“No, it can’t,” Thomas said, his voice croaky. “There’s nothing like nearly dying to give you a fresh perspective on life. I am so sorry for many, many things. But the most important one is that I should never have gone through with the wedding when I saw your tears. I should have stopped the bishop right there, then and asked you whatyouwanted, and I will forever regret being too cowardly to do so.”
“I forgive you,” she said, and caressed the side of his face.
Thomas closed his eyes. “You’re making this harder.”
“Making what harder?”
He opened his eyes and stared meaningfully into hers. “Cordelia, do you want to leave with Stuyvesant? Or do you want to stay with me?… Or neither? Would you rather attend Oxford University? You deserve to choose, and whatever you decide, I will do everything in my power to make it so.”
“You mean a divorce?”
“We might be able to get an annulment because the marriage was never consummated.”
Cordelia felt her face go red and was glad to see a little color steal into Thomas’s cheeks as well. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
Thomas placed his hand on hers. “There is nothing in this world that I want more than for you to stay with me, but I want it to be your choice. What you want.”
“I don’t want the sort of marriage my parents had,” she said. “I don’t want a husband who has affairs with actresses and singers.”
A small smile played on his colorless lips. “I have a solution for that.”
“What?”
“If I were to sleep in your bed every night, you would never be in any doubt of my location or affections.”
Cordelia felt a smile form on her own lips. “But you would eat all the bacon on the breakfast tray.”
“Only half,” he said.
“And I want a proper marriage proposal,” Cordelia said. “I never got one.”
“Do I have to kneel? Because if that is so, we may need to wait a few more days. I don’t think I can even sit up at this point.”
She ruffled his hair and then caressed his cheek.
“Very well, Rapunzel,” Thomas said. “I love your hair and I long to climb up it.”
“You’re supposed to take this seriously!”
“I am and you’re interrupting,” he said. “I love you, Cordelia, with all the strength of my heart, and I vow that I will be true to you for all time, in sickness and when shot… You’re richer and I’m definitely poorer… For the good and the bad, I want nothing more than to be at your side as your partner in everything. Will you marry me?”
Cordelia grinned at him.
“How did I do?” he asked.
“Not bad.”
“Not bad? It was brilliant,” he protested.
“You can practice on our honeymoon,” she said. “You still owe me one of those too.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
She leaned down and kissed his lips. It was soft and lingering, with the promise of a lifetime of kisses and happily-ever-afters.
