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The little house at the edge of the woods was not the kind of residence visitors tended to expect of the famed Hann heiress.
The whole sordid affair had been splashed across the evening newspapers—the bulk of the most salacious details had even been true, which had saved the authors quite a bit of time and imagination—and had invited a great deal of interest in the story of the mad Sir James Leeson and the whirlwind wedding of his famous niece. Hungry to catch a glimpse of Miss Diana and her legendarily charming husband, for a time, curious members of the rabble and the gentry alike had flocked to the address printed in the papers. Nearly every one of them had departed confused and discouraged, certain they had been tricked by some journalistic embellishment.
“Did you see how much she inherited from her poor parents? I can’t imagine a lady so wealthy living in a little cottage by the woods like that,” the befuddled onlookers would say, scratching their heads as they returned to nobler quarters of the city. Indeed, with only two storeys and little room for servants or fine carriages, the petite residence seemed absolutely inappropriate for a well-to-do young couple.
For Diana Mullens, however, the little house was everything she wanted in the world. After her experience in the cavernous misery of the Leeson house, she wanted nothing more than a small, cosy space to live with Colin, and this house had cosiness in abundance. In its meagre two storeys, the house contained everything she could want, from a library stocked to the rafters with all their favourite books to a quaint little parlour. There was room enough for Missus Fessler to do the cooking and cleaning most days and still leave the two lovebirds alone, and even a small pianoforte on which Colin good-naturedly listened to Diana pick out tunes in the evenings.
Most importantly, the house was built on one tiny corner of a vast plot of land that stretched back into the eastern woodlands. This was where she and Colin would lose themselves in laughing quests for blackberries or wild mushrooms or rare, half-seen birds. Now that winter had fallen, their wanderings through the woods had grown shorter and more treacherous, though the first snow had transformed the place into a wonderland Diana thrilled to discover again and again in the years to come.
“You are sure there is room enough here for all of you, Colin?”
Diana winced, drawn back to their afternoon visit with Priscilla Leeson. She felt herself flush with temper, having answered this same question from a thousand well-wishers and Priscilla herself more than once … but as she opened her mouth to snap at her mother-in-law, she was stopped by Colin offering her a plate of sweets from the tea tray. Diana took one with a grateful glance to her husband and popped it into her mouth.
“What in the world are you talking about, ‘all of us’?” Colin asked, smiling. “There’s only Diana and myself, Mother, and the house is certainly large enough for the two of us. We can only be in one room at a time, I’ll remind you—two, if we ever left one another’s sight.”
Diana sighed happily. She had anticipated a lifetime of teasing at the hands of Colin Mullens, though she was generally happy to note that he had recovered all of the quick wit and clever patter that had so drawn her to him in the first place. But it seemed that among the things he had learned from their adventures together was the understanding that their household would be a happy one so long as certain topics were exempted in his joke-making.
Besides, she thought, casting a loving glance at Colin to her side. I think he really does enjoy the two of us having to be so close in this little place. As if sensing her thoughts, Colin’s knee brushed against hers under the table, sending a pleasurable wave of ticklish contact up her spine.
Priscilla laughed at Colin’s words—a lovely, musical sound that Diana relished hearing more and more often these days. “Oh, of course, dear, I know that. Your mother’s not got so old that she can’t count to two, you know.”
“Thank God for that.” Colin laughed, taking a sip of his tea. “I can only imagine how much more difficult that would make it to put on your shoes.”
More laughter rang from the humble wooden ceiling of the house, then lapsed into a pleasant silence. The three refilled their cups and gazed out the window at the glittering white road in front of the house.
“We had a letter from Mister Arnold yesterday,” said Diana, a sombre note entering her voice. “I’m sorry to hear that Sir James will be locked up for a very long time.”
“That’s good of you to say, dear. Especially after everything he put you through.” Priscilla shook her head sadly. “I want to tell you again how very sorry I am that I allowed it to carry on so awfully, Diana. You did not deserve that sort of treatment, especially from your guardian, and so soon after a tragedy.”
Diana felt her eyes well up with tears, but she pushed these aside with a smile of gratitude. “You had to survive in Sir James’ house, Mother. And you helped me however you could—I don’t know if I would have been able to carry on if you hadn’t brought me those surreptitious midnight dinners from time to time.”
“All the same, I suppose I shall always regret not having the courage to confront Sir James back when it could have done some good.” Priscilla looked out at the snowy street in front of the house, her eyes dim and half-lidded. “I really did love him once, you know. At least, I thought I did. I only wish I hadn’t been so blinded by my own various miseries that I let him carry on doing such awful things beneath our own roof.”
Colin lay a hand on the table, giving his mother a look of sympathy. “You cannot blame yourself for Sir James’ actions, Mother. He was a monster, and that is beyond anyone’s capacity to change but God.”
