Epilogue
“Can’t we just hear the rest of the story?� Little Nicole spoke up. “I promise we will go to sleep right after that.�
“I guess we can make an exception, Nicole� Henry said, smiling. He looked over at Danielle for approval and she smiled back. That was all the approval that he would need. Henry patted his lap and waited until Nicole came to sit on it. Henri went to sit by his grandfather, Auguste.
“Tell me, what happened after you and Grandmama got married,�
Auguste looked at his wife, Nicole, who nodded her head. With that, he turned back to his grandson.
~~~~~~
At first, Auguste did quit the Royal Guards, but he stayed with the new King at his request. He did move into the manor, which wasn’t all that far from the summer castle in Hautefort. Auguste became not only the King’s bodyguard, but his assistant as well.
This took up a lot of Auguste’s time and he was hardly ever home. This did not stop them from trying to have a baby. They tried three times on three separate occasions, but they were never successful, Nicole always lost them.
Convinced that they could never have children, they stopped trying. They went to the court physician and asked why, but the doctor couldn’t answer them. He told them then that if Nicole were to get pregnant one more time, she would not make it, but that the baby would live. Besides, she was too old and too weak to produce another.
But then a miracle happened. They had Danielle and Nicole did almost lose her life, but Auguste and the court physician were on hand whenever she needed their help.
Nicole would be weak for a long time, but she would recover. During that time, Francis honored Auguste’s request to quit the King’s service temporarily to keep an eye on his wife and help run the farm, which had been Nicole’s job when Auguste went on his trips.
The King agreed and Auguste rushed home. It would take almost two years for Nicole to get her strength back. Auguste’s plan for a large would not take place now, but he couldn’t have been more pleased with his daughter. She was his heart and the love of his life, along with Nicole.
Francis and Marie also tried several times to have a baby, finally getting Henry in the process.
Henry and Danielle grew up together, each one knowing that one day they would marry one another, despite other suitor’s from Danielle’s side and Henry’s many women on the other, including one named Marguerite Louise Francoise de Ghent of the House of de Ghent. Her mother, the Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent, would practically try to force her daughter down Henry throat, until one day, Rodmilla and her daughter disappeared. No one heard from them again, but it was reported that Marguerite had been spotted in Paris with a blacksmith for a husband and a little boy clinging to her hand.
No one ever saw Rodmilla again.
~~~~~
“Now, you must do as you promised,� Auguste said to his grandchildren. “Hurry along now, the hour is late.�
Nicole nodded her little head, kissed her father’s cheek and jumped off his lap. Henri kissed his mother’s cheek. “Goodnight,� they called and all of them watched as they hurried to their separate rooms.