Nine years later…

A wave of exhaustion washed over Madeline as the carriage pulled into the Fairhurst estate, but she could not deny that she was pleased to be home. It had been a very long day, but a lovely one. She had been lucky enough to be involved with bringing new life in to the world – even if that was not the original plan when she first made her way into town – and now was feeling the warm glow of love and new life. 

Mind you, that was a feeling that Madeline had become endlessly accustomed to over the last nine years. Love and joy, happiness and fun. Her life at the Fairhurst estate really had been unexpected in so many ways, but she would not have changed it for the world. Every single day had been an incredible adventure that she had thoroughly enjoyed and it was wonderful to know that was only going to continue. Life with Damian was amazing.

“Hello there, Lady Madeline,” an older but still surprisingly active Leonard welcomed her inside the house. “How did everything go in town?”

Madeline beamed. “Annie’s baby was born, while I was there. And thank goodness I was. I do not know if James would have coped without me. He is a good man, but not the best in moments of panic.” Madeline laughed to herself. “But they are all doing quite well now. Annie and the baby are doing wonderfully.”

Madeline pressed her hand to her chest as she beamed with more smiles. Annie’s baby boy was just delightful. A gorgeous little bundle of joy. Madeline was happy to see their family grow. It was hard to think now that she had once been jealous of Annie. That she had thought she was seeing Damian behind her back. That was such a silly thought considering they were clearly just friends. More family than anything else. Everyone had ended up exactly where they were supposed to be.

Just as that thought rushed through her mind, noise was heard through the halls of the estate.

“Is Damian home yet?” Madeline asked as she made her way inside.

“Not yet, he is still in the mines, but the children are once again refusing to sleep until at least one of you is home.”

Madeline laughed and rolled her eyes. “I do not think we are ever going to get a handle on our brood.”

Her six year old twins came bursting in to the foyer with delight in their eyes. “Mother, you are here!”

Benjamin, Ethan, why are you still awake?” Madeline demanded in a mock serious voice as she enveloped them both into a hug. “You know you are supposed to be in bed…”

But of course she did not get a reply. Not when four years old Elizabeth let out a shriek of laughter as Jean and Sandra followed behind. “Mother, we just went to the portrait gallery! There are lots of paintings in there, did you know that?”

Even with the home being much safer now, Madeline still had a bit of a hard time going in to that room. She did not like the memory of the beam falling down on top of her, even if it was years ago now. Nor did she appreciate the feelings she had experienced on that day. She was far more comfortable and settled in her life now, but that did not mean she had forgotten the sensation of losing it all. 

Luckily, before she got dragged into that room by Elizabeth, arms wrapped around Madeline from behind. Arms that made her smile happily because she knew who they belonged to. Her first born, Rose. The child who had helped her become a mother and shown her just what she was capable of. The day Rose was born, over eight years ago, was the day that Madeline found her purpose and her real life began. Thank goodness she had been lucky enough to have more children as well, spreading her love out even further. 

“Welcome home, Mother,” Rose said as Madeline turned to look at her. “Did everything go well?”

“Annie had her baby and is doing wonderfully.” Pride flowed through Madeline as she met her daughter’s eyes. “I wonder if they will bond as well as us.”

“I do not think so,” Rose said with a smile. “I think me and you are special.”

Madeline leaned down and kissed the top of Rose’s head. “I think you might be right about that. How about we try and corral the others and get them ready for bed? It might be a good idea if we try and get them in their night clothing before Father gets home…”

It was too late.

The door had opened and Damian was inside the house.

Of course all the children immediately took off, racing towards him with the sort of excitable screams that seemed to bounce off all the walls. 

But Madeline was not too worried about that. She was too busy grinning, impressed, because Damian had somehow managed to embrace all the children at once. It had to be those strong arms of his. 

“Well, as wonderful as it is to see you all,” he chuckled. “I do not understand why none of you are in bed. I believe you are giving the maids a hard time. I think it might be time to get your night clothing on.”

“But we want you to read us a story and put us to bed,” Ethan complained. “We were waiting for you.”

Damian rolled his eyes. “You do not always need to wait for me. You can go to sleep before I return…”

But the grumbles and complaints suggested that the children were not ever going to consider that. They wanted their parents around as much as they could, so that was something Madeline and Damian simply had to understand.

Not that they minded… they loved being around the children also. Both of them did.

“I will just greet your mother, then I will be up to read you some stories,” Damian declared as he rose to his feet. “But you must be in your night clothing by then.”

Still in shrieks of excitement, the children raced up the stairs, two at a time. Luckily it seemed like Damian’s words had worked and finally the children were going to do as they were told. They were going to get dressed and finally head to bed to hopefully get to sleep.

It was still likely that they would still have a bit of a time ahead of them tonight, but Madeline did not mind.

“It is wonderful to see you, Madeline,” Damian murmured as he pulled her in for a hug. “You do not know how much I have missed you today.”

