Page 104 of Never a Bride
“Emmeline!” he yelled, setting off after her. “Damnit, I even wrote a poem for the ceremony! You have to come back!”
He dodged people on the street, ignored the jeers and the shouts. He heard a coach behind him and looked over his shoulder to see Humphrey determinedly following him.
The more Emmeline ran, the more heartsick he felt. A bitter darkness would enshroud his life without her in it.
He put on a burst of speed, and caught her by the elbow; she whirled toward him. He expected to see remorse on her face, but instead she looked wide-eyed and hopeful. He saw the crowd they’d drawn, saw Humphrey practically vault from the driver’s box to hold the coach door open.
He took her by the shoulders.
“Em, what are you doing? Don’t you want to marry me?”
Amazingly, she smiled. “Of course I do. You’ve changed me in so many ways, helped me to realize that I have a life just as valuable as Blythe’s or anyone else’s. I deserve happiness, just as you do. And we can be happy with one another, Iknowit. But I need more. I love you, Alex.”
She took a deep breath, and her smile became almost blinding in its soft beauty as she gazed up at him with luminous, shining eyes. He was speechless at the magnitude of what he felt for her, the relief and joy of knowing that she wanted to be married to him.
Suddenly, Emmeline put her hands on her hips and frowned up at him. “Well?”
And he knew then that he could no longer lie to her or to himself. He loved her—how could he not have known it? Why had he been a coward by not announcing it to the whole world?
He took her face in his hands and smiled down at her. “I love you, Em.”
A resounding cheer rose up around them.
“You are everything that is brave and good,” he continued, using his thumb to wipe the tear that fell from her eye. “You stood up to your father for me, something I still find amazing. You would help anyone—your sister, Max, even me, though I little deserve it. Long ago something inside me changed, made me think the kind of man I was wasn’t as important as the power and wealth I lacked. Every woman before you only confirmed this in my eyes. For it was the money they wanted, not me.”
She pressed herself against him, hugging him around the waist.
“I thought only power counted,” he said. “Did I tell you I was just elected to the House of Commons?”
“Oh, Alex, how wonderful!”
“But don’t you see, it doesn’t matter! I’m the same man, regardless of what I do. I’ve found myself again by loving you.”
She pulled his head down and kissed him. “Alex, you’re not saying you’ll refuse the appointment, are you?”
“Well, of course not.” He grinned. “I just hope I can sometimes keep my mind on business, and not always on you.”
“Don’t change, Alex,” she whispered. “But let’s make our scandals smaller from now on.”
With a laugh, he swung her up in his arms, and into the waiting coach. As it rolled down the street, they leaned out the windows and waved to the excited crowd that followed them.
When they pulled up to the church they were still hanging from the coach indecorously, and the reception of some of the nobility was a trifle cool.
But Alex didn’t care. He was in a hurry to marry the woman he loved, to begin their life together. He lifted her out of the coach and carried her all the way up the stairs, while she clung to his shoulders and laughed. At the top, he saw Spencer grinning, and his mother tearfully blowing her nose in a handkerchief.
Emmeline tugged on his hand. “So Alex, once we’re married, can I see the naked statue of you?”
He almost stumbled as he laughed. It would be a good life.
Epilogue
The wedding feast was an event Emmeline would never forget. Crowds of people were waiting for them at Kent Hall. She was touched that so many wished them well. Two of her three brothers had even reached London in time.
But Edmund found her and Alex first, and they drew him aside.
“What happened with the Langstons?” Alex asked.
Edmund shrugged. “I will follow you to the altar in a week. I can only hope that someday we can be as happy as the two of you are.”
