Dr. Fuchs pushed his glasses up on his nose and sat down across from Alexander and Charlotte in the drawing room of Heyrick House. He smiled benevolently at Charlotte and began to speak.
"Of course, the best indicators are the symptoms you have already described, my dear, but as I explained, I have learned of a new method that involves mixing the liquid contents of the chamber pot with wine and detecting certain proteins. I have conducted that test and now have the results."
Charlotte could hardly breathe while waiting through Dr. Fuchs' extensive explanation of his process, and she was gripping Alexander's hand with such vigor that he felt he might need the good doctor's services himself if it continued much longer.
"And what have you discerned from the test, Doctor?" Alexander said, pulling Charlotte closer. His own heart was beating as if he had just ridden Hannibal for miles, though he kept telling himself that the result of this conversation had no bearing on his devotion to Charlotte and their hope for future happiness. It was simply a moment, strung along with so many others in his love for his wife, and thus, did not signify…
"To the best of my ability to determine, Mr. Colbourne, I feel confident in saying that Mrs. Colbourne is, indeed, with child." Dr. Fuchs nodded and grinned as he sat back and laced his fingers together across his stomach, his eyes twinkling like Father Christmas.
The world stopped for a moment as both Alexander and Charlotte simply stared at the doctor. Then Charlotte's iron grip on Alexander's hand transferred to his neck as she threw her arms around him.
Dr. Fuchs smiled broadly. These were the moments he loved so deeply about being a doctor. He knew it was very likely that he would be here at Heyrick Park in seven months delivering this child into the loving arms of his or her parents, and that was more than enough to offset the moments of giving bad news or holding the hand of someone as they left this earth.
"I am so very happy for both of you," Dr. Fuchs said. He leaned forward and began to gather up his things. "You are the picture of health, my dear, so simply do as you have been. Eat, sleep, and walk when you feel you want to and I will return to check on you in a month or so." He picked up his bag and made his way toward the drawing room door – then he turned around and looked at Charlotte over the rims of his glasses.
"No horse riding." He looked at them sternly. "Is not good for the child."
Charlotte nodded dutifully as she and Alexander stood to see the doctor out. Alexander put his arm around her and his next question made Charlotte smile. "Ah, Doctor. What about her corset?"
Dr. Fuchs raised his eyebrows. "I know it is the desire of fashionable ladies to continue to wear them, but I do not recommend it. You must give the child room to grow."
Alexander and Charlotte looked at each other and smiled. "Good," they said in unison.
They saw him to his carriage and the moment they closed the front door, Alexander pulled Charlotte into an embrace. She could hear the emotion in his voice as he whispered into her ear. "I am still not able to believe this happiness can be real," he said. "I hardly know which way to turn."
Charlotte pulled away and she could see he had tears in his eyes to match her own. "Well, right now we need to go upstairs and dress for a wedding, my love. And then after the reception, we will have the joy of telling Eva and the girls our good news."
Alexander laughed softly. "Yes, and Sam and Marie, and… everyone!"
Kissing him gently, Charlotte said, "And I must send a letter to Willingden, and to Alison…" she shook her head and smiled. "Alison and I will be expecting at the same time. We would dream of this when we were young girls, and now it has come true. She will be thrilled."
Holding her tightly, Alexander said, "I am thrilled. I am over the moon. And I shall spend the next seven months being certain that you do not overdo." He frowned slightly. "Perhaps we should move the schoolroom downstairs so that you are not having to climb those narrow steps… and we could easily convert one of the rooms on the main floor into our bedroom for the time being…"
Charlotte laughed softly. "Alexander. Your care means so much to me, but I will not be put in cotton batting. I have watched my mother rise with the sun, milk cows, and manage a houseful of hungry children while she carried a child. My life will be a holiday compared to hers." She smiled up at him. "All will be well, my love. I can feel it." She placed his hand on her stomach. "Our little one is strong."
She saw tears come into his eyes again and she placed her hand tenderly on his cheek. "Now come upstairs with me and let us get dressed, or we will be late for the wedding!"
