Page 122 of Finding Home

“I love you.” She sighed, feeling as if her heart may burst with how much love filled it for Clayton, and how much he had for her.

“I love you.” He slipped in beside her, looping his left arm around her. “You ready?” It felt like he was asking less about the book and more about this journey they were embarking on, together. A life together.

“I’m ready.”

EPILOGUE

TEN MONTHS (MANY BOOKS) LATER

“’til this moment I never knew myself.”

~Jane Austen,Pride and Prejudice

They were the picture of Jane Austen fan girls as Clayton, in his navyPemberleyand Elle, in her purpleObstinate Headstrong GirlT-shirts walked through a row of Georgian houses in the city of Bath, England. Hands clasped they trotted along the cobblestone sidewalk approaching the Jane Austen Center.

At the Georgian-style house a man dressed like Mr. Bennet fromPride and Prejudicegreeted them. “Good day, Sir and Madam.” Mr. Bennet tipped his hat to them. “I believe Mrs. Bennet is expecting you inside.”

“Thank you, sir.” Elle curtsied, elbowing Clayton to bow.

They wandered through the Jane Austen Center looking at family portraits and artifacts and attended a lecture from Captain Wentworth about the Austen family history, which made Elle think of her mom. Captain Wentworth was her mom’s dreamboat. Over the last ten months, they had made slow but healthy progress. In March, after several months of solo therapy,they started joint sessions with a therapist that Elle’s had recommended. It wasn’t a mother/daughter relationship, but it was something. They had joint sessions every two weeks, and on the off weeks they would have a lunch date. Much of the conversation was shallow at first but had started to deepen. Elle had even had Daniel and her mom to the farmhouse for dinner at the end of June.

After Captain Wentworth’s lecture, they found themselves in a room in the bottom floor of the house with quill pens, ink, and paper sat atop Regency-era style writing desks. Visitors were encouraged to write notes, just as Jane Austen had. Elle pursed her lips dipping her quill in the black ink trying to write a note to Carmen on the slip of paper.

“This is really hard.” Elle’s brows wrinkled.

“That’s what she said,” Clayton chuckled.

“Ha!” She rolled her eyes. Clearly, he’d been hanging with Uncle Pete too much. “Seriously, how did she write so many novels with this?” She waved the quill over her head.

“Just takes practice,” Clayton said, his voice steady and patient.

“That’s what she said,” she smirked, listening to his soft laugh. Ok, they’d both been spending too much time with Pete. “Look at this.” She turned to face him holding up her chicken scratch that should readHi, Carmen!but looked more like dueling zig-zag lines.

“You’ll get it, baby.” He turned his back toward her, facing his work on the desk.

Shrugging, she twisted and grabbed another piece of paper to try again.

“Ugh…maybe I’ll scratch the framed letter idea. Thank god for computers, I could never write with these quills. I don’t even like pens.” She crumbled the paper and placed the quill back in the holder.

“Look at mine.” Clayton said, slipping his piece of paper in front of her.

“Oh, I bet yours is…” Her mouth hung open in disbelief as her eyes locked on the smooth letters in black ink dancing across the slip of paper readingMarry me.

Grasping the paper Elle spun in her seat, almost falling off the wooden chair. Grabbing the back of the chair to steady herself, she straightened to see Clayton bent on one knee holding a purple velvet box.

She blinked. “Clayton?”

Marriage hadn’t been discussed. Neither hadnotgetting married. They had been together for almost a year, although, there was a bit of debate on that. Elle said it was since the day after the wedding when they had their first kiss, and Clayton said in his heart it was the day she lost that game of tug-of-war with the goat. They decided to claim both August 11 and August 19 as their days.

“Eleanor ‘Elle’ Davidson, I love you so much…” Clayton took her hand with his left hand keeping the box in his right. The tiny paw print tattoo on his forearm seemed to walk toward the ring-box and her. “…and I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you. Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” Elle squeaked, fat joyful tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Yes!” Clayton shouted as he jumped up, lifting her into his arms to the clapping and hoots of other patrons. “How did I get so lucky?” he asked, drinking her in before kissing her to even louder cheers from people in the room.

“I was just wondering that myself,” Elle sighed as they broke their kiss.

“See girls, a man with a good fortune is always in want of a wife.” The Mrs. Bennet look-a-like chimed in with a high-pitched British accent. The older woman stood observingClayton and Elle from a corner of the room with two women dressed in period outfits.

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