“It seems Leo started hanging out with Georgina in an attempt to keep an eye on her,” Edward said.
I bit down on my bottom lip. “That’s…terrible. I remember Georgina saying they were hanging out, but at the time, I didn’t remember them, so it didn’t raise any red flags. I’m so glad nothing happened to her.”
“Me too,” Edward said. “She was never my favorite person, but in the end, she came through for you, and that’s all that matters.” Edward pulled up a chair and took my hand in his. “I saw your pink rose outside the passageway door in the study, by the way. I was worried there had been a struggle and someone had forced you down the stairwell.”
“There wasn’t a struggle at that point. Beatriz said you asked her to take me down the passageway for my own safety, but I thought I should let you know where I was just in case.”
“She lied.”
“Yeah, I pretty much figured that out not long after. I had a bad feeling about her, and I ignored my gut. I won’t do that again.”
Dr. Bisset cleared his throat. “I’ll be back to check on you a little later.”
“Thank you, Dr. Bisset,” Edward and I said at the same time. Our eyes locked, and we both laughed as he waved a friendly goodbye.
I squeezed Edward’s hand. “Time will tell if all my memories are back, but one thing is for sure, I know I didn’t betray you. I never loved Leo…never. He attempted to be my friend while we were engaged, but I didn’t allow it. I told him it was over between us, and I turned away all his attempts at communication. Beatriz lied to me at the garden party, telling me she’d caught us together.” I shook my head. “I’m so glad she’s going to be held accountable for this.”
“Me too. She and Leo tried to divide us, but they weren’t successful.” He paused with a grimace on his face. “We learned the note you received on your pillow was our maid, Sarah Bromsky’s doing. She worked for Leo. We already fired her, and Nigel Walker’s guys will continue to question her. She admitted to taking the second note from the pocket of your gown. You can thank Leo and Beatriz for setting that up. They didn’t want you to trust me.” He pressed his lips together as if holding back anger. “My distrust of you started because Sarah gave me a note right before they found you at Dover Lookout. It was a love letter from Leo, with plans for a weekend getaway. Now, I know that Leo staged that so when he kidnapped you, it would seem like you ran away with him.”
I sucked in a breath, realizing how close we had come to losing everything.
“Beatriz was also behind the note you received at the ball,” Edward said. “She paid someone to give it to you. Police are still working on locating that man.”
“God protected us, Edward. He had His hand on us the entire time.” I glanced at him to see his reaction. “I gave my life to Him.”
He smiled. “Me too. When I thought I’d lost you again, it was a wake-up call for me. I stopped being so stubborn and asked the Lord to take my life. I knew I couldn’t do any of this on my own. It was time to yield to Him.”
“I’m so glad.”
“Can I ask you something?” Edward asked, sadness flickering in his eyes.
“Ask anything.”
“Why were you so distant after the wedding? You avoided me. That’s the only part of this I still don’t understand.” The corners of his lips drooped down as well as the length of his shoulders as if he’d been bearing a load he couldn’t carry any longer.
That familiar ache returned, only this time I understood what it meant. I took one of his hands and held it between both of my own. “I’m so sorry, Edward. I was going through an identity crisis of sorts.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have assumed you didn’t love me, but you wanted separate bedrooms, and you stayed away. What was I supposed to think?”
I couldn’t look at him, because if I did, I would start crying. “I was mistaken. I know that now. We were happy on our honeymoon, but when we came back to Calais, I felt like you had married a fraud. I was more fit to be a socialite…a party girl. How could I stand in the role of Prince Edward’s wife? Your mother thought I would fail, and I guess I just…shut down. I distanced myself because I was afraid she might be right, and when it happened, you would realize you’d married the wrong woman. I didn’t know if I could handle that.” It was too late to stop the tears because they streamed down my face so quickly, I barely had enough time to wipe them away before they wet my sheets.
“I wish you had come to me. I’ve always had faith in you, Annette. There is no one else for me, and I never want you to feel like you have to measure up to some…standard. I don’t care about any of that.”
“That eases my mind quite a bit.” He gave me a tissue, and I wiped my face. “Going through all of that made me long for my own mother. Growing up, I felt so much emptiness because she wasn’t in my life. Besides the fact that he lied to me, my dad was a good father, but he was never able to take my mother’s place. I needed her, and that emotion overpowered me at times. I obsessed about the accident on the yacht and started to think it wasn’t an accident at all. In those three weeks after we married, I stayed away at first because I thought I wasn’t worthy, and then I began doing research, looking into Mom’s death. That consumed my time, and I was a little out of my mind, but I was hurting. I didn’t want to drag you down with me, but I should have come to you, Edward.”
“Don’t ever think you aren’t worthy. You mean the world to me. I hope you know that.”
“I do.”
“Mother is from another generation, and her ideas were fine for her time, but we get to create new expectations. You are my bride, my love, the only woman for me, and I will always support you.”
I smiled at him and placed my hand over his. “Thank you.”
“It might be good for you to talk to someone about your abandonment issues. It sounds like the loss of your mother hit you hard.”
