Did he truly mean all that he said? Did she dare hope?
She watched Alexander turn his attention from Percival and focus it on her. He approached her with uneasy, fawn-like steps, as if they were the first ever he had taken.
“I meant every single word I said,” Alexander nodded, as the two stood so close opposite each other that she could almost feel the warmth of his breath on her face. Yet, she did not pull away. He was the last person in the world she wanted to retreat from. “And there is so much more that I would like to tell him about you, things he doesn’t know, things no one knows about you.”
“Like what?” she trembled as she spoke, and it was not because of the midnight chill.
“He doesn’t know that you care about those children more than you care about yourself and your own well-being,” he started.
Percival was left unattended. Neither of them cared whether he would remain or flee like the scoundrel and coward that he was. He was irrelevant. That was enough punishment for such people. To be forgotten by all those who loved them.
“He doesn’t know that your left nostril flares up more than your right one when you laugh from the heart,” he continued.
What?Marjorie stifled a chuckled. Not even she knew this.
“He also doesn’t know that your touch is gentler than the softest silk, your smile has the power of a thousand suns, your heart has more love than the entire city of London put together.”
“Alexander, I…” She was left speechless by his words, but still, she could not be certain whether he was speaking just out of duty and responsibility for her, or if there was something else, something he had been concealing as much as she had. “You are most kind to say all those things, but I do not need you to defend my honor, not if that means your own reputation shall be tainted in the process. I am not born of blue blood. I never claimed to be the same as the rest of you. Your father was kind enough to take pity on an orphan from the streets and show her that there was another kind of life, a better kind of life. He made a choice, and just like him, now I must make a choice. I shall remove myself from your life, so you would not be tainted by the memory of what happened this evening.”
“Remove yourself?” Alexander came closer to her. “But that is the last thing I wish you to do.
“What do you mean?” She waited, every second as long as an entire eternity.
He took her hands in his. She could his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed, obviously feeling as nervous as she was.
“My heart has been fighting a battle with my head for a very long time now,” he admitted. “Why do you think I came to your house so many times, uninvited? Even I am not that impolite,” he chuckled. “But I could not help it. I yearned to be close to you, as I do now. From the moment I laid eyes on you at the solicitor’s office, I felt a tug at my heart strings. I tried to explain it somehow, and for a while, I believed it was nothing, that it was mere curiosity about you. But I know better now. I know how I feel about you. And I also know that it is not my place to say any of this and confuse you even more. I prayed that you make a choice that would make you happy, even if that means without me.”
His words reached the deepest crevices of her heart, where she endeavored to bury all the love she felt for this man, but without success. Instead of banishing these feelings from her heart and mind, all she managed to do was make them blossom into flowers of love, which were now being watered by his profession of love.
“Is it too forward of me to hope that you feel the same way?” he asked, his voice down to a whisper.
“I…” She felt too bashful to say anything. The inner storm of emotion was too much to control, too much to handle. She could barely come up with a sensible thought, let alone speak it out loud. She only hoped that he would be able to see the truth in her eyes, in the way she gazed at him now, in the way she had always gazed at him, whether she could have helped it or not.
“I know this is frightening,” he continued. She felt the squeeze of his hand upon hers, offering courage and compassion. “Admitting to what you feel in front of the person you feel it for. To be quite honest, I am barely keeping myself propped on these two legs of mine,” he chuckled again, and only now did she realize that he was doing this to calm himself down. He was nervous, far more nervous than she was because he was now wearing his heart on his sleeve.
“Being with you has never been frightening,” she finally dared to say, blushing fervently the moment those words passed her lips.
His eyebrow rose at her. “No?” he asked.
“Never,” she smiled. “These past several weeks have been the most wonderful time of life, all because of you.”
“Does that mean then…?” he lingered.
One look was enough to tell him everything. The air around them grew thick and heavy with anticipation. She could barely feel the chilly caress of the evening breeze against her fiery hot cheeks. No matter how many times she had gazed into his eyes, it was never enough. His every breath, his every look, every movement was etched in her memory, never to be forgotten.
She knew now that she lived for him. He had consumed her up entirely, and her heart did not belong to her any longer. It was solely housed inside her body, but it was no longer in her possession. There was simply no other way to describe the strength of the feelings she had for him. Now that she no longer needed to suppress them, to keep them subdued and hidden, she could finally inhale deeply and allow the dam to break, even if that meant flooding her with every possible loving sensation known to man.
“This seems like a dream,” she said, all those emotions tangled up inside of her. “I fear that I might close my eyes, only to open them somewhere else, alone, without you.”
His hand flew to her cheek, caressing her softly. A single tear rolled down her cheek, startling him. He traced it with the tip of his fingers, blotting it dry. He cupped her chin, making her face him.
“I will never leave your side, Marjorie,” he spoke with so much love that made her wish to remain in this blessed moment forever. “I love you.”
The words rang inside her ears, while her heart thundered inside her chest. There was nothing about this moment she would change, nor would she change what led to it. If Percival had not acted in such an awful manner, Alexander never would have come to her aid, and neither of them would have mustered the courage to admit their love.
“I love you, too,” she whispered back, feeling the tears swell up, filling her eyes to the point where she could not blink them away any longer. They started to stream down her face, wetting his fingers still clenching at her chin.
“What is the matter, dear?” he asked, his body stiffening with sudden concern.
