The Duke’s Devious Desire – Extended Epilogue
Genevieve
“My heavens and stars!” Mr. Richards exclaimed with a broad smile when Genevieve came into view. “It has been too long since you have graced me with your company, my lady!”
“Did you think I had forgotten you?” Genevieve laughed and teased the man who had been such a good friend to her over the years.
“Not forgotten, forsaken perhaps!” Mr. Richards came around the tall library desk to greet her.
“Bite your tongue! I would never do such a thing!” She dangled a small box in front of her just in time for Mr. Richards to take. “I have come bearing gifts, and still you speak to me in such terms?”
“Naturally, I shall rescind all of my biting remarks as there are now delicious baked goods on offer!” Mr. Richards pulled the small package closer to him and winked before taking in her heavily pregnant state. “I had heard that you and Lord Warwick were with child, my lady. I had not imagined that you were quite so far along!”
“Nine months, can you believe it?”
“N-nine?! Surely, you ought to be abed, or at the very least sitting somewhere with your feet up. Is it wise to be out and about?”
Just then, Edward decided to make his presence known. “I have tried saying that exact thing to her countless times over the last few months, and she has ignored my every warning. I feel I shall be a touch offended if you are believed where I am not.”
“Hush, both of you. I shall know when it is time.” Genevieve waved off their concern and started to walk further into the library. She knew very well from the books she had read thus far that it would be any day now. It could be today at some point, but she refused to be bedridden over something so trivial as having a baby. This was the happiest place she could think of to be. “Besides, I have another book I need to fetch.”
“You have read nearly the entire section on midwifery already,” Edward protested without any real objection I his tone.
“I hardly see how that matters at all. There is always more to learn. I am only part way finished with the maternity and pregnancy sections of the library, I will have you know. I am returning these three books, and I should like to find something else on childhood for after the baby is born.”
“Have your names already been selected?” Mr. Richards asked.
Genevieve and Edward exchanged knowing glances. “Perhaps, we shall just need to know if it is a boy or a girl first.”
“All that matters is that we have a healthy child,” Edward put in.
“We will. At least, we shall have a happy and healthy child so long as you continue to make their mother happy. Which means allowing her to read whatever books she pleases.”
“Yes, my dove.” Edward chuckled as she disappeared further into the stacks.
“We will have a healthy baby, even if I have to deliver it myself.” Genevieve muttered, laughing, to herself. It was no idle threat that she kept using against her husband. She had been reading all the books she could for a good reason. She would be ready for it no matter what happened whenever she went into labor. If this was the only way she would ever be able to play physician, then she was going to make the absolute most out of the opportunity.
“Well, if you need my assistance, my dove, then you know where I shall be,” Edward said as he trailed behind her. He was most interested in the section near where she was headed. “Though, if you wish to head upstairs for a little bit of a nostalgic romp, I shall happily carry you up there.”
“And bring the baby on early? I think not.” Genevieve grinned. “Careful, or you shall have my mind all in a tizzy!”
“Perhaps I like seeing you all in a tizzy.” Edward kissed her cheek softly.
“You are incorrigible.” She grinned at him. “Have you had any luck in finding a diagram for the telescope you are working on building? You have spread your plans and pieces over our study for weeks now.”
“Well, I had originally sustained hopes that I would be able to map the stars for the night that our child is born, but the telescope is proving more difficult to figure out than I had expected,” he admitted ruefully.
“I am sure you will manage it, eventually.”
“Then you shall just have to hold the child in until such a time as I figure it out.” Edward shrugged as if his suggestion was a perfectly logical and reasonable one.
Genevieve was tempted to hit him in the arm with her book. “Oh, is that all?”
“Mmm, that is correct, my dove. You will only be able to go into labor when I tell you that it is all right and my telescope is complete.”
She rolled her eyes, and the pair of them split off to go to their different sections. She was excited about the upcoming life change. She knew that having a child of their very own was going to make everything different. Every day she was forced to confront just how different her life had turned out compared to the assumptions she had always made regarding the path ahead of her. Happily married to the love of her life, with a baby and plans for more in the future. She never could have imagined it would be possible. To have been so closed off from Society for so many years, and now this. Even when the changes overwhelmed her, she could not deny her excitement over how things had turned out.
