“Surprise!” Mrs. Davenport called.
With tears now clouding her vision and a sense of anticipation running through her, Gertrude held tightly to Harrison’s hand as he pulled her into the midst of everyone. After introducing her to his father, greeting his sisters with a kiss to each of their cheeks, and then kissing his mother, Harrison led Gertrude into the very center of the picnic setting, took her hand in his, and then ... dropped to one knee before her.
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
The sight of Harrison on his knee in front of her caused Gertrude to lose the ability to breathe, an unfortunate circumstance if there ever was one, because the lack of breath made her light-headed, and then ... the wheezing began.
Unable to catch her breath, Gertrude couldn’t say she was surprised when Harrison was back on his feet a second later, giving her a resounding pounding on the back, a pounding that soon had her breathing almost back to normal.
Giving one last wheeze, while raising a hand to stop additional pounding, Gertrude raised now watering eyes to Harrison. “I do beg your pardon, Harrison, for ruining what would have been a lovely moment. Do feel free to continue since I’m now no longer struggling for air.”
“Don’t forget number seven on the list,” Asher called.
Harrison blinked, stuck his hand into the pocket of his trousers, ones she’d just noticed were meant for swimming and were paired with a striped shirt, the stripes a bright shade of purple. Before she could fully appreciate the look, though, Harrison pulled out a piece of paper, glanced at it, frowned, then lifted his head and looked to Asher.
“Are you certain about this?”
Asher nodded. “Remember when our friend Gilbert claimed that ladies enjoy special gestures to commemorate special occasions? Well, rest assured, I daresay Gertrude will never forget the gesture of you reciting Lord Byron’s ‘She Walks in Beauty,’ especially if you do it properly.”
Harrison drew in a breath, looked at the paper again, then returned his attention to Gertrude. He took her hand in his again, frowned, and then leaned closer. “Would you be offended if I paraphrased? I must admit I did not memorize it properly, and ... well, I’m afraid I’m about to make a muddle of matters since all I can recall is a line pertaining to a woman walking in beauty and something about mellowed skies, or mellowed nights, or...”
Gertrude placed a finger over his lips. “Forgive me, but why are you and Asher so convinced that you need to recite poetry to me, and what exactly is that list the two of you keep consulting?”
Harrison handed her the list, but before she could glimpse more than the title—something about romantic gestures—he was releasing a breath and looking slightly nervous.
Taking her hand in his, he squeezed it. “I know I’ve blundered badly with you, Gertie, and I need to make that up to you. Asher and I thought compiling a list of the best romantic gestures we’d found in romance novels might be exactly what was needed for you to see how sorry I am for not declaring my very great affection for you that day in Grace Church. The only way I can explain why I denied my affection was because you were looking so horrified after Mrs. Davenport suggested we were progressing nicely together.”
Gertrude frowned. “Of course I was looking horrified. No lady wants the gentleman she holds in great esteem to be pressured into declaring himself. That leaves all manner of doubt about why he would declare himself at all, but tell me, why didyouthink I was looking horrified?”
“I thought you wanted an opportunity to be taken in hand by ladies who truly care about you. You’d just admitted to me you did not share a warm relationship with your mother, that she was less than maternal with you when you were a child. When Miss Henrietta declared she wanted to take you in hand, with her sister agreeing, I decided it would not be fair of me to deny you their motherly attention. With that said, I then made the very grave error of allowing you to believe I wanted to maintain a friendship with you, when that was not even remotely close to the truth.”
The sweetness of that gesture warmed Gertrude all the way to her toes. “And the horse incident and subsequent almost drowning in a puddle—were those supposed to be romantic gestures?”
“They were, but didn’t turn out quite so romantic, nor did the pretend mystery holiday work out well either since we certainly didn’t intend to really solve a mystery.”
“We’d just noticed so many instances of mysteries in romance novels, you see,” Asher added. “We thought it would be a great way to set the stage for...” He gestured to the scene around them.
“I knew it,” Edwina said, striding into the light to join them. “Did I miss anything?”
“Harrison was about to recite a poem by Lord Byron, although I believe he mentioned something about paraphrasing it since he neglected to memorize it,” Miss Henrietta said.
“How delightful,” Edwina said. “Although I do think Samuel would enjoy hearing this recitation, but ... he won’t be back for some time, so ... you might as well get on with it.”
“Who is Samuel?” Harrison’s father suddenly asked, earning a whispered reply from Cornelia and an innocent batting of Edwina’s lashes before Harrison cleared his throat.
“Getting back to my poem,” he began, but before he could get more than that out of his mouth, Gertrude stepped closer to him.
“I don’t know why you feel the need to enact romantic gestures, Harrison. You’re romantic without even trying, and do know that I’ve noticed and adored the little romantic gestures you extend me all the time without apparently even realizing it.”
“What gestures?” Harrison asked slowly.
“You swept me up into your arms to get me off your ship, but it wasn’t the sweeping that was the most romantic part of that gesture—it was that you’d done so because you’d noticed me wheezing. You then sat down to dinner with Clementine, a nasty woman if there ever was one, simply because I asked it of you, and ... you call me Gertie.”
Harrison blinked. “You find that romantic?”
She smiled. “I always wanted to have a pet name, and I find it absolutely delightful that you’re the gentleman to finally give me one.”
