She nodded shyly. “If you will ask.”
Amelia froze. “Is it happening?” She clasped her hands together. “Oh my goodness, it is happening! Should I fetch your father, Phoebe? He really ought to be in the room, but… no, no, I should be quiet. Do continue. Pretend I am not here.”
“Phoebe Wilson,” Daniel said, moving toward Phoebe, getting down on one knee as she stayed perched on the settee. “Would you, the love of my life, the owner of my heart, the most infuriatingly wonderful woman I have ever met, do me the great honor of agreeing to be my wife?”
Phoebe reached out, cupping his cheek with her hand. “It would be my greatest pleasure,” she whispered, her throat tight. “Nothing would make me happier, though… let us save the announcement until my sister has celebrated. I would not want to steal her thunder.”
“I have waited this long,” he said, smiling. “I can wait a few days more.”
Phoebe’s heart swelled until she feared it might burst. “I love you.”
“I love you far more,” he told her, shooting a glance at his mother. “Mother, please avert your eyes or leave the room for a moment.”
Amelia did not need to be told twice, hurrying out of the parlor without a word, though her yelps of delight could be heard from the hallway.
And as Phoebe laughed at the wonder of it all, Daniel’s lips fell on hers, kissing her as if they had been parted for weeks instead of hours. She kissed him back with equal fervor, her smile pressed against his as they sealed their promise of forever.
It was a love that Phoebe had never expected, and though it had cost her three ruined dresses, she thought that was a rather small price to pay for the happiness that brimmed within her and the lifetime of it that lay ahead of them.
No matter how long they had, she would savor it all, making a strong foundation of memories that could never be shaken.
EPILOGUE
Three Months Later
“You look like royalty, Phoebe!” Anna squealed, clapping her hands together.
All of the Spinsters’ Club had congregated in the entrance hall of Woodholme Manor to watch Phoebe come down the stairs in her wedding dress.
Leah nodded eagerly. “You truly do! Goodness, it is even more beautiful than you described it.”
“I… cannot… believe this day… has come,” Olivia choked out, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, her face already red from crying with happiness. Or relief. Phoebe was not certain which.
“Is thatthegown?” Matilda asked, her smile genuine, though it could not have been easy for her to watch all of her friends slowly break the vow they had made together.
Indeed, after today, wives would outnumber actual spinsters in the club.
Phoebe smoothed her hands self-consciously down the front of the exquisite garment, created from a color of silk that she had never seen before, and could not have hoped to afford for herself. It was an unusual, dusky blue, the hue shifting depending on which way she turned. At times, it looked purple. At others, it was pale blue. And in certain lights, it became a darker blue.
Twilight in a gown.
“It is,” she confirmed. “I was not certain it would become me well, but… I am no judge of fashion.”
Matilda chuckled. “Nor am I, but evenIcan admit that it is divine, and it makes you look like you ought to be perched on a throne with a crown on your head. I doubt I have ever seen a garment so fine.”
Daniel had gifted the dress to Phoebe a fortnight prior, handing it over with an air of shyness that she had not seen in him since their engagement was announced.
“This is the replacement gown I bought you and never gave to you,” he had explained, running an anxious hand through his black hair. “Of course, I do not expect you to wear it for our wedding. I would never presume to tell you what to wear. But I thought it might be a… choice, at least, if you like it.”
Phoebe had loved it from the moment she opened the box and saw that unusual color for the first time. It had reminded her of something, but, even now, she could not pinpoint what. Even so, there had been no doubt in her mind that she would save the gown for her wedding day.
“Are you quite well, Olivia?” Phoebe asked, suddenly worried as her friend burst into fresh tears.
Leah put an arm around Olivia’s shoulders. “She is overwhelmed with joy.”
“I have always… thought of you all as family,” Olivia spluttered, “but now, you truly…willbe my family. I… am so glad I cannot breathe. All morning, I have been… a weeping catastrophe.”
Phoebe smiled. “As long as they are not tears of sadness, you may weep as much as you please.”