Her fingers glossed over the spines of the thick maternity books. It was difficult to find any two studies that carried the same information about what happened to a woman during her pregnancy and the birth. Genevieve had decided it was because the books housed in the library were all written by men who could have no personal knowledge on the subject.
She had taken up journaling again when she missed her first courses. She had charted every shift and change. Remaining clinical about some of the symptoms and changes allowed her mind to focus and enjoy the journey. She had not yet told Edward of her plans, but she had decided that she wished to write a book of her own. She would have to ask his permission to perhaps publish it under his name or an alternative, but it was a new dream of hers to turn the journals on her pregnancy and the months following her birth into a book to help others. If she could help even one other woman through her pregnancy as a result of it, then she would happily offer up any information she could.
So lost in her daydream of publishing a book was she, that she did not even hear Annabelle rushing up to her.
“I knew I would find you here!” Annabelle gushed, her face alight with glee.
“Oh? Am I so predictable?”
Annabelle rolled her eyes. “Well, yes. Of course, you are. You are my closest friend. I do not think I could have the title of also being your closest friend if I could not figure out where you might be on an otherwise lovely afternoon. Certainly not taking a promenade,” Annabelle teased.
“Long walks like that could bring the baby on earlier than planned,” Genevieve offered sagely.
“As if that is the true reason.”
“It is the reason that I am giving you, so be content with it.”
“I suppose Edward is around here somewhere as well?”
“Of course, why do you ask?”
“You two are almost never parted. I keep making bets with my maid as to when you two might finally tire of one another.” Annabelle pretended to look at the same books as her friend while talking.
“Then you both will lose a great deal of money, I am afraid.” Genevieve looked at her sideways. “Is there a reason that you have sought me out, friend?”
“Oh! Yes! But of course! I have some shocking news that could not wait another moment!” Annabelle practically bounced with excitement over her news.
“Well then, you should tell it to me quickly!”
Edward rounded the corner with a book open in his hands. “She always claims that her news is shocking and exciting.” He winked at Annabelle as a form of greeting.
“If you knew the news, then you would be as shocked as I am this time!” She swatted at his arm playfully before turning back to her friend.
“Pay him no mind.” Genevieve spun Annabelle to face her. “I, for one, am looking forward to whatever you have to tell me!”
“Well, you see—” Annabelle started but stopped at the sudden look of pain on Genevieve’s face. “Whatever is the matter?”
Genevieve gripped Annabelle’s forearms tightly, for she was afraid to move. Her water had broken. She could feel the warm liquid pooling on the floor between her feet and coating her thighs. Now that it was happening, her careful medical study and planning felt very, very far away. “It is happening . . . the baby is coming. Now.”
***
Edward
“I should go in there,” Edward muttered as he paced outside the chamber doors. “I cannot continue to just stand here and listen to my wife in pain!”
Annabelle smiled and shook her head. “If she wished you to be in there, she would have said so. You and I both know that she would summon one or both of us if we were needed.”
“What if something is wrong? What if she is unable to call for us for some reason? There can be no other explanation for the way that she just screamed!” Edward protested. His forehead was slick with a cold sweat that traveled all down his back. He had been forced to shed his coat and waistcoat, for his shredded nerves made them too hot to tolerate as he paced over and over again. He had not stopped moving for the last hour or so that she had been in the room.
“Everything will be all right. She knows what she is doing, Edward, she is a very smart and capable woman. You and I both know that to be true,” Annabelle reasoned.
“How can you be sitting there so calmly?! I am going to lose my mind!”
“You say that as if you had any semblance of mind in the first place,” Annabelle teased, clearly hoping to ease his worries with a little levity.
Any other time, it would have. He had not anticipated feeling quite as terrified. He had no experience with emotions so raw. It felt like they were attempting to swallow him whole, while Annabelle simply sat calmly, her hands neatly folded in her lap.
