Page 85 of The Heiress in Disguise
Epilogue
Some people believed it was bad luck for a bride and a groom to see one another before the wedding. But Angelique thought she had probably already had all the bad luck she was going to have in one lifetime. She was willing to take the risk.
She crept across the lawn between her own manor and Antoine’s. Today was the last day they would spend living in separate homes. In fact, when she had awoken that morning before the sun had come up, it had been to the knowledge that she had spent her last night without him.
They could have waited until spring to marry, but neither of them had wanted to do that. They had both been too eager to begin the lives they would share. And now that it was happening, Angelique didn’t think she could wait until the time the ceremony was set to begin to see him. She wanted to see him now.
She almost wished they’d eloped so that they could simply run off together and not worry at all about everything they had to do that day. But at the same time, she knew this was a memory that would stay with her forever. She wanted to marry him in front of all her loved ones.
She wanted Peter and Molly to be there with her, and she wanted her beloved cousin at her side. Charlotte and Nicole would be such welcome additions to the festivities. It would feel, shethought, as if her parents were there with her, because she would know that today’s events were something that would have made them feel joy and pride, if they’d lived to see it.
She wished they had. After everything she had gone though, it would mean the world if they could have seen the way she’d finally gotten to a place of happiness. But she would feel the joy they would have had, and she would know that she was responsible for it. It would have to be enough.
She slowed as she reached the creek where she had met with “Philip” so many times. The sun was still low in the sky, and she knew that she needed to proceed carefully. The last thing she wanted was to slip and fall into the water in the early hours of the morning, when no one would be able to find her, or help her, for a long time. She needed to cross there, but more importantly, she needed to be careful to keep herself out of that water. She didn’t want to have an accident.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
The voice sounded more amused than anything. She turned to face it. Sure enough, there was Antoine, crossing toward her on the opposite bank. In moments like this, it was very difficult not to see Philip. Though she had known Antoine first, she had met Philip first as an adult, and seeing him here by the creek would always make her think of those stolen days.
“I came to see you,” she said.
“And how did you know I would be out?”
“I didn’t. I was going to sneak over to your house,” she said. “I supposed your staff would probably let me in.”
“And what of the fact that it’s bad luck for the two of us to see one another this morning?”
“Do you believe that it is?”
“No,” he admitted. “I don’t believe that.”
She smiled. “I don’t believe it either,” she told him. “If we’re tempting fate by seeing one another, then so be it. But I don’t think we are. I think there isn’t any harm in it at all, and I wanted to see you.”
He hopped easily across the creek and took her in his arms, and she relaxed into the warmth of his chest. “I’m glad you came,” he said. “I’m glad to see you. Nothing would make me feel otherwise.”
“Do you think we could go for a walk without being missed?” she asked. “I’d like to spend some time with you before the day becomes too hectic.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “I’d like that myself.” He held out his hand, and she took it, and the two of them started down the bank together.
“It’s all going to be so magical, isn’t it?” Angelique murmured. “I never thought this was something that could happen for me, Antoine. I never believed that I’d fall in love and marry—it just didn’t seem possible. And now it’s happening.”
“I believed it from the moment I knew I had found you,” Antoine said. “I knew that I wouldn’t give up until I had helped you get free of your situation, and once I’d done that, there was no reason why you shouldn’t marry. Of course, I hadn’t known that your marriage would be to me. I suppose there was a part of me that always hoped. But I didn’t know it for certain.”
“Did you really hope for it?”
“Very much,” he assured her. “I wanted to be with you from very early on in our returning to one another’s lives. You grew up to be so beautiful, and that was a part of the reason I knew I wanted you for my own.
But more than that, there was your wonderful character. You always made me laugh, always made me feel full of joy and mirth, and that’s something I haven’t always felt in my life. I was thrilled to be reintroduced to you. I’m glad that everything has worked out so perfectly for the two of us.”
Angelique nodded. “I think that knowing you was the only brightness in my life for quite a while,” she said. “Every day, it felt as if the only thing keeping me going was wondering when I would be able to sneak off to meet with Philip—or with my masked stranger, of course.”
She laughed. “Little did I know that you were one and the same! I don’t know what I would have done if I had known! Though it certainly would have saved me a great deal of concern about what I was doing… falling in love with two different men. I’m most relieved that youdidturn out to be a single man, because I have no idea how I was going to make a choice between the two of you.”
“Iamsorry that I had to mislead you,” he said.
“There’s no need. I’m not angry about it. But goodness, what turmoil that was!”
“And what of your fairy godmother?” he asked. “Did that bring you no joy?”
