Sarah’s healing from all that had happened increased exponentially from just being back under the same roof with Daphne and David—and having Poppy there as well. They settled quickly and easily back into the life they’d become familiar with, and Castle Courtenay felt a lifetime away—which was exactly how Sarah wanted it to feel.
The day after they returned home, Darius asked Sarah to come upstairs with him, and he showed her how he had wrapped the sword in fabric and tied it to the bedsprings underneath his bed—after discreetly searching for the key among Sarah’s belongings. He explained that since this was the room they would share following their marriage, the sword that represented her legacy would always be nearby, and one day they would hand it down to their eldest child.
“You don’t need a castle or an estate to carry on a great legacy,” he told her. “I believe your aunt was misguided and likely not entirely sane, and we can’t judge her for that. But your parents were good people, Sarah. And you are the rightful heir of Courtenay; this sword belongs to you. The people who purchased the estate have nothing to do with that.”
Sarah deeply appreciated his insight, which helped her feel even more at peace. She was also grateful for his insight in removing the sword from the box and hiding it. Sarah didn’t care about its monetary value, but the fact that it had been passed down through her family for many generations—and she was the last of her bloodline—meant a great deal to her. For her, the beautiful heart-shaped emerald embedded in the sword was tenderly symbolic.
Along with having the sword in her possession, Sarah had brought with her the books from the library that contained her family’s history. She had left practically everything else with the house except her personal belongings. But this was her history, and no one else’s—and it was also something she wanted to be able to pass down to her children.
* * * * *
Sarah and Darius were married in the autumn, soon after the apples had all been harvested and the leaves on the apple trees had been transformed into brilliant colors. Jimmy and Laura had been married a couple of months earlier, and Poppy and Reggie’s wedding date was set for a couple of weeks afterward. As close as they had all been and were all quickly becoming friends, stepping into this new season of life together felt wholly appropriate, and Sarah knew in her heart that she never could have felt so perfectly surrounded by love if she’d remained at Courtenay. This was truly her home now, and it always would be.
A year after Sarah and Darius were married, David and Daphne invited their friends over to celebrate the conclusion of the harvest. After sharing an amazing meal and working together to clean it up, they all sat on blankets and pillows spread out beneath the apple trees, enjoying what would likely be one of the last truly pleasant days of autumn. Sarah and Poppy had expanded their close friendship to include Laura—Jimmy’s wife—which made any time the three couples got together enjoyable, and Darius’s parents had taken them all in with great love. The three women were all in different stages of pregnancy and loved speculating over the unknown factors of when exactly each of the babies would be born, and the gender of each one—and the known factor that the three children would grow up to be friends because they would so often be spending time together throughout the coming years.
Sarah leaned back on a pile of pillows Darius had situated perfectly behind her, knowing she was frequently prone to backaches as the baby inside her grew larger. She closed her eyes and inhaled the now-familiar aroma of autumn in the air in this place that was now home for her. She doubted she could ever feel more content than she did in that moment. Then Darius sat beside her and kissed her, while at the same time putting a hand over her rounded belly, silently expressing love for their unborn child. She looked into his eyes and smiled before he kissed her again and she had to admit she might have been wrong. She was very likely to grow more and more content with every passing year.