“Francis,” the lady stood up and returned the greeting, smiling to herself because that had become a customary greeting between the two of them.
“After our last meeting I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” Francis said, still standing in front of her. “I have suddenly realized that my life without you is meaningless. Emma Roberts, will you be my wife? I promise to love and cherish you for the rest of my life. Emma, if you feel the same, please tell me right away because I feel like dying here.”
The gentleman was on his knees in front of her, looking pleadingly at her, his hands resting on her knees. Emma tried to pretend that everything was fine, but all her pretenses were lost when she looked the Viscount in the eyes. The gentleman was waiting for her answer, and he smiled at Emma when she looked down at him.
“You are too good to make me wait,” he said and kissed her hand. “I have been waiting for you.”
“Why?” Emma asked in a small voice. “Why were you waiting for me?”
“I have been waiting for you for the last few years, Miss Emma,” the Viscount laughed and guided her hand once again to his lips. “I will wait for you until my last breath if that is necessary. I love you, I admire you, and I want to spend my life with you.”
Emma suddenly felt her face all wet with tears and tried to wipe them away. The Viscount was faster than her and wiped away her tears with his thumb.
“Miss Emma Roberts, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” he asked again, after adjusting his position on the floor. “You will make me the happiest man in the world if you say yes.”
“Yes,” she whispered and slowly let her body slide down from the seat so that she could kneel too. “I want to be your wife more than anything in the world. I too waited for you all this time, although, I was not aware of what was I waiting for. I love you, Francis. I had always loved you, especially when I acted as if I do not care for you anymore.”
“I love you, Emma Roberts,” Francis said once again and leaned toward her, claiming her lips in another sweet kiss.
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“You are a very brave woman, Lady Emma, Lady of my heart,”
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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THE BEST DAY OF THEIR LIVES
“We have all a better guide in ourselves if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.”
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
Moreland House
Two more days passed and everyone in the neighborhood knew about their engagement. The Baron was been the happiest father in the world and was treating Francis as part of the family already. Emma liked how her father had become Francis’ best friend, and only the Baroness still stayed silent when it came to the handsome Viscount, but not for the reason some might imagine. Emma’s mother simply found it hard to say goodbye to her younger daughter.
Or at least, she stayed quiet until Friday night, when the Baroness knocked on Emma’s bedroom door and walked in with a soft smile on her lips. “I know that it is late,” she said to her speechless daughter. “But after watching you and Francis interacting this afternoon, I decided that you two are perfect for each other.”
“Mother,” Emma sat up on the bed. “What are you talking about?”
“I think that it is time for all of us to forget the past and to look at the future,” her mother said. “You are clearly in love with each other, and from what I saw, the Viscount is ready for the next step. He is only waiting for you to get there.”
Emma opened her mouth, ready to protest, but the Baroness raised her hand and stopped her. “This is not a discussion, my dear. You are the only one, who can make the decision. I just wanted to tell you that your family will be by your side no matter what you decide.”
Emma was still speechless when her mother approached the bed and placed a kiss on her cheek. “Good night, my dear daughter.”
Emma did not sleep that night, too busy thinking about what her mother had just said. The truth was that Emma had noticed the change in everyone’s behavior, but she was too afraid to let herself hope. What if she was wrong again?
However, after her talk with her mother, Emma decided that she was ready for the next step and spoke to Francis about the date of their wedding. They set a date for two weeks later and Emma, her sisters, and her mother threw themselves into the preparations.
Everybody was excited, and Jane could not wait to see her baby sister married and happy just she was. Francis and Emma planned to go to Italy for their honeymoon, and although their parents were saddened by their imminent departure, they were also happy to see the two young people planning their future together.
Emma and Francis called a family meeting and tried to explain to them what plans they had made for the future. Thanks to Emma’s inheritance and some of Francis good investments, they were able to pay all of the Turner’s estate debts and rehire all the servants. Francis’ father was well taken care of, and the Baroness had taken it upon herself to look after his health.
Everybody was happy that Emma was going to live so close to her family and her sisters, and when the wedding day came, everybody said that theirs was the most beautiful wedding anyone had ever seen.
After the wedding dinner, they retired to their new room, situated in the large Turner estate. Emma looked breathtaking in her white bridal gown with the veil on her head.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, after noticing Francis’ gaze.
“I was so scared that something could happen to you,” he explained. “When you were with that man…”
“We are both fine…” Emma interrupted him.
“I should have known better. This is not a safe time for a woman to be left alone,” Francis sounded guilty and scared.