“I’ll think about it. Dr. Bisset asked me to see a psychiatrist, but I had such a strong reaction at the time. Maybe I was afraid to face it.”
“We’ll face it together.”
We continued to talk for a long time after that, discussing our hopes and our dreams for the future and how we wanted to strengthen our marriage so no one would ever divide us like that again. My eyes finally started to droop, and I shut them for a brief moment.
Edward held my hand and spoke softly. “Go to sleep, my love. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
And I knew without a doubt that I could trust him to keep his word.
Chapter 19
Edward
3 months later…
“What do you think about a trip to the French Riviera?” I asked.
Annette and I were sitting in the drawing room downstairs, eating flaky scones with raspberry jam, sipping from hot cups of tea, and enjoying the pleasant morning sun as it shone through the windows.
Things had calmed down quite a bit since the day Leo attempted to kidnap Annette. Both Leo and Beatriz were in jail awaiting trial, and now that Annette had her memory back, we’d picked up where we’d left off, only much stronger this time. We had a new foundation to lean on, one that involved trusting God and having open, honest communication.
“That sounds wonderful.” Her eyes sparkled as she put the book she was holding on the coffee table and lifted her cup of tea. “It would be nice to take a second honeymoon and get away…just the two of us.”
“There’s nothing I’d like more than to whisk you somewhere private. Name the date, and we’ll go. Tack on a few other destinations. Pick anywhere in the world you care to visit.”
She put a finger to her chin and stared up at the ceiling, a pretty smile curling her lips upward. “I’ll have to think about that. Give me time, and I’ll come up with some options.”
“Hope I’m not bothering you love birds.” Arthur entered the room holding a newspaper, the lines of his forehead deepening as he plopped onto the couch and pretended to be interested in the daily news. But I knew him too well.
Something was on his mind and had put him in a bad mood.
“Of course not,” Annette said. “It’s good to see you. We haven’t had a chance to talk to you without the others around. You’re pretty busy these days.”
He groaned. “Yeah, life hasn’t exactly been fun the last few weeks.” He caught me watching him and shifted. “What?”
I chuckled. “Mother has been up to her matchmaking ways, hasn’t she? She’s determined to find you a wife who meets her qualifications.”
He lifted an eyebrow, a cynical smile gracing his lips. “How did you know?” He shook his head. “Don’t answer that. She’s made it obvious to anyone who will listen and take up her cause. I even heard the staff whispering about it the other day. They believe an engagement is imminent.”
“Is it?” Annette asked.
Arthur let out a bitter laugh. “Not if I have anything to do with it. I’m holding on to my bachelor days for as long as I possibly can.”
“Who is she championing this time?” I asked.
“No one specifically. But let’s just say she has a chart with each woman from her approved list, along with the pros and cons for each one as she sees it.”
Annette choked and nearly spat out her tea. “A chart? That is so…”
“Disturbed,” I finished, doing my best not to laugh. As humorous as it was, this was Arthur’s life, and I’d been in his shoes before. No one wanted to be controlled like that. “Maybe you should talk to Father. Get him involved so he can rein her in.”
“Already tried. He thinks I’m dragging my feet too much. Says I need to put aside my playboy ways and settle down. He’s happy Mother took this on so he doesn’t have to deal with it.”
“Oh…” I winced and glanced away. “If he’s on board with the plan, then you’re royally…”
“In big trouble,” Arthur finished.
“Look on the bright side,” Annette said. “You’ll get to meet a lot of beautiful women.”
“Meeting is one thing,” he said, “but marrying is altogether different.”
I cleared my throat. “You haven’t met the right woman yet. Once you do, you’ll be as excited as everyone else. Mark my words.”
“That’ll be the day,” he mumbled under his breath.
“Just wait,” I said. “When it happens, I’m going to remind you of this conversation.”
“Yeah, whatever,” he grumbled. He held his newspaper up, so it covered his face.
I took that as my cue to move on to other things. Glancing at Annette, I wiggled my eyebrows. “Want to go on another carriage ride?”
She smiled and glanced up. “Let me think. A day alone with my husband appreciating the beautiful countryside of Calais…” She chuckled as she shifted in her seat. “That’s not a difficult one. The answer is, ‘Yes, please.’”
I walked over and pulled her into my arms. Tilting her head up, I kissed her long and hard, enjoying the feel of her lips against my own. She tasted of mint tea and raspberry jam, and it mingled with the scent of her perfume, creating a heady, warm sensation that enveloped me like a bright sunny day. “Have I told you how much I love you?”
“Every day,” she said, smiling up at me with adoration.
When she looked at me with those hazel eyes of hers, it made me thankful God had given her to me. He gave us another chance to make this work, and now that I knew what marriage with her was really like, I could say with complete confidence that I’d never been happier.
She put her arms around my neck and drew me in closer. “And I love you more than words can convey.”
On the other side of the room, Arthur was making gagging noises in his throat. “I should have gone somewhere else. This lovey-dovey stuff is too much.”
I ignored him and held out my arm to my wife. “Shall I escort you to our room so we can change into something more casual for the carriage ride?”
