Epilogue

Three months later...

Mr. Fitzgerald alighted from the Concorde stage and gave instruction to the driver who went around the back of the stage to gather his belongings.

Luc came up to greet the man. “It’s good to see you again, Mr. Fitzgerald.”

“Same.” He took a handkerchief and wiped the perspiration from his forehead. “You’ll have to excuse my rumpled appearance. The stage is not the most comfortable way to travel.”

“Surely, you could have taken the steamship?”

“I could have, but I become quite ill on boats.” Mr. Fitzgerald stuffed the damp cloth into his pocket. “I much prefer to travel on land if I can help it.

“So be it.”

The lawyer’s gaze drifted around the town. “I did receive Mr. Claessen’s quarterly report about the state of the company, and subsequently, the state of the town. He was very conservative. The last I came here, this place was on the brink of becoming uninhabitable.”

Luc’s chest puffed out. “My associates—,” He stopped and started again. “My friends and I have done much in the few months we’ve lived here. There’s still a lot to do.”

“I see.” Mr. Fitzgerald’s gaze roamed around the town. Workmen called out to each other as hammers banged on wood. Wagons rolled by on the streets as building materials were unloaded.

Due to Thymen’s advertisement, businessmen from across the river and out of the territory had traveled to Evansgrove. What lured them to their small town, Luc didn’t understand. Sybrand had yet to discover what made the fathers buy the Perry Fur Company, but Sybrand was determined to do what he could to make the place reap a benefit. Friar Jack had revealed that some of the fur traders objected to the new direction the town was going in. He hoped they wouldn’t cause trouble.

“Are there lodgings available?”

“Of course.” Luc nodded toward the newly whitewashed building. The saloon had been torn down and Mrs. Lambert’s Boarding House stood in its place. “Mrs. Lambert will see to your needs.”

“That’s good. I do need to speak with you.”

Luc folded his arms. “Are you here to determine if I’ve met the stipulations of my father’s will?”

“I am. Is there someplace we can talk?”

“Follow me. The Hive’s office is down this street.”

Strolling down the street, Luc inhaled the fresh air. They had done a lot of improvements to the town and to see the fruits of his labor bloom gave him a sense of satisfaction he’d never thought possible.

“How is your wife, Mr. de Jeu?”

“She’s doing well.” He thought of the way he greeted her this morning, with a slow, pleasurable kiss that opened her eyes. She’d stretched her arms as she yawned and then wrapped them around his neck. Her hazel eyes took on the hue of brown gold when she nuzzled his nose in a playful manner. “Goedenmorgen, Mijnheer de Jeu.” she whispered. “I love you more than I did yesterday.”

His heart had almost burst out of his chest. “I love you more than I did a minute ago, Mevrouw de Jeu.”

They both laughed at the silliness of it. But Luc suspected, even if they said nothing to each other, their feelings were as intense as they expressed.

Mr. Fitzgerald’s voice brought him back to the present. “That’s good to hear. I’d like to have an opportunity to meet her.”

“You shall.”

They came to the Hive building and walked into his office. It no longer had the smell of dead animal lingering in the air. Eva had come and armed with a bucket, water, and some sort of plant leaves, she’d scrubbed the entire place thoroughly. He tried to help her, but she insisted on doing the deed herself.

His mother had sent a lithograph of his father in his younger days. His eyes landed on the picture as they always did. The artist had captured his father’s ambitious essence but none of the hardness Luc had come to know in his later years. Looking at it, he no longer felt the pull to sacrifice everything for the man who never said “I love you”. He had Eva’s love and that made up for everything.

They sat at the table. After the lawyer declined Luc’s offer of coffee, he got straight to the reason for his visit.

“Mr. de Jeu, I received your letter that you wished to relinquish control of the company to Ties.”

Mr. Fitzgerald drew the letter out of the briefcase he’d brought along. “This is the letter. I brought it here to verify its authenticity as I was rather surprised to receive it.”

Luc nodded. “That’s correct. I did write the letter. At the time, we did not have a notary available to substantiate my signature.”

The lawyer tapped the folded letter in his open hand in a thoughtful way. “I see. May I ask if it is because Mrs. de Jeu is not yet with child?”

Luc sniffed. “That has nothing to do with it. I am willfully resigning my position.”

“Why?”

The frank question took Luc by surprise, but he saw no reason to avoid the question. “I love my wife,” he said simply. “Vader may have wanted an heir, but I want my wife for myself. You knew my vader for a long time, Mr. Fitzgerald.”

“That is correct.”

“You can remember the kind of man he was. Solely focused on the Hive. Abandoning my mother to live most of her days in loneliness. I have no wish to do the same to my wife. The Hive is no longer the mistress I serve without care to anything else. That was my vader’s life and it consumed him. The life I have here, in this little town is adequate—no, more than adequate for me.”

Mr. Fitzgerald pursed his lips. “Are you saying that your marriage, the one meant to keep you in control, is now the reason you no longer wish it?”

Luc answered in English so there would be no mistake in interpreting his words. “Yes.”

“In that case, I have a letter for you.” He reached into his briefcase and retrieved it. “One written to you by your father.”

“Vader?”

He nodded and handed the folded letter to him. “Once you read the contents, please let me know how you’d like to proceed.”

Luc’s hand shook as he saw the neat, familiar scrawl of his father. He blinked several times before opening it.