She was a beautiful woman, but her face looked weary, and while her clothing was of a fine quality, it was worn and very out of date. Her big blue eyes were wide as she looked up at the grandeur of Asgil Hall.
“Oh, Lucas, what if they despise me?” the young woman whispered as she joined him on the ground.
“I love you, and they shall love you too. They will adore Teddy—you need not worry.”
Derrick swallowed the lump in his throat at the love he saw on Lucas’s face, a look that Derrick knew was reflected on his own face whenever he looked at Arianna.
Lucas tore his gaze away from the woman and faced his home, his eyes locking with Derrick’s. Surprise flashed across his features, but he recovered himself and masked it as he approached the open door.
“Good morning, sir!” the butler greeted. “Welcome home.”
“Happy Christmas, Roland. This is my wife, Leia, and her...ourson, Teddy.”
He held up the little boy’s chubby hand and waved it at the butler. The little boy smiled shyly, then hid his face against Lucas’s shoulder.
“Welcome, my lady and young Master Teddy,” Roland said with delighted warmth.
Lucas gave Leia a look that assured her he had been right. She would be loved and welcomed, along with her child.
Unable to move, Derrick stood next to the door as Lucas came inside. For a long moment they stared at each other, but no words were exchanged. At last, Derrick spoke, hoping to get the worst out of the way.
“I asked Arianna to marry me last night. I hoped that we...” He faltered on the words that he knew mattered so much, but he could not find the strength to say them.
“It’s about bloody time,” Lucas said, almost too quietly to be heard.
“What?” Derrick was stunned by his friend’s lack of anger.
Lucas put a hand on little Teddy’s back and held him securely as he looked to Derrick.
“I had been waiting for you to wake up and realize Augusta was never the one for you. It was always my sister. It was why I was so bloody furious, because you could not see the truth.”
Derrick was at a loss for words. “But you loved her too, and...”
“I thought I did,” Lucas agreed. His gaze flicked to Leia at his side. “But now I know what true love is like, and I cannot imagine ever having had it with Augusta.”
“But the things we said to each other...,” Derrick began uncertainly.
“Yes, things not easily forgotten, but perhaps more easily forgiven. If you are to marry my sister, then it seems we both have grown of late and have stories to share of it.”
“Speaking of stories, how did you end up married?” Derrick asked.
Lucas smiled and put an arm around his wife’s waist. “It is a long story, best shared over breakfast. I hope we are not too early to eat, Roland?”
“Not at all, sir. The rest of the house is just waking up.”
“Excellent. Let us eat and we will talk—” Lucas began.
“Lucas!” Arianna appeared at the top of the stairs. Her panicked gaze shifted between him and Derrick.
“It is all right, love. I told him,” Derrick assured her. She exhaled in obvious relief as she hurried down the stairs to join them. She stared in shock as Lucas introduced her to his wife and little Teddy.
“Married? Oh, Lucas, this is wonderful!” Arianna embraced Leia, who blushed deeply, and gave Teddy a little squeeze. The tiny child smiled bashfully at her.
“Come, you must be hungry, and we want to hear positivelyeverything,” Arianna said as she slipped an arm through Leia’s, immediately embracing the woman as a friend.
Derrick paused in the doorway to the dining room, watching his dearest friend in all the world, a man who would soon be his brother, and the woman who had become his whole world.
Arianna glanced over her shoulder at him, a grin on her face as she mouthed the words,“I love you.”
Then she spoke aloud. “Darling, stop lurking in the doorway. Come and sit down.”
For a moment, he saw his life as it would be, speeding away into the future, a life with Arianna and her family. There would be laughter, tears, joy, companionship, and love. And that love would never die. Even when he was gone, that love would remain. It would be reflected in the diamond glints of snow outside. It would whisper from the kissing boughs and shimmer in the dewdrops. It would blossom in every heart whenever anyone waltzed in the snow.
