“That is what he tells me, but it does not mean that I am confident in myself. I worry, Sarah. I want to have children so badly, but I am petrified,” Mary confessed.
“Then there is only one thing left for you to do,” Sarah said.
“And what is that?” Mary asked.
“You must simply follow your heart. But do not let fear rule you forever, Mary. You will be such a good mother and I would be sad to see you live without that joy out of choice. Do not let your fear be the thing which guides you. There is hope for you and you should not cast it aside simply because there is also worry,” Sarah said.
Mary knew that she was right. Still, Mary wondered what would truly happen if she tried and failed to have a child. Would she feel empty? Would Crispin regret having married her?
Or maybe there was no reason at all to be afraid. After all, her husband loved her, and he was enough. Even if she never had children, she had him. What could be better than that?
Later in the evening, Mary found her Duke by the refreshments. He smiled at her with that beaming grin of his.
“Do you remember the ball when we first met?” he asked her.
“Of course I do. I could never forget,” Mary replied.
“I have been thinking about it all night. I have been thinking about the books over which we bonded, over the many we have read together since. And I have been thinking about the man you met that night, the one who was isolated and afraid, who did not know how to interact with a beautiful woman.
And as I have thought about it, all I can do is live with gratitude. Because that was the night my life forever changed. And that was the night I found peace,” he said.
Mary had been anxious since her conversation with Sarah, but now she was reminded all over again that there was nothing to fear. No matter what they would go through in the future, they had already proven they could overcome whatever challenge they might face.
And they could do it all because of love.
THE END