by Fiona Miers
He wasn’t even able to tell her how he felt about her. He wanted to tell her that he loved her. That he had loved her since the first moment he had seen her, standing shoulder deep in the water, struggling to keep her mother’s head above water.
She was unlike any other woman he’d ever met. She didn’t fall at his feet as other women had or attempted to impress him with an illusion of perfection. She had shown her flaws and had not pretended to be someone whom she was not.
His life without her would be empty, and for a moment James considered going to her once again, to try and sway her into forgiving him.
Although he was very much tempted to do so, he wanted her to forgive him of her own accord. He certainly didn’t wish to force her to do anything she didn’t wish to do. He had done that quite enough already, and he felt ashamed of himself.
“I am such a fool, Fortego,” James said as he scooped up a handful of sand and watched the grains slip through his fingers, much like Abigail had. “A fool who lost his heart unknowingly to a woman who deserves much better than what I can give her. Perhaps she is better off without me in her life.”
The stallion whinnied beside James, and he sighed miserably.
“The irony of the matter is that I realised her worth when it was too late.”
The warm and piercing rays of the sun had reached their pinnacle, and James felt the sweat on his brow. “Perhaps a short swim will not only cool me down, but also assist me to gain a bit of perspective on what I will do next. Do you agree, Fortego?”
As though the horse understood James, it snorted and turned away, and James scoffed. “There is no need to be rude.”
James rose to his feet, stripped off his garments and strode towards the water.
The icy waves struck his feet and he gasped, his skin warmed significantly by the sun. As soon as the water reached his hips, he dove down, already feeling invigorated.
The ocean had always had a calming effect on him, and this yet again proved it. As he floated on his back, staring at the blue sky overhead, he floated towards Weymouth Bay once more. A strange feeling rose up inside him as he heard crying from the water. He shot upright and began to swim to the beach, where the sound came from.
He powered through the water towards the sound of the cry, desperately hoping that it was not Abigail.
James glanced around and noticed a young boy, perhaps eight or nine years of age, desperately clinging onto a jagged rock in the middle of the water. James knew that during low tide, there was an entire formation of rocks that led back to one side of the beach, but during high tide, it was consumed by the waters.
In this case, the unfortunate young boy had most likely played on the rocks and as soon as the tide rose, the water had trapped him.
James swam as fast as he could towards the boy and as he reached him, a large wave crashed over them. James kept his grasp on the boy’s arm as the water dragged them under.
A brief flashback of his time in France played before his eyes. Of being thrown from one of the boats during a nighttime enemy attack, and the determination grew inside him not to allow the water and the current to pull either one of them away.
James broke through the surface and both he and the young boy gasped for air. With strong and powerful motions of his arms, he swam back to the shore with the child. His muscles ached as he swam, holding the screaming youngster but he did not stop.
It was only when his feet touched the bottom that he finally relaxed and stepped out of the water, the shaking child in his arms, his arms wrapped tightly around James’s neck.
“Nathaniel!”
From the rear of the crowd of people who had formed on the beach, James heard the cries of two frantic parents, but James’ attention was focused on the beautiful woman who stood on the beach in a pale pink day dress, her eyes even bluer than the ocean.
A young man and woman, who James assumed were the boy’s parents, ran towards him. The man carried two blankets in his arms, and as the woman scooped Nathaniel into her embrace, the man handed James a blanket.
“Thank you,” James said gratefully as he wrapped the blanket around his body, covering his nakedness.
“No, it is my wife and I who need to thank you,” the man said and held out his hand. “You rescued our son, and for that we will be eternally grateful.”
“It was my pleasure,” James said and looked at Nathaniel, now covered in a blanket and shivering against his mother’s breast. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you,” the young boy said, his lips quivering.
“How can we ever repay you?” the woman asked, gripping her son as though she’d never let him go.
“There is no need. Truly.”
The man nodded and without a word, embraced James once again, catching him completely off guard. “If there is ever anything you require, please let us know.”
