Page 70 of An Unbending Lady for the Desperate Earl
He turned to kiss her, when a rider appeared suddenly.
“Are you Lady Galbury?” the man asked, fixing his gaze on Victoria.
“I… suppose I am.” She flashed a smile at Christian that made his heart soar.
“I have a parcel for you.” He delved into his satchel and handed a box to Victoria, which she took with a bemused expression on her face. A moment later, the rider took off, leaving no explanation as to whom the parcel was from.
* * *
Victoria eyed the box with suspicion.
“Are you not going to open it?” Christian urged.
“I guess it would be rude not to.” Tentatively, she untied the ribbons that bound it, to reveal another box inside. Wooden, and sleek with varnish, it had a clasp at the front, which Victoria duly opened.
Inside, lying upon a cushion of velvet, sat a necklace. One Victoria recognized immediately, from the portrait that had been painted of her mother and father, on their wedding day. It was also the necklace that her mother had placed into her father’s casket, the morning before he was to be buried.
He must have taken it, without us knowing… He must have been watching us, all that time.Despite what her mother had said about her father not loving her anymore, Victoria realized that her mother had been mistaken. Her father had never stopped loving her, or his daughter. He had merely been so bogged down by the grief of losing his sister, that he had forgotten how to show affection.
But this necklace proved that he had thought of them, and that he had wanted something to remember his wife by. Just as Victoria once stayed away from her mother’s home, in order to protect her from any harm that might come her way, her father had done the same thing. Only, he had pretended to die, so that he might free his wife, once and for all.
“What a beautiful necklace,” Christian said. “Who is it from?”
A tear fell down Victoria’s cheek. “There is no sender.”
“Perhaps they forgot to put a message inside?”
Victoria nodded. “Yes… perhaps they did.” She didn’t need a note, for the message was clear. She was loved. Her father was thinking of her. He was safe, and he was watching, looking out for her. And, what was more… she was forgiven.
Her joy had finally come full circle.
“Are you sad?” Christian held her face in his hands, his eyes filled with consternation.
She shook her head. “No. These are happy tears. The happiest.”
“Oh… good. You had me worried for a moment.”
“There is nothing to be worried about. All is well now.” She pressed her palm to his chest and felt the steady beat of his heart. The heart that loved her the most.
Slowly, he leaned in, until their lips grazed in a tender kiss. His thumb brushed across the pink apple of her cheek, sending tingles through her body. Spurred on by her happiness, she kissed him more deeply, and he responded in kind, his arms wrapping around her and pulling her close. Here, in his arms, she was safe. Here, she could hide when things overwhelmed her. Here, she never had to be anyone other than who she was. And she would never let that go, not for anything.
In this churchyard, where joy and grief, life and death, converged, she could bury the ghosts of her past at last, and look forward to the future with Christian at her side. Her father had allowed himself to be haunted to the point of insanity. But she had Christian to keep her steady, and she would cling to him until they returned to this place, one day, to walk into the Kingdom of Heaven together.
What greater reward could a person ask for?
The End?
