Her own school. Goodness, but that felt rather like a dream. Much as her entire life did these days.
“I thought I might find you in here. How is the mathematics classroom coming along?”
Andrew’s voice pulled her around to the doorway.
She smiled, stepping toward him, which brought a cloud of dust up from the old estate’s floors. Not quite a year as his wife, and she still could not believe her luck every time he looked at her like that. As if she were the center of his world.
“It is coming along perfectly. I wish we could open tomorrow.”
“I mean, we could, but I would not recommend it,” he returned, looking around at the room in its level of disrepair. A month after their wedding, they had found this near-abandoned estate ten miles from London. The owner had acquired it when a distant family member passed and had no desire to go to the effort needed to restore it. So, he’d sold it to them… for a fraction of its worth.
“I suppose I will have to be patient a little longer.”
“Oh, speaking of patience…” Andrew’s eyes twinkled. “The wager is finally complete.”
Her brows rose. “Truly?”
He nodded. “The last of my friends has fallen victim to love. And I do believe you count her as a friend. You recall the dinner party last month?”
Sophie eyes lit with recollection. “I knew they were perfect for one another.”
“You must have been the first. The remainder of us were rather taken by surprise.”
“I have this sense about love. Likely because I am old hat with the emotion now.” She reached him and adjusted his cravat. He must have come here straight from the road—dust coated the front of his traveling clothes.
“You? I do believe it was I who pined for years after a woman I believed married.” He tucked her in his arms.
“A fortunate miscalculation that turned out to be. Look at us now…” She peered out at the room, head turned against his chest. “Perhaps one day, I can have all of our daughters in the school here. Ours, and your friends’.”
“Daughters,” Andrew said with a smile. “I like the sound of that.”
She fingered his lapel, eyes creasing happily.
“There is more, too,” Andrew said.
She looked up into his face. “It is done?”
He nodded, a grin breaking free. “The lease is signed on the building, and Sternam’s is ready to back the bank.”
She lifted up to her toes to press an excited kiss to his mouth. “I knew it would all work out!” They’d been set back in their plans when no teaching opportunities had been found near the original estate Andrew had planned to let. But then they’d found this one… and with the addition of her dowry—begrudgingly given—they’d been able to afford it and begin the preparations for Andrew’s bank.
“That makes one of us,” Andrew chuckled, slipping his hands around her waist. “But it is gratifying to see the start of the dream coming together.”
“And you think you can balance it all? Teaching art here and running the bank?”
He nodded. “Definitely. I have the most talented woman arranging my schedule.”
She would have smiled, but before she had the chance, his lips were back on hers, the delicious heat swirling through her at the contact.
He pulled back, resting his forehead on hers.
“And are you happy?” she asked, hands tight on his coat. “It is not the future you’d envisioned.”
His smile was soft. “It is better than I could have imagined, Sophie.”