Something severe flashed in Priscilla’s eyes. “He was a decent man, Colin. He was capable of true acts of generosity and love, and he exercised that goodness to help you and me again and again.” Then her expression softened into one of regret. “… And he was a monster. One who did unspeakably cruel deeds, some of which I’m sure we still cannot imagine.”
Colin’s fingers curled into a fist. He beat it against the table in frustration, startling Diana with his intensity. “No prison can ever be sufficient punishment for his crimes. It turns my stomach to think that I ever idolized such a villain.”
Priscilla lay her hand atop her son’s. “Colin … tomorrow I mean to visit the court to beg for leniency in his sentence. Even if he remains imprisoned for his crimes, perhaps he may be granted some measure of comfort during his incarceration.” She gave him a significant look. “It would mean a great deal to me if you would do the same.”
Colin recoiled as if struck. “How can you ask me for that, Mother? After all he did? Murdering his own family, robbing from those who depended on him … to say nothing of the horrors he visited upon you and me over the years.”
“None of us are wholly good nor evil, Colin,” said Priscilla in a sombre voice. “What are important are our actions, not our intentions. Your stepfather had convinced himself that he was only righting wrongs and was so convinced of his own good intentions and impatient with the world’s failings that eventually he stopped considering other people anything more than an obstacle to his own aims. Remember that, for it may be the last lesson Sir James ever teaches you.”
Looking over, Diana saw conflicted emotions play across Colin’s face. The poor man must be so confused. She sniffed, trying to hold back the instinct that told her it was her fault that he was made to confront the evil of his beloved stepfather.
Priscilla put this dark mood to rest with a light-hearted laugh and a merry shake of her head, her grey curls bouncing appealingly. “Oh, listen to me, spoiling this perfectly lovely tea with such dark pronouncements. For all the difficulties we have been through, now things could not be better! I feel I am truly happier and happier every single day.” She helped herself to another sweet, then closed her eyes and sighed, relishing the taste. “I find that even food tastes better these days. My word, the world really is a different place when one is not living in terror.”
“Are you sure it’s not just that Missus Fessler is the superior cook?” asked Colin with a smirk playing at his lips.
“Is she?” Priscilla smiled at the pair. “All these years, and I had no idea she had such talents. I shall have to see if I can’t entice her to come back to her previous employment …”
“Entice all you like.” Colin spread his arms nearly as wide as his smile. “I’d wager there isn’t enough money in the whole Leeson fortune to convince her to return to that house.”
“And even if there is, we’ll match your price,” Diana put in. Laughter rang from the walls as the three enjoyed the affectionate moment a while longer. As Colin stood to put another log on the fire, however, Priscilla announced that it was time for her to return home, and they reluctantly made ready for her departure.
“I … will think on what you asked of me, Mother. About Sir James, I mean,” said Colin as he walked Priscilla to the entryway of the little house. “It’s not an easy thing you ask of me, but I suppose that makes it all the more important, doesn’t it?”
Priscilla put a hand on her son’s cheek and looked into his eyes with pride. “You’re such a smart young man, Colin. Nearly as smart as your bride, though don’t tell her I said so.”
Diana laughed as she approached the two with her mother-in-law’s coat in hand. “Don’t worry, Mother. I wouldn’t believe it even if I heard it.”
Priscilla took Diana’s hand in her own and squeezed it happily, then sighed and accepted help putting on her heavy fur coat. “Just don’t be too sure you can’t still learn a thing or two from your elders,” she said lightly, stepping out the door towards her carriage, which her driver had waiting ready to take her back home.
Priscilla stopped and examined the house once more, then looked back at them, a girlish twinkle in her eye. “Even I know that if you keep one and one together long enough, sooner or later it becomes three. No matter how smart or determined one may be.”
Diana covered her mouth with her hands, hoping to hide how badly she was blushing. Judging by Priscilla’s merry laughter, Diana guessed she was unsuccessful in this deception and scurried back into the house even as she overheard Colin speaking to his mother as he ushered her into her carriage.
“Mother, please, we’ve only just married. Surely we can talk of grandchildren some other time, when—”
“I know, I know, I’m going. Forgive an old woman the one small hope she has in her life.”
“Weren’t you just saying you were feeling happier every …?”
Diana veritably floated up the wooden stairs towards her bedroom, the creaks beneath her feet drowning out any further sounds of conversation. She hugged herself and drew in a satisfied breath as she reached the top, pausing to savour the latest in a long series of perfect, golden moments that had somehow become part of her daily routine.
To live in such a place of my own, one filled by the happy sounds of family … I could never have imagined such a thing a year ago, and it seemed an impossibility just a few weeks ago.
