Chapter Thirty-Five
Arabella was leaving.
Charlie had healed well over the past six weeks, thanks to the care of his mother and the attentions of the local physician, Scorseby having long since returned to Nottinghamshire. Charlie had missed the start of the new term at Cambridge and would not be returning until after the Christmas holiday. His prolonged absence had increased his enthusiasm for taking up his studies once more. The time away from his brothers had increased his enthusiasm for their company. He was ready to return to Lampton Park, as was Mater. Linus would miss them. But Arabella’s departure weighed far more heavily on him.
Six weeks he’d had her company. Six weeks of walking through the neighborhood and leisurely strolling the gardens and estate. Six weeks of holding her hand each evening after dinner. Six weeks of growing attached to the idea of her in this home, at his side. And she was leaving.
The past month and a half had changed them both. She had shed much of the uncertainty that had once hung heavy in her eyes. He had slipped free of the loneliness that had dogged his heels the past eleven years. They were happy together, comforted by each other, strengthened. He could not imagine his life without her in it.
He was running out of time to secure that future.
The first item of business was running Mater to ground, which proved quite easy. He found her in Charlie’s room. Somehow, over the course of the last two months, Linus had begun to think of the bedchamber he had once shared with his brother as Charlie’s. It was not the place of pain and regret it had once been, neither did he rush past the door or refuse to step inside. He would always feel Evander there. He would always miss and mourn his brother. But he no longer feared those emotions. There was happiness in this home now.
“Linus.” Mater had begun calling him by his Christian name. Indeed, she had taken on a role in his life one could only describe as maternal. “Have you come to help us pack?”
“No.”
Charlie laughed as he put yet another book inside his small traveling bag. He had received a steady stream of texts from Cambridge to study during his convalescence.
“What has brought you in, then?” Mater asked.
“I have come on a matter of business.” That was not quite the right word, but his nerves rendered his thoughts a little muddled. “I know that Arabella’s nearest male relative is her uncle, but as I have no intention of giving him the false impression that he has any say whatsoever in her life or decisions, I will not be presenting this bit of business to him. And though your oldest might be the substitute Society would consider most acceptable, you are the one I feel best suited to this particular matter of . . . business.”
Lud, he was rambling. And Charlie, blast the boy, was grinning quite unrepentantly.
“I realize it is customary when undertaking this type of business”—he really needed to come up with a different word—“to seek the blessing of the lady’s family. I would like to know that you approve, that you support this possibility. She would be unhappy if her decision did not meet with your approval, but I do consider her more than able to make this decision without—I am not asking you for permission; I—not that I don’t value your thoughts, but—”
Charlie actually snorted.
Mater swatted at him before crossing to Linus. She set her hands on his upper arms. “Arabella is more than capable of choosing her own future. That you know that and acknowledge it only endears you to me further. And your concern that our position on the future you mean to propose to her might bring her unhappiness does as well.”
“You do not think me entirely terrible, then?” he asked with a laugh.
Charlie chimed in. “Not entirely.”
Mater shook her head. “Do not listen to him. Now that he is feeling better, he is choosing to be troublesome.”
“As any younger brother worth his salt would,” Linus said.
Charlie wandered over, moving slowly and using his cane. He would require time yet to fully heal. “How do you intend to ask her?”
How? He looked from Charlie to Mater and back again. “I was simply going to ask.”
Charlie rolled his eyes.
Mater eyed her son. “I suppose you, when the time comes, intend to undertake something grand and spectacular.”
“One ought to make a gesture,” Charlie said as if any other opinion was simply absurd. “Proposing a future together should be memorable.”
Linus couldn’t help a laugh. “You sound like Artemis.”
Charlie’s expression turned stern. He pointed a finger at Linus. “Keep spouting nonsense like that and I’ll brain you with this cane. My sister-in-law showed me how, and she is an expert.”
“As much as I would enjoy an impromptu duel, I have far more important . . . business to attend to.”
Mater patted his cheek. “Arabella does not require gestures or grand productions. She simply needs to know you love her. Remind her of that.”
“Remind her?”
Mater smiled kindly. “You have shown her again and again these past weeks the truth of your love for her.”
Quite to his surprise, Mater pulled him into an embrace. Memories of his mother doing the same when he was a little boy flooded over him. Linus put his arms around her and cherished the moment.
“Thank you, my dear Linus,” she said, “for loving Arabella. For seeing my Charlie when his own family didn’t always.” She pulled back enough to look him in the eye. “For being a welcome and wonderful addition to my beloved boys.”
“And thank you for letting me be part of your family at a time when I desperately needed one and for giving me a mother again. That is something I have not had since I was very little.”
“It seems I was wise to hold that house party.”