Annette had moved into my bedroom not long after they released her from the hospital, and we’d converted her old room into an extra sitting room. There had been talk of making it into a nursery once we got to that point, but, so far, we hadn’t made any plans.
She stood and placed her hand on my arm. “Lead the way, dear husband. I would follow you anywhere. Even to the ends of the earth.”
“Next time we have one of our squabbles, I’m going to remind you of those words.”
She widened her eyes in mock horror. “What? You think I’d forget?”
There was a long pause and then we both burst into laughter.
“Let’s hope not,” I said, pulling her into an embrace, my grin so wide it almost hurt. “But if we’re forced into some weird kind of déjà vu, I’m willing to do it all over again, just as long as you always come back to me.”
She smiled, and it lit up her entire face. “Now that’s a promise I’m more than happy to make.”
Epilogue
Annette
Three weeks later…
“I can’t wait for you to meet him,” Georgina said, eyes shining.
We were in the drawing room of Westbridge Castle, and I was entertaining Georgina and my father. I wouldn’t see them for a while after this visit since Edward and I were leaving the next day for our second honeymoon, a trip I was very much looking forward to.
“How did you meet?” I asked.
“Oh, that’s a long story,” she said, waving a hand, “but the main thing is, we just…clicked.”
Thank goodness for that. After years of Georgina pining after Edward, I was glad to see she’d finally found a man who lit her up from the inside. We had our differences, but she was my sister and nothing would ever change that. I didn’t want to embarrass her by asking about the album she had with pictures of Edward, but she’d told Helena she threw it away and was moving on. And that made me smile.
There would probably always be an element of sister rivalry and some jealousy, but overall, our relationship had vastly improved.
“We have time,” my father said, leaning back on the couch with his arms folded across his chest. “Tell us the story.” He grinned at me knowingly, and I grinned back.
Speaking of relationships that improved… I forgave my father for lying to me about my mother’s supposed death. It took a few sessions of therapy and a one-on-one meeting with Pastor Arquette, but I came to realize that while my father was wrong in what he did, he never meant to hurt me. His intention had been to protect my feelings, to shield me from finding out my mother willingly walked away from me and the rest of her family with the plan of never having contact again. That didn’t excuse what he did, but I was able to come to terms with it and let it go.
“Well,” Georgina said, the corners of her lips edging up, “I stopped by the fountain, and there he was, looking at me from across the way.” She smiled, and the rest of the story tumbled out in a flurry, her cheeks stained pink as she recounted how they met for coffee afterward.
“I’m so happy for you,” I said, taking her hand. “This is the best news I’ve heard all day.”
“Now, we just need to find someone for Daddy,” Georgina said with a twinkle in her eye.
My father threw his hands in the air as if exasperated. “How many times do I have to tell you, I’m happy as I am? I have two wonderful daughters. What more could I possibly want?”
“I can think of a few things,” Georgina said, playfully. “You should start dating. Work is not all there is.”
“I agree,” I said. “It’s high time—”
“Enough,” he said with an air of authority, but the corners of his mouth tugged up a little. “I don’t bother you about producing grandchildren, so don’t pester me about...well, you know.”
Georgina and I snickered. I picked up a throw pillow and held it against my torso as if to cover myself lest he figure out what I was hiding. “We just want you to be happy.”
“And I am,” he said. “Truly.”
The three of us continued to chat for an hour more after that, and then I walked them out
through the front entrance. Georgina waved and then jogged to her vehicle, anxious to see the man who had stolen her heart. My father hugged me before turning in the direction of his car. “Have you spoken with your mother?”
He knew we had been in contact a few times, but I wasn’t ready to meet with her just yet. She had apologized profusely, and I told her she had my forgiveness. It took a lot to get to that point, but I decided that holding onto bitterness was not the route God wanted for me. I had so many other things to be thankful for, it didn’t make sense to let something like that put a damper on the overwhelming happiness I felt, now that Edward and I were closer than we’d ever been before. That didn’t mean I had to let her back into my life as if nothing had happened. I was still working through that with my therapist and Pastor Arquette, and, perhaps, one day, we would plan a face-to-face meeting. But for right now, I was putting all my energy into the relationships I already had. To be honest, it was all I could manage at the moment. I’d been through a lot, and I wouldn’t risk doing anything that would throw me off balance again.
Besides, Edward needed me, and someone else would need me very soon as well. I rubbed my belly and allowed a secret smile to tug at my lips. No one knew yet, and I couldn’t wait to tell Edward he would be a father in eight months.
“Was that your father and sister leaving?” Edward’s mother asked as I made my way back through the foyer.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, it was. I wanted to see them before Edward and I leave on our trip tomorrow.”
“How nice,” she said, smiling. She draped an arm around my shoulders and gave me a pleasant smile. “I’m so glad you and Edward are doing this. You both need this little excursion.”
“Thank you.”
While things with Edward’s mother weren’t perfect, we were both making the effort to get along, and after Edward had another talk with her, she’d lightened up considerably.
The Prince's Bewildered Bride (The Blushing Brides Book 5) Page 18