Though Diana was thoroughly pleased with every inch of their new home, she found their bedroom was her absolutely favourite part. There was the thick Oriental rug covering the rough wooden floor and the wardrobes filled with some of the beautiful garments Colin had purchased for her in a frenzy of celebratory spending after their wedding. The room was lit by tall glass windows that looked down at the snowy trees, as well as by the hearth that burned cheerily on the far wall and the multitude of candles that Colin kept lit for her so she could read or languish in bed according to her pleasure. And, of course, there was the massive bed, Diana mused with a blush—that had been the site of their most stimulating explorations yet.
Diana sighed once more, feeling a slight ache in her face from how much she had been smiling of late. She sat in a seat by the window and stared out at the winter scenery. The smell of wood smoke and leather and down permeated the air, mixing in a heady combination that was downright intoxicating. It provoked a cascade of memories, carrying her back to the first time she kissed the man who was now her husband.
That moment seemed so utterly unique, so unlike everything else life had ever been for me, Diana thought as she watched her mother-in-law’s carriage recede into the distance. Now it’s as though I live in that moment, that instant of fantasy being painted into a permanent reality. Fortune truly has blessed me—blessed both of us.
She sniffed, unable to stop herself from remembering her erstwhile guardian’s words. It may be he was right, in a way. It took the actions of a great man to correct the wrongs Sir James committed. Diana’s thoughts wandered still further from her cosy little home into vague and abstract questions of destiny and morality.
“Your posture’s all wrong for brooding, you realise. You should really have a glass of wine in your hand, and that dreamy smile is right out. Take it from an expert.”
Diana felt her face break into a warm, wide smile at the sight of the man standing in the doorway. It was as though every tissue and organ in her body was at once suffused with a pleasant halo of light—yet another singularly wonderful occurrence that now happened to her every day. She rushed over to Colin across the elegant carpet and launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around him even as he staggered backward, holding her aloft and squirming beneath her rain of kisses.
“Help! A madwoman is attacking me!” Colin laughed, swinging her around in a circle and provoking a girlish giggle.
“There will be no help for you, miserable cur.” Diana laughed between pecks on her husband’s cheeks. “You’re mine, to do with exactly as I eek!”
She dissolved into wordless laughter as Colin’s fingers scrambled beneath the folds of her dress, tickling her mercilessly. “St–ha ha, stop it this ack!”
“Oho, so my assailant cannot take her own punishment!”
In a fit of laughter and roughhousing, the two wheeled around the room on Colin’s strong feet, eventually collapsing into a pile of kisses on their marital bed. They lay there for a long while, locked in a tight embrace that warmed them through the winter chill. Gradually their silence turned from comfortable to pensive, and Diana detected a distant feeling of unease from her husband.
“Are you all right?” Diana asked in a soft, careful voice. “I know how much you’re still troubled by … everything with your stepfather.”
Colin looked off into the distance, the firelight casting its golden reflection in his brilliant green eyes. He looked so sad, Diana thought, sympathy swelling in her breast. “I am,” he said gently. “I expect I always shall be. I wish things had not happened as they did.”
Disappointment bloomed within her, but before Diana could speak, she felt Colin’s finger beneath her chin, pulling her up to look into his eyes. His face was glowing with a sincere affection that was breath-taking. “But I don’t for one second regret having done what needed to be done. Not so long as I can be here with you.”
He swallowed, licked his lips subtly. “I have never been so happy as this, Diana. Not ever in my life. Truthfully, I did not think I was capable of feeling such joy. To wake every day knowing that my future is mine to spend as I wish, that I can devote my days to building a life with you, one full of meaning and laughter and family, and …”
He stopped, seeming too full of emotion to speak another word. Diana craned her head forward and kissed her husband sweetly on the lips. He responded in kind, and the same joyous electricity surged between their skin as it ever did.
“I feel the same way,” she mouthed. Colin smiled and returned her kiss with one of his own. This one was longer and more passionate, ever so slightly forceful, and it drew a soft moan of pleasure from deep within Diana.
“Then perhaps we had best get on with it if we agree,” Colin purred, shifting his position over Diana and bringing his lips against the side of her neck.
She giggled. “That is if we can stop talking long enough to oh—” And she spoke no more, reduced to wordless ecstasy by the gentle, loving touch of this man who had proved himself a true storybook romantic in every sense.
The winter moon passed overhead and scattered its sacred blue light over the little house by the woods. And as the smoke from the Mullens’ bedroom curled its way up into the heavens, Diana and Colin remained exactly where they were meant to be—the place in God’s earth where they would go on building their very own corner of heaven.
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OFFER: A BRAND NEW SERIES AND 5 FREEBIES FOR YOU!
Grab my new series, "Lust and Love in High Society", and get 5 FREE novels as a gift! Have a look here!
Hello my dear readers. I hope you enjoyed the book and this Extended Epilogue! I will be waiting for your comments below. Thank you so much! 🙂
This is a good story with very determined characters A young woman and man in love with each seeking the truth about her parents death and her inheritance
Thank you dear Gwen! Stay tuned there is more coming!