Page 77 of A Stormy Season

Penelope stood by the door, grinning like a mischievous child.

“And what am I supposed to do now?”

“Go to the window,” Penelope said, “and look out at the street.”

Jane went to the window and looked down. There, covering the sidewalk and half the street, were mounds and mounds of yellow and blue flowers. And in the middle of them stood Luke Watley.

Jane gasped and leaned out the open window.

Luke was staring up at her. A crowd had gathered on the sidewalk across the street.

“Jane Gilchrist,” Luke said in a loud voice.

“Yes?” She giggled in spite of herself.

“I love you passionately, wildly, madly, and I can’t live without you. Will you consent to be my wife and love me forever?”

Jane’s heart seemed to seize in her heart, and she could hear the gasps from the women in the crowd all the way from the other side of the street.

“I will!” she called down to him, smiling and crying at the same time. “I love you too, Luke Watley!”

Jane covered the lower part of her face with her hand, knowing she was about to start crying in earnest. When she was able to control herself, she said, “Come inside.”

Jane closed the window and ran out of her room, past Penelope, past Henry, and she was hurrying through the entrance hall when Luke came in the door and shut it behind him.

She threw her arms around him and kissed him, but briefly, since she was sure Henry and Penelope were watching, not to mention a few servants who were probably peeking out of various rooms and the staircase, which was in plain view.

“I love you,” Jane whispered against his cravat.

“I’m so sorry for the hurtful things I said to you,” he whispered back, his lips next to her ear. “I don’t want to imagine my life, or Jeffrey’s, without you.”

“Are you sure you love me?” Jane went on in a whisper. “I can be stubborn and willful, and I do things that I know Society doesn’t approve of. But I promise I will love you and Jeffrey with all my heart.”

He was holding her close, squeezing her, even, between his arms. “I told you. I love you passionately, wildly, madly, and I want everyone to know it. No more pretense, no more fake engagements. I want you in my home as my wife as soon as I can procure a license.”

Jane’s heart beat faster at his impassioned words. There were so many things she could say, many intimate, vulnerable things that she couldn’t say. Finally, what came out of her mouth was, “Thank you for the flowers, but I don’t think they will all fit in the house.”

He gave her a playful squeeze.

“It was a beautiful, wonderful, grand gesture.” She lifted her head and looked up into his face. “Thank you.”

“Let us be the first to wish you every happiness,” Henry said somewhere behind her.

Jane reluctantly released her hold on Luke and turned to face her brother and sister-in-law.

“Jane is wondering what we shall do with all the flowers,” Luke said.

Penelope was wiping a tear from her eye. “Oh my. I don’t know.”

“Perhaps we could give some away,” Jane said.

The next thing she knew, she and Luke were stepping out of the front door, and the crowd, which was still standing outside, began to clap their hands and cheer. Then the four of them spent the next half hour giving flowers away to the people. And even after they’d given away as much as people would accept, it took the servants ten minutes or more to bring the rest into the house.

When they were in the sitting room surrounded by flowers, they talked of plans and hopes for the future. They discussed the things they had said that they no longer meant. And they kissed, often, as Henry and Penelope had blessedly left them alone.

“I must go back to Hertfordshire in the morning,” he said, “to speak to my bishop about a common marriage license and enter the bond.”

He was serious about them being married right away, as the common license issued by the bishop of his parish would spare them from having to wait for the banns to be read. With a common license, they could be married immediately.