“By Jove, boy, that is a longship to the life, complete with square sail and dragon prow. By night, it sails the stars, and by day…”

“The longship is sailing home with us,” Matilda said, smiling at her husband as if she could divine his wistful thoughts and slipping her hand back into his.

They had removed their gloves to aid Tommie’s plundering of the hamper, and Tremont was glad to have the contact. The longship was still sailing off the coach’s starboard prow when Tommie again took to pointing and waving.

“That is a castle! Look, Mama! A real, true castle! They have a castle in Shropshire and Viking clouds and sheep and everything!”

Tremont shared some of Tommie’s excitement and all of his joy. He’d come back to Shropshire from time to time in recent years, but this trip was different.

This was a homecoming, not a flying pass to keep an eye on rural duties.

“That is a castle,” Tremont said, “and also a family seat, and a stately manor, and a historical building, but mostly, Tommie, that is our home. My mama is there on the steps, you see? She can’t wait to meet you, and you must point out the Viking cloud to her too. My sister, Lydia, and her husband, Sir Dylan, are coming for a visit next week, and they are looking forward to meeting you too.”

Tommie sent Matilda a questioning look. “You didn’t say we would live in a castle, Mama.”

“We shall live in our castle,” Matilda said, handing Tommie his stuffed horse, “happily ever after. Now put on your gloves and prepare to make a proper bow to her ladyship. You can tell her all about driving the coach and introduce her to Cope and ask her impertinent questions about when Tremont was a boy.”

Tommie bounded out of the coach the instant the steps were let down and pelted up the staircase to the front terrace, waving his horse and yelling about longships in the sky.

Tremont handed Matilda down with slightly more decorum. “We will, you know,” he said, offering his arm.

“We will what?”

“Dwell in our castle, happily ever after.”

“We shall,” Matilda said, kissing his cheek. “With you, I’m sure of it.”

Tremont handled the introductions, and the hugs, and the kisses, and Tommie trying to slide down the terrace’s stone banister, and more hugs and kisses.

Before he escorted his wife and mama into the castle, he spared a smile and a wave for the longship soaring peacefully aloft in the beautiful Shropshire sky.

To my dear readers