“I tried, I promise, but with the snow and the wrecked carriage, we couldn’t.” She hugged Isabella closer, feeling as though they had stepped back in time to after their mother died, when all Emily knew how to do was hold on. “I’m sorry, dearest. I never intended to leave you. Can you forgive me?”
Isabella sniffed. “Can you forgive me for running away with Lord Marlbury?”
“Oh, darling.” Emily kissed Isabella’s tearstained cheek. “I already have.”
By the time Oliver rejoined Emily, she was alone in the drawing room, having sent Isabella upstairs to wash her face. He came to sit quietly by her, waiting for her to begin.
She rested her head against his shoulder. “Where did you go?”
“If we are to marry, we must have a marriage licence.” He patted his pocket. “With it, we may marry whenever you’d like, banns or no banns—although I agree we should do things properly.” He slanted a small smile at her. “There’s an announcement to be published in the newspaper tomorrow, if you would like to cut it out and paste it to the wall of your bower.”
“I don’t have a bower.”
“I expected you could, in our new home.” He took her hand, sliding his fingers between hers. “If you wanted.”
She wasn’t sure if she did want. “I don’t think I sound like the sort of lady who has a bower.”
“What sort of lady are you, then?”
“The sort that has a quiet country gentleman for a husband, and who gets her dresses muddy as she spends time in the garden. I would like chickens—”
“Petition for one to be called Doris,” he said immediately.
“—And strictlynopigs.”
He grinned. “And here I thought you and Clarabella might have bonded.”
“I donotbond with vicious swine who chase me across farmyards.” She squeezed his hand. “Does that sound acceptable?”
“A life with you sounds better than anything I could imagine.” He hesitated. “I told Henry about my . . . difficulties yesterday. And I expressed my hope he would teach me how to run an estate.”
Pride swelled in her chest. “What did he say?”
“Something about how I should have told him years ago, and that of course he will teach me.” He looked at their linked fingers rather than her face. “If you like—if you are amenable, that is—I would like you to be there too. So we can learn together.” He frowned a little, his eyes uncharacteristically serious. “It’s not your responsibility, but—”
“Oliver,” she said, so proud she could hardly think straight. “Of course I will help you in any way I can. Your life is my life.”
“I’m afraid I may need you to write all my correspondence.”
“Then it is fortunate that my handwriting is excellent.” She smiled at his nervousness. “I am not a stranger to hard work, remember? And you will learn well.”
“I hope so. If I can learn in a more practical way. It may, of course, require us living with Henry and Louisa for a time after we’re married. Ideally, I would have done this all beforehand, but . . .” He let the words trail away. She didn’t need him to finish the sentence. That had been a different time, when he had been fleeing instead of chasing.
They had both let fear dictate their lives.
No more.
“We should also discuss your house in Dalston,” he said, glancing down at her head. Her stomach gave a little flop of nerves. That house had been the bane of her existence for seven years, requiring repairs she could neither afford nor undergo, and slowly falling apart around her ears.
And yet she loved it.
“If we are ever to visit Mr and Mrs Chambers,” he said carefully, “we will need a place to stay. It strikes me as convenient to establish the home as a small place of residence in the north—perhaps we could arrange something with Louisa and Henry so they might contribute somewhat to its upkeep in exchange for having use of it. After all, Cumbria is a rather splendid part of the country, and—” His words cut off when Emily flung herself in his arms and kissed him full on the mouth.
“I love you,” she declared, “and if I could, I would marry you all over again.”
He smiled, looking absurdly pleased with himself. “If I had known that was all it required to win you over, I would have made far more rash promises from the very beginning. As for marrying me”—his smile turned soft—“once will do. So long as you promise to stay by my side for the rest of my days. I will be quite lost without you now, you know.”
For once, perhaps the first time, fear did not squeeze her heart. All she felt was contentment. This was the future she had never known she wanted, and it tasted sweeter than the richesthoney. “I won’t make promises I can’t keep,” she said, and when he frowned, she leant forward and kissed him. “But I will stay with you for the remainder of my days.”
