Ariel's soft steps brought his head up from his rapt reverie. He held out his arms to her and she came into his embrace, her tear-wet face resting against his shoulder.
"Why do I feel that Sarah wanted to die… was ready to die?" Her words were muffled. "It's wicked to think that, but I can't help it."
Simon stroked her hair, pushing the tear-sodden streaks away from her cheeks, where they were stuck. "I was thinking that she didn't die in vain," he said.
"She gave her life for yours."
"Yes, but much more than that." Gently he told her what Sarah's death had brought about. "Maybe it's fanciful to believe that she intended such a thing." He smiled, tilting Ariel's face to kiss her mouth.
"No, I don't think it is," Ariel said. "No one knew Sarah, not even Jenny, but everyone knew that she never acted without reason, or without thought for the consequences."
"And you, my love? Have you given proper thought for the consequences of marriage to a Hawkesmoor now?"
Ariel's smile was rueful. "Long since," she said. "And I will not have my horses. It's almost frightening that something once so important should now seem so trivial."
"And if I say that of course you may have your horses?" he asked gravely. "Your horses and your independence. What do you say then, my love?"
Ariel looked up at him, a dash of wonder in her eyes. Then she said consideringly, "I would only want my independence for me, not because of you."
"Ah." He nodded. "Of course. Such a simple distinction, but so vital."
He walked with her back to the castle and into the kitchen, where Jenny was sitting beside the fire, her hands lying loosely in her lap.
"Jenny, you must come with us to Hawkesmoor," Ariel said, kneeling on the flagstones beside her, taking her hands. "You will come and live with us."
Jenny shook her head and smiled. "You will be needed in Hawkesmoor, Ariel, but someone must stay here to help the people in these parts. But I had an idea. Something that came to me while I was with Mother a minute ago." She looked up at the earl, standing at Ariel's shoulder. "I hope you will help, my lord, because my mother had… had some feeling for you that I don't understand. But-"
"My dear Jenny, you have only to ask."
"Well, I was thinking that perhaps we could train other people to help the sick… the way Mother trained me and Ariel. We would perhaps have to pay people if we're to take them away from their regular work, but Mother would live always in the hands of others."
"Oh, yes," Ariel breathed. "How perfect, Jenny. I will help you. I can use the money from the racing stable, and we'll set up a school for midwives and herbalists."
Simon ran a somewhat distracted hand through his hair. Somewhere between breeding racehorses and running a training program for would-be midwives and apothecaries, his wife might find time for him.
He cleared his throat a mite plaintively and Ariel looked up immediately, her eyes on fire with her enthusiasm. "Oh, yes," she said with instant comprehension. "I must be a wife too, of course."
"I shall be eternally in your debt, madam wife." He offered a mock bow and proffered his arm. "Perhaps now might be a good moment?"