Page 71 of A Spinster to Reform the Duke
The words made that hope bloom inside of her. She had been wrong before when she said that in Pandora’s box, the cruelest thing to come out was hope. For if hope could lead to such feelings as this, it was the greatest sensation there could ever be!
“I am in love with you, Rebecca,” he said softly. “Now, I know I am far from perfect. You know all my flaws by now, well enough, neither do I have a particularly fine reputation.”
“You have noticed mine is hardly perfect, too, have you not?” Rebecca asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Unjustly so. You deserve the most honorable man there is, in my opinion.” He lifted her hand another time, pressing his lips to the back. That touch made something jolt inside her, it was a new kind of excitement, one that had a deep longing attached to it. “I find myself ready to beg this of you…” He paused, and glanced up to Eliza yet again, before looking to Rebecca. “Well, perhaps I should follow the pattern of my friend.”
Slowly, he released a leg, and bent down on one knee.
“Oh my Lord!” Eliza exclaimed from nearby,
Rebecca was ready to plead with her sister to be quiet, yet words had frozen in her throat as she looked down at Timothy on bended knee.
“I am far from the perfect man,” Timothy declared, a little louder this time and with more confidence. “Yet if you will let me, I will spend my life trying to prove to you how much I love you, and what kind of man I can be, to make you happy.”
He breathed deeply, evidently filling himself with the last ounce of courage before he spoke his last words.
“So, it is with a very quickly beating heart I now ask you this, Rebecca. Would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
A breath hitched nearby. Rebecca looked to her side, seeing Eliza had her hands pressed to her mouth, trying her best to quell happy tears. Rebecca laughed, aware that the sight of her sister so overwrought merely matched her own feelings. She looked back down at Timothy.
“I fear I have taken some of that belladonna after all. This must be a dream!”
“No dream,” Timothy promised, standing to his feet. “Is that a yes, Rebecca? Will you marry me?”
“Yes – mmhm!” She barely got out the word before his lips were over hers in a kiss.
“I cannot allow that!” Eliza cried a little way off for them. “Goodness, some chaperone I am making.”
Rebecca was in no hurry to abide by her sister’s wishes though. She happily indulged in that kiss, feeling the passion that Timothy had within him as his lips pressed against hers.
“Good Lord, perhaps if I simply do not look at it then I can pretend it is not happening.” Eliza must have turned away as she spoke, urging Rebecca and Timothy to laugh against each other’s lips before they continued their kiss.
Slowly, Rebecca’s arms came up around Timothy’s neck, deepening the kiss further. Had she known all of their moments together would lead to this moment, she would have liked to have made time go quicker, just to live this moment faster.
“I have just one more question for you,” Timothy whispered as he lifted his lips off hers but an inch.
“What is that?” Rebecca asked.
“How soon can we have the wedding?”
Epilogue
Two Months Later
Rebecca wrote the final line of her poem with a flourish and sat back in her seat, letting her eyes dance on the last words.
‘Perhaps a wounded heart is not beyond repair after all.’
“Rebecca! Rebecca? We’re going to be late!” Eliza’s voice called through the door with such excitement that Rebecca pushed the scrap of paper away and turned to the door with a laugh.
“Come in, sister,” she called.
The door was flung open and Eliza tumbled into the room with her maid close behind her.
“What do you think? Oh my goodness! You are not dressed! They will be waiting for us there in the church, whilst you are still in your nightgown.” Eliza waved impatiently at Rebecca’s position.
“You do know you are ready ahead of time,” Rebecca said with a giggle.
