“What are you doing here?” Gwen asks, turning back to Beth.
“What we should have done months ago,” Beth says simply, squeezing her hand. “Watch,” she adds, nudging Gwen to look toward the hall where Father has paused by the staircase, staring at them all, Mrs. Stelm hovering behind him.
Silence hangs over the foyer, interrupted only by the shifting of fabric. Gwen would break the quiet, but she can’t seem to open her mouth, not with the violent hope swirling in her stomach.
“Has something happened?” Father finally asks after the shock has worn off.
He hurries toward them. Mrs. Gilpe moves with Mrs. Stelm to respectfully vacate the foyer, though Gwen’s sure they’ll be leaving the door to the serving hall open and hovering just out of sight.
“Is everything all right?” Father asks again, striding purposefully toward Lady Demeroven, who’s just... staring at him. “The girls?”
He glances at Beth, who gives him a wave and a smile. Gwen wonders how she can be so blasé when this feels—momentous, precious, precarious.
“Is it the engagement?” he prompts, turning back to Lady Demeroven, now only steps away, and still standing frozen. “Cordelia, you’re scaring me,” he insists.
Her name seems to unglue her jaw and Gwen watches as she takes a very deep breath. It looks for a moment like she’s about to curtsy, but she keeps sinking, until she’s knelt in front of Father, on one—
Gwen gasps and Beth elbows her. But it doesn’t matter. Father’s now the one shaking, staring down at this woman who has broken his heart, and given him joy, and stayed with him in memory all these years.
“I, um,” Lady Demeroven starts. Father’s whole body jolts, like she’s brought him out of some kind of temporary stasis. “I realize this is... abrupt, and forward, and possibly futile. But I, ah, I wanted to apologize, for the hurt I’ve caused. To ask your forgiveness, if you can give it. And to offer—” She pauses, glancing over at Beth, who gives her a thumbs-up.
Gwen can’t believe this. It can’t be happening. Did she fallasleep and get carried upstairs and is now living some sort of fever dream?
“Well, to offer myself,” Lady Demeroven says, scrunching her nose while Beth laughs quietly. “That sounds terrible. I meant—I mean, I am here to ask you to trust me once more, with the promise that I will never break your trust again, or your heart.”
“Cordelia—” Father starts, but Lady Demeroven shakes her head.
“Will you marry me?” she asks, looking up at him, her face broken open, young and shy and hopeful.
She looks a little like Beth and it makes Gwen’s chest ache.Say yes, she wants to scream. Oh, please,say yes.
“Is this—is this for the girls?” Father asks, glancing back at them, his eyes softening at what must be the sight of them, clutching at each other hopefully.
“If it was?” Lady Demeroven asks.
Father looks back down at her. “An arrangement for their sake could be made, but do not ask me thus if it isn’t for yourself.”
Lady Demeroven’s face brightens and she looks up at Father with such adoration and open emotion that Gwen almost wants to turn and give them privacy. Almost, but not enough, because she’s desperate to see Father say—
“Then yes,” Father says softly, reaching down to take Lady Demeroven’s hand and pull her up from the floor.
He tugs her close and plants a kiss on her that makes her squeak and then melt into him, the two of them held tight together.
“Oh my God,” Gwen hears herself say. Beth shrieks, thesound bouncing around the room and breaking their parents apart.
Gwen whacks Beth, but she’s giggling too much to do more. Giggling, giddy, shocked, and stunned. Their—they did it. Their parents are—
“Happy, girls?” Father asks, turning to regard them with Lady Demeroven still in his arms.
Beth nods and rushes to hug her mother, who only just steps away from Father to receive her, both of them laughing in delight.
Father watches them fondly before stepping aside, arms outstretched. Gwen finds herself hurrying across the floor in much the same way, wrapping Father up tight in a hug that feels like freedom.
“I’m so happy for you,” Gwen tells him as she pulls back.
“Me too,” Father says, chuckling down at her. He can’t stop smiling, his eyes all crinkled. “And happy for you as well.”
“Yes,” Lady Demeroven says, and Gwen turns, Father’s arm sliding around her shoulders as they face their—what, exactly? She watches Lady Demeroven give Beth a soft smile. Beth’s grin widens. “We’ll need to discuss the particulars, and obviously you girls understand the charade that will have to continue?” Lady Demeroven asks.
