“He was buried at sea. He wanted it that way,” Bernard answered.
“Yes, I am sure that is exactly how he wanted it,” Eleanor said, lowering her eyes, and giving a little shiver.
“Are you all right?” Bernard asked, placing his arm over her shoulder.
“It is just so hard to accept that Sebastian is dead,” Eleanor murmured. “It just doesn’t feel like he is dead. I keep expecting his ship to show up, and see him disembarking, sort of the way I saw you that first day. And then I will throw myself into his arms, and…”
“Stop fantasizing, Eleanor.” Bernard said before she could continue. “Just accept the fact that you most likely will never see Sebastian again.”
“Most likely?” Eleanor lifted her head.
“I mean you will never see him again. He is dead,” Bernard said firmly.
“Yes, you keep telling me that,” Eleanor said softly.
“I hate reminding you about it, so lets not talk about Sebastian,” Bernard suggested.
Eleanor smiled to herself. She was getting to him, she thought, satisfactorily. She hoped Sebastian was on his way at that very moment, and would arrive any day. The very thought excited her, and she thought of the letter that she had tucked safely down the front of her dress.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Sebastian took in his breath when he saw the familiar docks, as the Annie Bell tacked in closer, and men jumped down to secure the ship to the moorings. It seemed a life time ago that he had stepped down on that dock, in anticipation of meeting Miss Belington, and then running into Eleanor, unbeknown to him, and wishing he had not committed himself to a strange woman he had never met before. All during the voyage he had relived every moment he had spent with Eleanor, and he only hoped he had not alienated her from him forever. She had to give him a chance to confess what a mistake it had been for him to just back away, when things had not turned out the way he had planned.
Now he realized that nothing could take the place of Eleanor. His shipping business alone would not be enough to fulfill him, but Eleanor fulfilled him completely. He only hoped it was not too late, and that the marriage certificate Bernard showed him was not authentic.
He still felt a little weak, but he could not put off returning any longer, and the sea breeze seemed to invigorate him the moment the ship left the dock. As he walked past his old office the realization that he was actually here, hit him suddenly, and he had to pause and calm his heart. The livery stable was across the street, and he went and hired a rig to use. First he would go to Belington Manor and see if he could find Teddy. Teddy would be able to tell him what was going on, he figured.
Sebastian stood before the door of Belington Manor and tapped at the ring. The door was swung open by the butler, and the man blinked at Sebastian. “Good Lord, am I seeing a ghost?” he said recognizing Sebastian, since he had stayed there during the time Eleanor was recovering. “We were told you were dead,” the butler stammered.
“I assure you, I am quite alive, though I felt like I was dead for a time there.” Sebastian answered. “Is Theodore in? I must talk to him at once.”
“I am afraid the entire family has left to Clifford House. They have been there since the first of the week. Miss Eleanor is throwing an affair for Theodore and Nelly, in celebration of their pending marriage.”
“They both are getting married?” Sebastian asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Yes. They are marrying cousins. Sir Percy and Miss Brenda. It is going to be a double wedding, in a couple of months, I believe.”
“Very romantic,” Sebastian murmured. “Do you suppose I could get cleaned up here, so I can join them in the celebration?” Sebastian asked.
The butler gave him a big smile. “I fear you will cause quite a stir, when you arrive. You will be the highlight of the evening, I am sure.”
“I hope so,” Sebastian grinned. He stepped in, as the butler opened the door wider for him. “By the way, how is Eleanor? I was told she got married.”
“Fiddlesticks! No such thing has happened, that I am aware of, and I would know since if she ever married she would be asking Teddy to be the best man, and Nelly to be the maid of honor. No, you must have gotten your information wrong, or who ever told you that did.”
“Yes, I am sure that is what happened.” Sebastian agreed, as the butler led him up to his old room, telling the foot man to retrieve Sebastian’s luggage from his buggy.
Within an hour, Sebastian was dressed and ready to continue on to Clifford house. By this time it was late afternoon, so he knew he would not be arriving until after dark, but that suited him just fine, he thought.
When he pulled up to Clifford house, Sebastian could see the house was lit up and lanterns were in the trees. Soft music was drifting from the house, and there were a few couples wondering the gardens. Jake came up and held his horse, and then climbed up to drive the buggy away, after Sebastian dismounted.