James noticed the Whittington family crest sewn onto the lapel of the man’s jacket and he nodded. “Certainly, Your Highness,” James said in a hushed tone.
The Whittington family were amongst the highest nobles in England, apart from King George himself. But they lived in secrecy to avoid unwanted attention.
James had been aware of their clandestine presence in Dorset county, but he had only seen adults of the family. He had not realised the couple had a child, a boy named Nathaniel, whom he had rescued from the sometimes cruel and vindictive ocean.
As the family stepped away from him, disappearing into the crowd, he set his gaze upon Abigail, who was once again, knee deep in water, slowly approaching him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Abigail had been convinced that she would never have the privilege to gaze upon James again. She had never imagined that she would see him covered in only a blanket wrapped around his waist.
His bare chest heaved, and his breathing was strained as a result of the act of heroism he had once again performed. Rescuing a child was one thing, but rescuing the son of royalty and having a family of the highest nobility be in your debt was something else entirely.
Of course, she knew that James could not have known who the child was when he’d swam to his rescue. What he’d done was heroic and brave, something she longed to be.
“You have become quite the hero in Weymouth,” Abigail said as she stopped a short distance from James. “First my mother, now Prince Nathaniel.”
“You know who they are?” James asked.
“You seem surprised.”
“It must be the rush of blood to my head.”
Abigail smiled and nodded her head. “You are the bravest person I have ever met. I cannot even imagine doing something so heroic to save someone.”
“I am not brave, Abigail. In fact, I am the most cowardly man in the world when it comes to you.”
The wet fabric of her dress clung to her skin, but she didn’t mind. It was a welcome distraction from the heat caused by James’s intense stare. His gaze caused her body to heat, and she was certain the ocean water around her would soon boil and bubble up. She grinned at the silliness of her thoughts and turned her attention back to James.
“And why would you say such a thing?” she asked, shifting her weight.
“A brave man would not have led you on and made you feel insignificant. A brave man would have made his feelings known, and not have been afraid to take a risk. I had never been good at taking risks. All my moves, actions, decisions were made with the most care. Carefully decided, meticulously planned. I have never been a spontaneous man.”
“That is not always a bad thing.” Especially in the case of family, health, finances.
“In this case it was. I did not treat you fairly, and I was a coward not to tell you that...”
“Tell me what?” she asked, her chest tightening with expectation.
“I was a coward not to tell you that you are the most important person in my life and without you, I am lost. I was a coward not to tell you that knowing you had been the best time of my life. And I wa
s a coward not to tell you how much I love you, Abigail. You turned my entire world around. I may not have much to offer you, and you can most certainly find someone much better than me—”
“You are such a foolish man,” Abigail said and pushed through the water to approach him once again. “There is no other man I would rather have love me than you. And I do not care if you think you cannot offer me what I deserve, or that I can find a man better than you, because that is not for you to decide.”
James stared at her wordlessly, waiting for her to continue.
“I may have acted rashly yesterday, not giving you the chance to fully explain yourself. I was still upset, confused by the feelings inside my heart. I know you are a good man, James, and that sometimes our perceptions can be warped by our pasts. I do not wish for that to happen again.”
“You and I have both been through our own versions of war, torturous and damaging. We shut our feelings off in an attempt to save ourselves, but we end up hurting even more.”
“Precisely.” Abigail took one more step and held out her hand to James. “I do not wish to deny my heart what it truly desires, and that is you. You make me feel alive while in your presence. Your touch gives me a purpose. You bring colour and warmth and love and acceptance into my life. And that is the type of life I have longed for, ever since I was a child. To be happy and content. To be loved.”
James reached out his hand as well and their fingers touched lightly. “It was never my intention to hurt you, Abigail. I was afraid of my own feelings. It was only when Thomas shouted at me that I realised I had been afraid. I loved you from the moment I saw you in the water, after rescuing your mother. After that day I have never been the same, and it is all thanks to you. When I returned from the war, I tried to fall back into my old ways. I dismissed you for being worried when Catherine approached you. I lied about my past with her and pretended I didn’t know her. That lie bothered me, and it still does. She is part of my past, a past I am not proud of. But if you asked me to list all the women I have ever been with, I would. There is nothing I wish to hide from you.”
