by Harmon, AJ
Tim was speechless. He had no idea how to respond except to say thank you and he kissed Ann on the cheek.
“Be right back,” he yelled at Beth as he ran up the stairs, two at a time and disappeared down the hall.
*****
One end of the stables had been transformed by adding white twinkly lights and a table set for two. As they walked down the cobbled path, hand in hand, Beth choked up just a little at the sight.
“You know this has always been my favorite spot of the whole estate,” she sighed.
“I know. Your mother told me.”
“Oh you have been sneaky, haven’t you?” she giggled. “But this is a wonderful surprise.”
They ate fish and chips by candlelight, George had brought over what Beth had said were the best fish and chips in all of England, and Tim divulged his conversation with her father when he’d left her in the drawing room.
“You’ll never get her blessing,” Beth sighed after hearing her father’s reaction. “She has an image of what this family is supposed to look like from the outside and in her mind, you don’t fit in.”
“I thought I was doing pretty well when your dad didn’t throw me out of the house!” Tim laughed. “Besides, I’m a good looking guy. Your mother can’t be immune to all my charms.”
“Humble too!” she chuckled.
“You don’t think I can sway your mom onto my side?”
“Oh Tim,” she sounded forlorn. “I have grown up with her telling me a hundred…no a thousand times what I’m supposed to marry. I don’t see her changing her mind.”
Tim just grinned and let her stew for just a minute longer.
“I don’t care though,” she continued. “I will marry you and they can’t stop me! It’s my life and I love you.”
“Finish your chips,” he chuckled. “George brought them all the way here just for you and you shouldn’t let it go to waste.”
“How did you know to get fish and chips?”
“Oh, just because you talk about them every time we go out for dinner!” he laughed. “There’s nothing better than a plate of fish and chips from the Pig and Pony,” he said doing his best impression of her accent.
She threw her napkin at him. “Stop!” But she laughed.
Tim slipped off his chair and kneeled in front of her. “Beth?” he whispered. “I love you with all my heart. I have loved you since I first met you. I knew that you were the woman that I wanted, no, needed to spend the rest of my life with. I promise to love you, to worship you forever.” He pulled a velvet box from his pocket and lifted the lid. “And I know that I already asked you to marry me, but I didn’t have the ring and I didn’t have your parents’ blessing, but now I have both, so Elizabeth Ann Collins, will you be my wife?”
Beth’s eyes got big and her mouth opened.
“That’s what your mom just told me before we left,” he grinned. “So? How about it? Marry me?”
“Oh yes! I’ll marry you!”
*****
Rupert and Ann Collins were sorry to see their daughter leave so soon. And they were sorry they didn’t have more time to get to know Tim a little better. But they promised to visit them in New York in a couple of months and Ann reminded her daughter that they had a wedding to plan.
As Tim loaded their suitcases into the boot of the car, Beth decided it was as good a time as any to let her family in on Tim’s secret.
“Oh, and I don’t think I told you Tim’s last name,” she grinned. “It’s Tim Lathem.”
“WHAT????” Emma squealed.
“Matt is my older brother,” Tim confirmed.
“What’s a Lathem?” Ann asked. “Who are the Lathems?”
“Only the richest family in New York,” Emma replied.
“No,” Tim chuckled. “Not even close.”
Ann hugged Beth and Tim goodbye and as they slid into the back of the Jag, Emma took her mother by the arm and led her back into the house while saying, “Let me tell you all about Matt Lathem. I wonder if there are any other brothers?”
EPILOGUE
If there was a competition between Maureen Lathem and Ann Collins, any competition, Tim wouldn’t know who to place his bet on. The two women were a force to be reckoned with, but fortunately, they seemed to get on well. Well, well enough. The Collins’ had visited New York as promised in the early fall, and the Lathems had visited England after the New Year. Each was in awe of the other, so everyone seemed to be happy, which allowed Beth to breathe a sigh of relief.
As planning began in earnest, Tim said he didn’t care about any of the wedding details. He wanted the bride, and how and where he got her would be left up to Beth. He just didn’t want to wait too long. She wanted to be married in the village church in Surrey, in the spring, and that’s exactly how it happened. Maureen hadn’t been thrilled about a Church of England wedding, but miraculously, she held her tongue.
Beth arrived at the church on a beautiful spring afternoon in a horse-drawn carriage in an exquisite strapless hand-beaded wedding gown. She had flowers weaved into her hair and a short veil fell from a diamond clip secured into the chignon on her head. Emma was her maid of honor, dressed in pale yellow satin and Ella and Isabelle her flower girls.
As Emma helped Beth straighten out the train of her dress before they entered the church, Emma held her sister’s hand.
“Thank you for showing me why I should wait for the right man, rather than any man. I envy you but I’m so happy for you. He is a good man and I’m sure you will be deliriously happy. One day, I want to have what you and Tim have and I’m not going to settle for anything less.”
Beth kissed her baby sister on the cheek. “Don’t ever settle,” she said.
Emma handed her sister off to her father who was waiting at the church entrance. It was full of family and close friends, including Jerry and Vince and even Gerald had attended. Beth tried to keep the tears in check as her father walked her down the aisle to the man of her dreams …to the man who had captured her heart.
Tim covered his mouth with his hand as he saw his bride enter at the rear of the church. She was stunning and he couldn’t take his eyes of her as she slowly made her way down the aisle.
When the Vicar asked who ‘gave this woman in matrimony’, Beth’s father took a step forward and shook Tim’s hand, father to son, man to man. “I do…gladly,” he smiled.
After a short service they were pronounced husband and wife and the congregation erupted in cheers as the happy couple kissed each other for the first time as husband and wife, and then left the church with rose petals thrown as they exited.
“And to think,” Beth smiled as Tim helped her into the carriage for the short ride back to the Collin’s estate for the reception, “all because you rescued my dog.”
“All because you rescued my heart.”
Beth chuckled.
“Too corny?” he grinned
“Not this time,” she smiled and kissed her husband.
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About the Author
AJ Harmon was born and raised in Perth, Western Australia. She currently resides in Oregon, USA, with her husband Brad. They have two grown children and a puppy named Max.
An avid reader of the Romance genre, the books in her personal library range from historical to erotica and everything in between. “I love reading a sweet romance set in the English Regency period where men were gentlemen and the women pretended to be naïve. But sometimes you just need a hot sexy romance to cap off a long week,” she smiled. The bookshelves in her home are filled with a variety of authors and she is humbled to now be among their ranks.
AJ is a new author, finding her passion in writing after her children had left home, leaving her and her husband e
mpty-nesters. She says the ‘First Class’ series has been a pleasure for her to write and has been absolutely delightful that readers have received them with such a warm embrace. “It will be hard to say goodbye to the Lathems,” she said. “They have become a huge part of my life and I consider them my family.”
Two more books are in the works for the series, bringing the total to nine.