“I am not afraid because you are by my side…”
“You are a very brave woman, Lady Emma, Lady of my heart,” she heard him say in her ear when he leaned forward. “I am very proud of what you did after you learned the truth.”
Emma turned around and found herself facing Francis, who was smiling down at her. “You did what no one of us could do. You stood against the Captain and then you fought the entire world to help me.”
“I was so afraid,” she confessed, and Francis took her hand in his.
“When I married you, I did not realize that when I was gaining a wife, my family was also gaining such a treasure,” he joked while guiding her towards the bed.
There was something very different about her husband right now, but she was unable to tell what it was. Francis was acting very much like the loving husband that she wanted so much. He touched and talked to her as if they had some intimate secrets that only a husband and wife should have. It surprised her, but not in a bad way.
They walked further into the room in a comfortable silence, with Francis’ hand hugging her close to his body. Once inside the room, some of the awkwardness returned, and Emma removed her scarf with her eyes cast downwards.
“Were you ever jealous of me?” Francis asked her when they stood by the bed. Emma was surprised by his question, but his kind smile told her that he understood her feelings and that it was finally time for them to talk.
“I can say honestly that now I feel sorry for all the time we lost,” she answered him. “But there was a time when the jealousy was stringing at my heart. Now, I can see that it was foolish of me to even to think that there could be something between you and any other woman, but back then I was confused.”
“I am glad that you overcame it, Emma.” Francis looked pleased with her answer and after helping her out of her scarf, and after leaving it on a chair, he once again took her hand and tugged her towards the center of the room.
“Francis,” Emma crooned, not wanting to disturb the beauty of the moment.
“Yes,” he responded, looking at her with a new admiration. Emma realized that the color rose on her cheeks.
“I w
anted to tell you that I am happy to be here with you,” she said, looking him in the eye.
Francis slowly approached her, taking her hands in his and bending his head down to give Emma feather-like kiss on the lips. The touch was so gentle that Emma thought that she was dreaming.
“Thank you for being here and for saying that,” he responded to her declaration while caressing her cheek with his right hand. “I waited a long time for the woman that would make me the happiest man on the earth. And now that I have found her, it is time to start our life together.”
Emma realized that she had made the right choice marrying Francis, and already imagined the happy future in front of them. It had taken them a lot of time to reach that point, but now that they were here, Emma knew that nothing would prevent them from being happy together. God had answered her prayers, giving her an honest and a good man with whom she would gladly spend her life.
“I guess, it is time for us to get to know each other again, don’t you think?” Francis expressed her thoughts.
“Our life is too short for us to let it go, let it pass unnoticed, and we must not travel the path alone. God and the people around us must become our light and guide towards something better and higher. We, however, must be ready to transform.” Emma wanted to let Francis know how much their life together meant to her.
“Transformation is a process, a long, difficult process. But it is the only way for us to discover who we are. Through the hard and happy moments of our lives, we learned to love, accept, fight, suffer, say thank you… It was difficult, but not impossible. The only danger is never to gather the courage to start the journey. Because then we will be defeated even before we start living.”
Silently, he took hold of her hand, using his thumb to turn the diamond ring on her finger. The stone was clear and set in a gentle setting, just what Emma liked. The ring was a representation of their love for each other, for their past, for their future.
“I love you, Emma,” he confessed. “It scares me how much I love you.”
“I love you too, Francis, and there is nothing in the world that will make me forget that.”
“Yes,” Francis agreed. His hand turned palm, holding her back and twining their fingers together.
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“This is our treasure, and I need nothing else but the two of you.”
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CHAPTER THIRTY
HAPPILY EVER AFTER
“This is an evening of wonders, indeed!”
Jane Austen, Pride, and Prejudice
Moreland House, two months later
A few months had passed since Francis and Emma’s wedding, and they had returned from their honeymoon when all three sisters reunited for at Emma’s house for a nice day together. All three of them had been preparing for that moment since Emma had returned from Europe and visited everyone.
The Viscount had made sure to be away that day, leaving the sisters alone to enjoy the day and providing them with everything they might need. Emma waited for Jane and Charlotte by the living room window and ran to welcome them when their carriage arrived.
It was almost Christmas, and the weather outside was cold and wet, not at all good for Jane, who was expecting a child. Charlotte, Jane, and Emma sat down in the living room, reminiscing over the past couple of years of their lives in which all of them found love and got married.
“Do you remember the time, when we all suffered because of the lack of money and the bad health of our father?” Charlotte asked suddenly. “I was so afraid that I might have to marry our cousin Timothy that I saw no happiness in my future.”
