EPILOGUE

Diamond and Pippin crossed the assembly fields below the Great Smials amid the gauntlet of friends and well wishers, all eager to bestow a hug or a handshake or a kiss upon one or both members of the happy couple. Pippin drew Diamond along by the hand, laughing, happy and breathless, to the road where their pony trap waited.

Their very closest dear ones were gathered there: parents and siblings, and special friends. Diamond found herself getting teary-eyed as she gave and received hugs from Opal and Estella and Rose. Mistress Lavender was there as well, her own eyes moist. There, too, were new friends. She reached up on tip-toe to pull down Gimli son of Gloin where she could kiss his brow--the only non-hairy spot she could find.

“Thank you, lass! You take care of that young scalawag, now!” he said gruffly.

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak, and turned to find herself looking into the ageless eyes of the Elf, Legolas, who was kneeling there.

He took her hand, and said gravely, “May the blessings of the Star-kindler be on your marriage to my friend.” Then he stood up laughing, and scooped her up as though she were a faunt to deposit her in the seat.

Pippin stood on the other side, embracing both Merry and Sam. “Thank you, Merry.”

“Well, I was standing for you, after all.” He looked at Pippin with pride. “You take care; they are expecting you tonight at The Oak and Thorn in Pincup, and I have reserved their finest room for you. And Mum has left instructions for everything to be ready for your arrival when you get home with your bride.”

Pippin turned to Sam. “You’ll not mind having this overbearing Brandybuck around for a couple of weeks?”

Sam grinned. “Makes no never mind what I’d mind. Our wives have their hearts set on a visit. We two will just have to make the best of it.” Pippin clambered onto the seat. Sam’s face became serious for a second. “Pippin, I have somewhat more to give you--it’s not from me, so to speak.” He held out a large white envelope. Pippin looked at it, puzzled. It was blank. He shrugged.

Merry put a hand on his arm. “I have an idea what that might be,” he said. “Estella and I, and the baby, will be back in two weeks. Hopefully, that will give you and your bride time to settle in together before we get back.” He bit his lip for a second. “You are certain about our arrangement?”

“Of course we are Merry! It’s going to be wonderful.” Pippin was quite looking forward to settling Diamond into their modest household at Crickhollow. Their little family would finally be complete.

Diamond had finished calling out her final good-byes, and leaned into her new husband’s side. He put one arm around her, and with the other, shook the reins. The ponies trotted off, to the accompaniment of loud cheers.

Pippin drove the ponies at a smart trot until they were completely out of view of the crowded assembly field and then a little further yet, and then pulled the ponies up.

Diamond looked at him quizzically. “What is it, Pippin?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know, but my curiosity won’t wait any longer.”

He opened the large envelope, and took out a second smaller one, and gave a gasp of shock.

“What is it, love?” asked Diamond worried.

He held the envelope over for her to see: There, in Frodo’s distinctive and elegant hand were the words “For Peregrin Took, to be given to him on his Wedding Day.”

With a trembling hand, and eyes blurred by tears, he ran a finger beneath the little blob of blue wax, and opened the envelope. His hand still shook, and he could not get his vision to focus. He handed it to Diamond and with a catch in his voice said, “Read it to me, please, Diamond. I can’t see to read it.”

“Are you sure?” To Diamond this seemed the most personal of moments, to be between her new husband, and the cousin who had gone from him forever.

He nodded, the tiniest of sobs escaping him.

Now she found her own eyes a bit teary, and her voice trembled.

“My Dearest Pippin,

I write this knowing that I cannot be by your side on this, the happiest of days, and I am saddened by knowing that you will miss my presence.

For some reason, you always loved me, your strange old cousin who was solitary and bookish. And no one who knows you can imagine doing anything but loving you, which I have done from the time you were the tiniest of babes. I know, of course, that Merry is your favorite cousin, but you did me the honor of making me a close second in your heart. Some of my fondest memories are of the wide green eyes looking up at me with a stream of endless questions, and the lad who could never seem to stop moving.

When you and Merry chose to go with me into peril, I feared so much for your safety. And I was right to do so, for it hurts me to think of the pain and fear and sorrow you had to endure on my behalf. But I have come to realize that it was a choice I had no right to try to take from you, and that much that is good and green and great in the world would not be, if it were not for the courageous actions taken by my Pippin.

You are so very Tookish--I do not know any other Took alive who is more so than you. You are bright and inquisitive and adventurous and brave, and I am so very proud of you.

On this day, you have finally wed the lass who has held your heart these last few years, and for whom you have waited so devotedly. She is a wonderful person, and will make you a fine wife, and she will make her name as well, as a great healer.

You will be happy together, I know, and there will be at least one little Took lad to be Thain after you, and he will have sisters, as well. You have a happy life together, ahead of you both.

And you will go down in Shire history as the greatest Thain to ever hold the office, and rightfully so. All your tasks are not over, and there will be many things yet for you to do, but you will accomplish them all with the help of your wife and the future Master of Buckland, and with my dear Mayor Samwise.

Do not forget the debt we owe to our King, our own dear Strider, and do all that you may to bring prosperity to his realm. But most of all, do what you can to be his friend, and to ease his loneliness on his lofty throne.

I wish that I could be there to embrace you, and to kiss your bride. But know that however long I have in the West, you, Merry and Sam are never out of my thoughts, nor is the Shire, my true home.

I will leave this letter with Sam, along with one for Merry, to be given to you at the right time.

I will always love you, and will never forget you.

Love,

Your cousin,

Frodo”

By the time she was finished, Diamond was sobbing as well.

Pippin sat up and blew his nose, and pulled out a clean handkerchief for her. His eyes were still watery, but he smiled through his tears.

“Bilbo always said Frodo was the best hobbit in the Shire.”

Diamond nodded, and folded the letter back up and returned it to the envelope. She handed it to Pippin, who put it in his breast-pocket, and took up the reins once more.

“Well, Mistress Took, shall we get on to Pincup, and the finest room in The Oak and Thorn?”

Diamond blushed. “Yes, please, let’s.”

They rode silently for a few miles, thinking of the hobbit who had sacrificed so much, and received so little in return. Then Pippin cleared his throat and began to sing:

“Upon the hearth the fire is red,

Beneath the roof there is a bed…”*

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*From The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter III, “Three is Company”