The Aristocrat

by Penelope Ward

  There wasn’t anything sexier than hearing a woman say she’d walk through fire for you.

  I kissed her so hard. “Thank you, my beautiful. I won’t let you give up your dreams for me. I’ll travel back and forth if I have to. I don’t expect you to live there full time. But in an ideal world, you and I would spend time in both places—Narragansett and Westfordshire—even if it’s not right away.”

  “My goals in life aren’t what they used to be,” she said. “I’ll still practice law. But it’s going to have to be on my own terms, because I won’t take a job that’s going to require me to live apart from you for any great length of time. I’ve been there and done that. Career is important to me, but not as important as family.” She paused. “You’re my family, Leo.”

  There was nothing more I’d ever wanted to be. For weeks, I’d worried about this conversation, worried that she might feel threatened by my mother or the prospect of returning to the UK with me. But I should have known better. I should have known my girl was tough as steel. That was something I’d always loved about her.

  A week later, Felicity arrived home to find me in a seemingly precarious place—the kitchen.

  “What’s going on, Leo?”

  “Don’t be alarmed,” I said as I sliced some lemon. “But I’m cooking.”

  She laughed. “Has hell frozen over?”

  “I’m determined to learn so you don’t have to prepare every meal. You’ve been busier than ever with studying lately, and with the bar exam coming up, I want to ease some of the burden. We’ve had takeaway every other night.”

  Felicity still seemed skeptical as she looked over at the laptop on the counter. “Okay, so tell me what you’re doing here.”

  “Remember how I used to watch those Bob Ross painting tutorials?”

  “Yeah…”

  “Well, this is my new friend, Micheline, on YouTube. She’s teaching me how to steam clams without overdoing them. We’re having pasta and clams tonight in a lemon butter sauce. I figured boiling water and steaming clams sounded easy enough.”

  “Did you tell Sig you’re cooking for me?”

  “Yes. He suggested you have 911 on standby.”

  She chuckled. “Well, I don’t know what to do with myself now. I was all prepared to spend the next hour cooking dinner.”

  I put my knife down. “I have an idea. Why don’t you go take a bath instead, love?”

  “That sounds like an amazing plan.”

  “Let me show you to the bathroom.”

  She narrowed her eyes in suspicion as we made our way up the stairs.

  When we arrived, her mouth dropped. “What did you do?”

  “Today is the three-month anniversary of the day I came back to you.”

  “It is? I didn’t realize.”

  “Yep. I’ve been keeping track.”

  She took a closer look at the yellow flowers and candles strewn about the bathroom. “Are those…”

  “Peeping Toms. Yeah. Just like my beauty.”

  She covered her mouth. “I can’t believe you…”

  “I figured they were more fitting than roses.”

  Felicity picked one up and smelled it. “This is amazing.”

  “You’ve worked so freaking hard lately. I just want you to have a nice evening. Relax, and I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

  “Thank you, Leo.”

  The look of joy on her face made me so happy.

  Back downstairs, I got to work following my video tutorial. First, I had to soak the clams to push the sand and salt water out of their shells. Then I melted the butter and threw in the garlic and herbs before adding wine and lemon juice. After it all came to a boil, I added the clams and leftover butter. I covered the pot and let the clams steam in the fragrant sauce. After I turned on a timer, I got to work on a special side dish just for Felicity. I told her not to come down until I texted.

  Once everything was ready, I placed the skillet of clams on the table, along with a dish of linguini cooked al dente. At least, I hoped it wasn’t undercooked. As I looked over my work, I wondered if maybe hell would freeze over after all, because I thought I’d managed not to fuck up this dinner. Turned out all I’d needed were step-by-step instructions.

  When I finally called her down, Felicity emerged looking adorable in one of her signature Hello Kitty shirts over leggings. Her long, red hair was damp, and there were a couple of wet spots at the front of her shirt, allowing me a peek at her nipples through the material.

  She sniffed the air. “I could practically taste the garlic all the way upstairs. Everything smells so good.”

  “I’m glad you think so. This is my supper,” I teased. “I’ve made you your own plate of something else.” I gestured to her seat. “Sit.”

  As she squinted in confusion, my heart raced. I lifted the metal cover off the special plate I’d prepared and placed it in front of her.

  She broke out into laughter. While I’d cooked a feast of clams and linguini allegedly just for me, Felicity’s plate contained SpaghettiOs with a single clam in the center. Of course, it was garnished with basil.

  “Why, thank you. This is mine?”

  “I figured you’d like this more, no?”

  “Well, maybe if you had burned dinner. But this was so not necessary.”

  “Okay, I’ll spare you. You don’t have to eat the SpaghettiOs. But have a taste of the clam on top. Let me know what you think.”

  Felicity cracked the clamshell open, and I waited for the moment of realization. The second her eyes bugged out, the two-carat, yellow diamond ring I’d slipped inside the shell fell in the middle of the SpaghettiOs.

  Her mouth was agape as she stared at the plate. That was my cue to come around to her side of the table and get down on my knee. I reached over and grabbed the ring, wiping the sauce off of it first.