As he rested his forehead against hers, staring lovingly into her eyes, Madeline’s heart raced with desire. Nothing had dampened the passion in her marriage over the years, not even the children and their busy lives. They seemed to be more attracted to one another every single day.

“I have missed you also, although I was helping to deliver a baby.”

“Annie had her baby?” he gasped in surprise. “Oh my! How is she doing?”

“They are all doing very well. Did you do anything exciting today?”

“Not as exciting as you, Madeline, that is for sure. I am still in shock that you were there while Annie had her child. Although I bet she was grateful to have her best friend by her side…”

All of a sudden, Madeline pulled back because she sensed eyes upon her. She spotted the children leaning over the staircase, giggling as they watched their parents embrace. Much as she wanted to laugh with them because they were just being silly, Madeline knew that she needed to be firm otherwise the children would never respect either of them as parents.

“I believe your father has told you to get your night clothes on,” she called up the stairs. “Otherwise neither of us will be coming up to say goodnight to you and you most certainly will not be getting a bedtime story. I do not wish to have to come up there to reprimand you all properly.”

They scattered, knowing that if their mother ever had to threaten them with being reprimanded then they had pushed things too far. It was not something that happened often, but when it did, it was not fun for anyone. Madeline was quite sure that Rose would be ushering the younger children to their bedrooms now, so they did not give poor Jean and Sandra more trouble. The house maids were angels, with so much patience. Madeline did not want anything to happen that made them leave.

“You are quite the fine mother,” Damian insisted as he pulled Madeline back towards him for a kiss. “I do not know what I would do without you.”

His lips tasted delicious, the kiss was utterly intoxicating. Damian honestly made Madeline dizzy with desire in a way that she did not know she could feel. She gripped his arms, holding onto him for as long as she could.

But as they finally pulled apart, Madeline knew that there was something she needed to tell him. News that she had received earlier in the day, that she now needed to tell her husband about. Especially while they were on the topic.

“It is a good job that you think I am a good mother…” she continued with expectation rolling off her tongue in waves.

“Oh, you are the best mother I have ever known…” Unfortunately, Damian did not seem to understand what she was trying to say.

“Because I just found out that we are having another baby.”

Damian looked joyous but a little astonished at the same time, like he did not quite know how to drink this in. “Five kids…”

“Does that worry you?” Madeline asked. She was well aware that their original plan all those years ago was to have just the one child that she would raise alone, but that was because Damian assumed he could not love anyone properly and that he would not be a good father.

But surely the last few years had proven otherwise.

“Oh no, I am not worried, Damian laughed. I am, after all, used to hard work and the reward for this particular task is greater than any I could have imagined.”

Madeline tossed her head back and laughed. “Yes, but it is also the hardest work.”

“It does not feel that way, if I get to do it with you. Even during the most challenging days when it is endless drama and issues, one after the other, it is not painful because I get through it with the love of my life.”

Damian pulled a flower out of one of the near by vases and handed it to her in a playful romantic gesture. This was reminiscent of the early days of their relationship when she would signify that she wanted him to join her in the bedroom with the flower in the keyhole. Although after everything that had happened, that method was only necessary the one time. After which she realized that she was falling for this man, and thankfully he had fallen for her as well.

If he had not been brave enough to tell her that he loved her after the beam injured her, she was not sure what would have happened. Nor did she want to picture it because it would not be the happy life that she was living now. She would not feel like she had everything she ever wanted in life.

“Why thank you, my loving husband,” she declared joyfully as she took the flower from him. “How terribly kind of you. You know how much I love a flower.”

“I do. And you know how much I love you.”

Madeline smiled. “Well obviously, I love you very much too!”

He span her around as if they were in the middle of the dance floor, at a grand ball or something. Much as they made the effort to go out with high society as much as they could, especially when Damian was making business connections to help gain investments for the mines, they did not have the time to dance as much as they used to. Not with the children, and of course adding another to their brood was only going to make that worse.

But Madeline did not mind. She much preferred to be at home with her family, playing with the children and sitting by the fire with her husband. Everything that she needed was right here, within the walls of her home. She was just a small town girl living in a small cottage with her father. She had nothing to offer a man and truly thought that she would be a spinster and die alone. Even when her godfather passed away and she got her inheritance she did not think that she would find happiness. Now she was a duchess with a family that was growing all the time. She almost wished that she could go back in time, to let herself know that all she needed to do was keep going because it was definitely going to get better soon.

He pulled her in towards him for one more kiss before it was time for Damian to head up the stairs to start on with the long and arduous journey with getting the children to go to sleep. Madeline cradled her stomach and smiled to herself as she considered what it would be like to be a mother again. She could not wait to have another baby boy or girl in her arms, especially after seeing Annie’s baby today. 

She headed into the drawing room to take her seat and to mentally plan how Damian and she were going to cope with child number five. Luckily, they had plenty of room in their home and lots of love to go around. Plus, the success of the copper mines had made them financially stable. But they never took too much, only what they needed, because it was imperative for the town to thrive around them. That had always been their goal and that would never change. They wanted the world to be a better place for their future generations, including their own brood.

The End