and he’d helped Emma set up a British branch of the literacy charity, taking the organisation international—much to Fiona’s excitement.
Emma moved the hand that had been in Alex’s to her belly. ‘Did you feel that?’ she asked, and smiled.
Alex beamed. Felt his face lighting up. ‘Yes! I can’t wait to meet you...’ he said, turning over with his lips inches from her belly. ‘Take you to your first concert. Teach you how to drive really fast...’
He whispered the last two words, making Emma laugh.
‘He’s going to be a rower—just like his dad,’ she said, kissing her husband on the head.
‘He?’
She shrugged. ‘I just know. I have a feeling.’
Alex sat up, taking her face in his hands, and kissed her slowly, lovingly. Roving his lips over hers. He couldn’t imagine that it was possible to love her any more than he did right now, but he’d thought that the day before, and the day before that. He knew his love for her would only grow. That no matter how much time he had with her it would never be nearly enough.
‘I love you, Emma Hastings,’ he breathed against her lips.
‘I love you too, Alexander.’
