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“Marry me?” he pleaded gently. “I cannot bear the thought of you moving back home to stay with your father. I want us to be together all the time. We deserve a chance at being happy, don’t we? I have loved you forever. Don’t ever expect me to stop.”
“Marriage?” Sian gulped and eyed the altar once more before she turned to study the man whom she knew she loved more than life itself. “I confess, I should be terribly miserable if I had to go and live with Aunt Sophia’s. I need to be able to see you occasionally, if only to assure myself that you truly are all right. It is what a woman does when she is in love.”
Ryan nodded, but couldn’t stop his delighted grin from breaking out on his face.
“Marry me,” he repeated.
“I would be honoured to be your wife,” she breathed. A part of her was afraid to even pinch herself just in case it was all a dream. It was a fairy tale. “It’s better than a fairy tale. This is real.”
“Better than a fairy tale,” Ryan agreed.
“Should we tell them?” Sian nodded at the still rattling door.
“I think we ought to, don’t you?”
Rather than go anywhere near the door, though, Ryan gathered Sian into his arms, and sealed their promise with a very loving kiss. He now realised the dream had been nothing but a warning, driven by his subconscious need not to lose the woman he loved. He would move Heaven and earth for a chance of happiness with her. Having Sian as his wife was the very best life could offer and he was glad that Fate had been kind enough to give them a chance of a life together.
“Name a date.” He pleaded, several moments later when he had finally released her lips. He peppered kisses down the length of her neck while he waited for her reply.
“Shouldn’t we speak to the vicar about it first?”
“Well, we have to post the announcement of our engagement in the newspaper, and then have the banns read, but we could be married within the month.”
“A month?” Sian blinked at him. Her cheeks flooded with colour.
“What?” Ryan demanded, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
“The gossips will run rife and ask questions about the scandalous urgency.”
Ryan snorted his contempt. “I don’t care what scurrilous gossips think. I have nearly lost you, twice now. Given half the village have already effectively told me to marry you to stop you running wild around the countryside, I doubt anybody would raise issue with our haste to marry. They will undoubtedly consider me a very wise man. Besides, they know we have known each other for many years. It won’t come as any surprise.”
Sian leaned back to lift her brows at him. “I hope you have told them that I have only been running around the countryside to get away from lecherous prospective grooms.”
“Well, this lecherous prospective groom has caught his prize, so no more running around the countryside, please?”
Sian happily agreed. “I don’t intend to go anywhere.”
“Thank God for that. I have vanquished the enemy. Cedrick and Wilhelmina are going to prison. Your father knows now that Cedrick has lied, and that Wilhelmina has been trying to force a marriage to you to try to secure her place under his roof. She has also lied about paying her rent. The money your father has given her has all been spent on luxuries but sadly not on keeping the roof over her head. She has to face justice, I am afraid.”
“Good.”
“Martha is going to marry Isambard. Given that he has my help now, I am sure your father won’t feel able to object to their union any longer.”
“I think our wedding should give him more than enough to think about, don’t you?”
“I like the sound of that,” Ryan murmured softly. “Our wedding.”
“Forever.”
“Forever,” he promised.
Together, they looked at the aisle and the future that awaited them. At the other end of the church the people still rattling the door handle would bring various changes with them. Martha would marry the love of her life, and Isambard would gain his position as an accountant. His promotion earnt him an excellent reputation which made sure that his future was secure. Lucinda and Mabel would return to the house they had always lived in to give Mabel and Arthur the time they needed to work on restoring their marriage to the loving union it had once been, and everyone would eventually settle into a life of peaceful joy that chased everyone’s worries away.
Eventually, life would move on, problems would be resolved, new relationships forged, and old ones swept aside to make way for new experiences in life.
More importantly than any of
that, though, Ryan would spend the rest of his long, long, life with the love of his life by his side. Together, they would live in a house that was full of the joyous laughter of their children and together they would create many happy memories, just as a loving family should.
The End.