She shook her head, “There is no need for that, James. I trust that you will not keep anything from me now. You have a past, as do I. A past we are not particularly proud of, but if it were not for that past, we would not be the people we are today, and we would not have ended up on this beach together right at this moment. Life works in mysterious ways, and we could spend a lifetime trying to find a way to understand it.”
“I cannot think of another person whom I would rather spend a lifetime beside than you,” James said.
“Nor I.”
James stepped forward and with one fluid motion, he wrapped his arms around Abigail’s waist, and pulled her close to him. Their lips touched in a sweet moment she would remember forever, and Abigail’s heart pounded ferociously in her chest.
A day ago, she would have never guessed that she would be kissing this heroic – and naked – man on the beach. Her life had yet again been turned upside down, and with the utmost honesty, she would not have it any other way.
James was the man who made her understand the true meaning of love, the man who made her feel safe in a world filled with heartache and dangers. Even though he had only rescued her mother that day on the beach, he had rescued her from a life of loneliness as well.
As their lips parted, Abigail sighed and placed her palms against his cheeks. “I wholeheartedly accept your apology. I am only sorry it took me this long to see that you are the one I cannot imagine my life without.”
“And you cannot imagine how happy that makes me feel, as I cannot imagine my life without you either, Abigail.”
“My heart feels as though it will burst from my chest if I do not say this,” Abigail said and drew in a deep breath. “I accept your proposal for courtship. Nothing would make me happier.”
James grinned and kissed her once more. She closed her eyes and melted into his embrace, her heart thudding with pure love.
“Abigail!”
Their kiss was interrupted by her mother’s panicked exclamations and Abigail glanced to her right. Her mother, accompanied by Dotty, trudged along the sand towards her and James. Abigail was certain her mother would have much to comment on because of her public display of affection towards James and slipped from his embrace.
Unfortunately for James, she accidentally caused the blanket to dislodge from his hips. Her eyes widened as both she and James bent down to retrieve the fabric.
Abigail inwardly cringed as she stepped away. James tucked the blanket around his waist, awaiting her mother’s public scolding.
“My dearest daughter,” Mrs. Roth began, and Abigail sighed wearily.
She was, however, pleasantly surprised when her mother began to chuckle with amusement at the sight of her daughter, knee-deep in water, flushed cheeks, and standing beside a man wearing only a blanket.
“If there is one thing I cannot accuse you of, it is blending into the masses. Luckily, I believe that if you blend in too well, you disappear.”
Abigail smiled broadly and ran to her mother. She threw her arms around her mother’s shoulders and embraced her tightly.
“If I may ask one thing,” Mrs. Roth said.
“Of course, Mother,” Abigail said and stepped back.
“James, come here please,” Mrs. Roth ordered.
James’s eyes widened for a moment, which amused Abigail, but he did as she asked and joined Abigail and her mother on the beach. He tightly grasped the blanket to avoid another mishap. “Mrs. Roth, you called for me.”
“Indeed, I did. I trust that this very public display of affection and the exchange of declarations of love will resort to something we can all celebrate, much like a proposal of marriage?”
Abigail smiled and turned to James, who answered rather gallantly. “Only if your beautiful and truly delightful daughter agrees.”
Her mother glared expectantly at Abigail. She nodded confidently as James placed his arm around her shoulder. “Indeed, Mother.”
“Praise the heavens,” Dotty exclaimed, and Mrs. Roth joined in the joyful exclamations.
Abigail giggled and looked at James. “I sincerely apologise for my family’s theatrics. Oh, you have not met my sisters. My sincerest apologies in advance.”
“Do not fret, my dearest Abigail. You are more than worth any amount of theatrics.”
“We will see,” Abigail said with another giggle.
James wrapped his arms around her once more and kissed her sweetly on the lips. Abigail’s heart fluttered with every kiss, and it would continue to do so for the rest of her life.
The End