Page 8 of 1797 Club 2nd Epilogue Collection (The 1797 Club #11)

A delaide knew Graham as well as she knew herself.

After their beginning, when she had been pretending to be someone else, after he’d been falling in love with both her identities and everything had nearly been lost, they had made promises to each other for honesty.

He gave that in spades, never hiding his emotions, his fears, his deepest desires.

The space he gave her to share her own was sacred to her.

Somehow, through love and support, they had healed each other.

Better still, when she watched him with their children, as she did now from the terrace, she saw how they were keeping those precious little ones from ever feeling the same loss or grief or fear that both of them had felt as lonely children.

She sipped her tea and smiled as Graham lifted little Edwin to place coal as the eyes of the snowman the five of them had been building together.

She could see the children shrieking in laughter, and Graham joined in until Maddie slung a snowball and hit him straight in the face.

Then he became a playful monster, roaring and chasing their squealing brood until he pretended to collapse under the barrage of their snowballs.

Dear God, but she did love that man. There was a light knock on the door behind her and she turned from the warming scene below to find Graham’s estate manager, Tobias Westin, in the entryway.

Once upon a time he had been the stage manager for the theatre where she’d walked the boards under a different name and she still considered him a good friend.

“Toby,” she said, forgoing formality even though she knew he wouldn’t. “Good afternoon.”

“Good afternoon, Your Grace,” the lanky man said, pushing at the spectacles that had gone to almost the tip of his nose. “I’m sorry to intrude, but I’ve been looking for His Grace.”

“Graham is outside with the little ones,” she said. “You ought to grab your own and hustle out there. They’re attacking the poor man with snowballs, he could use the support.”

Toby flashed a smile. “Perhaps I will. I’m sure my two would love to join the fun. I’ll just leave these papers on his desk and mention the need for signatures to him when I see him.”

“Very good,” she said and then glanced down at Graham again. “Toby?”

He had turned to go but now faced her again. “Yes?”

“He’s been… odd for the last few days. Not upset, I don’t think, but distracted. Is everything well?”

There was a moment where Toby’s anxiety flashed across his face and despite the subject she almost smiled. He’d always been a nervous sort, a problem seeker and solver. Which made him wonderful at what he did.

“Fine,” he choked out.

She arched a brow. “Toby?”

He was shifting his weight back and forth on his feet and she noted that he moved the papers he’d been carrying behind his back. So whatever he needed Graham to give his signature to was about the same thing that had been distracting him. And Toby didn’t want her to know about it. Fascinating.

“You are plum purple,” she said with a shake of her head. “Keep his secrets, then. I’ll get them another way. ”

The relief on Toby’s face made her laugh again and he ducked from the room.

When he was gone, she worried her hands in front of her.

She’d been teasing him, but in truth, she was curious about what Graham had been hiding from her.

In the past two days there had been a great deal of covering papers and halting mid-conversation when she came into rooms.

She glanced toward the hallway. If Toby and his children were to join Graham and their brood, they would likely be outside for a while. All the children were great friends and the men wouldn’t want to deny them time to play together after everyone had been cooped up inside thanks to the weather.

Which gave her a chance to do…what would Graham call it? Snooping. Such a rude term. She preferred to think of it as exploring . She would just go exploring in his study and if she found out something, then she found out.

She exited the parlor and went to Graham’s study. She didn’t close the door behind her. She belonged here as much as she did in any room in her home, Graham had never locked her out. But she did glance toward the hallway a little furtively as she walked around his desk and looked at the top.

It was a little messy, indicating he was in the middle of some kind of project.

Graham kept things tidy except when he was consumed with something important.

She looked over the papers and was surprised to find that he’d been drawing.

The sketch was of a three-dimensional rectangle with some kind of scene set up behind it. She caught her breath.

Was that a stage? She would recognize the shape of it anywhere.

She picked up the paper, staring at what she saw.

She was about to move to the papers beneath when she heard the door to the study shut firmly.

She slowly lifted her gaze to find her husband standing there, hair damp from the snow, cheeks ruddy.

Her knees went a little weak at seeing him so undone.

Or they would have if he hadn’t had his arms folded, looking at her with a scolding expression.

“You know, Your Grace,” he said as he stepped closer to her. “You really ought to mind your business, especially so close to a holiday when someone might be working on a gift for you.”

She set the paper down. “I…I didn’t expect you. Toby was going to look for you with the children.”

He nodded, his blue eyes sparkling in the firelight. “Indeed. And when he arrived, he told me you’d be asking questions. I know you too well, Adelaide. I knew you’d go digging around to find answers.”

Although he didn’t sound or appear angry, not truly, she still felt a sense of guilt in her chest. She shifted in her place. “I might not have had to if you hadn’t been acting so oddly.”