Eva Wheatley loved the Sanditon church. She had always found a sense of peace here, and in fact, in her overwhelming feeling of thanks from the moment she was allowed to leave Heyrick Park as a free woman, she had sought the quiet of its walls. If Eva knew anything, she knew that God could be found anywhere; in a tree, or the ocean, or the whisper of the wind – but for her, there was nothing quite like being in a church.
While many of the slaves she had known had felt that God had deserted them, Eva had always felt His presence, and looking at her life now at sixty-two years old, she knew she had been right. She was surrounded by love, by family, and by joy every day. She had purpose, she was needed, and she was free – and she could not think of more that she could wish for in life.
Today the church was filling with those who had come to celebrate the marriage of Georgiana and Charles, and Eva was happily surprised at how many there were. Arthur was standing up as Charles' best man, and as their friendship with Arthur had become ever closer, Charles and Georgiana had become acquainted with the entire theater ensemble and most of the musicians in town. They made a good fit, as all were intrinsically imaginative and slightly rebellious in nature. The creatives had turned out in force for the wedding, wearing wonderfully colorful clothes and exuding joy, and Eva listened with a smile as the normally quiet and somber church was filled with their voices and laughter.
There was only one shadow on the day for Eva, and that was the fact that Sarah would not be there. Eva had kept in touch with the shipping line and had gotten word that the ship from the islands would be arriving late. She had not yet told Georgiana, as she did not want to dampen her wedding day in the least, but she would tell her tomorrow, before she and Charles set out in their carriage to Plymouth Harbor themselves.
Ever since Georgiana had shared her plans for the voyage to the islands, Eva had been in a quandary. She could so easily simply tell Georgiana that Sarah was on her way, but Eva's life had shown her that nothing was certain until it actually came to pass. Once she had gotten word that the ship had docked in Plymouth Harbor and that Sarah was indeed in England would be soon enough.
As Charlotte was Georgiana's Matron of Honor, Eva sat with Alexander and the girls in the front pew. Leonora needed a calm hand now and then to prevent her fidgeting in her sweet coral-hued dress with lace at the collar which Leo continued to pull at, saying it itched. Augusta sat rapt with attention in the way that young girls in love tend to do when faced with the beauty of a wedding that they might imagine for themselves one day.
It was Alexander who was puzzling Eva. He was clearly extraordinarily contented about Georgiana's great happiness with Charles, but from the moment she had seen him in the carriage, he had exhibited a most uncharacteristic smile – as if he were in a perpetual loop of hearing a singularly amusing jest. In fact, he had occasionally looked down at his hands and chuckled softly as if hearing it again, just before looking at Charlotte with deep love in his eyes.
Either he had been early at the wine – which, knowing Alexander, was an impossibility – or he was fairly bursting with some exceedingly happy news – and Eva smiled at him in hopes that it was what she suspected. At one point in the ceremony, she could not prevent herself from taking his hand in hers – and as she did, she felt the signet ring that she knew he so longed to be able to pass on to a son.
Eva was in a church, after all, so she gazed up at the stained glass window behind Reverend Hankins and closed her eyes, sending up a silent prayer. If she could see Alexander hold a child of his own in his arms, she felt her life would be all but complete – and as she finished her prayer, she felt absolutely certain that Abigail was with them all, watching and guiding.
It was a lovely ceremony, and Eva had to admit that the Reverend was softening at the edges, no doubt due in large part to the good influence of his sister. He had relaxed still more of the rules and allowed Charles and Georgiana to say a few words to each other that were not contained in the Book of Common Prayer. In addition, Georgiana insisted that if Charles did not have to promise to obey her, she owed him no such vow either – and Charles had simply laughed, saying that expecting Georgiana to obey him in anything was asking more than a Higher Power could provide in any case.
The apartments that would be home to the new Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lockhart were far too small to entertain a church-full of celebrants, so Georgiana's half-brothers and her dearest friend offered Heyrick Park for the purpose of the reception.
