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SIX MONTHS LATER

“ T oday will be a day full of surprises,” William said happily. “I hope you’re ready, Arabella.”

“Of course, I am,” she said. “You’ve been preparing me all day for this, letting me know that surprises lay ahead. I might even have one or two in store for you.”

“Oh, do you?” He gave her his classic grin, the one that let her know he wasn’t taking things all that seriously. He had no idea that she really did have a surprise for him, one she was sure was going to rock him to his very core.

But she would let him have his moment first. Whatever he had brought her to the country house to show her, she would happily see it and let him tell her all about it.

Perhaps he intended that they should spend some time here this summer, she reflected happily.

That would be nice. And Caroline and Prudence could come to stay with them for a while—how lovely that would be!

They walked up the path to the house. Arabella had been here a few times before but only on day trips—she’d never stayed the night.

There was no plan to stay the night this time either, she knew, but if he meant for them to have a stay here for the summer, there would at least be talk about the accommodations.

She would see the bedroom that would be hers, and maybe even…

“Your Graces!”

The voice interrupted her thoughts. A woman in a modest dress was hurrying toward them with a broad smile on her face.

“I hoped you would make it today,” she said as the approached. “This must be the Duchess, am I right?”

“It’s very nice to make your acquaintance.” Arabella was mystified. She hadn’t expected anyone to be here at all today. Was this woman a permanent member of the staff?

“Wonderful to see you, Mrs. Hancock,” William said warmly. “We’ve just come to have a look around.”

“Of course! Everything is on schedule,” Mrs. Hancock said. “We’ll be able to open on time, I believe.”

“Open?” Arabella asked.

William beamed at her. “Come with me, and I’ll show you what we’re working on here. I think you’re going to love it, Arabella.”

“I thought this was just a country house,” Arabella admitted, following him toward the door. “I thought you were going to tell me you wanted us to spend the summer here.”

“I’ve got a different country house in mind for our summer,” William said. “Not this one. I have special plans for this place.”

“I’m beginning to see that. But what are you hoping to do?”

“Look here.” He led her across the foyer and stopped before a door.

“Is this the dining room?” It seemed like it ought to be by the layout of the place—but why had he brought her into the country to show her an empty dining room? She could already tell there wasn’t food inside. She would have smelled it from here if there was.

“Just go in and look for yourself,” he urged.

She opened the door and went inside—and let out a gasp.

It wasn’t a dining room at all. Or rather, it probably had been once—the room had the long and slightly narrow shape of a room that was used for that purpose. There were tall arched windows along one wall that reminded her of the dining room back home at Redmayne.

But there was no dining table. There were no dining chairs.

Instead, there were desks, like the kind you might see in a classroom, each with its own little chair attached.

Arabella could see that she wouldn’t have fit into one of them.

She ran her hand over the back of the nearest chair, remembering her own school days when she had been a child.

Remembering the way school had been one of the only places she had felt as if she mattered.

“What is this?” she asked, turning to face William. “What have you done here?”

“It’s a school,” he said, a smile spreading across his face. “Or rather, that’s what it will be when it’s finished. Mrs. Hancock is going to run it, you see.”

“A school for who? For the children of the ton? They won’t come out here for school,” she told him. “They’ll be getting an education at the fine academies as you did.”

“Not for them,” William said. “This is a place for children who can’t afford to go to schools like that one.

Children whose parents can’t hire tutors for them.

I’m thinking of the children who would have to go to little town schools, where they might not get a good education, or who might not have access to schooling at all. ”

“You want to educate those children? Commoners?”

“I think everyone ought to have an education,” William said.

“You know, I look at you, Arabella, and I see how brilliant you are. The way you taught yourself to play chess as a child. The way you know how to manage my books better than I do. The way you keep up with me in every conversation. You’re just as clever as I am and almost certainly more so. ”

Arabella blushed.

“I think that if you’d had the education I was given, nothing in the world would be able to stop you,” William said.

“Hardly anything does as it is. So, I want to make sure that if there are any more children out there like you—brilliant but held back by the circumstances of their birth—they have every opportunity to make the most of themselves.”

Arabella didn’t know what to say.

She turned in a slow circle, taking in the room before her and imagining it filled up with children who had come ready to learn. She imagined their bright, eager eyes, thrilled at the opportunity they’d been given, exciting futures stretched out before them.

“It’s going to change their lives,” she said, turning back to William. “They’ll be able to do so much more than they might have otherwise.”

