“Yes. Just a few days more and you will have your freedom.” Reaching across the space between them, Richard took her handin his, his eyes piercing as he viewed her, “But know this, there is nothing to forgive; we are in this together. Successes and failures alike.”
“Always,” she replied, her pulse racing as she viewed him, the softness in his eyes made aflame by the sunrise. “Always together.”
Gulping as she lowered her head, the reality of her words burned.She had not spoken her hopes directly, but he might read them if he looked close enough. He might.
“Mary,” he whispered, his hand finding hers, “please, hear my heart.”
Tilting her head as she fixed her eyes to his, hope leapt inside.
“Of all the ways we might have met,” he continued, “I admit there are better ones, and yet, I have come to know you as I have never known another. In our weakest moments and strongest, who we are has been laid bare, and I am left to be not a soldier or a second son or anything else but a man in love. It is this man, a simple man of flaws and strengths, a man who loves you, that I offer. I. I ask you, Miss Mary Bennet, to take this man. To marry me, so we might stand by one another, always. So I might love you always and forever, as my heart desires.”
Hand touching her lips, she gazed unseeing ahead of her, his soft words of love a swirl of her every hope.
Surely,she awed to herself, her eyes turning toward him slowly,this must all be a dream?
Yet, as she felt the grip of his hand on hers and witnessed the quiet hope upon his face, the blissful reality could no longer be denied.
A soft, gentle laughter rolling from her lips, her heart bounded within her chest, the eyes of her Richard flitting through worry and hope in a single moment. “I love you!” she exclaimed happily, any proper answer to his proposal flown from her mind.
Wrapping her arms around him with a joyful laugh, she squealed as he lifted her from the ground, his face made inches from hers.
“Is that a yes?” he chuckled.
“It is. That is, I will marry you,myRichard.”
“Do you have any idea how happy you have made me?” he asked, the distance between them fading as his lips found hers.
Her mind awhirl, Mary drew in a deep breath as he pulled back, the rapid beating of her pulse as he set her down a lingering reminder.
Drawing her hand to his lips, his eyes brightened, “Perhaps we might be married before the year is out? I promise to speak to your father as soon as we reach your home–well, perhaps the next day, for your family will be as eager for your company as I am–still, I am loth to wait longer.”
Throat tightening as her mind raced over every worry she had ever had and several new ones she shook her head, “I. I cannot. We. My, my reputation will be in tatters after this. And what of my family, my lack of fortune, my connections? What might it do to you? What would your family think… would they even accept it? Me? It…”
“Shhh. Please, Mary,” he soothed as he drew her close. “I love you. That is not something which is changeable. Gossip, disapproval, like everything else, we shall face together. I have every confidence my familywillaccept you, leastwise, my parents, Darcy, and my brother if the mood strikes him.” Kissingher hair, his voice promised, “I will do my best to make you happy; I come with mistakes, a moderate fortune at best, and I cannot promise a large house or any luxury, but I can promise love, if that is enough?”
Rising on her toes to kiss him, she spoke her heart, however sappy or commonplace it might sound, “Then in love we shall make our home,” her lips meeting his with glee, all words of his agreement lost in their kiss.
∞∞∞
Head tilting as she sought to determine the noise coming from outside, Mary excused herself from the table and made her way to the front of the house, the windowpanes reflecting the glow of the fireplace until she cupped her hands around her eyes.
“Richard!” Mary exclaimed as she turned from the window. “A matched team of horses pulling a carriage has arrived. It must be Mr. Darcy’s!”
The screeching of chairs against the floor as every member of the Johnson family made their way to the window, the five of them pressed their faces between one another to obtain a better view, the children determined not to be left out.
“What fine horses,” the youngest Johnson remarked, his brothers agreeing as the eldest added that he had never seen any to match.
Feeling the warmth of Richard behind her as he peered out, she looked up at his face, his contented smile a sure answer.
They were going home,Mary awed to herself, the exclamations of their hosts fading.If only she could be certain. Certain about Ian and the rest leaving the Johnsons and their neighbors alone. About her reception once she returned home. About Richard’s family accepting her.
Staring at the door, Mary’s fingers twisted together, her breath catching as Richard worked his hand between hers, the solid warmth calming her in an instant.
“It will be alright,” he whispered, an impatient knock sounding at the door. “We are in this together.”
Taking a deep breath, Mary drew her lip inward as she observed Mr. and Mrs. Johnson answer the door, the familiar form of Mr. Darcy dipping first in greeting and then to pass under the low head jamb.
Catching sight of another man behind, Mary lifted onto her toes.Had her father come?
