“With all my heart,” he answered, freeing her from the rope.
They sat, nearly intertwined, till their breathing quieted and the tumult of the moment passed. Leaning in, he kissed her, his lips brushing hers with such intent she forgot all else. Her arms encircled his neck and she kissed him back, the moment charged with all the love they’d quelled, a dizzying rush of elation and passion that left her lightheaded. Only the screech of a gull overhead ended their newfound intimacy.
Slowly, Bleu got to his feet and brought her to hers. “I want to keep kissing you more than I want to be warm and dry,ma mariée.” His eyes were smiling. Had he called her his bride? “But we are drawing attention and your grandfather is almost here.”
Jubilant, they joined hands and faced the caped man walking toward them who regarded them with a sort of bemused wonder. “Tourtereaux…”Lovebirds.Grandfather, despite everything, looked supremely pleased. “I hardly know what to say except that I am not at all surprised by this turn of events.”
Bleu looked down at the quay, his grin slightly sheepish as he picked up the discarded muff. “I have obviously abandoned ship,comte.”
“A small matter.” Chuckling, Grandfather leaned into his cane as the wind rocked him. “Now seems a good time to tell you that I own a vessel which will take you two wherever you wish to go.”
Did he?
“Come with us to Virginia, then.” Brielle lay a damp hand on his sleeve. “I want nothing more than your blessing at our wedding alongside a river very different than your Loire.”
Bleu met his eyes as another blast of wind buffeted them. “You told me it has long been your wish to see the New World.”
“Very well.” Grandfather smiled. “I suppose I am not too old to cross an ocean.”
33
Rivanna River, Virginia
March, 1765
Their wedding day.
Brielle arrived at the chapel early, long before any guests or even the itinerate pastor. Someone—Sylvie?—had already been at work, decorating with ribbons and dried everlastings ahead of the ceremony. But she’d since disappeared, likely up the hill at Orchard Rest with her growing brood, the baby, especially.
For a time Brielle feared they wouldn’t live to see this long-anticipated day. Their tumultuous return to Virginia had been no easier than the crossing to France but they had all survived it and now, a fortnight after finding their land legs in York Town, it was their wedding day. Even the weather was obliging. Sunlight streamed through newly washed windows, creating a lacy pattern on the plank floor. Abonmorning.
Ahead of the wedding, Brielle had moved to the finished and newly named Belle Rive. She explored each room, finding a hundred little touches she loved from the corner fireplaces to the parlor bookshelves and the fleur-de-lis newel post in the hall. Till the wedding, Bleu stayed at Orchard Rest, turning his hand to tending the orchards and spending time with Titus along the river.
Grandfather took her place in the cottage, his joy at being surrounded by Sylvie’s children a sight to behold. Even the settlementenfantscalled himPépèrewhich brought out his robust laugh and had him continually emptying his pockets of comfits and tiny toys gotten in Williamsburg.
Gratefulness at being back in the place that felt like home, mistress of a new house she hoped to fill with children, about to wed the man she’d loved from the very first, filled her with an overwhelming sense of wellbeing that made all the hardships and hurdles of the past a pinprick.
When a footfall sounded at the chapel’s open doors, she turned toward it in anticipation. Bleu stepped inside and held out a hand to her. Quickly she closed the distance between them, her Lyonnaise silk rustling. Clad in a French-made suit, he looked every inch the groom she’d long imagined.
His eyes were a wash of blue. Was he thinking this moment almost never happened? That at the very last they’d nearly been separated by an ocean? If not for his boldness in jumping ship or her own frantic pursuit—
“Will you finally do me the honor of becoming Gabrielle Galant?” His emphasis onfinallymade her smile. “I knew at first meeting I would never be the same… and so here weare.”
“No more of you here and me there but everything shared.” She squeezed his hand. “Your table, your bed, your babies. Every sunrise and sunset from our porch.”
“All of it,oui.” He brought her fingers to his lips. “A happy but humble beginning.”
“Little is needed to make a happy life.”
“Love, faith, family—a firm foundation.” He took her in his arms as children’s excited voices sounded outside the chapel. “Ours isune dévotion féroce.”
Epilogue
Belle Rive
Rivanna River, Virginia
May, 1772