He nodded. “I will be forever grateful that you did.”
She set him a little away. “Go find Arabella. I will write to my son Jason. He can procure a special license, then we need not wait to plan a wedding.”
“Do you not think you are getting a little ahead of yourself?”
“Not in the least.” She moved to the writing desk. “I have no doubt of the outcome of your endeavors.”
“I will rely upon your confidence, then, as I am not nearly as sure she will be pleased at the idea.”
Mater smiled at him fondly. “I certainly wasn’t when first confronted with the possibility of a match between myself and the gentleman I would eventually marry. I threatened to run away from home.”
Linus laughed. “You are not helping my confidence.”
“Yes, but you see, our situation was not at all the same as yours. You love her, and she knows you do. That makes all the difference in the world.”
“Well”—he returned to the doorway—“wish me luck.”
“Without a gesture, you’ll need it,” Charlie called after him.
“Stop it,” Mater laughingly scolded.
Linus shook his head in amusement as he stepped into the corridor. Being part of the Jonquil family these past weeks had been a joy and a blessing. He’d begun not only thinking of himself as one of them but also growing more anxious to make the needed effort to rejoin his own family, finding for himself a place amongst them rather than simply bemoaning the gap created by years of separation.
He meant to spend Christmas at Falstone Castle. If all went well, he and Arabella could spend Christmas there. Though he wanted to brush aside Charlie’s insistence, Linus suspected he needed to find a better way to pose the possibility other than simply searching her out and saying, “If you don’t have plans for Christmas, we should get married and then visit my family.”
He ought to do something, but what? He was not a very romantic person, having so little experience with such things. There must have been something he could do or arrange that would help his cause, something that would further show h
er he cared.
On the instant, he knew.
He ducked into the study and pulled open the top desk drawer. A former shipmate of his lived in neighboring Cheshire. Linus had written to him three weeks earlier, knowing that the retired sailor had amassed a collection of oddities from around the world. Just as Linus had hoped, his one-time associate had amongst his international trinkets a particularly unique bead, one he had been willing to sell. The bead had arrived only two days earlier, but Linus hadn’t found the right moment to give it to her.
This was that moment.
He pulled the package out and tipped the bead into his hand. It wasn’t colorful like the bead Arabella had received from the earl, neither was it impressive like the two jade beads he’d given her weeks ago. It was not fancy or fine, but it was unique and interesting. He felt certain she would love it.
A quick glance at the clock told him where he would find her. She no longer spent hours of each day walking for miles on end, but she did walk around the gardens or the open meadows of the estate each afternoon. Linus had joined her on many of those excursions. Doing so had relieved his concerns. She no longer looked weary and afraid and worn down. She seemed content. More than content, she seemed happy.
He made for the garden first in case she’d chosen a path closer to the house. Fate was on his side. He found her sitting beneath the branches of an oak tree on the west side of the garden. Autumn had edged the leaves in red. The nearby bushes had undergone the same transformation. The scene was tranquil, captivating, more so for her being in it. How easily he could picture her in that very spot in the white of winter, the budding greens of spring, the vibrant sunshine of summer.
She looked up as he approached. Her eyes lit with pleasure.
“Good afternoon, Linus.” She slid to the end of the bench on which she sat, making room for him without hesitation. With Arabella, there was always room for him, something he’d not always been granted by his loved ones.
He sat beside her. She laid her head on his shoulder and threaded her arm through his. They had established that pattern between them. He would normally have laid his hand atop hers and adjusted his position until they were tucked cozily together. This afternoon, however, he had pressing matters to attend to.
“I have something for you,” he said. Charlie would likely have dismissed the beginning as too ordinary. Artemis certainly would have.
“Have you?” Though she sounded interested, she didn’t pull away. His company appealed to her more than a gift. Was it any wonder he loved her so dearly?
He reached into his pocket with his free arm, grateful that their current arrangement allowed for easy access. His fist clenched tightly around the small bauble, afraid both of losing it and discovering she was unimpressed by it.
“It must not be very large,” she said.
“It isn’t.” He set his fist on his leg, suddenly nervous.
She reached across and gently, tenderly turned his hand over and peeled back his fingers one at a time until his hand lay open, the bead in the middle of his palm. Carefully, she placed her thumb and forefinger on either side of the bead and picked it up.
“It comes from Greece,” he said. “It is made of boxwood, the same variety as my lyre.”
“I love when you play your lyre.” She closed her fingers over the bead and pressed it to her heart. “This is the same wood?”
He nodded.
“It will be like having a piece of you with me.”
He took her hand in his and raised it, the bead inside, to his lips. “I don’t imagine I will ever be able to pass up another bead as long as I live. Soon enough, you’ll have the oddest necklace in all the world.”
