Page 88 of An Accidental Bride for the Duke
Does he even need to? After his apology, that kiss… I now know how he feels about me. Just as I know how I feel about him.
Still, she was curious. And with how eager Philip was to show her, she could only guess what this was all about. It felt to her like a final confirmation that this marriage could work. Assuming, that is, this little surprise was nearly as important as Philip seemed to think. Proof that he knew her truly, and that they could work together.
They rode back to the estate in a carriage.
It reminded Iris a little of that first day when they had married, because there was still some tension in the air. It felt as if theyshouldn’t talk, not until they arrived home and this final surprise was shown. And Iris, her nervousness growing by the second, was certain Philip could hear her heart thumping away.
Once they arrived, Philip led her inside. He held her hand as he did, squeezing it gently, a smile painted across his lips. He glanced at her as they went, the smile growing.
“Curious?” he asked her.
“That is one word for it…”
“You’ll see.”
He led her to the eastern wing, the same that she had been told not to venture down all those weeks ago. Through the halls, they came upon a set of double doors that were closed. Philip released her hand once they reached them and hurried forward.
“This was my mother’s room,” he told her. “And until today, I hadn’t set foot inside it for over fifteen years.”
“Your mother?”
“The duchess’s room,” he corrected. “Down the hall from my own.” He pushed open the doors and Iris expected to be greeted with a dark dwelling, musty and damp from having been closed for years. But that wasn’t even close to what she found.
The curtains were open, as were the windows; the effect was to bathe the room in bright light. The bedding was fresh. The floors were polished. No sense at all that this room had been abandoned.
Iris walked in with hesitation, not certain how she should feel or what this meant. “This is… this is to be my room?”
“It is,” he said. “But that is not the surprise.” From there he hurried to the wardrobe, which was its own separate room extended from the furthest wall. Philip reached the door and there he paused… “I have been thinking a lot on the nature of apologies,” he said. “How important they are. How needed, also. And with that in mind, you and Robert were not the only people who were in need of hearing one.”
“Philip, what are you speaking of?”
He turned back, pumped his eyebrows, and then threw the doors open.
Iris gasped when she saw it. The reason he was so excited. The surprise that he could not wait to give her. And the final little bit of confirmation to prove not only that Philip was willing to change, but that he had already.
The wardrobe was filled with dresses and gowns. Dozens of them. Some she recognized as her own, but many looked to be brand new. She walked forward gingerly, unblinking, as if to look away might see them vanish.
“Is this…”
“I paid the modiste a visit yesterday,” he told her. “It was my thinking that I needed to apologize for how I spoke to her the last time she was here. That, and she still had not finished the job you’d assigned her.”
“You… you did this?” she reached the wardrobe and ran her hands through the dresses. Disbelief written clear across her face. “For me?”
“For me,” Philip clarified. “It’s not about the dresses, Iris. It’s about…” He sighed. “It’s about not holding onto so much hate. It brings me nothing and only hurts those I love.” She was still looking at the dresses, but she heard a tremor in his voice. “And there is one person in particular whom I love, who I was sick of hurting.”
Iris paused. She could feel Philip standing right behind her. His stare fixed on the back of her head. Hesitation in his voice, the way he was standing suggesting how nervous he was. Both fought again because he was sick of denying what he knew.
“You… you love?” she turned.
“You,” he said, smiling down at her. “I love you, Iris. I have for a while now and…” His smile grew. “I just wish I realized it sooner. But as I am starting to learn, in these instances, it’s better to be late than not say it at all.”
Iris felt her heart swell in her chest with the realization that she loved him too. Oh, she had known for some time that she loved him. She had ignored it. She had run from it. She had feared what it might mean. But hearing Philip finally admit his own feelings, she knew there was no need to cower from it any longer.
“I love you too,” she said, matching his smile. “So very much.”
For a beat, the two lovers simply looked at one another. Smiles growing. Eyes sparkling with tears. The world around them shrinking so that they were the only two who seemed to exist.
And then, as the tension gathered, as the silence grew, as their stares held, Iris did the only thing she could think, the only thing that made any sense. She stepped forward, wrapped her arms around Philip’s neck, and kissed him. And he kissed her right back.