Again, the estate was filling with laughter and great joy, and Eva Wheatley was finding it more and more difficult to remember the long, sad days that had once been so sharp in her memory. As she directed serving girls and kitchen staff, still wearing her best navy blue serge gown and her beribboned straw hat, Eva glanced at Charlotte and Alexander as they greeted their guests in the foyer. Alexander's arm was gently around his wife's shoulders as he shook hands with each new arrival, but what caught Eva's attention was the way Charlotte stood – one hand ready to greet, and the other carefully and protectively on her abdomen.
Sarah had been packed and ready on the deck since midnight. She hoped to be one of the first off the ship when they finally docked at sunrise, and she could see the light beginning to change the deep blue of the sky by tiny increments. She had watched the coastline of Ireland by the moonlight all night as they had sailed around the cliffs and past the port of Galway, finally crossing the Celtic Sea and catching her first sight of England with the towns of St. Ives and Penzance. Then they passed Falmouth, and in the distance she could see Plymouth Harbor, where she hoped a carriage was waiting to take her to Sanditon.
Today was her daughter's wedding day. Her heart swelled with the beauty of the morning as it dawned – blue skies and the warmth of the sun creeping into the chilly wind off the sea. As she watched the harbor come closer, she imagined her beautiful Georgiana dressed in the white of the wisps of clouds in the sky, and although she had no clear picture in her head of Charles Lockhart, she allowed herself the vision of her daughter's joy on the arm of a strong and loving man.
Of course the most wealthy of the passengers were given the privilege of debarking first, and once she was able, Sarah took hold of the railing and walked down the long ramp to the dock. When she stepped off, she inhaled deeply of the myriad aromas of the busy seaport. The smells of salt, fish, seaweed, unwashed bodies, rum, spices – the best and the worst of marine commerce – assailed her, and in addition to the crowds, amidst the raised voices and the great hurry everyone seemed to be in, Sarah found herself pressed against a warehouse door clutching her bags and trying to get her bearings.
Her experience at the ports of St. John and Antigua were dwarfed by the activity around her, and finally she managed to follow the wall and clear herself of the masses of people and freight being loaded and unloaded from her ship and others. Looking up, she saw a carriage with a driver atop it and in his hand was a chalkboard with the name KINGSLEY written in large letters. Working her way through the crowds, Sarah called out to the driver. "I am Sarah Kingsley! Are you traveling to Sanditon?"
The driver tipped his hat. "Yes, Ma'am, sent to bring you to Heyrick Park." He stepped down from his perch and assisted her with her bags, and then helped her step into the coach.
"Will there be others?" Sarah asked.
"No, Ma'am, this be a private. We'll go straight on." He tipped his hat again, saying, "I'm to send a rider ahead to inform a Mrs. Wheatley of your safe arrival. Then we'll be on our way. Should be there by nightfall."
Sarah thanked him and leaned back in the carriage. She pulled the curtains to give herself some peace, and closed her eyes, sighing. The quiet and routine of the islands had always given her a sense of equanimity, and now she remembered how difficult she found crowded spaces. It always reminded her of the closeness of slavery, the relentless proximity of others in boxes, cages, wagons, ships' holds – wasted space was money, after all, and money was the most important thing to slave owners.
Breathing deeply, Sarah told herself that was all behind her. She was a free woman, and the empty space inside the lush carriage told her all she needed to know about how her life had changed. She ran her hands gently across the velvet of the cushions, touched the weight of the curtains, and saw the sheen of the wood interior, freshly polished. She could not fathom how much this must have cost.
The carriage lurched as they got under way, and Sarah peeked out of the curtain to watch as the noise and commotion slowly calmed into a city road and then a country lane. Soon they were moving among verdant trees with the ocean on their right, and Sarah opened the curtains wide to watch the blue waters move swiftly by.
When one has lived a life with the threat of disappointment around every corner, it becomes a matter of survival to limit one's expectations. Ever since she had received Eva's letter, Sarah had been holding herself back, as if she were gripping the reins on a wild stallion that wanted to run free. As she moved ever closer to Sanditon and Georgiana, Sarah began to loosen her hold on those reins, and allowed her heart to hope.
I am out of practice, she thought with a smile. My heart is leaping nearly out of my chest.