She smiled. “I would love that.”
“Of course, giving them to you will be difficult if you are in Notting-
hamshire.”
Her countenance fell. “And we are leaving soon.”
“Do you have to?” He turned, necessitating that the arm threaded through hers pull free. He took hold of her hand instead, now holding both of hers in both of his.
“My family—” For a fraction of a moment, she paused, amazement pulling at her features. “My family is leaving.”
He knew full well what it meant to her to be part of the Jonquil family. She’d told him in detail the dreams she had harbored all her life. Belonging to a family, being loved and cherished and cared about, mattered to her deeply.
“Don’t you see, Arabella? My family is leaving as well.”
Her brow pulled low in confusion. “Your family left weeks ago.”
He slipped a hand free and brushed his fingers along her cheek. “You are my family. You are home to me.”
“And you are home to me.”
Relief and hope pulled a sigh from him. He knew enough of her history to have wondered if she could ever learn to trust his declarations of devotion. It seemed she had.
“Have you been happy here?” he asked.
“Have you?” It was not at all the answer he’d been expecting. His confusion must have shown. She smiled a little. “I know returning was difficult for you, and the memories you’ve been confronting are often heavy.”
“I’ve made it my own, as you suggested all those weeks ago. And you’ve allowed me to speak of my brother without pressing me or insisting that I suddenly stop grieving.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Have I thanked you for that?”
“You have now.”
For one who had arrived with a very specific purpose in mind, he had wandered far afield. She was happy with the bead he’d given her, had expressed tenderness for him, had sat in his embrace. Everything indicated she would accept his proposal, yet he was still nervous. Were all gentlemen uneasy when undertaking this momentous task?
“I didn’t seek you out only to give you the bead,” he said. “I wanted to ask you something.”
A tiny, silent laugh shook her frame. “You have actually asked a lot of questions since you joined me here: Do I have to leave? Have I been happy? Have you thanked me for being a wonderful person?”
“I’d like to ask one more.”
She watched him, waiting.
“Will you—Would you consider—?” He shook his head at his own ridiculousness. He was a man of the navy. He had fought in wars. Losing his nerve, especially when reaching for something he wanted this desperately, was not acceptable. “Will you stay with me?”
Hope warred with uncertainty in her eyes. “In the garden?”
“In this home. In my life.”
Her hand, still clutching the bead he’d gifted her, pressed once more to her heart. She took a shaky breath. “I have been wrong about important things before, Linus. Please, don’t make me guess.”
That was fair. He slipped one arm around her middle, then the other. He pulled her close to him, so close the flowery scent of her tiptoed over him. “Arabella Hampton, I love you. I cannot imagine my life without you in it. The two of us have spent so many years searching for a place in our families. In meeting you, I found my place. I found my family. I found where I belong. If there is any chance you might have found the same—”
“Linus.” His name emerged as a scold and a plea.
He was still wandering around his point. The time had come to be bold. “Will you marry me?”
An exhaled breath lowered her shoulders as if a world of tension had suddenly dissipated. “Linus.” This time, she spoke his name with contentment. She leaned into his embrace, her head resting against his chest. “Linus.”
“Now it is my turn to plead for you to not make me guess.”
“I love you,” she said. “And I cannot imagine my life without you.”
“Are you saying yes?” His heart pounded even as his lungs contracted.
She pressed a feather of a kiss on his cheek. “Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
He brushed his lips over hers. “I love you.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. He kissed her more fully, more deeply. She held fast to him and he to her. For so long, he had silently cursed fate for tearing him away from home and family, yet fate had brought him to her. His life, with its holes and gaps and loneliness, had filled with love and joy and hope.
“I love you,” he said again. “And I will love you forever.”
Sarah Eden
About the Author
Sarah M. Eden is a USA Today best-selling author of witty and charming award-winning historical romances. Combining her obsession with history and her affinity for tender love stories, Sarah loves crafting witty characters and heartfelt romances set against rich historical backdrops. She holds a bachelor’s degree in research and happily spends hours perusing the reference shelves of her local library. She lives with her husband, kids, and mischievous dog in the shadow of a snow-capped mountain she has never attempted to ski.
Other Books By Sarah M. Eden
The Lancaster Family
Seeking Persephone
Courting Miss Lancaster
Romancing Daphne
Loving Lieutenant Lancaster
The Jonquil Family
The Kiss of a Stranger
Friends and Foes
Drops of Gold
As You Are
A Fine Gentleman
For Love and Honor
Stand-Alone Novels
Glimmer of Hope
An Unlikely Match
For Elise
Loving Lieutenant Lancaster Page 27