“I cannot lose her, Annabelle. If something happens to her, I am not sure that I will be able to—”
The bedroom door opened, and he nearly fell over with relief. The maid smiled warmly to them both, while Edward stretched and strained in an effort to see around her to his wife. She had stopped screaming. There was little sound at all. Was that how it was supposed to be? Was there supposed to be a baby crying? Oh, what if something had happened to the baby? He was going to be sick.
“Is she all right? May I go inside now?”
“She is perfectly well, my lord. She is asking for you,” the maid answered.
She had hardly stopped speaking before Edward slid around her and into the room. It was rude, but he could not take the time to consider what might be proper or not.
Nothing could have emotionally prepared him for what awaited him in their bed. Genevieve was a mess in the best possible way. The bags under her eyes appeared more pronounced. Her hair was damp and matted to her face and chest in random places. She appeared to be very tired, and still, she had never looked more beautiful to him.
In her arms was a small bundle swathed in blankets.
Hot tears of joy rolled down his face as he laughed in palpable relief. They were all right. Everything was all right! Both of them appeared happy and healthy. The baby’s small, wrinkled face appeared serene as it napped in its mother’s arms.
“Is it . . . are you?” He was not even entirely certain just what it was that he was asking her. He wished to say everything all at once.
“We are well. Come, meet your son, Edward.” Genevieve beamed with pride. “Ten fingers, and ten toes, and a head full of dark, black hair just like yours.”
Edward slid onto the bed beside her carefully, wrapping one arm around her and cupping the other where she held their son. “A boy.” He peered at his son. He was so small he was nearly afraid to touch him. He felt as if his heart was swelling in his chest, growing larger with the passing moments as it filled to bursting with his love for both the child and the mother holding him. “A son.” Edward could hardly believe it. He had a son! “He is so small, so much smaller than I expected.”
Genevieve laughed, and her laugh was interrupted by the need to yawn. When she finished, she spoke wearily. “Should you like to hold him? You should hold him, Edward.”
“What if I harm him by accident?” he asked softly, confessing his fears.
“You could never hurt him. I know you would never do so. It will come naturally to you, you will see. Here, put your arms like this.” She motioned for him to make the same cradle with his arms as her and very gingerly transferred their son from her own arms into Edward’s.
If there had been a single piece of him that was not overcome with love for his boy, it was filled in exactly moment. He slumbered peacefully, a quiet baby. Of course. It occurred to him that their son would likely be just as perfect as she was herself.
“He has your eyes,” Edward mused. What a perfect blend of their features. His strong jawline and her upturned nose and round eye shape. He could not wait to find out what color the boy’s eyes would be, so he could tell who he took after in that respect. “I shall always love you more than myself,” he whispered in a promise between him and the boy. “I swear to you that I shall never allow anyone to dictate your wishes and desires.”
He found himself rocking the child out of some reflex he had not even known he possessed before that very moment.
“You were right, it does come naturally, my dove.” He turned his attention to Genevieve on the bed for only a moment, but she was asleep. She was exhausted, sitting upright, her head against the headboard. He could only imagine how tired she must be after laboring for so long. He scooted closer on the bed to her and crossed his legs at the ankles, his son cradled in his arms.
“May I join you?” Annabelle asked from the doorway. “I wished to give the three of you a moment alone, but now I should very much like to see my godchild!”
“He is sleeping, but I can already tell he is going to be perfect.”
Finally, he had everything he had ever wanted.
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Loved the book & the Extended Epilogue.
Hello my dear Dorothy, I am SO happy to hear that! Thank you for the support! I hope you enjoy the stories to come!
Loved the book.I loved the heartbreak and the way the characters worked out their emotions and that good answered their prayers.
Hello my dear Jenny, I am so happy you enjoyed the Storie! Thank you for the sweet comment!
Loved how he was confident in her and her abilities to give birth to the perfect child who he would respect.
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Loved the book, romance of Edward and Genevieve as well as the HEA. The epilogue tied the story up nicely.
Thank you so much dear. I’m so grateful! ❤️
Love it….
So glad you liked it dear!