Page 10 of How to Bewitch a Duke (Lady Be Seductive #3)
One year later…
T he sun was beginning to set, casting a soft glow across the rolling hills that surrounded Harwood Hall. The grand estate, so familiar to the Thompson sisters, was peaceful. The air was warm with the scent of summer flowers and the gentle rustle of leaves in the breeze. Inside, however, there was a quiet sense of nostalgia in the air as three sisters gathered together in the drawing room, each holding a piece of the past in their hands. They were there to have dinner with their father. Their respective husbands had joined the earl in the library for drinks before the meal—leaving the women alone to have a visit with each other.
Maeve, Isla, and Athena sat side by side, their hearts intertwined by love, loss, and the path they had traveled together. In front of them lay the faded leather-bound journal that had once been their mother’s most intimate possession—a journal that had guided them through trials, heartaches, and, eventually, to the love they had all so desperately needed in a matter of months.
Isla looked down at the journal, her fingers lightly tracing the embossed initials on the cover. “It’s hard to believe it has been a little over a year since we found this journal,” she said softly, her voice tinged with emotion. “And in that year, we each found our way to happiness and love. All of it started with this.”
Athena, now a radiant mother of twin boys, smiled gently. Her eyes had softened in the light, joy reflected in them. “I’ve often thought about how much our mother’s words helped us find our way. How she spoke of love, of family, and of the strength in following our hearts.”
Maeve, sitting beside her sisters, nodded. She was no longer as quiet or as reserved as she had once been. Her marriage to Viscount Pemberton had brought her a sense of completeness she had never imagined. She had found a love she had and a renewed sense of hope, and her paintings had become even more exquisite in the past year—that delight reflected on canvas. “I think we’ve all found the happiness she spoke of,” Maeve said quietly. “Perhaps even more than we expected. But now, it feels like it’s time to let go.” She rubbed her extended belly—her first child would be born in a few short months.
Isla looked at her two sisters, a deep sense of peace settling over her. The heartache of the past, the pain of lost love, had been replaced by something far stronger: the love of family. And love, she realized, had always been the answer. Her mother had been right all along. “I’m ready,” Isla said softly, her voice filled with quiet conviction. “We don’t need this anymore. The journal. It helped us, and it will always be a part of our past. But we have our future now.” She had her own secret to share, the child that she would have with Lucian safely in her womb. She would be a mother not long after Maeve gave birth.
Maeve smiled and gently took the journal in her hands, feeling its weight—the weight of the memories it held and the lessons it had imparted. “We’ve made our own choices. We’ve walked our own paths. And now, we can look forward with open hearts.”
Together, the three sisters rose from their seats, walking to the attic door that had been left untouched since Maeve had found those gowns for the masquerade. The attic had once been a place where memories were stored, a place of bittersweet recollection, but today it felt different. Today, it was a place of closure. They would store their mother’s journal, along with their childhood, and move forward into a future filled with love and the knowledge that they had been guided by their mother’s wisdom all along.
Isla stepped into the attic first, her footsteps quiet on the old wood floor. Maeve and Athena followed, and together they reached the small wooden chest where so many of their belongings had been kept—treasures from the past that were no longer needed, but would never be forgotten. Maeve opened the chest, and Isla placed the journal gently inside. As she closed the lid, a quiet peace settled over her. “She would be proud of us,” Isla whispered, her voice thick with emotion.
“She would,” Athena agreed, her voice soft with love. “And I think she knows we are all exactly where we are meant to be.”
“Now we should join our husbands,” Athena said, then laughed. “They’re likely overwhelming father.”
Maeve laughed too. “If any of them are testing father’s patient it would be my husband.” She rolled her eyes. “Brooks can be a bit much…”
Isla smiled. “That is true,” she agreed. “Though he is quite charming.”
“And that is what saves him every time,” Maeve said, a little exasperated but that smile never fell from her face.”
“We all know that Roman is the reasonable one.” Athena shrugged. “We balance each other out.”
“That you do,” Isla said. “We all found our perfect matches, didn’t we?”
“That we have,” Athena said. She glanced around the room. “And mother helped us find them. It still amazes me how much her journal rescued us and led us to love.” She smiled, almost serenely. “I only hope I am as wonderful a mother as she was, even after she could no longer be with us.”
“You will be,” Maeve reassured her. “We all will. We have her words to guide us. Always.”
With that, the three of them stood in silence for a moment, hands linked together, a bond that no distance, no time, could ever break. As they descended the stairs from the attic, the soft, golden light of the evening poured through the windows of the house, as though the world itself was reminding them of all the love that had come before—and all the love still to come. The future was theirs, and in that future, their mother’s spirit would always be with them, guiding them with love that never truly faded. With hearts full, the sisters moved forward—knowing that no matter what, love would always be enough to light their way.