Chapters (51)
- Cover
- Praise for A Season for Second Chances
- Also by Jenny Bayliss
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Discussion Guide
- About the Author
- What’s next onyour reading list?
Isaac had set his horticulture students from Hart’s College to work with him on the lost garden, using the original plans from the 1860s. His case against the De-Veers was settled out of court. The evidence was so overwhelmingly stacked in Heba’s favor that they simply agreed to all terms and signed over ownership. Heba’s name had been posthumously added to all her works. And Isaac had received a very generous compensation payout, a portion of which he used to buy the freehold on Serendipitous Seconds for Nory.
The wedding ceremony took place in the Winter Garden on the last Saturday before Christmas. Warm winter coats and fur-lined Wellingtons were worn over the more traditional wedding outfits. Isaac looked devasting in a black sherwani, and as Nory walked down the path, her arm looped through her dad’s, she couldn’t imagine what good deed she must have done in a past life to be allowed to marry Isaac in this one. By chance, Nory had seen an evening gown in the exact pink of the Nory Noel hellebore, and knew she’d found her wedding dress.
Nory and Isaac said “I do” beneath a pergola laced with ivy, holly, and mistletoe, surrounded by the people they loved most in the world. Everyone clapped as loudly as they could while wearing thick mittens. And then, led by the happy couple, they made their way hastily along snowy paths to the marquee in the lost garden.
As a wedding gift, Lord Abercrombie had very kindly offered a night in the castle free of charge to all the guests; Jackson and Lucas were beyond excited at the prospect.
A full moon had been paramount in their choosing of a date for the wedding. It had started snowing a couple of days ago and had begun in earnest again now. At the stroke of midnight, with the children tucked up in bed and sleeping soundly, a group of old friends, along with some new ones, crept out onto the lawn just in front of the castle. They wore pajamas beneath winter coats, and some of them hugged baby monitors. Some carried the sporting equipment and others the components for the traditional toast. And there beneath the full moon and the falling snow, they played croquet and drank Snowballs, in honor and remembrance of their friend who hadn’t been able to stay in the world.
Surrounded by fresh snowfall and love, Isaac took Nory in his arms and kissed her, and the rightness within her warmed her bones. She hoped Tristan had found peace, and she hoped he knew that he would never be forgotten. Because sometimes life is too short, but love lasts forever.
Acknowledgments
