She gave him a tight smile. “All right, love, whatever you want.”
The Caelkirk clan’s family cemetery was about a thirty-minute walk, down a path that led them halfway across the castle grounds. Though Reed only relied on his memory, he didn’t have trouble finding the old chapel and a small house surrounded by a short stone wall. He explained to Elise that in his time it was a parsonage, as the clan usually had its own clergyman living on the estate. Though they seemed well-kept, both the clergy house and chapel were abandoned. He led her to the back of the chapel where he knew the family cemetery was located.
His parents’ burial was the first and only time he’d been here. In his mind, it had only been a year since their deaths. But looking at the gravestones and markers around him, it really hit him that over two hundred years had passed.
Slowly, he made his way to the back of the graveyard, to what had been, at the time, the newest headstones. While they had just been installed when he was last here, time had obviously made its mark, the stone covered in moss and the words nearly faded. His parents’ name was still clear, but the words “Beloved Mother and Father” had nearly worn off.
“I thought this would be the easy part.” He had said the words after what seemed like an eternity of them standing there. “I was here a year ago, throwing dirt on top of their coffins. But it still hits me. It hits me now, and I’m reminded that they’re gone. They’re … all gone.”
Elise’s fingers threaded into his. “I’m sorry, Reed. I’m so sorry.”
“You know,” he began. “It was my mother’s last wish to be buried in her homeland. My father wouldn’t have cared where he was buried, as long as it was with his True Mate.” The tears burned in the back of his throat, but he swallowed them down. “Grandmama fought me tooth and nail, declaring that they were the duke and duchess of Huntington, and every single duke and duchess before them was buried in the family plot at Huntington Park, and she’d be damned if my parents weren’t. It was the only time I had defied her.”
“Reed.” She leaned her head on his arm. “There’s something I just remembered. Right before we … we left, your grandmother came to talk to me.”
“She did?”
“Uh-huh. She told me … she knew about us being True Mates.”
Now that was a surprise. “What did she say?”
“She said … well, she said she regretted how things were between your mother and her. And that she wanted to be better with you and me and—”
A sob was threatening to escape his mouth, so he gathered her into his arms and pressed his lips to her. With their pup growing inside her and cradled between them, he poured every ounce of love and sadness and regret into their kiss. When he felt the wetness on his cheeks, he couldn’t tell if they were hers or his.
“I love you,” he murmured when he pulled away. He placed a hand on her belly and he felt a movement there.
Her lashes wet with tears, she looked at him. “I love you too.”
He cleared his throat and brushed his fingers across her cheeks. “You and our pup must be getting hungry. We should go back.”
They went on a more leisurely pace, enjoying the beautiful grounds of the castle, and simply content to walk in silence in each other’s company. When they reached the castle, it seemed they were just in time. Gerald and Julianna, who had changed clothes and looked refreshed, were waiting in the foyer.
“Did ye have a nice walk?” the Beta greeted.
“We did.” Elise gave Reed a knowing smile.
“Good,” Gerald declared. “We can start in the library where I have tea set up.” They followed him down a long hallway on the right, then into the last room. “Here we go.” He led them inside and gestured to a sitting area next to the fireplace where a multi-tiered cake plate was piled with pastries and sandwiches, and pots of tea sat on top of candle-lit warmers. “Let’s—oh.” Gerald stopped in his tracks, looked at the fireplace and then at Julianna. “I thought I had … but how …”
Reed followed the Beta’s gaze, retracing them as he set his eyes on the mantle above the fireplace. Or rather, the painting above the mantle.
“Oh.” Elise’s jaw dropped. “Oh my.”
Looking back at them with her mismatched green and blue eyes was a portrait of Julianna, sitting on top of the mantle as if she belonged there, her dark hair flowing down her shoulders. It was unfinished, as the edges of the painting had exposed canvas, but it was obvious which painting this was. It was a beautiful portrait, really, and Rossi really captured Julianna’s personality—with her mischievous sparkling eyes and that impertinent mouth that more often than not got her in trouble with the dowager duchess.
Julianna stood there, frozen, looking up at her doppelgänger.
“Are you all right?” Elise asked.
“I’m great,” she said, seemingly snapping out of her trance. “Dandy. I should—I need—I’m—” She spun around and dashed toward the door like Satan himself was on her heels. Unfortunately, she didn’t quite make it outside as someone else was coming through the doorway at the exact moment.
“Whoa!” Julianna staggered back, but the other person managed to catch her before she tumbled over. “I—” She sucked in a breath and stood very still, her neck craning up to look at the man who was holding her.
The man stared down at her, bright green eyes growing large. “It’s you,” he said, his voice in awe. “It’s really you.”
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