“But it is all in the past now,” Jane protested.
“Yes, it is, and because of that hard experience, I am stronger and ready to face anything in this life,” the eldest of the sisters said. “Everybody kept telling me that the happiness of my family and of my sisters depended on me, and all I wanted was to see you safe and happy.”
“We are happy now,” this time, it was Emma, who interrupted her.
“I know, and I thank God every day for that,” Charlotte smiled at them. “You have no idea how hard I fought for our happiness.”
Emma looked at both of her sisters and noticed that they were all crying, but those were not tears of sadness or pain, on the contrary, they were tears of love and happiness.
“Do you know what I thought when Francis came to tell me that Captain Jonathan Green was trying to steal my money?” Emma asked through tears. Both of her sisters shook their heads, silently telling her that they did not know.
“I thought that it was a sign from Heaven that I should reconsider my ways and accept what my heart was feeling,” Emma explained. “That was also the day I realized that my family was the most important thing in my life and that Francis was part of that family.”
“We have been telling you that for years, my dear,” Jane cried. “Why don’t you ever listen to us?”
“Because I am too busy listening to what is going on in my head, but I promise never to do that again,” Emma promised.
Their conversation continued in the same way for the rest of the day, and when Charlotte and Jane left in the afternoon, Emma finally felt reassured that she had done the right thing by marrying Francis.
When her husband returned home, Emma asked him to accompany her for a walk in the park, and Francis helped her to put her coat on. He probably recognized the look of determination on her face, because her husband did not argue when Emma walked in silence for the first few minutes.
Francis understood her perfectly and accepted all of her doubts, even though she did not always know how to express them. Since his investments had turned into profit, the Viscount, no longer needed Emma’s money and they decided to leave a big part of it to Emma’s aging parents.
The future they were looking forward to soon smiled at them, and before it was time to celebrate Christmas again, a new child joined their family.
“Now I have everything,” Francis said when it was just the three of them in the room, the baby lying in his mother’s hands. “I have everything, and I realized that what I have cannot be bought with money. I don’t know why, but today I thought about Captain Jonathan Green and what he did to you. I firmly believe that he will never have what we have here.”
“Forget about him,” Emma answered him softly, afraid to disturb the baby. “This is our treasure, and I need nothing else but the two of you.”
“Emma,” her husband muttered, while gently caressing the little hand of their son.
“Francis,” she answered and kissed the baby on his head.
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CHAPTER ONE
TO LOSE SOMEONE PRECIOUS
“You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past, as its remembrance gives you pleasure.”
Jane Austen
Bath, Somerset, England 1815
“Edward, I have devoted my morning to thinking about you and how appropriate the time is for you to marry,” said Nathaniel Frampton, Duke of Cumberland, as he turned to look at his son Lord Edward Frampton, who had just entered the dining room.
Breakfast for Lord Edward was a ritual he partook in every morning with his father by his side.
Lord Edward smiled. “What made you think of marriage for me, Papa?” asked Edward, still smiling at his father.
“If your Mama was alive, you would have been married by now,” sa
id his father, turning his gaze to the chair on his right, which used to be the place where his wife, the late Juliet Frampton, used to occupy.
Edward sat down on the left side of his father and took his father’s hand in his. “What made you think of a marriage for me, Papa?” he repeated softly.
“Well, I am getting old and weary now, my son,” said his father.
Edward laughed. “Papa, I don’t want to think of marriage right now, and moreover, you are not old and weary,” said Edward, as he smiled at his father.
Duke Nathaniel sighed and picked up a piece of toast from the silver stand that stood on the table.
Edward and his father ate in silence thereafter and his father did not broach the subject of marriage again.
“If only your Mama was alive,” repeated Duke Nathaniel as he heaved himself from his chair and stretched his hands above his head.
The Frampton Castle was in Bath, in the West County of Somerset, England. Lord Edward Frampton was a handsome man with aristocratic features and a height that complemented every aspect of his stature. His love for horses and horse riding was evident from the well appointed and maintained stables at Frampton Castle, which housed the best thoroughbred stallions in the county. Lord Edward took part in the Derby Races annually and he always secured first place in the races. His friends, John and Victor were top-sawyers just like him, and accompanied him to practices and also to the Derby Races.
Lord Edward watched his father leave the dining room and as he always did, he heard his father call for his cabriolet to be brought around to the front of the castle. Duke Nathaniel’s hobby was driving his cabriolet, and if he did so just after breakfast, it was because he had a lot on his mind and wanted to think.
Regency Romance: To Love A Viscount (CLEAN Historical Romance) Page 17