Three Months Later… Sophia trailed her straw hat behind her as she promenaded across the lawn. The ribbons bound around the brim streaming out behind her as an azure stream. Merry voices rippled upon the breeze, accompanied by the tinkle of glasses. “You’ll be happy, I know it, Persephone,” she said to her companion. The younger woman clutched tight her arm. “I know it too.” Her broad smile filled her face and added an extra special glow to her blue-grey eyes, which save for their colour were so very much like her brother’s. “But where is Paris? I thought he would be here to say goodbye.” Sophia laughed and ushered her charge up to the door of a waiting carriage. “Dear, you have already said goodbye to him five times over. Likely enough he already thinks you on your way by now. Come now, step into the carriage. Your husband waits. You don’t want to be lingering here any longer. You’ve a home of your own to go to now.” “I know it, and I can still hardly believe it.”
