They belonged completely to each other.
When the Marquis carried her up to the sky on the wings of ecstasy, they were no longer two people but one.
*
A long time later the Marquis murmured,
“My darling, my precious, how can I ever have guessed that anyone could be as perfect as you? Or I would find you of all unexpected places in a gypsy caravan?”
Della chuckled.
“And how could I find the man of my dreams in the same place? In addition he is the star I always believed would be somewhere in the world and he would love me as I love him?”
“You do love me?” the Marquis demanded in a deep voice.
“I love you – and adore you, my husband. Promise me you will never love anyone else because if you do I shall only – want to die.”
“I have never loved anyone as I love you, my darling, and I know it would be impossible for me to think about, let alone marry, anyone else. As you have just said we have been looking for each other for perhaps a million years. Now we are together and that is how I am convinced we shall remain for all eternity.”
He spoke from the depths of his heart and Della gave a cry of sheer happiness.
“This is just what I believe and I love you and love you, until it is – impossible for me to say it in – any other – words.”
The Marquis did not ask her to try and instead he kissed her again and again until they were both breathless.
Then as her head rested on his shoulder and he kissed her golden hair, he said,
“We are going away first thing tomorrow morning on our honeymoon. My new yacht is waiting for us at Southampton so we do not have very far to go.”
It was then Della remembered something.
To reach Southampton they would almost pass her own home and her uncle must be told what had happened to her. Yet she had no wish for the present to even think what the consequences of her news might be.
“Now you are worried,” the Marquis interrupted her thoughts, “and that is something I cannot allow you to be.”
Della thought quickly.
“Let us leave all the explanations about ourselves until tomorrow,” she suggested. “Tonight is so blissful in this enchanted room, I only want to think of you and love.”
“It is completely impossible for me to think of anything but you,” he answered. “You are quite right, my precious Della, you are mine and no one can take you away from me. We will leave all the explanations until later.”
“I knew you would understand as you have always understood me from the very first moment I met you.”
“I still do not believe you are real, my Della. Promise me you will not suddenly vanish with the Gods to Olympus or into the pool in the woods where all I can see will be your reflection in the water.”
“I will do nothing of the sort,” Della promised. “I am so wildly – happy to be – close to you like this, the world outside is of no importance.”
“And it will never be,” agreed the Marquis firmly.
It was almost as if he was making a vow.
Della sensed that he was thinking of how angry and shocked his family would be if he had married someone of no consequence.
The truth was very different, but still she did not wish to talk about it tonight.
To mention Jason and the Duke might spoil the exquisite wonder of their wedding night and she did not want him to think of anything or anyone but her. She wanted to blot out the memory of the fear that had made her run away.
Moving even closer she put her arms round the Marquis’s neck and drew his lips down to hers.
Then he was kissing her again.
His hand was touching her body and their hearts were beating frantically against each other.
This was the wild unfettered music of the woods.
The water was falling from the fountain.
The glitter of the stars was coming out in the sky overhead.
This was the perfection of love.
A love which would never die and which would be theirs forever.
*
The following morning, although they had not slept for very long, the Marquis insisted on having breakfast early.
When they walked outside Della saw the carriage that was to take them to Southampton, drawn by a team of perfectly matched chestnuts.
The ‘travelling chariot’, as it was named, was very light and beside the driver’s seat there was only one small place for the groom behind the hood.
The horses were finer than any team Della had ever seen and the Marquis smiled at her enthusiasm as she patted them.
Their luggage had already left, before they came down to breakfast.
“Nanny says she has packed everything she thought you would need,” the Marquis informed Della, “but I dare say you can collect a few dresses if we stop at your home as you have asked me to do.”
“Yes, of course,” she agreed.
She had told him they would be passing very near to her home on their way to Southampton and she wanted to introduce him to the relative who had brought her up.
“My father and mother are dead,” she explained, “and I must tell my uncle what has happened to me.”
“Yes, of course, my darling.”
