Page 216 of Storm of Bells
‘Youreallyhate giving stuff away,don’t you?’ I whispered.
‘Hrumph.’ He sent me a grumpy look. ‘Onlyvaluable stuff.’
Then, as warmth blossomed in my chest, hetook my free hand and placed it in Mr Ambrose’s. He nodded to us,and so did the vicar. Standing ramrod-straight, Mr Rikkard Ambrosegazed directly into my eyes.
‘I, Rikkard Ambrose, take you, LillianLinton, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this dayforward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, insickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us dopart, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight theemy troth.’
Not blinking once, I stared up into his deep,dark, fathomless eyes as if I could drown myself in them, and spokethe words I had thought of again and again during the last few daysand weeks.
‘I, Lillian Linton, take you, RikkardAmbrose, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this dayforward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, insickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till deathus do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I givethee my troth.’
Mr Ambrose released my left hand, and,reaching into his pocket, pulled out a simple golden wedding band.I breathed a little sigh of relief when I saw it was just bigenough for one finger, not three. Inside it had something engraved.Squinting, I leaned closer.
R.A. & L.L.
I felt a sudden urge to throw myself athim.
Onceagain, his eyes fixed on mine. ‘With this ring I thee wed.’ Hiseyes lit up with icy fire. ‘With my body I thee worship…’Oh,really? Hm…this was sounding interesting. ‘…and with all myworldly goods I thee endow.’[37]
Grinning, I leaned forward. ‘Are you sure?’ Iwhispered. ‘Allyour worldly goods? You are making quite thepromise there.’
He too leaned forward, until his eyes weredark oceans about to swallow me up, and his lips were only inchesfrom mine.
‘Quite sure indeed.’
And then he slipped the ring onto my finger.A chorus of ‘Aawww’s went up into the air, and for a moment, wejust stood there, gazing into each other’s eyes as the vicar spokea prayer. As his last words directed to the heavens ceased, thereverend reached for our right hands and, joining them together,held them aloft.
‘Those whom God hath joined together let noman put asunder!’
A thunderous cheer went up from the crowd.Hats and bonnets where hurled into the air. Out of the corner of myeye, I saw Karim reaching for his turban—then realizing what he wasdoing and hurriedly lowering his hands again. Laughing, too full ofhappiness to contain it all, I gazed up at Mr Rikkard Ambrose.At…my husband?
‘Husband.’ Swallowing hard. I placed a handon his chest, just to check that he was truly real. ‘That’s goingto take a while to get used to.’
Any other man might have said something like‘We have all the time in the world, darling.’But thiswasn’t any other man. This wasmyman. Grabbing my face, hepulled me roughly up towards him.
‘You’d better get on with it, my littleifrit. I’m not a patient man.’
Beside us, the priest cleared his throat.‘You may kiss the br—’
Mr Rikkard Ambrose had never been one to waitfor anyone’s permission. Tearing off the veil, his lips camecrashing down on mine, sealing the bond that would unite us for therest of our lives. More cheers and applause echoed through thechurch. Beaming, the priest spread his arms again.
‘Let us pray!’
‘Let’s not!’ Mr Ambrose growled against mylips and, tossing the veil away, he grabbed hold of me. For amoment, I wanted to protest. We were in church! In front of all ourfriends and family! I just couldn’t! But then he deepened the kissand…
Well, I could say that I changed my mind. Butfor that, I would have had to have a mind left to change. With hishard arms around me, holding me inescapably close, I felt my mindmelting away. I was floating in a sea of bliss, and he was my onlyanchor. Beneath me, I felt my knees wobble. When he finally brokethe kiss, I was thoroughly glad that his arm remained around mywaist, holding me up.
I could rely on him.
Just as he could rely on me.
‘Congratulations!’ Without my noticing, thecrowd swarmed around us, forming a long line of well-wishers, withLady Samantha and Adaira at the head. The little marchioness rushedforward and seized my hand with a force you wouldn’t have thoughther capable of. ‘Oh, Lilly, my dear! It’s happened! It’s finally,truly happened! I just can’t quite believe it, and, oh…I…I hope youwill be so very, very happy!’
‘So do I!’ Without waiting for her mother tolet go, Adaira grabbed hold of me. ‘And make sure you give me atleast one cute little nephew before you kill each other, allright?’
Normally, I wasn’t one for blushing. Firstly,because my face was rather tanned, and secondly, because there werefew things that would actually make me blush. But when Adaira spokethese words, I lit up like a Christmas tree on fire in the middleof a lava pit. With an insolent grin, Adaira skipped away.
Nephew?Nephew? Did she reallymean…?