  Here goes. “Felicity, you told me you would walk through fire for me. I want you to know, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, either. I love you more than anything in this world. I used to think I was born to continue my family name. But I wasn’t. I know now that I was born to be your husband. And the only heir I ever want is one that comes from you. You’re the only woman I want to share that experience with. You once told me everyone who’s ever mattered in your life left you. Those days are over. You will always have me. I want to live out the rest of my life with you. It doesn’t matter where we are or whether I have a shred of clothing on my back—which is ironic considering how you met me.” I winked. “Anyway, what I mean is, I don’t need anything but you.”

  I wiped a tear from her eye. “Felicity Dunleavy, you are the love of my life. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?”

  My gorgeous redhead’s eyes were still filled with tears as she nodded, seemingly unable to speak. She wrapped her arms around me as I squeezed her tightly.

  Her voice trembled as she moved back to look me in the eyes. “Yes. Of course, I’ll be your wife! I love you so much, Leo.”

  I slipped the ring on her finger and lifted her up out of her seat, into my arms.

  After endless kisses and many tears, we finally sat back down. The clams were a bit cold by now, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered aside from the fact that I loved this woman, and she was going to be legally mine forever.

  My phone rang in the middle of our celebratory dinner. I wasn’t going to answer it, but I saw it was Sigmund.

  I immediately put him on speakerphone.

  Before I could say anything, his voice rang out. “So…what happened?”

  “She said yes!” I proclaimed with a huge smile.

  “Hi, Sig!” Felicity smiled from ear to ear.

  “That’s brilliant,” he said. “But I was referring to whether or not she survived your cooking.”

  We all got a good laugh out of that.

  After dinner, I had one more surprise for my girl.

  “Get your coat on, we’re going out back.”

  “Really? It’s so cold.”<
br />
  “Don’t worry. I’ve got that covered.”

  I’d hired some local guys to set up outdoor heaters and a firepit in our yard while we were eating dinner.

  After we put on our black parka coats, we stepped outside.

  She immediately noticed the flames. “When did you do all this?”

  “I had some help.”

  On a table next to the two Adirondack chairs was a bottle of Fireball and two small glasses.

  “In honor of Mrs. Angelini, we’re going to enjoy some Fireball outside tonight. I know she would have loved to be here and celebrate with us.”

  Felicity’s eyes sparkled with tears. “I didn’t think I was going to cry another time tonight, but you managed to make me.”

  I pulled her in for a kiss. After I poured us each a glass of Fireball, we saluted Mrs. Angelini in the sky and clanked our glasses together, chugging the liquor.

  Through the fire, I pointed to the house across the bay. “I much prefer being on this side of the water with you. But I’ll always be grateful for that house. If I hadn’t chosen it, we would have never found each other.”

  She jumped as the first set of fireworks burst into the night air.

  “You’re just full of surprises tonight!”

  “I thought this would be a fitting ending to our evening,” I explained. “Fireworks are exactly what I’ve felt from the moment I laid eyes on you.”

  “This is incredible,” she said, gazing up at the sky in wonder. Felicity moved her chair closer to mine and leaned her head on my chest as we watched the rest of the spectacular display.

  Perhaps the only thing less than perfect was that the heaters were just not cutting it. It was damn frigid outside.

  When the fireworks finally ended, Felicity straddled me in my seat and covered my face with kisses. When her lips landed on mine, I could still taste the cinnamon from the Fireball on her tongue.

  Her teeth chattered as she announced, “This night has been a dream. Thank you so much for everything. But…”

  “But?”

  “Can we go inside and have sex now?” She laughed. “I’m freezing my nutsack off!”

  * * *

  Leo

  Final Track: “All You Need Is Love” by The Beatles

  FOUR YEARS LATER

  Westfordshire, England

  “Do like Daddy.” I dipped my brush in the yellow paint and demonstrated how to draw the sun.

  It was a gorgeous, sunny day in the countryside, and I’d set up two easels in the back of our estate, deciding to give our three-year-old a painting lesson today.

  Unfortunately, instead of following my lead, Eloise dunked her entire hand in the paint before slapping it against the paper.

  “That’s amazing, darling.” I laughed.

  She giggled and flashed her adorable baby teeth, her red curls blowing in the breeze.

  “I wonder what time Mummy’s coming back. Must be soon now,” I said as I filled in my sun with more yellow paint.

  Sigmund appeared out of nowhere, interrupting our painting lesson. I’d invited him over for birthday cake.

  He smiled at the mess my daughter was making. “Lady Eloise, your painting talent is just as magnificent as your father’s.”

  Sigmund lifted her up, not seeming to care that she got paint all over his shirt—just another testament to how much he’d changed over the years.

  He closed his eyes as she dabbed some on his face. “You’re adorable, Eloise. You know that?”

  “Miraculously, she looks nothing like Ed Sheeran, now does she?” I teased.

  “No. She looks like you with a small dusting of freckles and Ginger’s hair. The two of you have finally morphed into one another. Congratulations.”

  I chuckled. “How are things over at the Bettencourt project?”

  “We break ground on Wednesday.”

  “Good,” I said, putting the paintbrush down.

