“David, I have – something to – tell you,” Weena began, stumbling over her words.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Something that – may prevent you from loving me and perhaps – from marrying me.”
“What are you talking about?” David asked. “My darling Weena, what can have upset you? What has made you say that?”
“I know now,” she said hesitatingly, “that – I just cannot marry – you telling a lie. Your sisters have told me how thrilled they are – that you are marrying someone they approve of.”
She paused and took a deep breath before she went on,
“They were frightened – that you would be snapped up by a common woman who was only impressed by your title.”
“They have no right to say such nonsense to you,” David said. “What could be a lie when you tell me that you would love me whoever I was. It is what I was always seeking, but thought I would never find.”
“I would love you as I love you now – if you were just plain David Hart,” she told him. “But I have impressed your sisters and your other relations because they think – I am a Princess.”
“Naturally they are impressed,” he admitted, “but it does not affect us one way or another.”
“Are you quite sure of that?” Weena asked.
“Of course I am. Why should you ask such a stupid question?”
Weena drew in her breath.
“Because,” she said in a voice he could hardly hear, “I am not – a real Princess.”
For a moment there was silence.
Then David asked,
“What do you mean?”
“Papa would never bother to follow up – the titles which were in his Family Tree,” Weena said. “Mama was English and – as you know – came from a very respected English family. It never worried her that – although Papa was a big landowner and – had a magnificent collection of pictures and other treasures – he had never called himself a Prince and therefore neither Ivor nor I have a right to our – titles.”
As she finished speaking, having stumbled over the words, she closed her eyes.
She felt that David might walk out of the room and that would be the last time she would ever see him.
Then to her immense surprise he laughed.
“So you hoodwinked all the snobs in Mayfair,” he said, “including the Prince of Wales, who sent us a special wedding present today. My darling Weena, if you are not a Princess, you behave and look exactly like one.”
He put his arms round her and turned her face up to his.
“I love you,” he said. “I love you for telling me the truth. We must not let anyone know of it because of Ivor and his future father-in-law who is dancing up and down with unbounded joy as his daughter will be a celebrity in America.”
“You are not angry – with me?” Weena whispered.
“I just love you and adore you even more than I did before,” David replied. “To me you will always be not only a Princess but the Queen of my heart. I know we will be blissfully happy for the rest of our lives.”
“How can you say such – wonderful things to me?” Weena asked and the tears were running down her cheeks.
David drew her closer to him and kissed away the tears.
Then he kissed her lips.
“I love you and I adore you,” he said, “and I respect you for telling me the truth. It’s a secret between the three of us and we will never talk about it again.”
He paused for a moment before he added,
“The only thing I want you to realise is that I love you more every moment. When we are married, I know we will both live in a Heaven of our own where we will be ecstatically happy for the rest of our lives.”
“My darling, darling David,” Weena sighed, “you have rescued me by love no less than three times and now our love is more beautiful than a golden sunset and like the sunset it will last for ever.”
Then he was kissing her, kissing her until she felt as though she was no longer herself but a part of him.
Nothing and no one could ever divide them.
*
They were married two days later at St. George’s Church, Hanover Square.
After the Reception was over, they joined David’s yacht which was waiting near the Houses of Parliament.
As it sailed majestically down the Thames and into the North Sea, Weena waited for her husband in the Master cabin which was filled with flowers.
Not only were they white but there were small pink roses and blue forget-me-nots.
The cabin was so beautiful that Weena felt as if she was living in a dream.
Later when David held her close in his arms, there was only the lap of the waves against the sides of the yacht.
She thought that she had somehow reached Heaven and the difficulties and troubles of the earth were no longer with them.
“I love you, I love you,” she whispered to David.
“I will always adore and worship you, my beautiful wife,” David murmured. “Now you are mine, completely mine and I will never lose you.”
Then he was kissing her again.
As he made her his, he swept her up into the sky and she could hear the angels singing.
She felt that the love they shared was a part of God and came from God.
And it would be theirs for all Eternity.
Where to buy other titles in this series
The Barbara Cartland Pink collection is available for download at the following online bookshops :-
www.barnesandnoble.com - epub format for the Nook eReader
www.whsmith.co.uk - epub format for the Smiths/Kobo eReader
www.firstyfish.com - epub format
ebookstore.sony.com - epub format for Sony eReaders
www.amazon.co.uk - For UK Kindle users
www.amazon.com - For international Kindle users
itunes.apple.com - for Apple iOS users
www.barbaracartland.com - Printed paperbacks
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