The Marquis had readily concurred with her request, but he had, however, spoken indifferently and Della suspected that he resented this intrusion of reality back into their lives.
When they left Clare Court he drove the horses rapidly with an expertise that Della expected from him. He was looking so happy that he seemed almost to vibrate a burning light towards her.
As the servants said goodbye and waved as they drove down the drive Della knew they were delighted at how happy their Master was.
They reached her uncle’s village at about twelve o’clock, rather earlier than Della had expected, but the Marquis had given his team their heads. He was an exceptional driver and Della felt sure he would break every record on the roads.
She thought now that on reaching her home they might stay for luncheon.
She was, however, not quite sure if that would be what her husband would desire and she was feeling nervous.
What would her uncle say to her marriage without his permission or even an invitation to the wedding?
The Marquis turned his horses in at the gate and Della was conscious of an expression of surprise in his eyes when he saw the house.
The pink Elizabethan bricks looked most attractive in the sunshine and Della was certain that he had not expected anything so beautiful or so ancient.
He drew up the horses outside the front door.
Storton came running down the steps to greet the carriage.
“It’s good to see you, Miss Della!” he exclaimed. “His Lordship’s been worrying as to what had happened to you.”
“I am quite safe, Storton,” Della assured him. “Is his Lordship in the study?”
“Writing away, Miss Della, as might be expected.”
Della walked in through the front door and as the Marquis joined her, she said,
“Come and meet my uncle. I am a little frightened in case he is angry with me for getting married without his permission.”
“Leave everything to me,” replied the Marquis. “You know, my precious, I will not have you upset for anything.”
Della did not reply. She just walked to the study door and opened it.
Her uncle looked up, saw her and gave out an exclamation of delight.
“Della, you’re back!”
She ran towards him.
“Please forgive me, Uncle Edward, for running away and for being married without telling you about it.”
Lord Lainden stared at her in astonishment.
“Married!”
“I have brought my husband here to meet you,” added Della breathlessly.
The two men looked at each other.
Then Lord Lainden spoke slowly,
“Perhaps I am mistaken but surely you are Ke
lvin Chorlton?”
“And you are Lord Lainden,” replied the Marquis. “I enjoyed your speech in the House of Lords last month and agree with every word.”
Lord Lainden held out his hand.
“I was exceedingly fond of your father,” he said looking confused, “but I cannot quite understand what Della has just said and why you are here.”
The Marquis smiled.
“We were married yesterday. It was a case of love at first sight and I was terrified of losing her.”
“Married!” cried Lord Lainden again. “I find it difficult to believe – ”
Della held on to his arm.
“We are so happy, Uncle Edward. And if the Duke is disagreeable then I am sure Kelvin can find you a house on his vast estate.”
“Which Duke is that?” asked the Marquis, “and why should he be disagreeable?”
“The reason – I ran away – to the gypsies – ”
“So Della, you were with the gypsies!” her uncle ejaculated. “I wondered where on earth you could have gone, but it never struck me you would go with Piramus and Lendi. But I am sure they looked after you well.”
“They dyed my hair to disguise me as a gypsy and Kelvin has been brave enough to marry me believing I was one of them,” Della told him simply.
She slipped her hand into the Marquis’s as she spoke, half afraid he would be annoyed at her deception.
But he only said,
“How could you have deceived me so cleverly and how could you have told fortunes so well, if not better, than Lendi?”
“It is my Scottish blood which makes me capable of reading peoples’ minds, a gift I inherited,” answered Della. “And I had to escape from the Earl of Rannock.”
The Marquis stared at her incredulously.
“Rannock!” he repeated sharply. “What have you got to do with that young swine?”
Della looked at her uncle.
“His father, the Duke, was determined that I should marry him. That is why I ran away.”
The Marquis put his arm round her protectively “Thank God you did so,” he sighed. “I would not want my worst enemy to have anything at all to do with Rannock!”
