Epilogue

They never did move to the ocean permanently, but Oliver bought Ellen a quaint cottage perched on the edge of a cliff that overlooked the vast ocean with a winding path to a private beach, where she would walk every morning and dip her naked toes into the cold water.

She would stand there and look out to the horizon, the brisk breeze blowing her black hair all about, lost in thoughts that she never shared with Oliver.

He wondered what she thought about during those moments. He’d even asked her a few times, but she would just smile and link her arm through his and lay her head on the side of his arm, and they would stand there together.

They kept the secret of Philip between them, but in private the three of them would acknowledge the connection. Philip called him Oliver and referred to Fieldhurst as his father and Oliver learned to accept it.

Needham quietly disappeared. Oliver heard from O’Leary that Needham had been shipped off to Australia to practice medicine with the stipulation that he was never to return to England.

Eventually, the fear in Ellen’s eyes faded, and they stopped talking about Needham.

Oliver carefully picked his way down the winding path, alternately watching his footing and staring at his wife. She was dressed in blue today, the color of the sky, facing the horizon, her toes digging into the sand as the waves lapped at them. The breeze was brisk, blowing her hair and gown back as if she were poised on the prow of a ship.

He reached her side, and she turned to smile at him.

Thomas, their two-year-old son, squealed and reached for her. Gladly she took him in her arms and pointed to a ship far into the distance. In three months their third child would be born, and Ellen had insisted that they spend the months at the cottage and that the baby be born there.

Oliver was willing to give her anything she wanted. He’d spent far too many years alone, with the memory of Ellen haunting him.

“Boat,” Thomas said, pointing a chubby finger at the ship and looking at Oliver.

“That is, indeed, a boat.” Later Oliver would teach him the difference between a boat and a ship. Now he would enjoy his little family.

“Philip comes home today,” Ellen said.

“I know.” Philip was in his last year at Eton, having been taken back by the headmaster and proving what an honorable student he could be.

She leaned her head against his shoulder while Thomas babbled about the boat.

“All my men together again,” she said, sighing.

Oliver put his hand on her stomach and felt the baby move.

“Was it worth the wait?” he asked. “Was it worth all those years of waiting to have this?”

“Oh, yes.” She tilted her head up and smiled at him. “It was all worth it. Everything.”

He kissed the top of her head and the three of them watched as the boat grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared over the horizon.

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