Thank you for great responses, your continued interest and your kind support. I appreciate it.
I do not own Merlin or the characters, neither do I own An Offer From A Gentleman.
Epilogue...
LADY MIDDLETON'S SOCIETY PAPERS, 30 APRIL 1824
Sunday's bash at Pendragon House is sure to be the event of the season. The entire family will gather, along with a hundred or so of their closest friends, to celebrate the dowager viscountess' birthday.
It is considered crass to mention a lady's age, and so, this author will not reveal which birthday Lady Pendragon will be celebrating.
But have no fear...
This author knows!
"Stop! Stop!"
Gwen shrieked with laughter as she ran down the stone steps that led to the garden behind Pendragon House.
After three children and seven years of marriage, Arthur could still make her smile and still make her laugh...
And he still chased her around the house any chance he could get.
"Where are the children?" she gasped, once he'd caught her at the base of the steps.
"Georgina is watching them."
"And your mother?"
He grinned...
"I daresay Georgina is watching her, too."
"Anyone could stumble upon us out here," Gwen said, looking this way and that.
Arthur's smile turned wicked...
"Maybe," he said, catching hold of her blue velvet skirt and reeling her in. "And since that's the case, we should adjourn to the private terrace."
The words were oh-so-familiar, and it took only a second before Gwen was transported back nine years to the masquerade ball.
"The private terrace, you say?" she asked, amusement dancing in her eyes. "And how, pray tell, would you know of a private terrace?"
Arthur's lips brushed against hers.
"I have my ways," he murmured.
"And I," she returned, smiling slyly. "Have my secrets."
He drew back...
"Oh? And will you share?"
"I will," she said with a nod. "We five...are about to become six."
Arthur looked at her face, then looked at her belly.
"Are you sure?"
"As sure as I was last time."
He took her hand and raised it to lips.
"This one will be a girl."
"That's what you said last time."
"I know, but..."
"And the time before."
"All the more reason for the odds to favour me this time."
Gwen shook her head...
"I'm glad you're not a gambler, Arthur Pendragon."
He smiled at that.
"Let's not tell anyone yet."
"I think a few people already suspect," she admitted.
"I want to see how long it takes that Middleton woman to figure it out," he said.
"Are you serious?"
"As a heart attack! The blasted woman knew about Andrew, about Adam, and she knew about Caleb."
Gwen smiled as she let him pull her into the shadows.
"Do you realize that I have been mentioned in Middleton two hundred and thirty-two times?"
That stopped Arthur cold...
"You've been counting?"
"Two hundred and thirty-three if you include the time after the masquerade."
"I can't believe you've been counting."
She gave him a nonchalant shrug.
"It's exciting to be mentioned."
Arthur thought it was a bloody nuisance to be mentioned, but he wasn't about to spoil his wife's delight, so instead he just said,
"At least she always writes nice things about you. If she didn't, I might have to hunt her down and run her out of the country."
Gwen couldn't help but smile.
"Oh, please. I hardly think you could discover her identity when no one else in the ton has managed it."
He raised one arrogant brow...
"That doesn't sound like wifely devotion and confidence to me."
She pretended to examine her glove...
"You needn't expend the energy. She's obviously very good at what she does."
"Well, she won't know about Catriona Igraine Pendragon," he vowed. "At least not until it's obvious to the world."
"Catriona Igraine?" Gwen asked softly.
"It's time my mother had a grandchild named after her, don't you think?"
Gwen leaned against him, letting her cheek rest against the crisp linen of his shirt.
"I think Catriona Igraine is a lovely name," she murmured, nestling deeper into the shelter of his arms. "I just hope it's a girl. Because if it's a boy, he's never going to forgive us..."
Later that night, in a town house in the very best part of London, a woman picked up her quill and wrote...
Lady Middleton's Society Papers 3 May 1824
Ah, gentle reader, this author has learned that the Pendragon grandchildren will soon number eleven...
But when she tried to write more, all she could do was close her eyes and sigh.
She'd been doing this for so very long now...
Could it have possibly been eleven years already?
Maybe it was time to move on...
She was tired of writing about everyone else. It was time to live her own life.
And so, Lady Middleton set down her quill and walked to her window, pushing aside her sage green curtains and looking out into the inky night...
"Time for something new," she whispered. "Time to finally be me."
That's it for this story. I do have a new one to post, but two of my boys are a bit under the weather and the third fell and hurt his foot, so as soon as I'm able to I'll get to it.
Stay safe!