“Really…” She brightened and seemed to stand taller.
“This marriage got off to a rotten start. And every step of the way has been horrid. But if you will allow me, I will spend the rest of our lives making it up to you. I will prove to you…” He laughed and shook his head. “I will prove to you that even I am capable of change.”
Her brow furrowed as she looked at him, into his eyes, searching for the truth. His heart raced as the silence built. His stomach twisted as he wondered why she was taking so long.Is it possible I am still too late…
“Maybe…” she said carefully. “But on one condition.”
He hesitated. “Which is?”
She beamed, and her hands took the side of his face. “That you let me change with you. That you show me why I deserve happiness as much as you do. I can’t help but think by now that you and I…” She shook her head as tears began to well. “That we both deserve it equally.”
There was but one thing left to do, and they did it without pause. She held his head in her hands, he cupped her chin with his spare hand, and they brought their faces together, their lips, and kissed for what felt like the first time.
It was not a kiss filled with passion as one might think. It was not dripping with desire. It did not make Sebastian’s blood pump,his crotch stiffen, his lust roar to life as would usually be the case. Rather, it made his heart swell so he thought it might burst. That kiss was one of shared love, fought for, earned like nothing else.
And it was as they kissed that they both seemed to understand its true meaning. This marriage was no longer convenient, for that time had come and gone. The time had finally come to admit their feelings, to live in them, to spend the rest of their lives proving these feelings to one another.
I don’t deserve this, but I am going to do everything I can to prove otherwise. Not for me, but for Margot. She deserves this, and I am just lucky that she chose me as she has.
What would come tomorrow, Sebastian did not know. Love, yes. But there would be pain, suffering, sadness, fights, arguing, and hard times. This was undeniable. But through it all, love would sustain them, making it worth the cost. It was a lesson he’d learned the hard way, but Sebastian realized as that kiss grew between them, it was more than worth it.
Finally, Sebastian was happy. Finally, he knew that he was capable of the change that he deserved.And that my wife deserves just as much.
Epilogue
SIX MONTHS LATER…
Margot sat with her eyes closed, relishing the feel of the sun on her face. It was midday, cold outside but warm indoors, for the fire was lit in its hearth, and her body was always running hot these days. And the sun…I could sit here all day and enjoy it. With how my back and feet hurt, maybe I will.
“I thought I would find you here.” From the doorway, Sebastian spoke.
Margot snapped open her eyes and smiled to see her husband lurking. He wore a warm smile on his face, his eyes shone with adoration, and she wondered how long he had been standing there watching her. Truly, she would not have been surprised if it had been for hours.
“I have a stalker,” she joked.
He laughed. “More an admirer.”
“I’ll happily take it.”
His smile grew as he walked across the room. When he reached her, he fell to his knees, and his hand moved to her stomach. It was swollen, so large that she had taken to wearing shifts all day because most of her gowns no longer fit her. Not that she minded.
“You like this room, don’t you?” he said softly, kissing her on the forehead.
“It has a certain calm.”
“My mother used to say the same,” he said. His voice cracked slightly as it so often did when he spoke of his mother. “I never used to understand what she meant. In truth, I always thought she chose it because it was the furthest away from my father’s office.”
“I think the way the sun hits the window is the true reason,” she said with soft laughter. “And this chair…” She wiggled her buttocks. “I foresee many a night of my falling asleep in it.”
“My mother said the same,” he laughed and shook his head. “She would be happy to see it being put to good use. The room, also.”
The room she was in was the same one she had come upon all those months ago, when she had first explored the manor. At the time, Margot had thought of it like every other room, used as a storage room for reasons Sebastian later explained. What shehad since come to learn was the reason this room was chosen specifically.
It had been his mother’s favorite room in the house, where she spent most of her days stitching and reading and simply enjoying the silence the room afforded. And before that, it had been Sebastian’s nursery.
Behind Sebastian, Margot eyed the cot that Sebastian had built just last week. She smiled at it, wondering at the child she would soon bring into this world and the love that she and Sebastian were sure to shower it with.Well, I wonder about that. I know that Sebastian is still unsure…
Indeed, where Sebastian said the right words and his actions were what were expected, whenever he entered this room, there was a shadow behind his eyes and a crack in his voice. A nervousness seemed to haunt him, and it followed him about daily, growing slowly as the due date for their child came nearer.
