The Master Finale | manxman | (Book Four: The Master Collection)

Epilogue

Three Months Later

Darcy kept checking out the window of the dayroom every so often, and she knew exactly what she was waiting for. Currently she was walking about trying to lull little Jasper to sleep, Jade held and played with by young Ava who was the only other person with her at the moment. Juliette, she was overseeing the kitchen staff to see when dinner would be ready, and her husband and Broderick, she thought perhaps they were together, as usual, in the library or study or bedroom. One of the three.

But she stayed vigilant downstairs.

Ever since that time three months back when Broderick returned after a near death sentence, she'd noticed her husband and his lover seemed to spend every waking moment together. From dawn till dusk, Jasper and Broderick were at one another's side, far more attentive to that binding of love that stitched them so closely together, it made her a happy wife to finally see that Jasper was no longer the lonely, forsaken man he'd been just a year ago. Now he had the core of another wonderful human being to incline the proportion of bliss inside of him, and she knew the Master's constant, beautiful love did the same for Broderick.

They made each other's lives easier to bear, whether they realized it or not while hidden away in their own piece of paradise.

Looking down upon her son when a chuckle sounded from him, Darcy smiled at the baby in her maternal arms. When she glanced behind her to see how Eloise and Ava were doing, her eyes moved up towards the window again, and she gasped upon seeing a coach approaching the manor. "They're here!" she exclaimed, causing her son to fuss, but the baby didn't cry.

Excited as she was, Darcy placed little Jasper down on a spot of blankets and hurried from the room before Ava could even think to ask who it was she was talking about. Nearly crashing into Juliette, Darcy spun around her and took her lover's hand. "They're here," she let be known, pulling her lover along to the stairwell.

Servers who were preparing the manor for guests and for dinner, they watched with amused smiles as the Lady of the manor bustled up the stairs, dragging Juliette behind her as she climbed them to the second floor. "Slow down, Darcy," Juliette suggested, but the Lady kept up her speed.

"Jasper!" she called out, heading for the library to see if he was there, "Jasper, dear!"

When she and Juliette turned into the archway of the library, Jasper was inside with Broderick, and they were seated together on a sofa arrangement. "Why are you so frantic?" the Master questioned. "You'll collapse if you don't calm down."

"They're here," Darcy tried to calm herself, but her excitement still got the better of her. "Come down stairs. Hurry up, now."

Looking toward Broderick beside him, Jasper smiled and stood from the sofa, setting the book in his hands down and kindly nodded for his lover to follow. Together, the four of them made their way down to the first level, where upon entering the foyer, Alexander opened the front doors to allow entry to the blonde and black-haired boys they had not seen since their last stay within the manor walls.

"Oliver, darling!" Darcy was the first to dash for them, adoring the sight of her favorite guests. "Quincy, dear, oh I do hope your travels were not so rough." She embraced them together, and the two nineteen-year-olds smiled and received her. "Coming from France and all, it must be such a journey for the two of you."

When they were released, Oliver couldn't help himself from smiling as the Lady stepped back to admire them. Oliver was dressed in maroon trousers, he also wore a black buttoned shirt with white flowery designs, and shined dress shoes, his blond hair tied back at the nape of his neck. And Quinn, he wielded less color with his all black outfit, but it complimented his handsomeness, and the river of silk hair he had was down to his shoulders.