Page 62 of Stolen By the Cruel Duke
“I did all of this to show you that I was trustworthy,” Iris admitted, indicating the room at large. “I thought that by bringing down my father, I could prove to you that I hadn’t been on his side.”
“I’m glad we took your father down for your own safety,” Phineas said, “but you didn’t need to do anything to prove your innocence to me. It was on me to realize that there was no validity to my accusations, that you could never be guilty of treachery. I behaved like a fool, Iris, and I only hope that you can forgive me.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but he shushed her.
“You don’t need to forgive me right away,” he said softly. “But I promise you that, if you allow me, I will spend every day for the rest of our lives trying to make it up to you and prove my undying loyalty and love.”
“Love?” Iris whispered. She was smiling up at him with the most brilliant radiance he had ever seen. “You still love me?”
“I never stopped loving you,” he whispered, and his heart felt as if it were about to burst out of his chest. He had never meant anything more in all his days. “And I will spend my life proving it with my actions. And I will keep proving it until my dying breath. If you will have me, of course.”
“Of course, I will have you,” she breathed. “You are everything I hoped for, Phineas. Everything I fought and suffered for. There’s nothing and no one I want as much as you.”
And then, propriety be damned, Phineas leaned down, took his wife in his arms, and kissed her for all the world to see.
Epilogue
One Year Later
“Could I have this dance, Milady?”
Iris looked up from where she was seated on the picnic blanket to see a boy of about eleven gazing down at her. He looked healthy and happy, with ruddy cheeks, sparkling eyes, and a wide smile. A year ago, he had been gaunt and starved-looking, with sunken eyes and a haunted expression. But now he was all shy smiles and rascal charm, offering her his hand as he bent low.
“Of course, you may have this dance, Thomas!” Iris laughed, taking his proffered hand and clambering to her feet. “I’d been hoping you might ask me!”
Thomas grinned and blushed, and Iris had to suppress another laugh.
“Don’t embarrass the lad,” her husband said sternly behind her, where he was still sitting on the picnic blanket, watching the scene unfold with an amused expression. “I’m sure it was hard to ask a lady as beautiful as you.”
Iris reddened with pleasure. Even after a year of marriage, Phineas still had the ability to make her blush when he complimented her.
It was autumn, and she and Phineas were back in Wales with some close family and friends to oversee and celebrate the reopening of the mines. After a long year of hard work to improve working conditions, take into consideration the community’s needs, get input from miners, and build the best safety systems that money could buy, the coal mines were finally open again for business.
The town had wanted to commemorate the reopening, and since it had coincided with the annual August harvest festival, the two events had been combined into one.
All day, Iris and Phineas—accompanied by Violet, Rosalie, James, Nathan Goldwin, and Lady Carfield—had been tasting local delicacies from all the food stalls, playing lawn games with the local children, chatting with miners and their wives, and reveling in the feeling of jubilation that permeated the festival.
Now, it was early evening, and the orange sun was casting long shadows on the grass. Iris, Phineas, and their loved ones had been enjoying some refreshments on their picnic blanket when the dancing had begun rather spontaneously, when some localfarmers struck up a jig. And Iris was glad to be dancing. She was even more glad to be dancing with Thomas, who, instead of working in the mines, was now attending a local grammar school. With the new wages his father earned, there was no need for him to work in the mines.
The band began to play another lively jig, and Thomas and Iris fell into step with the other couples. It was the first time Iris had danced with someone so much shorter than her, but Thomas turned out to be an excellent dancer. Soon, they were both laughing with delight as they whirled around the grass in time with the music.
When the song came to an end, Thomas bowed to her, and Iris curtsied.
“How is your cough these days?” she asked him as he escorted her back to the picnic blanket.
“Loads better, Milady,” he replied, smiling up at her.
Even though Thomas knew she was a duchess, he had never started calling herYour Grace, and Iris had never corrected him. She liked their little informal arrangement.
“Ma takes me to see Doctor Smith, and he prescribes medicines and herbs. I barely cough anymore, except when it’s very cold out.”
“I’m very happy to hear that,” Iris said, patting him on the head.
They arrived at the picnic blanket, and she curtsied to him. Duchesses weren’t really supposed to curtsy to sons of miners, but Iris knew it made Thomas feel very important.
“Thank you for the dance, Thomas.”
“You’re welcome, Milady,” he returned, and she thought he reddened slightly. Then he bowed low again and scampered off to play with the other children.
