“And,” Charlotte urged, “did he give you his blessing?”
When Gabriel remained silent, she looked up to see his averted gaze and a frown upon his lips. “Unfortunately, he did not.”
“What?” Charlotte asked, her stomach seeming to drop, and her brow furrowed with confusion until she noticed Gabriel grinning down at her.
“What a mean thing to do, Mr. Worthington,” she said, unable to keep from smiling, “teasing your intended so.”
“You will not receive any pity from me, my dear,” he said. “In my opinion, you deserved it because of your earlier trick.”
They shared a smile before Gabriel continued.
“No, your father gave his consent after sharing how greatly he loved you and wished for our happiness together.”
“Of course he did,” Charlotte said with a satisfied smile. “If I did not know him better, I would say my father loves you more than his own daughters.”
“Well, before he agreed, he did make me promise to return to Brightwood often so we might ride together,” he said with a smile. “After speaking with him, there was nothing more I wished to do than approach you, but just then, the guests arrived, and I did not wish to propose with all of Loxley present.”
“So you watched as I left the party before following me?”
Gabriel smiled. “No, it was your sister who informed me of your whereabouts.”
“I should have known,” Charlotte said with a small laugh.
“You see, after kissing you underneath the mistletoe,” Gabriel explained, “I knew I could wait no longer to share my love, so I went in search of my mother to postpone the dancing until I had spoken with you. However, as I made to return, you were nowhere to be found.
“Moments later, I spotted Miss Julia entering the room, so I immediately approached and inquired after you.” He paused, a small smile on his face as he continued. “I must say, she was very loyal to you.”
“How so?”
“Well, the moment I spoke with her, she frowned up at me and said you wished to be alone. Then she proceeded to ask why I wished now to speak with you when I should have done so months before.”
Charlotte smiled with guilt. “I may have expressed to her my unhappiness with your actions moments before.”
“I thought you might have,” he said, smiling down at her before resting his hand upon her own. “At any rate, I soon won her favor by telling her exactly why I wished to find you, and she readily agreed to tell me where you were, but only on one condition.”
They reached the doors to Greyston Hall, pausing outside of them.
“And what was her condition?” she asked, smiling to think of her dear sister so protective of her.
Rather than speaking, Gabriel swung open the door, and Charlotte looked inside to see her sister standing before them, her eyes flying up to them as she stopped her obvious pacing back and forth.
With hands clasped together and an excited look upon her face, Julia said, “Are you…” and her smile grew.
Charlotte laughed. “Indeed, we are,” she said, just before Julia flew toward them, one arm moving around Charlotte’s neck, the other around Gabriel’s, and she jumped as she squealed.
“Oh, I am so happy for the both of you!” she screeched into their ears before pulling back. “I just knew you would fall in love! You are the most handsome couple in all of England, no, in all the world! It was just impossible for the two of you not to marry! Oh, I am so overjoyed, I feel I could simply die happy this very moment!”
“Oh, please, do not,” Charlotte said with a laugh, and she and Gabriel exchanged a smile.
“Oh, I only exaggerate, of course,” Julia said, waving a hand in front of her face before eying the both of them again. “Look at how you fit so well together! Oh, I am so happy! And me, the first to share in your joy! Can we tell Mama together? No, no, I shall not say a word until you tell her. After all, it is your news, is it not?” She paused in her words to give a small laugh before bouncing up and down again, clapping her hands. “Oh, I am sure I cannot handle this a moment longer. Come, come! Let us tell the others! I mean, you and Mr. Worthington tell the others, of course.”
Charlotte nodded. “Very well,” she said, “why do you not run along and tell our parents to meet us outside of the drawing room so we might tell them first before the others?”
“Oh, yes!” Julia exclaimed. “I shall return in just a moment!”
They watched Julia disappear down the hallway, still chattering to herself about how quickly her heart beat and how light her joy made her, and they smiled.
“I must admit,” Gabriel said next to her, “it will be a relief to tell my mother about our engagement. Hopefully then she will stop sending secret glances in our directions and longing to tell me how stupidly I have behaved these months past.”
“Well, she is right, you know.”
Gabriel stared at her with a feigned scowl, and Charlotte laughed before he smiled again.
“You know, before the others join us, I must do something.”
“Of course,” Charlotte said. “What is it?”
And he smiled before leaning down to kiss her, her heart skipping a beat when he pulled back to stare into her eyes.
“That was so nice, I think I should like another.”
And she laughed as he kissed her again.
