She nodded.
The pieces fell into place. The secret identity. The late-night work. The money she earned, funneled into payments to keep Drakeston at bay. She had built an empire of matchmaking to save her family from ruin, and she had done it alone, without help, without complaint.
Edward crossed the distance between them. Sophia tensed, but she did not retreat.
“Marry me.”
The words fell into the silence like stones into still water.
Sophia stared at him. “What?”
“Marry me.” He held her gaze. “As soon as possible.”
Her breath still shook as she responded, “You cannot be serious.”
“I have never been more serious in my life.” Edward stepped closer. “Your family’s debts. How much are they?”
Sophia shook her head. “You cannot simply?—”
“How much, Sophia?”
When she told him the amount, Edward did not flinch. The sum was significant, but it would not make a dent in his fortune. He had spent more on renovating the east wing of this very house.
“I will pay it.” His voice was steady, certain. “All of it. Tomorrow. Drakeston will have no hold over you. No hold over your parents or your sister. The debt will be cleared, and he will have no power to threaten you ever again.”
Sophia’s lips parted. She looked at him as though he had begun speaking in tongues.
“Why?”
Edward hesitated. The truth pressed against his ribs, demanding release. But he was not ready to speak it. Not yet.
Perhaps not ever.
“Oliver is fond of you.” He fell back on safer ground. “He needs someone who cares for him. Someone who will not see him as an inconvenience or a burden.”
Sophia’s expression flickered. “So, this is about him only.”
“This is about protecting your family.” Edward held her gaze. “This is about ensuring Drakeston can never touch you again. This is about giving you the security you have fought for alone, for far too long.”
She was silent for a long time. The moonlight caught the tears still glistening on her cheeks, the tremble of her lower lip. She clutched his coat around her shoulders as though it were the only thing holding her together.
“And the only thing you gain out of this is someone to care for Oliver?” she asked.
Edward thought of Oliver’s face lighting up when Sophia entered the room. He thought of her laugh at the spring fair, bright and unguarded. He thought of the way she challenged him, pushed him, and refused to let him hide behind his walls.
“Yes. As I told you before, I need a wife who will care for the boy.” The words felt insufficient, but they were all he could offer. “A partner who understands duty and sacrifice. A woman I…”
He stopped. The rest of the sentence lodged in his throat, too dangerous to speak aloud.
Sophia watched him, her green eyes searching his face. Whatever she found there seemed to decide something within her.
“Very well.” Her voice was quiet, steady. “I have no other choice. I accept.”
The words hung between them. Edward felt something shift in his chest, a loosening of tension he had not known he carried.
“We will marry as soon as it can be arranged.” He spoke before the moment could slip away. “I will acquire a special license first thing tomorrow morning. Drakeston will not have time to act.”
Sophia nodded. She looked exhausted, drained, held together by nothing but will. And yet, beneath the weariness, Edward glimpsed something else. Relief. Hope.