Instead of entering the front door, where the butler would greet him, and perhaps announce his arrival, he walked around back to the garden and entered the French doors, which led into the ball room. The music washed over him, as he opened the doors, and then stood surveying the room. It was then that he saw Eleanor, more beautiful than he had remembered her, dressed in a flowing red dress, in the arms of his cousin, dancing about the hall.
Sebastian approached and tapped his cousin on the shoulder. “I believe this dance belongs to me,” he said, and then he was smiling into Eleanor’s surprised face.
Bernard frowned, but he did not say anything, because the look that Eleanor was giving him, chilled him to the bone, and he knew nothing he could say would repair the damage he had done with his lies. It was best if he just went up and packed his things, he decided.
Sebastian grabbed Eleanor up into his arms, before she fell in a faint, and clutched her to him, as he continued to lead her around the floor.
“You came,” she breathed. “You are actually here.”
“And I am never going to leave, if you will have me,” he promised her.
“I got your letter,” she told him, “Only it got lost for a time, and I did not get a chance to read it until after Bernard returned. I threw this affair, just to keep busy, so he could not try to persuade me to marry him.”
“So you had not married him?” he asked. “What of the marriage certificate with your names on it?”
“He told me you had died, insisting I was your wife, and in order to inherit your estate, I should come up with some proof. He was supposed to sign your name to the certificate. That is why the date was the day we first made love together at Belington Manor. I don’t think Bernard was paying attention to the date, that the clergy put there, when we asked him for a new certificate. I put our names in the family bible with that date, and told the clergy that the original certificate was lost, so he gave us a new one, using the original date, which Bernard was suppose to sign in your stead. I really didn’t want to do it, because I didn’t need anything from you, but Bernard insisted it was the only way to keep from creating a stir, since I had claimed to be your widow in the first place.”
“He wanted to keep me from returning, by telling me he had married you, and giving me proof. That way he would have you to himself. I believe it was in retaliation over something I had done to him many years ago. But I am sure he must have felt something for you. Every man who sees you, can’t help but fall in love with you,” he breathed.
“He told me about how you took his first love from him,” Eleanor admitted.
“I thought I was doing it for his own good, but I never should have meddled,” Sebastian claimed. “But that is all in the past. What I am concerned with is what is going to happen now? If you read my letter, you know how I feel. It doesn’t matter about the shipping business, I will have to decide what to do about that, but the only thing I do know for sure, is that I love you, and I can’t live without you. Nothing in this world can take your place, Eleanor. I realized that the moment I le
ft your side, when I left Clifford house that night. Can you ever forgive me?”
“I forgave you a long time ago,” Eleanor informed him. “When I read your letter I knew then that I had always loved you as well, and regardless of everything, I would continue to love you. If you want me to come to America with you, I will. Grandfather will just have to understand.”
“We will straighten all that out in due time,” Sebastian whispered. “Right now I have to know if you are still willing to marry me. We will do it right. No pretending any longer.”
“Yes, of course I will marry you. I am still wearing your ring.” She held her hand up for him to see.
He took her hand and kissed it, and then his mouth was covering hers, as he stood kissing her, while the couples on the floor continued to dance about them. Sebastian prolonged the kiss as Eleanor melted into his arms returning his kiss with the same passion he was overcome by.
The next thing they knew they could hear clapping, and when they lifted their heads, they saw that the dancers were no longer dancing about them, but were standing about them applauding them, and then Teddy and Nelly were rushing forward.
Eleanor smiled, and lifted her finger to show Nelly the ring. “We really are getting married this time,” she told her cousins.
“Let’s make it a triple wedding,” Nelly cheered.
“I think I would like that,” Sebastian agreed. “How about you, Eleanor?”
“I would marry you this very moment, if I could,” she told him truthfully.
“Perhaps,” Sebastian responded, “But we have a lot of reacquainting to take care of, and I plan to start right now,” he whispered, as he swooped her up in his arms, and carried her out of the room and up the stairs.
“Which room is yours?” he asked, and she hugged his neck, and placed her mouth over his, as he opened the door she indicated, and brought her in the room, placing her on the bed. “I think I am going to take my time getting to know you all over again,” he smiled, as he lowered himself beside her, and once more they were engulfed in a deep passionate kiss, that Eleanor knew would last a life time.
THE END
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