“Come, they are only just here!” they heard Julia say after another moment, and they pulled away from one another until their parents came into view.
When the Roseburys and Mrs. Worthington eyed the two of them with curious gazes, Charlotte simply smiled, unable to speak from the joy within her heart.
“Whatever is the matter, Gabriel?” Mrs. Worthington asked, glancing in between her son and Charlotte before a hopeful smile spread across her lips. “You mean, you and Miss Rosebury…”
Gabriel nodded. “Yes, Mother,” he said with a grin, “we are to be married.”
Mrs. Worthington’s squeal was nearly as loud as Julia’s, and she clasped her hands to her mouth, saying, “At last!”
“Congratulations to the both of you,” Mr. Rosebury said, kissing his daughter on his cheek with moisture in his eyes. “I am certain you shall be very happy together.”
“Thank you, Father,” Charlotte said before her mother embraced her.
“We are, indeed, so happy for the both of you,” Mrs. Rosebury said before she took a step back and shared a smile with Mrs. Worthington. “We could not have chosen a better family for our child to be married into.”
“Nor I,” Mrs. Worthington said, tears brimming in her eyes before she turned to embrace Charlotte and Gabriel. “Oh, I thought this day would never arrive!”
“Truth be told, neither did I,” Charlotte said, and laughter sounded around them as Gabriel shook his head amusedly.
“Perhaps it might have occurred earlier,” he began, “had not my mother barged in on the both of us each time I attempted to express my love for you.”
Mrs. Worthington only laughed. “Oh, nonsense,” she said. “I am certain my interruptions merely made you desire the lady more.”
“That it did,” he said, and he smiled down at Charlotte with love shining in his eyes.
Their laughter and happy conversation continued as Charlotte’s smile grew, for never had she felt so light, so happy, in all her life.
Soon, after more joyful tears and warm embraces, they made to
rejoin the party to share their good news with the others, and they moved together through the bright hallways of Greyston Hall.
Charlotte and Gabriel followed closely behind, walking arm-in-arm, and neither the faint chattering of their families nor the growing sound of the Christmas party reached their ears, for the joy they felt from their love fully occupied their senses.
They shared a smile with one another, and they both knew in that moment that their happiness then was merely a small taste of what deep joy would be theirs in the years ahead, for their hearts would only conti
nue to grow together until they were one in the warmth and strength of their love.
Epilogue
“But why can I not move my knight there, Papa? Oh, I fear I shall never understand these rules.”
“You will, Juliet. Learning how to play merely takes practice.”
Gabriel smiled at his seven-year-old daughter as the two of them sat across from each other at a chess table set up outside on the grounds of Greyston Hall, the shade of a grand oak stretching out around them.
He perused his daughter’s face, a young replica of her mother’s, and could not help but smile as she pouted.
At the thought of Charlotte, Gabriel glanced behind him to where his wife of ten years sat twirling her hair, a pleasant smile upon her face as she read the book in her hands.
“Not to worry, Juliet,” he said, turning to face his daughter once more before offering her a sweet from his pocket, “until you have mastered the game, as I am certain you will, why do you not play chess as your mother does by distracting your opponent into losing?”
“I beg your pardon?”
Gabriel glanced over his shoulder to see Charlotte’s hazel eyes focused in his direction, her brows raised high.
“My darling,” he said with an innocent smile. “I did not know you were listening.”
He winked at Juliet who stifled a giggle, her sweet rolling around in her mouth, before Charlotte approached him from behind, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and kissing his cheek.
“Perhaps you ought not listen to your father, Juliet,” she said near Gabriel’s ear, “he is not as good a teacher as I, as it took him years to defeat me in a match.”
Gabriel looked at Charlotte from the corner of his eye. “And when I did, you were silent for days.”
“I was not. I accepted my loss graciously, unlike you.”
Gabriel shook his head in his daughter’s direction, and Juliet laughed again.
Charlotte’s arms tightened around his shoulders as she gave him another kiss upon his cheek before pulling away, and Gabriel looked up at her, his heart swelling with warmth as he thought of the happy life they had led thus far, knowing she was the reason for all of his happiness.
Charlotte stared into Gabriel’s eyes, saw the joy within their light blue depths, and she could not help but think again how she loved him, how happy they had made one another, but before she could express her thoughts, she heard their sons shouting in the grassy field next to them.
“Come, Papa,” shouted their oldest, Michael, “you promised to play with us!”
“Yes, you promised us!” Henry, their middle child, said next.
