by Jo Briggs
“Did you manage to get Luke to consider your proposals to have him buy your shares?”
“Yes, he is going to secure the finances when we are away.”
“That is excellent news. Sounds like we have both been productive.” He leaned in and kissed her. “Hmm, do you think we could sneak away for the afternoon? I think I heard Lydia disappear off with Christian and Lily down to lake. I feel we haven’t much alone time since you got discharged.”
Elle laughed. “That sounds like a marvellous idea; do you have a particular place in mind?” A teasing smile twitching up the end of her mouth.
“I do,” He grabbed her hand.
Sometime later, they were heading to their private meadow, using a unusual form of transport; a golf cart as Elle was still not fit enough to ride a horse there. There were several similar vehicles used by the estate staff, to get to the remote parts of the estate.
Arriving at the meadow, Elle lifted up the neatly folded blanket from the back of cart, intent on laying it out on the grass in between the stream and the weeping willows, but her attention was drawn by a small black box that had been hidden beneath the blanket.
Curious, she picked the small object up. Is that a ring box? She pondered. As she contemplated the box in her hand, William had come to stand beside her in the interim.
“Is this a present for me?”
"Open it and see," He smiled innocently.
She snapped open the box, revealing a square shaped diamond engagement ring. "Oh, it is exquisite." The ring had tiny diamonds running either side of the band, meeting the huge stone in the middle. She could only begin to imagine how many carats it was. She rang her fingertips over the top of it, almost afraid to remove it from the box in case she dropped it.
"It is a Dexter heirloom,” He began as he took the box gently from her hand, lowering himself onto one knee as he did. “The stone belonged to my grandmother, then my mother, and now I would love you to have it next...” His voice was full of emotion, as he took her left hand in his, his eyes boring into hers, as his words rolled off her tongue “…and become my wife.”
Elle had remained silent through the short speech, her eyes brimming with tears as she lowered herself onto her knees in front of him.
“I guess that would make you my husband to be,” She said, as her lips imprinted upon his gently. “I like the sound of that.”
His fingers trembled slightly as he removed the ring from the box and placed it on her third finger. “You have made me the happiest man alive."
~~~
17th June 2010
“Do you feel more at ease now?” William questioned, placing his hand on her knee briefly as they weaved through the Derby traffic. They were heading back from the hospital after Elle’s post op check-up. Elle had taken a long list of questions with her into the consulting room about her concerns for future pregnancies.
“Yes, much.” She answered, as she held some literature in her hand, which the doctor had given her to read, and a list of recommended private doctors.
“We can start working down the list of names once we get back as soon as we return from the trip if you like?”
“Planning on getting me pregnant and barefoot straightaway, are you?”
“Well, it could be fun to start practising now, we have been given the go ahead to recommence our sex life."
Elle giggled at this and playfully slapped his arm. “You are incorrigible. As much as I feel better about having a baby again, I would rather we waited to start until after the wedding."
"Maybe, we should abstain between now and the wedding, so we don't slip up on that?" He offered teasingly.
"Ohh, I doubt you could resist me for that long." She tormented him playfully, and turning her head away from him as he tried to kiss her, as they draw to a stop at a set of traffic lights.
"Minx," He complained as he settled for placing his mouth on her neck instead. “Wait till I get you home!”
~~~
26th June 2010
The group of three sisters, their respective partners, and children had been on the yacht for a week now.
William’s plan to make Elle believe the wedding was supposed to be for just Evan and Cate had worked without a hitch.
All the arrangements had been made. The sisters’ dresses were ready and waiting. Richard, William’s best man would arrive the night before, and keep out of sight so not to raise Elle’s suspicions. William had hired a permanent moored antique wooden sailboat for the actual wedding ceremony in an idyllic cove of the Italian coast. The other surprise guests would be already on the sailboat when they arrived for the ceremony in the late morning.
