His face once again became serious. ‘Margaret, I love you. I want you to be my wife. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Our wedding vows now suddenly make so much sense. I want to love and cherish you. I want to forsake all others. I want us to be together till death us do part.’
He took her hand and as if in a dream she rose to her feet.
‘Margaret, all my life there has been a deep emptiness within me, one I didn’t know existed because I never gave myself time to think about it. I filled up my life with constant partying so I didn’t have to look into that void and see how lonely I actually was.’
He brought her hand to his mouth and gently kissed it. ‘You made me realise what that void was. It was love that I was missing. You taught me what it is to love another. And, by God, I do love you, with my heart and soul.’
To her immense surprise, he dropped down on one knee, her hand still in his. ‘Margaret, will you marry me? Will you let me love you? Will you give me the chance to prove how much I have changed? How much you have changed me? How much you have made me the man I want to be?’
He kissed her hand one more time. ‘I want to prove to you every day the depth of my love. I want you to see that I am the right man to be the father of your children. I want us to grow old together, surrounded by our children and our grandchildren.’
Margaret gasped, warmth spreading through her body, starting at her heart and reaching her very fingertips, as a dizzying joy possessed her. She wanted to laugh, cry, sing—do something in reaction to hearing the man she loved so deeply declaring his love for her. But all she could do was stare at him, still trying to convince herself that this was real and not a fantastical dream.
‘Children?’ she gasped.
‘Yes, children. Until I met you, I never wanted children, fearing I would not be able to love them. But you have taught me how to love and I know I will love our children.’
He smiled up at her. ‘I know this has been an unusual courtship, but Margaret, will you do me the greatest honour of becoming my wife and making me the happiest man alive? If you do agree, then I promise I will do everything in my power to show you I can be the man who is deserving of such a wife. But if that is not what you wish, then yes, we will abide by our agreement, but I want you to know that I love you with my heart and soul, and even if we part I will never stop loving you.’
He continued to gaze up at her, and she could actually see tears in those blue eyes.
Tears.
If his words hadn’t convinced her he really did love her, seeing tears in the eyes of the man she loved would have done so.
‘So, will you marry me?’
She gave a small laugh that was punctuated with a sob as she fought back her own tears. ‘Yes,’ she murmured.
He was immediately on his feet and she was in his arms.
‘Oh, Margaret, I love you so much,’ he said when they finally parted.
‘Say that again,’ she said, feeling so happy she was sure it was only Jacob’s arms around her keeping her tethered to the ground, otherwise she would start to float, she felt so light and buoyant. ‘Tell me you love me again. I love hearing it out loud.’
‘I love you. I love you. I love you,’ he said, punctuating each declaration with a kiss. ‘You are going to have to get used to hearing that, because you will be hearing it again and again, every day for the rest of our lives. You are going to hear it so many times you are going to get tired of hearing me telling you how much I love you.’
‘Never.’
‘In that case, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love—’
Margaret’s lips were back on his, not because she was tired of hearing those three precious words, but because she wanted his kisses just as much. They were something else she knew she would never tire of and wanted to feel every day for the rest of her life.
Remembering where they were, they finally broke apart, but they continued to hold each other with their arms and eyes, their gazes locked together as if seeing each other for the first time, then he looked across the room and his expression became quizzical.
‘Have you noticed there’s a hedgehog in the corner and it’s watching us?’
Margaret looked towards Gloriana, who was peeking over her box, her little black eyes fixed firmly on them.
‘Maybe that is what’s wrong with her,’ she said with a laugh. ‘She is pining for love and we’ve made her realise what she wants is to find her soulmate.’
‘I know exactly how she feels,’ he said with a laugh, before kissing her again.
Epilogue
Now that Jacob had discovered the simple truth that he was in love with his wife, he wanted to mark their union.
Their wedding had been a rushed affair, almost clandestine, and that would never do. A love as big as theirs needed to be celebrated, and to that end he enlisted the help of Margaret’s two closest friends and her mother to organise an occasion that honoured them truly becoming husband and wife.
