Epilogue

It was three weeks before Silas was finally free.

Three long weeks.

The delay was because of a scary setback with pneumonia, but Silas had bested the infection like he had beaten every other obstacle, with good humor and strength. In fact, he had called it the test drive of his new immune system—and Ivie loved seeing the pride he had in his cells’ fantastic response.

He was also finally gaining weight, and more than that, he was reveling in the health and wellness he had obviously not felt for so long.

Their leaving the clinic had been a terrifying thrill, with goodbyes that were tearful and heartfelt all around. Ivie was taking a one-month sabbatical, but then she would return to work—and she was giving up her apartment. In a year.

They both agreed it was important for them to develop their relationship at its own pace, and her moving in lock, stock, and barrel was too much pressure. But she was going to be staying with him for a lot of the time.

As Silas’s chauffeured Bentley pulled up in front of the mansion she had once entered for a job interview a lifetime ago, Ivie stared through the windows of its grand facade with great wonder. To think how far she had come since she had first arrived on this grand doorstep.

Silas took her hand. “You ready?”

“Oh, yeah.”

When the driver opened their door, she was the first to get out. Silas emerged more slowly, but his face was shining with happiness.

Looking at the uniformed chauffer, he said, “Thank you, Johe. Why don’t you take the night off?”

“Oh, sire! Thank you!” The older male bowed low. “And may I say, welcome home. We have missed you.”

“Thank you, Johe.”

Silas smiled and waved when the Bentley eased away from the curb. And then Ivie offered her elbow to him.

“My love?” she said.

Silas hooked ahold of her arm and they started up the formal walkway. Gas lanterns sizzled on pretty iron stands, and she pictured what the lawn and plantings around the mansion were going to look like in the spring and summer.

“So there’s something I should tell you,” he said as they came up to the huge front door. “Well, two things actually.”

“What’s that?”

He opened the way into the resplendent home. “First of all, Pritchard has the night off. She was a little disappointed to hear that bit of news, but there you have it.”

Ivie felt her body warm instantly. “Oh, really?”

Silas shut them in together, and she dimly noted that he was back in his uniform of a cashmere sweater and slacks with expensive loafers. Everything was a little baggy, but like she cared? Still, they were going to have to loosen up his wardrobe some.

Introduce him to blue jeans. Sweatshirts. A good pair of shorts in July.

“And?” she prompted.

He stopped in the center of the beautifully appointed open space. “I bought us a farm. In the valley over from your parents. Yes, yes, I know I should have asked you, but we need a place outside of the city for privacy and I know you want to be close to your family—and no offense, but I have gin rummy money I need to get back from your aunt—”

She tackled him with a hug. “What are you like! You bought us a farm?”

As he held her against his body, Ivie’s heart was free, her soul was free, and it was at that moment that she knew the fall was over: Back when she had been in that bar and she had seen him and almost looked into his eyes, when she’d had a sense she was going to be forever changed…now she knew, down to her marrow—natch—that all was well and the new era in her life was going to be even better than anything that had come before—

Silas’s mouth found hers and suddenly she wasn’t thinking anymore.

It was all about sensation as they stumbled backward into the drawing room she had waited in when she had come to apply for the job.

Clothes left their bodies, melting away and landing on the carpet, and then they were down on the rug in front of the crackling fire.

“The drapes are pulled,” he groaned against her mouth. “I had everything set, even the fire. For just this.”

He rolled her over and found his way in between her legs to enter her. In response, tears of joy speared into her eyes as she stared up at him and they began to move together.

“I love you, dearest Ivie,” he said to her. “And I’m going to live my whole life with that best characteristic of mine in the forefront.”

Ivie smiled and giggled—yes, giggled. Because sometimes, even hard, tough females like her had too many champagne bubbles in their bloodstream to keep them inside.

“Right back at you, my male,” she replied. “I will love you with everything I am and all that I have…”

At that point, they stopped talking and focused on making love.

Until six p.m…the following evening.