Page 84 of The Duchess Debt

Helena saw the glistening in his eyes as he hoarsely rasped out, “I love you, too, Alice.” His arms tightened around her. “I never realized how much until you left. Your absence put a hole in my heart, and I couldn’t bear it.”

Helena came forward slowly and rested her hand on Alice’s back. She silently met Gabe’s gaze.

“Don’t put another hole in my heart, Helena,” he said quietly.

She choked back a sob. “I don’t—”

Nanny Potts bolted. Seizing her moment to dash for freedom, she hitched up her heavy skirts and ran as fast as she could toward the road. Gabe lowered Alice quickly to the ground to start after—

“No,” Helena grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Let her go.”

“She kidnapped our daughter. She deserves to be arrested.”

Our daughter. His words warmed her down to her soul. Yet she shook her head. “Let her go. We have Alice back, and that’s all that matters.” She squeezed his bicep. “And I don’t want her arrest and trial to cast any more shadow on our wedding.”

He searched her face. “You mean you’ve changed your mind—you still want to marry me, despite everything?”

“Becauseof everything,” she assured him and placed her hand on Alice’s shoulder.

“I never realized how much you and Alice mean to me until I nearly lost you both.” He slipped his left arm around her waist and drew her against him. “I love you, Helena, so much that it frightens me, and I can’t bear the thought of losing you again. I want to marry you, just as soon as I can, and I promise that you and our children—allour children,” he emphasized as he lifted Alice with his right arm and balanced her against his hip, “will never be apart from me again, for as long as we both shall live.” He caressed his gloved fingers across her cheek. “Do we have a deal, then, my beautiful duchess?”

“Yes,” she tearfully choked out as she rose up onto tiptoes to kiss him, with Alice held safe and protected between them, exactly where she belonged.

EPILOGUE

Their Wedding Day

Helena looked down at her left hand and the simple gold band shining in the sunlight. A rush of happiness sent a fresh stinging into her eyes, and she simply resigned herself to the fact that today she would be in a constant state of tears.

She couldn’t help herself. It wasn’t the wedding she’d originally hoped to have that morning five years ago in St George’s in Mayfair. It wasn’t even the wedding she’d hoped to have fivedaysago.

Yet for all its imperfections, her wedding had been simplyperfect.

Helena sat back in her chair in the middle of the large table stretching the length of the new school building. It wasn’t the orangery at Grangely Park with its bouquets of flowers and garlands. No, this place was filled with small desks pushed to the sides to make room for the dining table, shelves stacked with books and slates, and a chalkboard on which someone had writtenCongratulations, Your Graces!

But it was dear to her, a special gift both to and from the village, and today’s celebration felt like the school’s christening as a place for the community to gather for special events…although its true birth wouldn’t be until next month when the new schoolmaster arrived and classes began, all under Maggie Parker’s careful watch. But today, there was no other place she would rather have celebrated than here, with the people who had come to mean so much to her.

The guests must have thought so, too, she decided as she moved her gaze across their gathered family and friends. Thankfully, everyone had been able to join them for thewedding, although nearly a sennight after the original date. But no one seemed to mind. Neither did Reverend Barlow after Gabe made a very large donation to the church’s coffers for the inconvenience of leaving him waiting before and for fitting their wedding ceremony into his schedule today. In fact, Helena was grateful for the delay because it had given Gabe time to send to London for her father so that he could walk her down the aisle.

Drat it!Her eyes blurred again as she looked at her father across the room as he ventured deeper into conversation with Mr. Putnam. A month ago, when he’d first told her that Gabe had proposed marriage to her via post, she’d felt stunned…and betrayed. But her father’s wisdom in love had proved infallible, and they were all here today only because of him.

“Are you crying again?” Gabe murmured as he came up behind her and leaned over her shoulder. He slid a handkerchief into her hand. “I thought weddings were supposed to make brides happy.”

“I am happy.” Yet she dabbed at her eyes and her voice cracked as she tearfully insisted, “More than I’ve ever been in my entire life.”

With a knowing grin, he dared to place a kiss to her cheek, although no one would have thought twice about such an intimate gesture today of all days. Or how he lowered onto his heels beside her so he could stare out across the room with her and take in the entire celebration with her.

“Alice had a marvelous time.” He nodded proudly toward their daughter as she helped herself to a second piece of cake from the side table near the open door leading onto the village green where the party would continue until dark. “Alice,” he called out. “One piece of cake is enough.”

The little girl glanced up, an expression of guilt flashing across her face at being caught, only to beam as a sudden idea struck her. She held up her doll, who was dressed in the weddinggift Helena had given to her that morning—a doll’s dress that perfectly matched Alice’s flower girl gown, right down to a small basket filled with tiny rose petals.

“It’s for Beatrice,” she explained. “She hasn’t had any cake yet.”

Helena bit her inner cheek to keep from laughing, then slid a look sideways at Gabe. “She’s going to be a handful when she’s older.”

Gabe let out a long-suffering sigh. “I know.” Then he squeezed her hand. “And I look forward to every day of it.”

Alice turned back to the triple-tiered cake with its pineapple and cherries decorating a sea of vanilla icing. A look of childhood longing glowed on her face, and then, as if coming to a grave decision, she nodded solemnly. “I should probably take a piece of cake to my pony, too.”