Epilogue
Mallory
Nine Months Later…
Nine months later, it was prom. The only one who ended up pregnant was the accidental duchess. By the end of the book, she’d given birth to three kids. It all happened between the last chapter and epilogue, which closed with Lydia nursing a baby while the duke smiled and bounced a toddler on his knee. The duke, a mansion, and a killer wardrobe—that was a pretty sweet happily ever after for a nineteenth-century chick. Mallory preferred prom.
“Mal, hurry up!” Blake yelled up the stairs. Mallory was still getting ready, and Blake was downstairs pacing. She’d gotten the night off of roadside cleanup duty for prom. Instead of the bright orange road safety vest that had become a common sight around the house, Blake was sheathed in a metallic micro-mini outfit that would give their dad a heart attack if he saw it. Mallory was wearing an almost exact copy of the gown Lydia Farrow wore on the cover of The Accidental Duchess. Blake had declared the Regency-inspired gown “so not sexy!” but Mallory loved it. She’d tried to find a Regency outfit for Ben, but he lucked out. None of the tux rental places carried breeches. A tailcoat was good enough. He agreed to the low ponytail, too, but had drawn a line at tying it with a ribbon. How could her life get any better?
“What do you need?” Mallory called down the stairs. She wasn’t sure why Blake was in such a big hurry all of a sudden. It’s not like they were late. The limo outside wasn’t charging by the minute or anything.
Good reason or no, she was in a hurry. “Mal! We have to leave now!”
Mallory frowned. They were getting along a lot better, but she still couldn’t keep up with her sister’s whims. “I’m hurrying,” she said. She was actually going slow as molasses.
Five minutes later, there was nothing but silence from downstairs. “Blake?” she called.
There was no answer, but a minute later her phone beeped with a text: “Sorry. Call Ben 4 ride. Dad was coming up driveway. Would have made me change. Limo sux anyway. No hot tub!”
When she looked out the window she saw the limo speeding away toward who knows where, probably Luke Culpepper’s house. Their dad was pulling up, so Mallory could sort of see Blake’s point. He never would have let her go to prom mostly naked, which was all Blake wanted.
When Ben didn’t respond to her texts (Jill was on exchange in France), she did what she had to do.
Dressed in full Regency attire, Mallory started walking. She hiked the dress up to keep the hem from getting dirty. Blake was going to owe her big time after this.
At least she wasn’t carrying a backpack with the entire Duchess in Love series and a French horn like last time. Unfortunately, the weather decided to repeat itself. The clouds rolled in and…was that a raindrop? God, she hoped it wasn’t a raindrop. She’d spent too long curling her hair to get rained on! She’d probably just imagined it. But no, there was another one.
Just when she’d just about given up, a vehicle pulled up. Through her rain-splattered glasses she looked up to see… A giant smile broke out on her face. One look at Ben in his tailcoat and low ponytail and Mallory went totally gooey, smiley, drunk-on-love happy. How could he even be hers?
Her bag of thirty book boyfriends had been nice, and she still loved them all dearly, but Ben put them all to shame… It was fairy-tale perfect.
He swung the door open and said, “Sorry I didn’t catch you earlier. My phone was dead.”
“How’d you know?”
“The limo never came to get me, so I decided to swing by.” He raised an eyebrow. “I assume this is your sister’s fault.”
Mallory nodded. “I’m sure she couldn’t think, though. There were too many flashbulbs going off in her imagination.” That always happened on special occasions. Blake was still the kid who opened up every Christmas present before everyone got up. There was no chance her brain would be functional on prom. “She’ll make it up to me later.”
Mallory wasn’t a doormat anymore and Blake knew it.
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up to the country club. Bellevue’s dances were always at the country club. “Do we have to pay for the valet?” Ben asked.
“I don’t think so.”
Mallory was hardly any better at country club life than Ben.
Inside it was throbbing music, a rainbow of prom dresses. Mallory grabbed Ben’s hand. “How about we just put in an appearance?”
With a don’t-chicken-out look, he said, “It’s prom, Mal.”
She’d warm up by standing next to the punch bowl for a while and gradually ease her way onto the dance floor.
Ben was cool with that plan. He loaded up a plate of snacks. The country club had good food. A few songs into the experience, he announced, “I think I just ate a whole tray of canapés.”
“Were they any good?”
“For canapés, I guess. It’s hard to taste bites that small.”
He was right. Canapés could only be so good. After he finished them, he said, “Times up. Let’s dance.”
With a good-natured grin, Ben dragged her onto the dance floor. He was right, she would regret it if she didn’t dance at prom. Blake and Luke were already there, along with half the school. With the music pulsing through her veins and everyone she loved around her, Mallory forgot about being nervous, hiked up the skirt on her Regency gown, and got down to dancing.
When a slow song came on, Ben drew her close and she rested her head against his chest. Her heart fluttered when he bent his head to her ear and asked if she wanted to take a walk outside. Ben might not know it, but he was speaking Regency. Just like math, it was a universal language. She was sure of it.
Just like a Regency heroine (except wearing a modern underwire bra and, as of last week, carrying a brand new driver’s license in her purse), Mallory followed Ben in to the garden. As she suspected, he had no interest in the country club’s landscaping. She couldn’t deny that it had a special impact, though. The way the green hills rolled out beneath their feet all the way to the horizon made her feel like the world was just for them. It was like their very own red carpet leading to whatever beautiful future they could imagine.
“This is why people like golf courses,” Ben commented.
Mallory nodded. “Yep.” Although it was distinctly more magical alone with Ben under the stars than riding in a golf cart with her dad in the sweltering heat of the day.
She wrapped her arms around him and looked into his eyes. “Did you hear back from Fozzie yet?” Her official letter from Camp Pine Ridge had arrived that afternoon.
He nodded. From the look on his face, she could tell it was good news. “I’m in,” he said.
She held back a squeal of excitement. “I can’t believe he hired both of us after what happened last summer.”
With a chuckle, Ben said, “I can. I mean, he’s the one who hired Derek. He’s only making us junior counselors. Derek was a full-fledged, in-charge-of-twenty-impressionable-souls counselor.”
Mallory laughed. “True.” Then a lightbulb switched on and she said, “Maybe he only hires deviants, like one of those businesses that hire ex-cons as a public service. Hiring us is his gift to society.”
Sagely, Ben nodded. “Yep, he’s just getting us off the streets.” Then, he flashed a get-real-Mallory look and said, “Not. You’re the most responsible person I know, but no matter why he hired us, this summer is going to be epic.”
“Epically calm and relaxing, I hope.” Nothing could be as big of a roller coaster as last summer, as least she didn’t think so. Word on the street was that had had fired Derek finally. He’d also promoted Kipper to assistant director.
“Enough about camp,” Ben whispered. He pressed his lips to hers and she melted into him. Her heart raced just as quickly as it had on their first kiss last summer. “Did I tell you I like your dress?”
“Really?”
“Easy access,” he said with a smile.
She had to admit, it was a very low-cut dress, especially for the 1800s. She didn’t mind one bit, though. That was one feature that was good for both of them. Mallory could barely even believe this was her life. One session of summer camp had truly changed everything.
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