Edna, my aunt and I went on to Venice, Italy where the arts drenched every corner of every street and every building like its canals with their rowing men. One of the first things we did was find an artist to immortalize Edna and my aunt in paint though we were troubled to find artists were taught to draw people in its bare originated form like the Greeks did. Not to mention the Italian weather was much more well-tempered and invigorating than London's gray skies which were a thing of the past for us as we delighted in the informal way of life in small Italy.

"Here send this please," I asked the maid of the house we had rented.

"Yes milady," she said and went out.

"So is he coming?"

"Yes in a week he will be here to see the house," I told Edna.

"He must have acquired a great fortune selling that big old place, I heard he even left family portraits behind."

"Yes some of it he did."

"I hope the new house is to his taste."

"I think it is to anyone with good taste."

"Good I want him to be inspired, to paint, to be himself here."

"I still cannot believe he bought into the idea of moving to Italy."

"Well a painter in the city of art aunt is a good idea and I can't wait for the staff to come, I think Mary's kid will enjoy the beaches here."

"Yes it is a proper paradise here."

"It is."

"It is still hard to know you will not be going back to England after you marry."

"Our wedding will be there for everyone to come and what place more beautiful to start over than here?"

"Yes."

"So will you stay or go?"

"I will stay, I love Italy, it is the best place in the world though I have only seen three places in the world, I stand by it," Edna declared her love walking into the conversation.

"True Italy is the best place, Paris was lovely and while I have enjoyed every moment of our trip I shall go back to England."

"But why?" Edna questioned my aunt.

"I must go be with Daniel, he has spent so long without a mother I have to go make sure his manners are still there, and keep him from harm's way so I will go back to London and be his guardian until he decides whether to join you here or stay there."

"Of course that is best, I have been so selfish, I had not even considered it."

"You are too happy your head is in the cloud my dear niece."

"Yes," I agreed and we three laughed together.

"So after your wedding I shall stay in England, I believe I have seen enough of the world now to last me a lifetime."

"As you wish aunt," I nodded and we waited for Mr. Howard to arrive.

In July of 1892, Mr. Howard arrived with some of the staff and their baggage by boat to see the house and they fell in love with the home I had picked for us, we signed the deed to the property the same week and furnishings from all places began to arrive.

"We bought a house future Lady of Bridgeston minus the properties which thus belonged to the title," he joked sitting out in the green grass of our Italian home.

"You mean minus the things I never cared for?" I stood next to him looking out to the perch where the house was built.

"Yes, are you sure you still want to marry me?"

"I think it would be quite a hassle if I said no to you..."

"It would be the biggest mistake of your life."

"Oh really?"

"Yes for I would break all the rules of society to inconvenience you and if need be the rules of death to haunt you day and night."

"Then I must say yes for the sake of the rules."

"Right for the sake of society."

"Um hm," I lowered to touch his lips with mine and he went on his knees to reach kiss me back but Edna yelled from the balcony before my aunt caught us.

"Lord Bridgeston your tea is ready!" Edna shouted and we got up fixed ourselves and went inside for tea.

Our wedding was to take place in London in a month's time so in August of 1892, we traveled back together to London where I began to take care of some last things I had left in the town home then Edna came across something unexpected.

"Do we pack this for charity or not?" Edna asked as we went through mother's things.

"My mother's sewing materials?"

"Let me see," she opened the box to check and then gave it to me.

"This is one of the few things she took when we moved from the slums of London."

"Oh dear Lord," Edna took something out of it.

"What is it?"

"Alice look at what your mother left for you," she passed me the paper where I saw my mother's final drawing, one she never showed me it was called: The Alice Dress.

"Is this?"

"Your wedding dress! She drew your wedding dress Alice."

"She never told me."

The paper explained every detail and fabric that the wedding dress was to be made out of, it would be as if she had sewn it with her own working hands so I sent it straightaway to Martha's dressmaker. Martha had been in charge of everything to do with my wedding even before I arrived in England though she already had her own little miracle about to pop out at any moment.

The next day everyone put their black away, only sweet and lively colors were seen throughout the house my wedding being on a hot end of summer season day. Sebastian's back was to me when I entered as if I had dreamed this end a long time ago, in this exact manner, his legs stood still unlike mine and as he turned with a smile and steady eyes his hand reached out for mine while Daniel gave me away, when we touched hands Sebastian's were warm exactly like mine except he hid the nervousness much better than I did by blushing.

"I love you," he said as we stood across from each other and the priest began saying.

"Earl Sebastian Howard of Bridgeston, will you have this woman to be your wife; to live together in the covenant of marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?"

"I will," Sebastian said to me then to the priest.

"Lady Alice Stewart, will you have this man to be your husband; to live together in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?"

"I shall."

"Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?" The congregation was asked.

"We will," everyone present said in unison.

"Bless, O Lord, these rings to be a sign of the vows by which this man and this woman have bound themselves to each other; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen," the priest blessed our rings by raising them high to the sky.

"Amen," the people agreed.

"Alice Stewart, I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," Sebastian said the words we had been practicing to say for this day but which would last a life time of living out.

"Earl Sebastian Howard of Bridgeston, I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with... all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." I slid the ring on his hand and we held each other's hand firmly, everything was clear I knew him and he knew me.

"Now that the Earl of Bridgeston and the Lady of Bridgeston have given themselves to each other by solemn vows, with the joining of hands and the giving and receiving of a ring, I pronounce that they are husband and wife, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Those whom God has joined together let no one put asunder."

"Amen," all agreed and my husband pulled my veil back for us to walk out of the church then he helped me on to the carriage and kissed me in front of everyone to see.

"This is only the start Alice," and we began the journey to our wedding party.

At the end of the month of August in the year of 1892 Sebastian and I were married with all gathered in the local London church I attended, even Sir Holloway did me the honor of coming and after the party we set sail back to Italy, abandoning our homeland for something fresh, something new and unexpected.

"So how do you like our new house?" Sebastian sneaked into my adjoining bedchamber to his.

"I love it, it is everything I want our new life to be like: spacious, lovely, filled with the beam of the sun during the day and at night brightened by the moon," I kept the curtains open because the Italian fall was still warm.

"I should probably tell you then to not get too comfortable with your bed because I do not intend to stay in my room every night," his embrace fit my back against his tall shape.

"Well then, I shall have to leave my door unlocked," I laid my head back on his chest and his hand tightened my waist against his torso.

"Does this make you happy Alice?" He wanted to see my face so he turned me around.

"Of course it does, I am happier than anyone you have ever known or seen."

"Tell me something else then."

"Like what?"

"What were your thoughts when we first kissed?"

"You are quite curious tonight aren't you?"

"Yes very curious," he said since it would be our first honeymoon night.

"Well the day we kissed there was one thing I knew for sure."

"One thing?"

"Yes, that you would be the only man with the ability to make me fall this deeply in love with you."

"The kiss was better than I expected then, I thought I had frightened you that night."

"You did but who is not a little afraid at the sight of true love?"

"It explains why you frightened me so, afraid I would fall captive to you, doing everything in my power to have you without losing my will," he lifted my chin up and lightly kissed my lips.

"Me frighten you? That is absurd, and you have kept your will have you not?"

"I will say yes for the sake of my ego," he responded and I smiled with my eyes meeting his midnight sky eyes.

"Then I have a question now," I put my finger on the spot of his chest that was uncovered by his shirt and he waited for me to ask it.

"Um hm..."

"When did I stop being so frightful to you? When I told you I loved you?"

"No, you still make me shiver even now," he untied my nightgown...

This was the greatest journey I had ever taken was the only journey which changed the eyes of my heart and landed me right at the exact place where I never planned to be. Since then I learned the greatest journey was not a plan we follow through from beginning to end, it is a life made up of choices we make, people we hope to see clearly and love them with goodness. The greatest journey must be set on the premises we never know enough to make the best decisions but if sincerity can be found in our hearts then the path we are on will lead us home. And yes the greatest journey does not end here but it gives me a great hope for what is to come ahead as the ground under my feet seems soft once again. So the greatest journey is not done as long as there is a breath of life in you and me, let us walk on to a greater journey now...

The End

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A very heartfelt thank you for reading this far and for the comments. Every single comment counts! If it wasn't for your love for this story I would've never taken the step to publish it. Thank you so much, it all means the world to me and I hope that you'll keep on sharing your love for this story for the years to come. And it also couldn't have happened without one of our very own fellow Wattpaders who is a wonderful caring editor!

Thank you @bryonymagee , readers, & Wattpad you've given me a lot to dream about💛💛💛

Your author,

A. Sena Gomes.

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PS.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083TS9M56/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_TCJDEbZC9AE0N

Random Facts:

I chose Benedict Cumberbatch because I wanted to immortalize him as a Gothic romantic hero in writing such as the likes of Colin Firth when he played Mr. Darcy.

Alice was never meant to be cast and was first thought of as Adelaide Kane and after watching Victoria I had to change it to Jenna Coleman.

I wrote the first draft of this story a couple years ago but it only had a couple of chapters so 80% of this story is new.

Author's Note:

It is done! hope you liked the ending to The Greatest Journey and thanks for the company you've kept me, it's been real.

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No part, character, names, plot, setting, conflict or resolution, point of view, theme or symbolism of this story may be replicated.

Copyright: All Rights Reserved to A. Sena Gomes.