Marcus couldn’t stand hearing her talk about herself that way. He stopped her the only way he knew how. He pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips against hers, stopping her words and trying to show her that none of what he knew mattered. Finally, she responded, and he deepened the kiss. It was several moments before he raised his lips from hers, and then he looked into her eyes. “I love you, Abigail. With all my heart. None of what I found out matters. You aren’t that woman, and you haven’t been for months.”
“But—”
His fingers stilled her lips. “No buts. I love the woman you are. I shouldn’t have looked into your past. But when you got here, you were so sad. . . . My only excuse is that I wanted, needed to know why. But I had no right. I should have asked you, not taken it on myself to find out. I knew as soon as I got the report that you weren’t the same woman you’d been when you left Eureka Springs. That was made even clearer when your old crowd came into town.”
“You didn’t just find all this out when you looked into Robert’s past?”
Marcus steeled himself for her wrath. “No. I knew before they ever got here. And I watched as you changed, a little each day, into the woman I’ve fallen in love with. Please, Abigail. Don’t go. Please forgive me and give me a chance to win your love.”
❧
Abigail felt her heart would explode with joy. Marcus loved her. And he’d fallen in love with her, knowing about her past. She shook her head. It was too good to believe.
“Oh, please don’t say no, Abigail,” Marcus said. “Just think about it—”
Her hand came up to cup his jaw. “I don’t need to think, Marcus. I love you, too. I thought that you couldn’t love me because—”
Marcus claimed her lips once more, cutting off her words and convincing her of his love. When he raised his head, he looked into her eyes and said, “No more talk about your past. From now on, there is only the future. Please, Abigail, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
“Oh, Marcus, yes. Oh yes, I will.” She stood on tiptoe and sealed her promise with a kiss meant to leave him with no doubt that she meant every word.
Epilogue
October 16, 1886
Abigail had no desire to go back to Eureka Springs for the wedding. As soon as possible, she wanted to be married in Hot Springs, in the church where she’d begun to change and where she’d fallen in love with Marcus. She’d waited much too long for Nate to fall in love with her. She didn’t want to wait one moment longer than she had to before becoming Mrs. Marcus Wellington.
She wrote home and asked her mother and father to come and bring the dress Meagan had made for her. She didn’t want to wait to have another made, and neither did Marcus. They just wanted to get married as soon as possible. She’d hired Bea to come work for her and Marcus as housekeeper in the home they were having built. It would be ready to move into when they returned from their wedding trip to Europe.
They were married on a crisp fall day, and Abigail was overjoyed to have her family there to share the day with her. Marcus’s parents were trying to talk hers into coming back for Thanksgiving, and Abigail hoped they’d stay through Christmas, too.
But what made her heart sing and made the day even more perfect as she walked down the aisle toward her groom was that Natalie went before her, sprinkling flower petals along the way, while Nate and Meagan sat beside her parents.
To be given so much—forgiveness from those she’d hurt so badly and the love of a man who loved her as she was. Her heart overflowed with happiness as she and Marcus said their vows, and her hand trembled as he slid an emerald ring that had belonged to his grandmother on her finger. All her dreams were coming true.
As soon as the minister declared them husband and wife, Marcus claimed her lips in a kiss that sealed their promises to each other. Her heart felt as if it might burst with happiness as they turned and walked back down the aisle. When they arrived in the church foyer, her new husband pulled her into his arms and whispered, “I love you, Abigail Wellington,” just before his lips claimed hers once more.
Abigail kissed her new husband back and thanked the Lord above for the blessings He’d rained down on her—especially for forgiving her, for changing her, and for giving her a love all her own.
About the Author
Janet Lee Barton and her husband, Dan, have recently moved to Oklahoma and feel blessed to have at least one daughter and her family living nearby. Janet loves being able to share her faith and love of the Lord through her writing. She’s very happy that the kind of romances the Lord has called her to write can be read by and shared with women of all ages.
Dedication
To my Lord and Savior for showing me the way and to my family for their love and support always.
A note from the Author:
I love to hear from my readers! You may correspond with me by writing:
Janet Lee Barton
Author Relations
PO Box 721
Uhrichsville, OH 44683
A Love All Her Own Page 15
