LGB
Hope Valley
May 26, 1919
My sweetest Elizabeth,
What a glorious whirlwind this Spring has been. Our life has been more wonderful than I hoped and much more than I could ever have imagined. I knew you were the perfect woman for me since we first met, yet for all the love I felt for you these past several years, I never quite imagined the deep satisfaction of living your life with one's soulmate.
I wake each morning and say a prayer of thanks that I have been gifted another day with you Then I wallow in the luxury of your warmth beside me while I anticipate that first moment when I look into the depths of those beautiful eyes that tell me that you love me as much as I love you. And whether we begin our day with a luxurious cuddle or by making sweet love it is a special time when my connection with you is renewed once again. I love our morning chats about our expectations for the day and that first moment when our son joins us. My heart is full my sweet Elizabeth and you are the reason.
I cannot believe how time has flown by without writing for our journal. But our life has been so busy, especially with the preparations for our trip and then the unexpected discovery of our new home. I look forward to when we will take residence in our house and fill it with happy times again. I have a small confession; when I first saw the stairwell, I had a vision of escorting my daughter down those stairs to her beloved on her wedding day. I know that that is premature thinking but that is me, the hopeful romantic. And should we have a daughter, I know that a part of me won't want her to leave us, but I would want her to have the chance at a lifetime of love as we have.
I am so looking forward to our new venture with the orchards and vineyard. You know that I love the Queen; she was in the beginning a part of who I was as the restless young gambler. But she has come to mean so much more to me as the center of the community and a gathering place for cherished events…. none more important than our wedding reception of course. I am blessed to have a wife who supports my dreams and with whom I can share this new venture. It brings me back to my family roots and I feel that we will be building a legacy for our family here in Hope Valley. I am excited for us to meet with my family in France and to learn all we can from my cousin Antoine about the wine business. Gustave is a good resource but Antoine has recently gone through some modernization that he will be able to share with us.
The trip ahead has me very excited. Thank you for agreeing to such an ambitious adventure. I think the timing turned out to be perfect as we have this window while our new home is readied and you have your summer break from school. I am looking forward to showing you some of the places I have been and to see new ones together. I know that traveling with our little guy will be more challenging than if it were just the two of us, but I simply couldn't bear to leave him behind nor could you. I am sure that Laura will be a great help and I promise to do my very best to help to do all I can to keep his spirits up. I am certain he will have a wonderful time with my family as there will be a number of children his age to play with. He doesn't have that in his life at the moment and so it will be a great experience for him. I am looking forward to teaching him a few French words and phrases that he can use and I am sure he will catch on very quickly while he is there and so shall Laura. We are suddenly a family of four for the summer and I relish the adventure ahead.
Well, I see that you have just set your pen down from your letter writing and how I will cherish receiving it even more as I watched your loving gesture …. as you kissed it before laying it aside. Oh, my darling how you touch me so profoundly.
And so, I too will lay down my pen so that I can dampen the fire and turn off the lights and then take your hand to go up for the night. The moon and stars are out so they will cast their magic glow upon us as we hold one another through the night.
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Lovingly yours,
Lucas
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