Page 141 of The Sainted Duchess
They sat together on the small settee by the window. He kept her hand in his, thumb tracing idle circles against her skin. After a minute, she leaned her head on his shoulder.
“I thought I had lost you,” she said.
“I thought the same,” he said. “I do not think it now.”
“Nor do I,” she said.
“Let’s get you cleaned up now.” He stood. “And then give you nourishment. Bread. Soup. And something sweet.”
“You hate sweets.”
“I’m learning to like what you like,” he said, and kissed her brow.
This moment felt perfect.
“I love you,” he said again into her hair, quiet and sure.
“I love you,” she said back, smiling.
They did not solve every problem. They did not need to. They had time now, and each other.
EPILOGUE
Four Months Later
It was the first ball of the season, and Stephen had been steadily buying her an entire wardrobe full of dresses to prepare for it.
“These are enough,” she would say to him when yet another delivery would be made for her.
“I just want you to have all the choices you can imagine,” he would reply.
“If you keep this up, then I might just own all the dresses in London,” she laughed.
“And what is so wrong with that?” He countered. “You are my wife, and you are the Duchess. And you deserve even more.”
She would blush then. Their relationship had only grown stronger in the last couple of months, and it felt as though she was finally living her fairytale life that she had always dreamed of.
“Did you really think that you would ever fall in love with someone?” She asked him on the morning of the ball.
“Good morning to you, too, lovely wife,” he replied cheekily.
“Answer the question,” she grinned.
“Is this really what you wish to know so early in the morning?” He asked. He was teasing her, and she knew it.
“Yes, well, you know that I always wish to know what is going through your mind, and it does not matter what hour of the day that might be. Wouldn’t you think the same of me?”
He thought over it for a moment.
“Well, yes, I suppose I am always quite curious to know more about you,” he said. “Funny this. Before I met you, I always assumed that there was not much to know about a person after a few weeks of spending time with them.”
“Well, you know that I am always full of surprises,” she grinned. “But now answer my question.
“In earnest, I had always wished for love in a way. But I had never thought that it would happen for me,” he nodded. “In fact, I thought that a match made out of duty was the furthest that it was going to get for me.”
“Hmm, like our match in the beginning?” She questioned. “You thought that it would never grow past that?”
“I had no reason to assume otherwise,” he said. “Life had not really ever shown me examples of what a lasting and healthy love may look like or what shape it can take.”
