Something Old, Rebecca Connolly [ebook reader for laptop TXT] 📗

got there. It seemed too perfect a chance, and I didn’t think…” He cut himself off, suddenly desperate to choose his words with care.

Yet hesitation and reluctance had never served him well in his marriage, and he could not start his marriage anew by clinging to what would not serve.

What could he say?

“I didn’t think I was quite ready to face you,” he admitted as they finally reached each other, both of them stopping. “Not yet. I needed to find the man I’d been here before I could. The man you loved.”

“Thomas…” Lily said gently, her eyes turning soft, “I loved you long before we ever came here. Surely you know that by now.”

He nodded, swallowing against a suddenly raw throat. “I am so sorry, Lily. So very sorry. For how our marriage began and for what happened in London. I should have confided in you, as I had done here, should have embraced you in spite of my fears. Should have loved you as you deserved to be loved.”

She smiled at him, shaking her head a little. “I deserve to be loved by you, Thomas. That is all I have ever wanted. And it’s not too late for me. For us.”

“I transferred Pendrizzick to your name and your care,” he told her, though he suspected she already knew. “It felt only right. The place where I have been happiest, where I have loved you best, lies in your care, just as I do. You have all the independence I can give you, and you may do what you will. I don’t want money or estates or anything temporal to have hold over me any longer. I don’t want to be afraid of losing you if I find myself in disaster.”

“You won’t lose me.”

He managed a smile in return. “I know that now, but I may fear it, nevertheless.”

“Why?” she asked him, the word seeming to catch in her throat. “If you know that, why?”

“I’ve never thought I was good enough for you,” Thomas confessed, desperately wanting to take her hand but knowing he needed to say all of this before he could. “I thought you deserved so much better than anything I could ever give or be. It didn’t matter that I loved you. I had to be enough for you. What I considered to be enough in my eyes.”

He inhaled slowly, then released the breath in a rush. “I wanted to be worthy of you. Somehow, that became purely a matter of money, and I failed you in spite of my efforts. I gained a fortune, but it has not made me a rich man. It never could. The only true wealth I have is you. Your heart, your love… I could be the richest man in England and not have a penny to my name in having that. Knowing now that you loved me all that time, I can only beg–”

“Love.”

His words choked in his throat as he stared at her in disbelief. “What?”

“Love,” Lily said again, her voice clear, her smile bright. She held out a hand, and he took it, gripping as hard as he dared, fearing he might soon wake from a dream. “Not loved. Do love. Not have loved. I still love you, Thomas. And I’ve missed you so much.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, couldn’t fathom the joy that was beginning to fill his soul. But he would embrace it. Freely and fully, he would embrace it.

“May I kiss you, my love?” he asked, rubbing his thumb against her palm.

She sighed, a tear escaping her eyes, and nodded, moving toward him. “Please do.”

He cradled her face in his hands and touched his lips to hers, the ecstasy of their contact immediate, the perfection unending. It was a slow, gentle kiss, a tender expression of longing and love, of relief and regret, of hope and happiness.

It was everything, and it was home.

Thomas moved his lips to brush her cheek before pulling back to stare deeply into her eyes. “Can we start again, Lily? Will you give me another chance? Can we forget all that has passed and build something new, entirely our own? A real marriage. One of love and respect and trust, and of openness and honesty…”

Lily placed a hand over his where it cupped her cheek, smiling up at him. “I don’t want to forget it or to have something new. I want to build right where we are, on all that we’ve said and done, and treasure each and every moment together. I want us to embrace the time we have and make the most of it with each other.”

He nodded, smoothing his thumb against her cheek, forever in awe of her. “I love you.”

Her smile spread, and she turned to press a soft kiss in the palm of his hand. “I love you, too. And that seems a very good thing to build upon.”

He kissed her again, very softly, before smiling and moving his hands to interlock with hers. “I was hoping you’d say that.” He rubbed his thumbs against her hands, warmth and light and love filling his soul in the particular, incomparable way that only Lily could bring about. “May I walk you home, Mrs. Granger?”

Lily sighed and nodded gently, the breeze catching tendrils of her hair and dancing them about her face. “You may, Mr. Granger.”

And together, hand in hand, they turned and walked slowly toward Pendrizzick.

The long way.

Epilogue

“You look well, Lily. Far better than I do, I fear.”

Lily smiled at Rosalind, who admittedly still looked a little pale, though the smile on her face easily made up for it. “I am three months beyond my delivery, Roz. You are not even one.”

Rosalind tilted her head in acknowledgement, tucking her sleeping infant daughter closer to her. “True… and it was a difficult birth, if I may claim so.”

“I think you may,” Lily said with a laugh, sipping her tea. “Josephine Riverton will not be hurried.”

“Indeed, she will not.” Rosalind