Cyril shrugged. “Nothing wrong with being festive.”
Lark smiled, seeing only Jonathon. “I am the most fortunate, my lord. The luckiest lady in the world.”
“Oh, posh! I must take my leave before you two melt completely to mush right here on the carpet.” Cyril huffed and then walked off.
Jonathon watched his brother depart then turned back to his bride. He rested his hands delicately upon her shoulders. “I am much luckier than you, my dear. You are beyond compare. To think I might never have found you had I been left to my own devises.”
“I am so glad Lord Peter loved me enough to enjoin me to you. I have loved you forever.”
He pulled her close and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.
Lark’s pulse quickened with the warm tenderness of Jonathon’s lips on hers. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she brought her hands up to cradle his head. Happiness and contentment became tangible.
Moments later, the spell was broken as Cyril cleared his throat. “Time to go, Romeo,” he said, tapping Jonathon on the shoulder.
Lark turned her attention to the finely dressed man behind Cyril. “You look quite fabulous, Chauncy,” she said.
“I must agree,” opined Jonathon.
Lark had never known Chauncy to blush before, and the boyish reaction touched her heart. “I am so grateful that you would agree to escort me down the aisle,” she told him.
Chauncy bowed. “It is highly unusual, my lady, but I am thoroughly honored.”
“As Jon pointed out, everything about these two is highly unusual. Come on, brother, let us get you in the right place. Everyone awaits.” Cyril tugged on Jonathon’s arm and Lord Somerset obediently followed.
~*∞*~
Standing on the threshold of the sanctuary Jonathon watched Lark glide down the aisle with swanlike grace, and he realized fully this was truly the best day of his life. It had taken weeks for him to come to terms with the past. The man he knew as his father had seemed never to exist. It rent his heart, but he had finally come to realize that this happiest moment would not exist without being moulded by the past.
He loved me enough to enjoin me with you. Lark’s earlier words came back to him. She had the right of it. His father had been more flawed than Jonathon ever could have imagined, but in the end Peter Rexley had been utmost remorseful and diligent in setting things aright.
As the organ music swelled in his ears, the only person who filled his vision was Lark Blackwell. Peter Rexley and all that man’s sordid secrets were dead and gone. Now, nothing existed except a bright and happy life with his resurrected lady wife.
Author’s Note...
Although deaf-mutes were considered uneducable, in the mid-18th century, Charles-Michel, abbé de Epée (1712-89) developed a system of communication that involved spelling out words with a manual alphabet and expressing whole concepts with simple signs. His early system developed into French Sign Language (FSL), which is still used in France today.
In the early 19th century, Epée’s successor, abbé Roch-Ambroise Sicard, taught FSL to a young Yale graduate named Thomas Gallaudet. In 1816, Gallaudet brought the system to the United States.
American Sign Language (ASL) is the fourth most commonly used language in the USA and is used by more than 500,000 deaf people in North America.
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