“Happy Christmas”
When all her tears had been spent, she realized Thomas was cradling her in his lap, both of them sitting in one of the wooden chairs.
“I have cried so much tonight, I may just as well dry up like an old prune.” She spoke into his collar with a sniffle.
His hand stroked her hair.
“It was not a mistake, was it, to bring him here?” His chest rumbled beneath her as he spoke. That dear, rumbling, coarse voice of his.
She shook her head side to side. “It was the best gift anyone has ever thought to give me. Oh, no, Thomas, it was not a mistake.” And then she leaned back so that she could look into his eyes. “I still can hardly believe it.” This man set her in awe.
He lifted one hand and brushed some hair away from her face. “I wasn’t sure.” The uncertainty in his voice nearly undid her.
“I am so happy and so absolutely heartbroken at the same time. But most of all I am at peace.” She covered his hand with hers. “But why would you go to so much trouble for me, Thomas?” she had to know.
“I wanted to see you at peace. Ineededto see you at peace. I understand the weight of words left unspoken, of what they can do to your heart.”
Oh, Thomas.“Your wife?”
He nodded. “I never got to tell her thank you. I never was able to thank her for giving me such a wonderful daughter as Cecily has been. I never was able to thank her for the pain she went through, nor the difficulties she endured before the birth.”
In his eyes, lurked both understanding and pain. But, also a wisdom. The wisdom to know that life continued as surely as the sun rose again each morning.
“She knows.” She must be so very proud of the daughter he’d raised.
Loretta had never known such a man could exist. A man who toiled, with intelligence, but a man who could also love. A man who could wield power and strength along with humility. Oh, she’d had so very much to learn.
“And now Harold knows. He knows you love him as he is.”
She nodded. “And I… I am so sorry I sent you away, Thomas. I was so foolish and such a coward. I do not care what anyone thinks. I want to be happy. I want to… but you are going to leave the country, are you not? Cecily says that you always leave. That you must attend to your interests overseas…” Oh, she would make a fool of herself over this man.
And then his lips found hers, but only briefly. “I have discovered I have greater interests here in England. You have guessed, have you not, duchess of mine? That I love you?”
Something between a sob and a laugh somehow escaped past her lips. “Oh, Thomas. I love you too!” Such relief. “You forgive me then?”
He nuzzled the sensitive skin behind her ear. “Nothing to forgive, Duchess. You’ve been through so much. But I have something to ask you. He was sliding her off him, forcing her to stand on legs which had suddenly become wobbly and unstable.
When he dropped onto one knee, she felt all of seventeen again. Taking her hand in his, he gazed up at her with those blue-gray eyes of his, which ought to look cold, instead looking warm and loving. “I have no title to offer you. I have no long history of nobility running through my veins. But my blood burns for you, Duchess. If you’ll deign to become my wife, I’ll spend what remains of my life doing everything in my power to bring you only happiness.”
“You wish to marry me?”Oh, Thomas!She had only but a moment to imagine what her life might be like waking each morning beside him! As his wife. It would be so very different than her first marriage had been.
It would be so very, very wonderful!
“Yes!” She said the word on a gasp. “Oh yes, Thomas!”
And then she was in his arms being twirled around and around. She would take a chance on living, once again.
Clasping her hands at both sides of his head, she could hardly believe the wonder of this new love. New hope.
Ah, Christmas indeed.
* * *
Thomas could hardly believehis luck.
She’d said yes. This proud, beautiful, deeply sensitive woman had said she’d marry him. He blinked back the stinging he suddenly felt behind his eyes.
He touched his lips to hers, once, twice. Perhaps exhaustion had finally caught up with him. He’d not slept in over two days. Perhaps he was imagining her arms twining about his neck, soft curves pressed against him.
