Page 74 of Hunted By the Guardian
“You’re not wrong,” she whispered, and Jonathan felt as if his heart had grown too large for his body.
“Come home with me,” he said once more. “I love you, Violet.”
She nodded.
“Marry me.”
“Yes,” she breathed. “I love you too. It was always yes. I wish you hadn’t taken so long to tell me.”
Her words thrilled him. He rose to his feet, pulling her up with him, and wrapped his arms around her. As he breathed in the scent of her, he marveled in the knowledge that, this time, he did not have to let her go. This time, he could hold her as long as he liked. She would be his for always. She had agreed to marry him, and there was nothing he wanted more in all the world.
For a moment, the two of them remained there, wrapped up in one another’s arms. Her body rose and fell against his as they breathed in tandem. Heat rushed through Jonathan at the thought of all the things that awaited them, everything the two of them would be able to experience together as the days—years—went on.
When he finally pulled back from her, it was just enough to see her face. “I think we’d better call your father back in here,” he said. “I ought to make this official by asking for his blessing.”
Violet laughed through her tears.
EPILOGUE
“Now that you’re really married,” Noah said, “does that mean I can call you my mother and father, and that it wouldn’t be wrong?”
The question had come out the moment they had all sat down to the wedding breakfast. It was obvious that he had been waiting all day to ask it, and Violet couldn’t suppress the swelling of joy in her heart.
“Of course it wouldn’t be wrong for you to call us that,” she told Noah. “But it was never wrong.”
“It was sort of wrong,” Noah said. “But now it’s definitely right, isn't it? Because we’re all family.”
“We’re all family,” Violet agreed. Her stomach fluttered as Jonathan—her husband, as of the ceremony this morning—took her hand on top of the table.
There were so many new words that had come with today’s events. Family was perhaps the one that meant the most to her. It was miraculous to know that she could look at Jonathan and at Noah and say that they were hers in this new and wonderful way. They belonged to her now. There was no undoing that, and no arguing it.
But there was also the word husband, one that filled her with almost as much joy, and the word wife, a new way of thinking about herself. And, of course, there was Duchess…but that would take a bit longer to feel comfortable, she was sure. In the meantime, she would enjoy being a part of this new family she was creating for herself.
Her old family was represented at the table by her father. After some discussion, they had determined that he ought to be present at the wedding. He had given his blessing for Violet and Jonathan to marry when Jonathan had asked, and that meant a great deal to Violet. He was responsible, in a small way, for the happiness that she had found.
“I would have married you anyway,” Jonathan had told her when she’d pointed this out to him. “I asked him as a matter of courtesy, not because I truly needed his permission. Once you had said yes, I had all I needed.”
She smiled at that. “I believe it,” she said. “But isn’t it better that we got his blessing too? I don’t know about you, but I feel easy in my mind about all this knowing that we haven’t had to go against his wishes to do it.”
“I suppose,” Jonathan allowed. “At any rate, if it means something to you to have him at our wedding, I don’t mind his presence.”
And so he had been invited. They hadn’t been sure he was going to come, but he had arrived at the church on schedule and had returned to their shared home for breakfast.
There had been some discussion over whether they would both go on living here in the days leading up to the wedding—would it be better, more appropriate, to separate until things were official between them? It was for Noah’s sake that they had decided otherwise. He’d had too much disruption in his life already, and he longed to have his mother and father in one home. They had decided not to make him wait for that, and simply to go on living in separate parts of the house until they had said their vows.
Laura Trevet was not in attendance. She hadn’t been invited, of course, but there had been a small concern that she might turn up anyway. Violet, in particular, had lain awake a few nights, wondering what they would do if she did, and though Jonathan had assured her that Laura would simply be turned away if she tried to come, the idea made her nervous.
It wasn’t until the ceremony had been over that Agnes had stopped her on her way out of the church with a smile on her face. “You’ll be happy to hear this,” she’d said. “Laura Trevet isn’t in London any longer.”
“She isn’t?”
“Apparently she’s gone off to Paris with a Frenchman. Gabriel thinks she’s hoping he’ll marry her. She’s out of England, regardless,” Agnes said. “So you don’t need to worry about her anymore, or ever again, most likely.”
Even now, thinking about that fact, Violet felt both relief and sadness. It was good to know that Laura wouldn’t try to interfere in their lives, that she wouldn’t try to reclaim Noah from them. But it was also very sad to think that Noah’s mother had, in a sense, rejected him for a second time. How could she not have fought for him? How could anyone not want the sweet boy sitting across from Violet right now?
At least he’ll never have to fear not having someone to love him. Jonathan and I will always be here to care for him now. He will never be alone again.
And Noah wouldn’t be sad to hear that his mother had gone. They’d made the decision to tell him as much as they felt they responsibly could about what had become of her, and had offered him the chance to try to connect with her over the past few weeks, and he had refused it soundly. “She didn’t want to be my mother,” he’d said. “I don’t have to be her son.”