“The Duke was determined I should save him from – himself,” Della stammered. “And, because I was frightened he might make life very uncomfortable for Uncle Edward, I ran away to try and work out a solution to the dilemma.”
She smiled before she added softly,
“And – I – found – you.”
“For which I thank God, the stars, the moon and everyone else who might have been involved!”
He looked at Lord Lainden before he asked,
“Are you really likely to have any trouble with Marchwood over this?”
“I thought for one moment that we might be in a great deal of trouble,” explained Lord Lainden. “But as it happened, the most amazing thing has occurred.”
“What is it?” asked Della breathlessly.
“The rakish Earl has fallen in love,” replied her uncle.
Della stared at him.
“Not with – me,” she faltered.
“No, my dear, you are quite safe. As soon as you disappeared he spent every day, as far as I can ascertain, with Lady Southgate. She is taking as much trouble over him as she is taking over her puppies. And believe it or not he looks like becoming a reformed character, thanks to her.”
“Are you saying she will marry him?”
“Actually the village knows far more about the affair than I do,” answered Lord Lainden. “But that is exactly what she is considering she might do.”
Della clasped her hands together.
“Oh, Uncle Edward, how wonderful! This means the Duke will not be unpleasant to you and you will still be able to ride his horses.”
“I think,” the Marquis intervened, “it would be much more sensible if your uncle took a look at my Dower House which is empty at the moment. It is not unlike this house and it would give me great pleasure to have someone so distinguished living on my estate. I feel sure like you, my darling, that Lord Lainden will enjoy the use of my library.”
“What a really glorious idea,” enthused Della. “Oh, please, Uncle Edward, do consider it. I would love you to be near us and when Kelvin can spare me I can go on helping you with your book.”
“It is certainly something I would like to consider,” he responded. “And thank you, Kelvin, for such a generous offer.”
“I think actually I am being quite selfish,” added the Marquis. “I do not wish Della to be out of my sight for one moment, and it will be far better for her to run down to the Dower House than to tell me she has to come here to see you in case you are lonely.”
The two men laughed and Della pleaded,
“Please, Uncle Edward, be ready to move in as soon as we return from our honeymoon.”
They talked about the proposed move over luncheon and when they drove off the Marquis said,
“My precious, how could anything be so perfect? My family will be ecstatic with joy that I have married someone not only as beautiful as you, but who is the niece of your uncle whom they all respect.”
“I shall never forget that you wanted to marry me when you thought I was only a gypsy!”
Della moved a little nearer to him as she spoke and her hand was on his knee.
The Marquis took his eyes off the road to look down at her.
“You look so incredibly beautiful and if you speak to me with that little catch in your voice which I find irresistible, I shall forget I am driving and we shall have an accident.”
Della laughed.
“You are too good a driver for that. At the same time I want you to tell me that you like my hair the colour it is and that you are glad you did not have to fight for me because your relations thought you had picked me up in the gutter.”
“No one who ever looked at you could think such a travesty of the truth,” answered the Marquis. “Equally I admit it makes my life very much easier than I expected. But nothing in the world would have prevented me from marrying you anyway. You have stolen my heart and I would always have been crippled by the loss of it if I had not married you.”
“Oh, darling, darling Kelvin, I love you so. It is not only the exciting compliments you pay me, or the fact that when you kiss me you carry me up to Heaven. It is also because you are so kind, so clever and so understanding.”
“I adore and worship you,” sighed the Marquis. “And the sooner we sail away, the better. I want to tell you just how much you mean to me and it is far easier to say so without words.”
Della gave a little laugh of sheer happiness.
Then as she looked ahead she could see the outskirts of Southampton in the far distance.
The Marquis’s yacht was waiting for them.
They would set off on a voyage of discovery which would make them inseparable because they were both longing for the joy and bliss of their divine future together.
It was a treasure beyond price.
It was the ecstasy and wonder that God has given to man.
Quite simply it is love.
The Love that comes from God, and makes those who are fortunate enough to find it, a part of God in this life and forever.
Follow Your Heart Page 13
