Until the colonel slipped and made a derogatory comment about Nathaniel. “I don’t personally know the man, but a Delacroix marrying a civil servant is a bit of a step down, isn’t it?”
Luke didn’t wait to hear the reply. He pushed away from the wall and approached the group of officers. “That ‘civil servant’ is my brother-in-law,” he said coolly.
Colonel Phelps blanched and took a step back. “My apologies,” he said. “I had no idea any family members were in the vicinity.”
“Obviously.” Luke’s gaze flicked to Colonel Phelps’s collection of medals and the epaulets on his shoulders. “Nathaniel Trask doesn’t have medals or a fancy title to prove his heroism. He has worked quietly behind the scenes for years, but he’s the reason the paycheck you draw each month isn’t rendered worthless by an ocean of counterfeit. He is the kind of man that keeps the heartbeat of America strong, and I am proud to call him my brother.”
He hadn’t bothered to lower his voice, and several people were surreptitiously watching him. He didn’t care. He wasn’t going to stand aside and let Caroline’s husband be insulted at his own wedding.
“My apologies,” Colonel Phelps said. “I’ve heard nothing but fine things about Agent Trask.”
Luke nodded his head in concession. “Myself as well.”
He turned away, rubbing his chest and wondering at the strange ache he felt. He was lonely. Marianne should be here. He was proud of her and didn’t want to sneak behind her parents’ backs any longer. He was ready to venture into the world with the woman he loved beside him, but he feared Marianne might never be able to cross that bridge.
Marianne waited for Luke on a bench in the arboretum. The moon was bright enough that she could show him the pictures she developed that morning. The ones they’d taken of each other in the treetops were dazzling, probably because they looked so happy.
“For you,” she said as she handed him the box of photographs. “Two for you, and two for me. They aren’t fully dry, so be careful for the next couple of days, because they can still smudge.”
Luke was somber as he gazed at the photograph she’d taken of him standing in the trees. “You need to be careful with these pictures for longer than that,” he said. “Your father would implode if he caught you with this.”
She didn’t want to dwell on her father. Their time together was too fleeting to waste it on worries. “Tell me about the wedding. Tell me everything.”
He started pacing before the koi pond in the center of the arboretum. “Caroline was beautiful, and the music almost made me weep. The weather held, and the setting was perfect. The food smelled and looked good, but I can’t vouch for how it tasted. All I know is that I was mostly miserable because I kept missing you and wanted you there. I’m tired of running around behind people’s backs. I want us to be together. I love you, and that’s never going to change. Please say you feel the same.”
The hint of uncertainty in his eyes cut straight to her heart, and she stood to clasp his face between her hands and look straight into his eyes. “You adorable man. I fell half in love with you when we were on the ice, and then all the way when you found out my last name was Magruder and you still treated me like I was a princess. I know we have stumbling blocks ahead of us. I’ll clear them away. No more waiting.”
Instead of looking delighted, he looked even more worried. “Your parents might disown you, like they did your Aunt Stella. I can’t bear being the cause of that.”
“Youwon’t be the cause of it. They will.”
He grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “I love you so much,” he murmured. “I need to know what you are willing to risk for us to be together.”
“Everything,” she said without hesitation.
“Would you be willing to skip a fancy wedding? Walk away from your family’s fortune and burn the bridges behind you?”
“Fetch me the match,” she replied, and he smiled but sobered quickly.
He squeezed her hands. “Your father hates me. He’s already destroyed my office, and it will get worse once he knows our intentions are serious. Are you truly willing to walk away? Follow in your Aunt Stella’s footsteps?”
She swallowed hard. She didn’t even know what happened to Aunt Stella, so how could she answer? All she knew was that she loved Luke, and if her family couldn’t accept him, she would follow wherever he led.
“You once painted a dream of San Francisco,” she said. “A place where we could have a garret apartment and live like vagabond artists.”
It was hard to keep speaking when he kept kissing her, but she loved every moment of it.
“We’ll try to do everything right,” Luke whispered as he traced kisses along her jaw. “We’ll be patient. I’ll behave myself. I’ll offer a truce with your family and turn the other cheek. Whatever it takes, we will find a way.”
He shed his coat and laid it on the grass for her. They watched the moon and the stars rotate overhead. Tomorrow their world might topple over in chaos, but for tonight, they held hands and dreamed of the world to come.
Twenty-Three
Luke was still floating on air the following morning as he headed to church. The pieces of his life were falling into place. The moment he reached the pew, he was going to fall to his knees, give thanks for the miracle of meeting Marianne, and pray for wisdom in navigating the tricky road ahead. It wasn’t going to be easy, but they loved each other and were ready to move forward.
It was a perfect July morning, and a few parishioners mingled outside, which was typical.
What wasn’t typical was the horse-drawn police wagon parked outside the church. Two uniformed officers loitered near the wagon, and another sat on the driver’s bench. It was one of those covered paddy wagons with bolted doors in the back and a small window covered by bars. No one else was paying the police any mind, so Luke crossed the street and headed toward the church.
