“That’s not true,” he said. “William was the bravest of us all. The men looked up to him, and when I had to leave—after my brother’s death—he was the one who stepped in to take my place.” Reese looked deep into Sarah’s eyes. “And I’m so sorry that I left him. That I left all of them. I’m so sorry that he didn’t come home to you.”

Sarah shook her head slowly. “You have nothing to apologize for, my lord.”

“Actually, I do,” Reese said. “I apologize for taking so long to reply to your letters. For taking so long to visit. And especially for waiting so long to deliver this message from William.”

“He gave you a note for me?” she asked, her expression devastatingly hopeful.

“Not exactly. He said that if anything were to happen to him, I must tell you three things.”

“Three things?” she repeated.

Reese nodded. “Sometimes at night, while we sat around the fire, he’d make me repeat them back, just to be sure I memorized them.”

Sarah covered her mouth with her hands to stifle a sob, and Reese hurriedly dug his handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her.

He gave her a few moments to compose herself, and when she nodded at him, he began. “First, he said he loved you and the girls more than anything—even more than your suet pudding, but that it was a very close call.”

“Goodness.” She dabbed her eyes with the handkerchief and shot him a watery smile. “That sounds just like William.”

Reese cleared his throat and continued. “Second, he said not to mourn him for too long. Three months at the most. He wanted you to be happy, and eventually, to love again.”

Fresh tears fell down Sarah’s cheeks, and she drew in a shaky breath. “How like my husband, to think he could dictate such things. I may refuse to smile again, just to spite him,” she teased, but there was a softness in her eyes that made Reese’s chest ache. “And the third thing?” she asked.

He forced himself to look directly at Sarah, to absorb some of her pain. “Third,” Reese said soberly, “he said he wasn’t sure where he was going, but he hoped they had skies as clear and as blue as your eyes. He said he’d know he was in heaven if they had sunsets the color of your hair.”

For several seconds, Sarah sat there, gripping the arms of the chair as though she was trying to hold herself together. But then her chin trembled, and her whole body seemed to collapse. Sobs racked her shoulders, and she smothered her cries with his handkerchief. Reese couldn’t recall ever feeling so useless.