He chuckled, the low sound hitting her the way it had been for years. Good Lord, but he still moved her. It was shocking sometimes. “Ah yes, the very strange behavior of keeping a gift secret. How very dare I.”

She picked up the paper again. “Is…is that what this is? A gift? It looks…it looks like a stage, Graham, with a backdrop of trees.”

He pursed his lips and came to the desk. He leaned over and turned the paper sideways so they could look at it together. “I suppose I might as well tell you now. I intended to tell you in a few days anyway, so you could ready yourself and learn your part. Yes, it is a stage.”

Confusion and delight rushed through her at once and she shook her head. “But why? What are you planning?”

“A play,” he said and now he looked at her, his bright blue eyes tracking her every response. He almost seemed… nervous . “We’re going to put on a play for our friends for the holiday. One starring Lydia Ford. Although I suppose she should go by Adelaide, Duchess of Northfield in order to be safe.”

Her mouth dropped open at the use of her former stage name. Lydia Ford had been dead…very literally in the eyes of the public…for years. And Adelaide had watched a great many plays in that time, but never been able to give into her longing to act in one again.

“Oh, Graham,” she said. “I don’t know what to say. ”

He caught her hands and drew her around the desk so they were standing without anything between them. He touched her face, tracing the line of her jaw with his fingertips.

“I know how much you gave up all those years ago,” he said. “I know how much you loved walking the boards as Lydia.”

“And you know how much more I gained when I surrendered that life, quite willingly,” she whispered. “I’ve never regretted it. Please tell me you know that in your heart.”

“You tell me regularly and show me even more,” he said with a nod.

“But if you do not do it for yourself, then do it for me. I love watching you be in the audience at a play, with your hands clasped and your eyes shining with delight. I love hearing you talk about the same, analyzing every part of a piece as only someone who was truly an expert could do. But I also loved watching you act, Adelaide. If I give you the gift of letting you do it again, give me the same of being your greatest admirer.”

She lifted on her tiptoes and kissed him. Gently at first, but then with more passion. When she pulled away he looked a little dizzy and she smiled, always loving when she could set him on his heels one way or another.

“Let me see it,” she said and pointed to the papers. “I assume you have a script.”

“I do,” he said. “Helped along by your brilliant eldest daughter.” He pivoted away from her and dug through the piles until he found a stack. Each sheet was messy with corrections and additions in the margins. He handed it over.

“ The Pirate Queen ,” she read aloud and then skimmed over the first few pages in silence. Tears filled her eyes.

“Oh dear, that doesn’t bode well for my future as a bard,” he said, wiping one of those tears with his thumb.

She shook her head. “It’s lovely. Graham, you wrote parts for all our children, even Bubs! And for Melinda. Does she know about this?”

He nodded. “She was the first person I went to when I had the idea. She’s been assisting with the preparations. She’s quite a judgmental editor.”

She laughed. “Oh yes, she was always meticulous about lines.”

His smile broadened. “I even tried to get Toby to agree to act, as well, but he refused and instead will take on his old role as stage manager. He’s got a seamstress in town working on the costumes and several footmen are making the sets, which will be set up in the ballroom on Christmas Eve for a performance of a lifetime. ”

“And what is your role?” she asked.

His brow wrinkled. “Playwright and financier?”

She cupped his cheeks. “I see that I’m playing the Pirate Queen. Could we not make an addition of a pirate king?”

His pupils dilated and he leaned down to kiss her again. “Perhaps in a private version afterward…yes. But I would not miss being the audience for this production, my love.”

She soared as she stared up at him. This man had never run over her, never tried to stifle her. Never called her too much or too big or too loud. How she adored him and all his facets.

She touched his cheek and then motioned back to the desk. “Christmas Eve is only a few weeks away and our guests will be arriving in the interim. There’s much to do and now that I’m part of it, we cannot dally, can we? Not if we want to make this play a smashing success!”

He wrapped an arm around her and held her tight to his side. “Very good. Now what to you think of the set piecing?”

For the rest of the afternoon, they dove into the minutia of the play and their plans, fiddled with the simple, but entertaining script he had scribbled out and discussed each role carefully.

They were so engrossed that when the bell rang indicated supper would be served in an hour, they both started in surprise.

And it was perfect, almost more of a gift than even the play would be. Because getting lost with her husband was something she loved. And never wanted to give up, no matter how many years they shared, how many children came and drew their attention .

Graham Everly was and would always be her greatest love. And as they exited the study arm in arm, he still discussing the play with animated passion, she couldn’t help but ponder how lucky she was.

And what she could give him for the holiday that would match this gorgeous gift he was giving her.