  After getting his MBA two years ago, Sigmund was now managing a good portion of my properties, which allowed me more time to spend with my family.

  “Do you have any plans for the weekend?” I asked him.

  He gave Eloise one last kiss on the cheek before placing her down on the grass. “No. Why?”

  I hesitated. “You know how Felicity’s been working part time teaching American law at the university?”

  His brows drew together in suspicion. “Yeah…”

  “She said one of her female colleagues is really attractive and single with a nice personality. She wants to invite her out here to dinner.”

  He glared at me. “No.”

  “Okay, but hear me out—”

  “No.”

  “All right. All right. Can’t say I didn’t try.” I sighed. “And I’ll keep trying.”

  “Oh, I know you will.”

  Sigmund had had a few meaningless one-night stands over the years since losing Britney. But he hadn’t dated or met anyone he’d connected with. Everything had to happen in its own time, I supposed.

  Eager to drop the subject, he pointed in the distance to where Felicity was approaching on one of the horses as she returned from her morning ride. “Ginger seems to be enjoying farm life.”

  It was hard to believe we’d been living in England full time for a year already.

  Our daughter, Eloise Leonora Covington, had been born three years ago today, in fact. We’d moved to Brighton House on her second birthday.

  Not long after Felicity and I got engaged four years ago, she found out she was pregnant. Fortunately, it was just after she’d passed the bar. She’d been switching to a new kind of birth control, and we hadn’t been careful enough. But honestly, it was the best news I could have received. We got married shortly thereafter in a small ceremony on the bay in Narragansett. Sigmund flew to the States to be my best man, and Felicity had her best friend, Bailey, by her side. We celebrated after with a clam bake by the bay and fireworks. It was perfection—everything coming full circle.

  I decided to take control of the situation with the local press back in Westfordshire, cutting a deal with a paper to print a photo from our Rhode Island wedding to announce that I’d gotten remarried. I donated all the money from that article to Mrs. Barbosa and her foster children. After the story went to press, I didn’t bother to monitor the situation online. I just let everyone have a field day while I stayed in America. I no longer cared what anyone said or thought about me. My mother still hadn’t been speaking to me at that time, so she saw the photos in the paper along with everyone else. The only person I’d contacted with a warning was Darcie. She deserved at least that and appreciated the heads up.

  Shortly after Felicity and I got married, she took a part-time job working as a legal advisor for the Department of Human Services in Rhode Island. She was finally doing what she’d always wanted to: advocating for children. She continued working there until we moved, and she vowed to look for a way to continue that work as soon as we were settled in the UK.

  The first time I heard from my mother was right after Eloise was born. She asked if I would be willing to come back for a visit with Felicity and the baby. So that’s what we did when our daughter turned six months old.

  My mother did the best she could. She was cordial to Felicity and tried to pretend we’d never been estranged in order to be in her grandchild’s life. Eloise was the game changer. Things weren’t perfect with Mother even to this day, but they were better than they had been.

  When we moved here last year, Felicity decided to keep the house in Narragansett and was now renting it out to a family. We knew that as Eloise approached school age, we would have had to pick one location, and we’d agreed that England made the most sense. The timing had been right, since Aunt Mildred had decided to move to France around the same time, leaving her beautiful farmhouse vacant. I purchased it from her. Surrounded by animals, which included Felicity’s beloved Shetland, Ludicrous, Brighton House was the perfect permanent home for us.

  Felicity truly seemed
happy here, never wanting to venture away from the farm much, aside from her teaching job or volunteering at a foster home in London.

  After her morning ride around the grounds, my wife stepped down off of the black stallion. “Your mother will be here soon. She’s coming for Eloise’s birthday cake.”

  “Quick, hide the paint, Eloise! We wouldn’t want your grandmother to have a heart attack,” Sigmund quipped.

  “She’s actually loosened up quite a bit, thankfully,” I said.

  Felicity went inside to shower, and I got Eloise cleaned up for the small family birthday party. We were planning a kids’ party later in the week.

  Since my wife never wanted a huge staff, we had one part-time housekeeper, Mary, who was now setting up balloons in the dining area.

  It was nearly noontime when Sigmund kicked back with a beer in the living room to watch the football game. The doorbell rang, and I went to answer it while Eloise played on the floor next to Sigmund’s feet.

  My mother stood at the door, holding a gargantuan, wrapped box.

  “Hello, Mother.” I kissed her on both cheeks.

  “Hello, my darling. Show me to the birthday girl.”

  After Mother joined Eloise and Sigmund in the living area, I noticed my gorgeous angel descending the stairs. Felicity looked divine in a simple white dress with an empire waist. She and I had an announcement to make at the party. Yes, she was pregnant again, and that was part of the announcement, but the other bit made me equally nervous and excited.

  I took her aside. “You look so beautiful right now.”

  “I do? I don’t feel it.”

  “Trust me,” I said as I placed a soft kiss on her lips. “I swear you’re even sexier when you’re pregnant.”

  Felicity blushed. The fact that I still had that effect on her pleased me to no end.

  She went to the living room and greeted my mother with a standard, formal kiss on each cheek.