Ashbourn’s expression never altered as he glared at their little group, but behind his frigid façade, Gemma sensed a raging inferno.“You cannot mean you would all prefer to stay here and run a coaching inn, sullying our family name, when you could resume your rightful place in society.”
“Do you know, brother, I actually feel sorry for you.”Gemma cocked her head.“You could have had us as your family—and yes, it might have been a bit messy and awkward and imperfect, but it would have been loving, and warm, and fun too.Because that is who we are.But that’s not who you are.Without us, you’re nothing but an empty title, sitting in an empty house, all alone.While we have found a new family here in Little Kissington and this lovely coaching inn—which is becoming quite profitable, I might add.We have a family that loves and accepts and cherishes us for exactly who we are.I believe I can speak for my mother and sister when I say we all choose to stay right here.With our true family.”
Ashbourn actually flinched, his face going grey for the space of a breath before he recovered his equanimity.For a moment, Gemma wondered if she had wounded him.But in the next breath, he was stalking toward the door without another word.
Henrietta rushed forward, her hands outstretched, before Gemma could hold her back.“My dear boy, don’t leave like this!I tried to be a mother to you?—”
“You are not my mother, madam,” he replied hoarsely, shaking off her beseeching hands and turning a furious stare upon her.“The moment my father married you, I ceased to have any family at all.Stay and wallow in the muck here if it suits you.I couldn’t care less.Good day.”
And with that, he replaced his tall hat on his perfectly smooth hair and left the inn.
Gemma’s mother watched him go with slumped shoulders and tears in her eyes.She was just about to go to her when Hal beat her to it by taking Henrietta’s hand in both of his.“I don’t know how much of that interview you heard before Lucy’s, er, entrance.But I have something I need to speak to you about.I would like your permission to marry your daughter.I love her very much, you see.And I may not have always made the best choices where she is concerned, but I have always wanted her to be happy.”
“And you think you can make her so?”Henrietta asked, with a surprising degree of firmness.
Hal took a moment to consider his answer carefully.“I will cherish your daughter.I will share everything I am and everything I have with her.She has indicated that is what would make her happy, and I am doing my utmost to take her at her word.”
It was a good answer.Heart full, Gemma couldn’t stop herself from throwing her arms around him and peppering his handsome face with kisses.
Lucy and Henrietta rushed them, embracing them from either side with much laughter and joyful excitement and assertions from Lucy that she never had any doubt that they would end up together.While they were celebrating, Bess poked her head into the taproom.
“What on earth are you all doing in here?Come back to the fête!You’re missed.”
“Bess!”Lucy grabbed their friend and absorbed her into their group, sharing all their news as she jumped up and down with thrilled happiness.
Gemma and Hal stood at the center of it all, surrounded by their closest friends and family.They smiled into each other’s eyes and both of them knew, without any fear or doubt, that whatever came next, they would weather any storm and overcome any obstacle because they were together.
Epilogue
One week later…
“No, that table should go in the other corner,” Gemma decided as Hal huffed and lifted the heavy thing to move it for the third time.
“This had better be the final resting place of this table,” her fiancé grunted, settling it in the corner.
Gemma tapped her chin.“Yes, I think that looks very well.The snug is coming along wonderfully.”
Over the past few days, she had thrown herself into her plans for Five Mile House, newly energized and full of ideas.
“We haven’t the funds yet for the way I'd like to appoint the space for our guests who would like to pay more for a private dining room,” she continued.“But this will do nicely for a start.”
“Are you wishing you’d taken your brother up on his offer to return your dowry?”Hal asked.
“Absolutely not!”
“Even if it would mean never having to do laundry day again?”
That made Gemma pause.“I would love to pay someone absolutely tip-top wages to take over that job.Believe me, I will never undervalue the work that goes into clean bed linens again.But it’s just as well I didn’t take the dowry.Then you would have broken your vow to never marry an heiress!”
“Well,” Hal said slowly.“If you had a dowry, it wouldn’t be wasted on gambling and it certainly wouldn’t find its way into the hands of any mistresses.We would have used it for the good of the whole village and the tenant farmers.For our lands.To repair the damage my family has done and create a new legacy, for our children.”
Gemma’s chest went tight and full.She sent him her best coquettish look from under her lashes.“So you would have married me then, after all?In spite of my generous dowry?”
Hal lifted their clasped hands and kissed the inside of her wrist, where the May Day ribbon had bound them together.Her pulse leapt under his mouth as his soft beard brushed the sensitive skin.
“Maybe…I don’t have to be beholden to the past.Maybe, with you at my side, I won’t be doomed to repeat my family’s worst mistakes.”
“I won’t let you,” Gemma promised.