“That’s right,” he agreed. “I imagine young men who could only have been tradesmen going into business for themselves. I imagine girls growing up able to navigate all levels of society, no matter the circumstances of their birth, just as you’ve proven able to do.”

“You want to empower more common girls to grow up and marry dukes, is that what you’re saying?” She laughed.

“Well, I found the love of my life in a young woman of common birth,” he said.

“If it hadn’t been for your father’s social advancement, our paths might never have crossed—but if they had, I like to think I would have recognized how good you were for me.

I like to believe we would have found our way here no matter what. ”

“I’d like to think you’re right about that,” she told him, smiling.

“I brought you here today because I wanted to show you the school,” he told her.

“But also because I wanted to get your help in setting things up. There is a lot of work yet to be done. Some of the rooms need to be cleaned out and prepared to be converted into dormitories for example. We’re going to put the boys in the east wing and the girls in the west, I think, and there will be house guardians watching each wing.

And then, we’re going to need more spaces for classes—I thought we could convert the ballroom—and they’ll need a place to take their meals.

And a place for recreation, of course—they can use the yard on sunny days, but children need to play in the rain as well. ”

“One thing at a time,” Arabella laughed. “I can see that there’s a lot that has to be done. We can get through it if we work together.”

“I knew you would embrace this,” William said. “That’s why I brought you here.”

“I wish you had arranged for us to stay the night! There’s so much to do, and I’d like to really put in some time to make sure we get it done,” Arabella said. “Do we have to go back home today?”

“Today we do because we have no staff out here,” he said. “But as we hire the team that’s going to help us run the school, we’ll be able to spend more time here. We couldn’t do it today. There’s no one to prepare our meals or anything.”

“I see,” Arabella agreed. “Yes, you’re right, I can understand how that’s a problem. But do you promise we’ll come out another time and stay for a while?”

“If that would make you happy, then of course we will,” William agreed. “There’s no rush at all. Even after the school is opened, we can come out here any time since it’s our place. I know you’ll like spending time with the children.”

“Well, yes,” Arabella agreed. “But even so, I think I’d like to plan to come out here sooner rather than later. I don’t want to wait too long.”

“What’s your hurry?” William asked.

She took a deep breath. “It’s just that—I think you and I might be preoccupied with other things in a few months.”

“What kinds of other things?” He frowned.

Arabella beamed. “Another child,” she said. “Not a student at your school but…”

William gasped, suddenly realizing. “One of our own!”

“I just got the news yesterday,” she said. “I could hardly wait to tell you. Are you pleased?”

“Oh, Arabella, and you’ve let me go on and on about the classrooms!” He ran to her side and embraced her. “I just can’t believe this! A child of our own!”

“An heir to your dukedom,” she agreed warmly.

“True enough—if it’s a boy—but, oh, I don’t care about that . A baby! A child of our very own! I never thought this day would come, Arabella, I can hardly believe it! I’m just so excited. Are you well? Is everything all right?”

“I’m perfectly well,” she assured him.

“You shouldn’t have let me bring you out here! You should be at home, resting!”

“Nonsense. That isn’t necessary at all. I’m perfectly fine.

If I had needed rest, I would have told you, and I’m sure the physician would have insisted upon bringing it up to you as well.

He allowed me the freedom to tell you the news in my own time because there was nothing for you to worry about.

Because there is nothing for you to worry about.

Put your mind at ease. I’m healthy, and so is our—our child. ”

It was the first time she had spoken those words aloud, and it felt as if a powerful wave of joy had come surging through her. The wave seemed to break in her very heart, and by the look on William’s face, she was sure he was feeling the same thing she was.

“I think we’d better go straight home,” William said, putting his arm around her. “I don’t like you being this far away from help, should anything happen.”

“Oh, William. You’re going to be insufferably protective, aren’t you?”

“I mean to be,” he agreed, stroking her cheek very gently with the tips of his fingers. “I will protect both of you with my very life, Arabella. That’s a promise.”

And he kissed her deeply.

Arabella allowed her body to bend to fit the shape of his, trusting his strong arms to hold her up just as they always did.

His lips parted hers gently, and she rested on the strength of his hands, knowing that he had her and that he would always have her. Knowing that he would care for her and for their baby.

There is no one else in the world I would do this with, she realized. I am so thankful it’s him.

She sank into the warmth and familiarity and passion of the kiss, and neither of them spoke again for a very long time.

The End?