So her father had not changed after all, Bettina thought joyfully. He had divined her feelings and striven, as a loving father, to give her what she most desired.
“But I shall not believe it,” Michael said, “until you tell me that you love me as much as I love you.”
“You – love me?” she breathed.
“I love you as I never knew it was possible to love any woman. I believe my love for you started the day we met on this river bank, but it took me a while to see it.”
Bettina made a sound and hid her face against his neck.
Michael’s arms held her closer still.
“You are mine and I am yours completely. You must marry me. I cannot live without you.”
He waited anxiously for her answer.
Then Bettina said in a whisper he could hardly hear,
“I love you, I love you, but how has this happened?”
“Because we were meant for each other,” he said. “I have been searching for you all my life.”
“I thought I was only useful to you,” she answered, “to rid you of Alice.”
“I think the truth is the other way round. Alice was really my excuse to become closer to you. I love you as I have never loved anyone in my life. The sooner we are married the sooner we can be together for always. I swear before God that I will make you happy.”
His voice seemed to express even better than his words what he was feeling.
Bettina could only murmur,
“I love you. Oh, how I love you or I would never feel like this.”
Michael kissed her. Then he said,
“Promise that you will marry me.”
“I promise.”
“We will be married quietly. Just your father, Win and Katherine and a few of the villagers. And, considering the circumstances, perhaps it had better be as soon as possible.”
“You mean, considering that we are supposed to be already married?” she asked demurely but with a twinkle in her eye.
“That and the fact that we may not be safe until our wedding has taken place,” he agreed. “I will not risk anything coming between us, my darling. Now that I have found you, I am going to keep you forever. I want you all to myself.”
“And I want to be yours and nobody but yours,” she sighed.
He smiled.
“Together we will make the castle and the garden so wonderful with our love,” he promised.
“Only you could say something like that. I love you, I do love you. I have loved you since I first saw you, but I never thought I would ever belong to you.”
“Do you think I would let anyone else have you?” Michael asked. “You are different from any woman I have known before. Now that we have found each other we will never be lonely or unhappy again.”
“I will make you happy,” Bettina vowed.
His arms wound about her again for the first kiss of their new avowed love. Bettina returned his kisses with all her heart and soul.
“Let us return now and ask the Vicar to marry us as soon as possible,” he said at last, a little unsteadily.
“And as we go, beloved, sing to me again, the song you were singing on the day we met. Not the last part, for I will never leave you alone, but the beginning, which is about us and our love. For we shall surely never be parted again.”
They walked away together, towards the glory of their future. Held in the circle of his arm, her head resting on his shoulder, Bettina began to sing.
Her sweet pure voice rang across the river and through the woods, echoing their song of true love.
“Where the sweet river wanders,
My love and I walked,
He smiled and said ‘Dearest,
Come talk with me, talk.
Let’s speak of the future
That shines bright before us,
And never, never be parted again’.”
Royalty Defeated by Love Page 14