The sisters had been in the spa room since early morning, having their make-up applied, hair curled and pinned into place, before they helped Cate into her wedding dress she had chosen the day of their shopping trip. The white silk dress had a v-styled back, with buttons all the way down to the trumpet style train, with a beaded belt emphasising her slim waist that graced all the Benedict sisters.
“How much time do we have left?” Elle questioned, conscious that she had not yet put her own dress on. She had left it to Jess and Cate to select the bridesmaid dresses before they left England, as she had immersed herself in spending as much time as William would allow, sorting out her business move and getting to know Lily better.
“About an hour, but we will have to get over to the sailboat in that time as well.”
“William said, it would be only a brief ride in the motor boat.”
“Why don’t you head off and grab your dress from your room? I already brought mine with me so can continue getting ready here.” Jess suggested, with the ulterior motive of getting Elle back to her room, to discover the bridesmaid dress that had been hanging in the cabin wardrobe had been substituted for the specially designed dress, which her friend Luke had completed without her knowledge.
Still wrapped in the bright white towelling robe from the spa, and flip-flops so not to smudge her freshly painted toenails, Elle made her way to the cabin she shared with William.
Feeling relaxed that she was only a bridesmaid rather than the bride, Elle was casually humming away to herself, as she started to lay out bundle the underwear and stockings on the bed, she had planned to wear with the floor-length, pale grey, chiffon dress that both she and Jess were to wear. Luckily, the chosen underwear was an ivory tone, so it conveniently matched the replacement dress.
She had only been in the room a minute or two before William entered the room looking devastatingly handsome in his beige brocade Edwardian jacket, cream Edwardian collar shirt and chocolate cravat and trousers.
“Oh, hi.” Elle said looking up as William came further into the room. “How is the groom feeling?”
“Nervous,” William smiled, knowing Elle was referring to Evan’s frame of mind, but answering about his own.
“Do you need help getting into your dress?” Noting that she was still in her dressing gown and wanting to urge her to check the wardrobe to see her reaction to the unexpected contents.
“Hmm, yes, that might be beneficial as I seem to be running behind on time.” She gave him a wistful grin, as he was constantly teasing for her habitual lateness whenever they were heading out somewhere. “I haven’t even put my underwear yet!”
William rolled his eyes mockingly and settled down on the edge of bed as Elle stripped off the dressing gown revealing her supple nakedness. Averting his eyes to avoid any embarrassing hardening of his nether regions, he silently ran over the words he wanted to say to her when she found the new dress.
Finally, Elle had eased herself into the lace all in one with hold-up stockings, and made her way over to the walk-in dressing room space situated in an adjoining room, to retrieve the dress.
A low-pitch scream then his name came out of her mouth, drawing him from the bed and striding purposefully towards the dressing room.
She emerged from the space with the beautiful dress folded softly in her hands
before he reached the other room. “Is this my dress?” She whispered, her eyes were bright and hopeful, as she stared up at him.
William smiled bashfully. “It is yours, if you wish it to be.”
“You mean get married today?”
“Yes,”
“But, won’t Evan and Cate mind us intruding on their day?”
“This whole event is setup to be our day not theirs. They are just along for the ride.” William took both her hands in his and looked intently into her eyes. “Do you want to become Mrs Dexter today?”
“Oh, Will, yes.”
Five would be agreeable
1st June 2020
William smiled to himself as he took in the scene of a number of children scattered along the deck of the wooden deck, each chatting to others around them, absorbed in a variety of games.
Ever since the wedding trip to Italy for their wedding, they returned each year to the same cove, renting the antique wooden sailing boat and holding a memorable dinner with the same guests. It was part of their ritual to travel with Evan, Cate, Charlie, Jess, Richard, his fiancé, and the ever expanding brood of children to the Mediterranean at this time of year upon his super yacht. Evan and Cate, now had a son and daughter, whereas, Charlie and Jess, had two daughters and a son.
