Diana cast a careful glance around the place, trying to remember where things were placed. The layout of the furniture and décor seemed ideal, and it would be a good idea to inform whoever would decorate their home.
Each room that they walked into seemed more perfect than the last, with large windows that allowed in natural light. Each was bright and airy and… everything that she could have hoped for.
And each window looked out onto a beautiful view. The gardens… extensive, winding gardens behind the house with stables in the distance that could house their horses.
And through the front windows, they could see London, though it was far enough away that it would not feel as though they were living in the city.
“What do you think?” Matthew asked.
Diana realized he was… anxious. An expression that she had never seen on his face before as he regarded her, and she knew that he was just as nervous about all of this as she had been.
“It is…” She was going to say ‘lovely,’ but that did not seem a strong enough word for what she was feeling right now. “Wonderful. It is wonderful.”
“There is one more room that you must see,” he told her, a sparkle in his eyes that only made her that much more curious. Surely there could be nothing else? But before she could respond, he led her down the hall and opened another door, ushering her inside. “This is the ballroom.”
“Oh!” She could do nothing but exclaim upon seeing the spacious room, walking quickly to the center so she could see it to full effect
Floor-to-ceiling windows let in the natural light, with balconies on two sides. And there was a second tier above the first where they could fit even more couples for dancing and relaxing.
“I believe I could enjoy a ball held in a space such as this,” Matthew admitted, and her eyes widened even more as she turned to look at him. “The room is quite spacious, and I think even you might have a hard time filling it,” he said with a smile. “And there are two levels, which will keep me from feeling too closed in. And it is certainly not stuffy with all these windows. It almost feels like the ballroom is in the gardens!”
A ball.He said that she could host a ball here. Something he had outright refused from the start, but now…
“What say you, Diana?” he asked.
Diana could only beam at him. This man, her husband, seemed to finally understand her. To know what she wanted and what she looked for in a home. And to actually care about her. How could she possibly be unhappy with him or with her marriage now?
“It is perfect. Though I do pity whoever is tasked with decorating it, for I am quite particular. And they shall have quite a task with how beautiful the rooms are, and empty—or rather, theywillbeonce the current owners remove their things.”
“I believe our designer shall be up to the task,” Matthew replied with that same sparkle in his eyes. “I heard she has a good eye.”
“Oh? And who might that be?” Diana asked.
“One who is most capable for the task,” he replied. “Who will surely do this place justice.”
She stared at him for a long moment, but his smile grew prouder.
“You, of course,” he finished.
Her eyes went wide. “You wish for me to…”
“But of course,” he replied. “No one else could do better.”
Without thinking, she practically flung herself into his arms. She pressed her lips to his for only a brief moment, but it was long enough for his hands to catch her waist and his eyes to close slightly, as did hers.
And then she jumped back from him with a giggle at her forwardness.
“What was that for?” he asked, but his voice was soft, his eyes searching her own.
The light pressure of her lips on his own had been… amazing. And now, standing so close to her, looking into her eyes… it was even more so.
But the suddenness of it still took him by surprise.
“I’m just so… happy. Everything seems to be just perfect. For years, I watched my parents… watched the way they seemed to be… uninterested. They were two totally different people who didn’t care a whit about one another. And then I watched my friends get married and lose all sense of their individuality and who they were… I was terrified of getting married myself.”
It all made sense. The way she had seemed so pragmatic from the start when discussing marriage. How she had not seemed to care a bit that she would be marrying someone she didn’t know and how she did not expect love or any other emotion.
The way she had seemed completely different after meeting with her friends on their wedding day. If she feared marriage and feared what it would turn her into…
