Page 75 of A Dreamy Match Made in Heaven
“Oh, goodness, I did! And I was so utterly anxious about it. That is why I wished for my mother and father to be here,” she confessed.
“And that is why I wished they would not be. Are they going to be terribly angry with me?” he asked.
“Not in the least. I confessed to my mother just last evening that, although I care for you deeply, I do not love you. After all this time she was frustrated that I had not spoken sooner, but she urged me to be honest with you,” Lady Cranford said.
The revelations were growing more and more comedic to Thomas. He was amused that they really had been in the same place this whole time. For Lady Cranford to be willing to admit to him that she had felt the same as he had been all this time was truly what he had wanted to hear all along.
But it was something that he never would have anticipated from her.
“Lady Cranford, it has been an honour,” Thomas said, standing to his full height.
She stood and well and curtseyed before him. The two shook hands in mutual recognition of their freedom.
“You are a wonderful woman and I am convinced that you shall find a man who loves you as you ought to be loved. Someone who is deserving of you is out there. And while I am not him, I have no doubt that you shall come upon him soon enough,” Thomas said.
“And it is my greatest hope that your love shall see in herself the same affection for you that you have for her. She would be most fortunate to be married to you and I am certain that she shall realise it sooner or later,” Lady Cranford replied.
As he departed, Thomas thought about that statement. Sooner or later.
Sooner had come and gone. Already, it was later. And if she did not love him now, he knew that Sophia never would. Although he wished for nothing more than to spend his life with her, there was still no guarantee that she would want it.
Nevertheless, Thomas knew that he had made the right choice. Even if things had not gone so well, it would have been the right choice.
He could sleep easy, knowing that he was deceiving no one. Lady Cranford no longer believed that he loved her. That, in addition to the confession to Officer Kingsley, meant that he was slowly coming to be more honest and was growing closer to being willing to share his feelings with Sophia.
Even if they were now unrequited.
By the time he reached the inn, Thomas gathered his things so that he could take them to stay with his mother and father. First, he waited until Officer Kingsley arrived back and he shared the news with him.
“That is astonishing. She didn’t love you either? What a relief! How good it is that you told her. Otherwise, the two of you might have settled for one another, unhappily trying to find affection where there was none,” he said.
“I know. I can hardly imagine what it might have been like. Surely, we would have made the best of it. Lady Cranford and I are in agreement that we do care for one another as dear friends. But it is true that there is no love and I am entirely too grateful that she felt the same,” Thomas laughed, still in relief for everything that had happened.
He could scarcely believe it. Officer Kingsley appeared equally astounded, and it reminded him how fortunate he had been in this unique situation that he could never have predicted.
It was all too much, but in the very best of ways.
“And what are your plans in moving forward?” Officer Kingsley asked him.
Thomas had thought about this, but still had not come to terms with anything specific. It was not going to be easy trying to figure out what to say, if anything, to Sophia.
“I am not certain. I had thought about writing Sophia a letter again, but after the last, it simply seems wrong to do so,” he said.
“Why is that?” Officer Kingsley asked.
“Because it would be a retraction of the last and it would be written rather than spoken directly to her as she deserves. I shouldn’t like a woman to tell me of her undying love through a written word when I could have an opportunity to be told in person,” he noted.
“That’s very true. So do you intend to go to her then? So that you might speak to her in person?” he asked.
Thomas shook his head.
“Not as of yet. I think it best that I try to learn of her thoughts first. She may not want to be with me ever again or she may have found another, and it would be foolish of me to try and pursue her if that sort of thing is known or can be learned,” Thomas said.
Officer Kingsley looked at him with great annoyance.
“You cannot put these things off forever,” he said.
“No, but I can be strategic in how I go about them. Do you think it would be wise of me to rush into it?” Thomas asked.