Despite the half-hearted reconciliation by Gina long ago, she had remained frosty towards Elle, so much so that both William and Evan had become estranged from her except on the necessary gatherings at Christmas. Each Christmas, the Dexter’s continued the tradition of an extravagant gala, which their grandparents and parents had done before them.
He thought back to the silent wish, he had made, ten years earlier, to have more children. He had mused at the time that five would be agreeable, but Elle might think he mad, but it seemed fate agreed with him enough to make the wish even possible.
Christian was now coming up to his eighteenth birthday, he was looking more and more similar to what William remembered he looked like at that age. The same jet-black curls wore slightly long that it flopped over his emerald eyes. Much to Elle’s dismay, he even had invited a female friend on this year’s family boat trip.
William had teased her that she would have to cut the apron strings soon as he was heading off the university in the coming months to study chemistry. Goodness knows where he had inherited the brain power for such a subject.
Lily was eleven and three-quarters, she was blond and blue eyed, and had inherited her mother’s outspoken nature which Elle had tried to curb earlier on. She was officially their daughter now that Elle had completed the adoption process several years earlier. It had been a slow process of jumping through numerous legal hoops despite no contestation, but both he and Elle had decided it was worth the effort, to make Lily feel fully part of their family unit, especially after all the controversy Wickham had caused his family. Several years into Wickham’s fourteen year prison sentence, a novel that Wickham had failed to get publish was leaked onto the internet talking in derogatory terms about William and Charlotte and how he was innocent and had been set-up. It had caused a lot of heartache for Lily having to be subjected to malicious teasing about her mother’s lifestyle by some of the older schoolchildren for several months. In William’s eyes, the school did the bare minimum in protecting her from the bullying so moved her to another school that had a better no bullying policy.
Ayden was seven, and the product of three years of patient waiting by William for Elle to feel she was ready to take another step into motherhood. He had arrived into the world the same week, Lily’s adoption papers finally came through.
In those three years from surprise wedding to giving birth to Ayden, Elle had fully handed over her fashion business to Luke except for the occasional collaboration on a new range. She had completed her time as a costume designer on the film, which had become a surprise Hollywood blockbuster, which took multiple Oscars and BAFTA’s in various categories.
With the success of the film, she had been offered other film contracts but declined them, as she wanted to remain, within the walls of Pemberley, to concentrate on bringing up the children, while finally acting the charity foundation she had been planning.
After Ayden came, Indi Grace and Bailey Rose, another set of twins, this time identical, which much to both their relief were thankfully born trouble free, although Elle had been fairly anxious throughout.
Today was his ten-year wedding anniversary to Elle, they had just returned from another pleasurable meal on the wooden sailing boat and were relaxing on the outside seating area, waiting for the younger children to burn off some their energy before having a siesta.
Noticing Elle was already resting her eyes in the warm Italian sunshine, William turned to Richard. “My wife and I are going to lie down. I will get their nanny to keep an eye on them, so you do not have to worry.”
They had lost their old nanny, Lydia, a few years ago when Richard claimed her as his wife. Much to William’s initial chagrin that Richard was getting involved with one of his staff members, he soon changed his mind when he saw how happy Lydia made Richard. After years of seeing him flit from one relationship to another, he was relieved to see his cousin settle down.
Elle’s eyes fluttered open as she felt William sweep a hand over her protruding belly and lean over to whisper in her ear. “I intend to take advantage of the siesta and ravish you most thoroughly, Mrs Dexter.”
Elle smiled as she pressed William’s hand to a particular spot on her belly, “I think your unborn child like that idea.”
It was a private joke between them that this latest child seemed to become most active just after its parents had a rigorous love making session. The doctor had assured her at her twenty-week scan that the flurry of activity by the baby was not a sign of distress.
As the contented couple walked arm in arm, to their master cabin, William could not help but smile down at his wife, secure in the knowledge that he would need to revise his wish and make that six children would be agreeable.
Other Books
Half Truth, Whole Lie
Broken
Gravity
Sacrifice
All coming in 2013
Contact Jo Briggs
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