“I want to marry you, Emma.” The words came to him without hesitation and though they were plain and without excessive expression, he spoke them anyway. Emma’s eyes rounded a little, though she began to smile, one hand lifting to press against his heart. “We have not been courting for long,” Frederick continued, one shoulder lifting in a half-shrug, “but Ido not consider that to be something that should hold us back. The truth is, Emma, the time that I have spent in your company has been more than enough to convince me thatyouare the only lady in all of England – in all of the world, no doubt – who could capture my heart.”
“Your heart?” Her eyes widened all the more, the smile fading for a moment. “You care for me?”
Frederick shook his head, seeing the light flicker in her eyes.
“I do not just care for you, Emma. I believe I am falling in love with you.”
She caught her breath and Frederick’s heart squeezed with the sheer joy of what he was expressing to her, as though it was both relieved and delighted that he was finally telling her what had slowly been growing within him, ever since he had first set eyes on the lady.
“I am more convinced of it than ever,” he continued, as Emma began to blink furiously, her eyes filling with what he hoped were tears of joy. “I want to marry you, Emma. I want to marry you not only to keep you safe, to keep you protected from Lord Wellbridge, but because I cannot even imagine my life without you being present in it. To consider my future as one without your bright smile, without your laughter, your kindness and your joy is nothing but a future of shadow and pain. You bring me such wondrous happiness that I can do nothing other than stand here before you and beg of you to accept my offer of matrimony. I swear to you that my heart is yours, and I shall fall more and more in love with you with every day that passes. I will give you all of myself, I will dedicate myself to my role as husband and I will prove my love to you every day of our lives… should you accept, that is.”
Emma began to smile.
“My dear Yeatman, can you think for even a moment that I would refuse you?”
Hope leaped in his heart.
“When I was in the carriage with Lord Wellbridge, the only person I could think of was you,” she told him, her other hand reaching up to wrap around his neck, her fingers brushing at his hair as sparks shot through him, his breath hitching. “My greatest fear was that I would be kept apart from you, that I would have no opportunity to return to the connection we had shared. I was afraid that Lord Wellbridge would take that from me, that he would steal every part of my future with you and break it into tiny little pieces, never again to be mended. But then,” she continued, her voice dropping to a whisper, “youcame to save me from him and in that moment, my future was restored. I have thought about you, and all that you have done for me and, as I search my heart, I discover that there is not only an affection there for you, but also love. I love you in return, Yeatman. It is an astonishing feeling, is it not?” She laughed as her other hand draped around his neck, the sound making Frederick beam with delight, though heat began to rise from his core as she pulled herself even closer to him. “To realize that one is in love is one thing, but to find that love returned is quite another.”
“Itisreturned,” Frederick assured her, beginning to lower his head as he looked deeply into her eyes and found nothing but love there. “Then you will marry me, Emma? You will be my bride?”
In answer, Emma pushed herself up on tiptoe and pressed her mouth to his. It was as though a torrent of water had broken over Frederick’s frame, filling him with such warmth and yet such weakness at the strength of it. He kissed her back with as much fervency as he dared, aware of his heart screaming for joy at the happiness which now clung to them both.
“Yes, I shall marry you, Yeatman,” she whispered, barely breaking the kiss, her eyes still closed. “I accept the offer of your hand in marriage. Iwillbe your wife.”
Epilogue
The moment that Emma had seen Lord Yeatman waiting for her at the front of the church, all her nervousness had fled. Even though the church was filled with friends, family and other noted guests, Emma was barely even aware of them. Lord Yeatman filled every part of her vision, and she could not look away from him.
“And now, Miss Emma Fairley, you make your vows.”
The clergyman lifted an eyebrow and Emma nodded, having already heard Lord Yeatman’s vows to her. She was more than ready to return them for all the words came from her heart.
“I take you to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance.”
Lord Yeatman pressed her hand, his eyes alight with the same joy that she herself felt within her heart. Had there not been such a solemnity about the ceremony, Emma felt as though she might jump up into his arms at this very moment, simply from sheer happiness.
“And now we come the giving and receiving of the ring.”
Lord Yeatman nodded and, with a smile, took her hand and lifted it gently, before pushing the small, gold band onto the third finger of her left hand.
“Miss Emma Fairley,” he murmured, “with this ring I thee wed. With my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.”
Emma swallowed back the ache in her throat and the tears of joy as she looked down at her hand in his. It held a seal now, a promise that they would be man and wife for all the days of their life together. No-one could separate them now. She was his.
Lifting his hand by way of a blessing, the clergyman led them all in a final prayer.
“Eternal God, Creator and Preserver of all mankind, Giver of all spiritual grace, the Author of everlasting life: Send thy blessing upon these thy servants, this man and this woman, whom we bless in thy Name; that, as Isaac and Rebecca lived faithfully together, so these persons may surely perform and keep the vow and covenant between them made, whereof this Ring given and received is a token and pledge, and may ever remain in perfect love and peace together, and live according to thy laws; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
“Amen,” Emma murmured, keeping her eyes closed for a little longer as the clergyman continued his blessing.
“Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder. As these two here before you all have consented together in holy wedlock and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and thereto have given and pledged their troth either to other and have declared the same by giving and receiving of a Ring, and by joining of hands; I pronounce that they be Man and Wife together. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”
It was over. Emma could hardly take it in, feeling as though she were walking on air as Lord Yeatman led her away fromthe congregation and through a door to a small room where they were to sign their names to the marriage certificate and the church register. Once that was completed, the clergyman instructed them both to take their leave of the church and to step outside, where friends and family would now be waiting with their cries of congratulations.
“A moment, Emma?”
Lord Yeatman turned to face her as the clergyman made his way back through the church, giving them a few moments alone.
