Page 104 of Forget Me Not

Lucas sat in the LamptonPark library, a book in his hands. He wasn’t paying much heed to the words on the page. His parents were in the room as well, engrossed in their own private conversation. His mind was on the neighboring estate and a certain blue-eyed lady. His heart was there as well.

Had he made progress that day? Had he given her any additional reason to have faith in him?

She meant to try, and that was decided progress from where they’d been a week earlier. Truth be told, it was a leap forward from where they’d started their marriage.

Footsteps in the corridor pulled their attention. They all looked in the direction of the door.

The butler stepped inside. He was the tiniest bit out of breath, as if he’d nearly run to the room. Laughter shone in his usually stern eyes. “Lady Jonquil,” he announced.

Julia stepped inside. She tossed the fatigued butler a broad smile. “I nearly outpaced you the way I always used to.”

“I alwaysletyou, my lady.”

Far from offended, she smiled fondly before he slipped out.

Julia turned to Mother and Father. “I’ve come to lodge a complaint with your bacon-brained son.”

“Always a pleasure, Julia.” Father’s voice rang with laughter as he greeted her in precisely the way he had every time the childhood version of her had burst into the house, flying through the corridors on some mission or another.

Her attention shifted entirely to Lucas. Something in her demeanor made him want to hug her and burst out laughing all at the same time. “I have just been informed that you love me,” she said quite matter-of-factly.

Mother assumed a posture of theatrical surprise. “What a shocking revelation!”

Julia’s lips twitched, but she wasn’t deterred. “Is it true?”

He stepped over to her. “It has always been true.”

She was apparently unimpressed by what he’d thought was a fairly romantic declaration. “If you love me the same way you did when I was five years old, then we are going to have significant problems moving forward.”

He raised a flirtatious eyebrow. “I don’t think I kissed you in that coat closet at all the way one would kiss a mere childhood friend.”

She blushed immediately and deeply. “No, you didn’t.”

“We will leave the two of you to sort out... whatever it is you’re sorting,” Father said as he and Mother slipped out of the library.

Julia’s mouth twisted to the side. “I think we embarrassed them.”

He shrugged. “It got them out of the room, didn’t it?”

Her smile blossomed fully. Only through staggering willpower did he prevent himself from pulling her into an embrace and kissing her. She had sought him out and seemed pleased to be in his company. The optimist in him was ready to declare victory. The realist, however, urged caution.

“Now, my Julia, who was it that informed you since last I saw you that I love you?” It was the declaration on which she’d entered the room, after all.

“The General. The King. Grumpy Uncle. Archbishop. Puppy.”

Ah. “Their letters?”

“You have very persuasive friends, Lucas.”

He took her hand. “Wehave very persuasive friends.”

She reached with her other hand into the pocket of her coat and withdrew a very familiar book. “I left this at Brier Hill.”

“I know. But you had been enjoying it. I didn’t want you to be denied something that brought you enjoyment simply because I ruined everything.”

Quietly, almost a little bashfully, she said, “Noteverything.”

“Have you begun to forgive me, sweetheart?”

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