Charlotte eyed the cricket bat and ball in her sons’ arms before Gabriel stood next to her, resting his hand upon Charlotte’s back as he waved their sons closer.
“We shall have to play later,” he called out, “we must be on our way soon.”
“Oh, yes,” Charlotte said, “the theater. We would not wish to be late.”
“But we don’t want to go to the theater,” Michael protested, his eyes as bright a blue as his father’s. “Can we not go on a ride together instead?”
“We may all go riding tomorrow,” Charlotte said. “I promise tonight will be fun. We shall see one of Shakespeare’s comedies.”
“But Shakespeare is terrible,” Michael complained.
“Yes, it is too dull,” agreed his brother.
“I suggest you two be careful with your words about Shakespeare near your mother, boys,” Gabriel said, a teasing glance in Charlotte’s direction. “You have heard her lecture before on the merits of the man.”
“Oh, hush,” Charlotte said, swatting his arm as their sons chuckled. “Boys, when you two are older, you may decide not to join us, if you wish, but for right now, I am afraid you have no choice in the matter.”
“Do you think me old enough to decide for myself?” Gabriel asked, and Charlotte rolled her eyes at his teasing smile.
“Honestly, how you all love to tease,” she said, a smile still lighting her face. “There is no fooling me, though. I know all of you enjoy the theater as heartily as I do.”
She felt a small hand reach up to grasp her own before looking down to see Juliet smiling up at her, her brown, curly hair falling over her eyes as she spoke.
“Do not worry, Mama,” she said, her words strained from the sweet still in her mouth, “I love Shakespeare, too.”
Charlotte smiled down at her daughter, brushing the hair away from her eyes. “And how it pleases me to know such a thing, my dear,” she said before looking to the others. “Now, let us return indoors with no more complaints.”
The boys groaned before running toward the house, and Juliet released Charlotte’s hand to chase after her brothers with a little scream.
“You know we only tease you, my darling,” Gabriel said, offering his arm to her, “do you not?”
Charlotte smiled up at her husband. “Of course,” she said, and the two followed their children whose figures became even smaller with the grand house before them.
“Wait for me!” they heard Juliet call out to her brothers, and Charlotte could not help but smile when both Michael and Henry paused in their running to wait for their sister, holding her hands when she reached them before they slowly ran together, Juliet giggling happily.
“They are good children,” Gabriel said next to her, “very kind, are they not?”
Charlotte nodded. “Indeed, they are.”
“A trait they have received from their mother.”
“And father.”
“Oh, no,” Gabriel said, “I am afraid the only thing they inherited from me was their teasing nature.”
Charlotte laughed. “That is absolutely correct,” she said, “but they also share your regard for others, as well as your ability to love wholeheartedly.”
Gabriel stopped walking to look into her eyes, and she smiled up at him.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too.”
And Gabriel leaned down to kiss her, their lips meeting in a warm exchange before their children’s shouting interrupted them.
“If there is no time for playing cricket, there ought not be any time for your kissing!”
“Yes, hurry up now!”
“There is always time for me to kiss your mother, my boys,” Gabriel shouted back as Charlotte pulled away with a smile.
“It would seem your sons have also inherited your lack of patience,” she said, shaking her head.
“That is right,” Gabriel said, laughing before they continued. “Now let us make haste or I shall want to kiss you again and make us late for this evening.”
Charlotte smiled up at him, and as they walked toward Greyston Hall and their children, they both thought of the joy they had shared the past ten years of marriage, the joy they both knew would continue for many years to come.
THE END
About the Author
Deborah M. Hathaway graduated from Utah State University with a bachelor’s degree in English and an emphasis in Creative Writing. As a young girl, she devoured Jane Austen’s novels while watching and re-watching every adaptation of Pride & Prejudice she could, entirely captured by all things Regency and romance.
Throughout her life, she wrote many short stories, poems, and essays, but it was not until after her marriage that she was finally able to complete her first romance novel, attributing the completion to her courtship with, and love of, her charming, English husband. Deborah finds her inspiration for her novels in her everyday experiences with her husband and children and during her travels to the United Kingdom, where she draws on the beauty of the country in such places as Ireland, Yorkshire, and her beloved Cornwall.
Learn more about Deborah and her writing by visiting her website.
www.deborahmhathaway.com
Be sure to sign up for her newsletter to receive the latest news of her upcoming novels!
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Deborah M. Hathaway, To Warm A Wintered Heart (Regency Romance)
To Warm A Wintered Heart (Regency Romance) Page 26