Sarah closed her eyes and took herself back to the place she had visited in her mind countless times in the last seven years – holding Georgiana briefly as she kissed the fourteen-year-old girl tenderly on the cheek to say goodnight. Just moments later on that night, she would retrieve her packed bag from her room and make her way, sobbing uncontrollably, to the Antigua harbor.
The idea that she was traveling to again hold her daughter in her arms brought fresh tears to her eyes. She thought of Lawrence Lambe, who had been the best man possible, and who had saved her in so many ways. He had not been Georgiana's father by blood, but he had loved her as if she were his own – and she knew on this day how much happiness it would give him to know that they were soon to be reunited.
Once again, Sarah pulled Eva's letter from her bodice, now slightly ragged on the folds from so many readings. She held the small portrait and gazed at it for a very long time as the carriage clattered along the road to Sanditon, with a smile lifting the corners of her mouth, and a blissful sigh on her lips.
The foyer had never held so many, and in fact, the assembled guests had spilled into the adjacent rooms as they awaited the revealing of the Colbourne family portrait. In thanks for their generous offer of the estate for Charles and Georgiana's wedding party, Charles wished to unveil the painting tonight.
A few knew that the location had been filled by the painting of Lucy Colbourne until Alexander had it taken down in favor of a more appropriate scene of the back gardens – but as the house was seldom used for entertaining in the past, most were unaware of this fact. Eva, Sam, Charlotte and Alexander especially felt the great importance of this moment.
It was well into the evening, and the party had been a wonderful success. Georgiana and Charles were soon to take their leave for the apartments in town for their wedding night, and this was their final act before departing. Charles stood next to the painting with his arm around Georgiana's shoulder, ready to pull down the fabric cover after he said a few words.
"I should first of all like to offer our deepest thanks to the Colbourne family for the extraordinary gift of this celebration of our marriage." He turned to Georgiana and kissed her cheek, pulling her closer. "It has been more than we could ever have hoped for, and my wife and I have so enjoyed talking with all of you tonight."
He turned back to look at the large covered rectangle, of which only he and Georgiana knew the contents. "And speaking of joy, I cannot recall taking such pleasure in the painting of a portrait. An artist hopes to capture the essence of a person, or in this case, a family – and I have hope that you will see their deep love and connection as clearly as I did." With that, he pulled on the corner of the fabric and it fell away from the painting.
There was a collective gasp from those assembled, and then murmurings of praise at how accurately and delightfully Charles had presented Alexander and his family. Some walked nearer to get a better look and to shake Charles' hand. Augusta and Leonora laughed at how well Turk and Luna had been represented, and then moved closer to study the details. Alexander saw at once what Charlotte had so hoped would please him – the three cornflowers in her hands – and he smiled and pulled her closer.
As the crush of guests moved in toward the painting, their excited voices echoed in the small foyer, so it was not surprising that no one noticed as a new visitor stepped across the threshold and into Heyrick House. Her eyes searched through the faces and finally landed on the beautiful young woman in her white dress, looking radiantly at her new husband with pride and adoration.
Sarah found she could not move, and the commotion ensured that she went completely unseen until Georgiana felt a strange compulsion to draw her eyes away from Charles and toward the front door. She recognized the woman in the simple hat and cloak immediately – perhaps a few years older but still with the sweet face that Georgiana remembered so clearly.
Without speaking, she quietly let go of Charles' hand and began to walk through the crowd of people, never taking her eyes off of Sarah. When she reached her, the tears that had been forming spilled over and ran down her cheeks as she spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.
"Mother?" she said, hardly able to believe her eyes. Her breath was coming fast, and her heart hammering in her chest as she reached out her arms and Sarah walked tearfully into them.
"My baby," Sarah said, holding her tightly. "My beautiful girl."
The two women held each other for a full minute, their bodies shaking with emotion, before anyone in the room noticed. First Charles, then Eva, then Charlotte, and very soon the room had gone silent and all eyes were on them.
Finally, Georgiana turned, though she never let go of the woman in her arms. She felt no self-consciousness as the tears continued to roll down her cheeks, and in a broken voice she spoke loudly enough for all to hear.
"My dear friends, I would like you all to meet my mother."