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Joe grinned. Jacob and Kerrigan began to snigger.
“I beg your pardon?” Marguerite gasped; outraged at the commiserating look her father gave Joe.
She glared over her shoulder at the snickering Kerrigan and Jacob couldn’t hide. She squinted meanly at them but ruined it with the smile she couldn’t dim and the merry twinkle in her eye.
“Alright,” Joe suddenly declared, his arms akimbo. He stopped in the middle of the street and turned to face her. “Look, I know we haven’t known each other all that long, and the time we have spent together has been fraught, to say the least. However, you have come to mean more to me than any woman I have ever met. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to keep you by my side. I love you, more than anything in this whole world. It took nearly losing you through drowning to make me realise that in spite of everything I adore you. You have to court me for a suitable period, but then I will accept nothing less than your hand in marriage.”
A little stunned at the passion in his declaration, Marguerite stared at him for a few moments. She didn’t need to stop and think about it. She knew, deep in her heart that there would be nobody else for her for the rest of her life. It was this man or no man.
“Well, that’s good then,” she replied carefully.
“Is it?” Joe demanded, a little deflated by her sudden hesitation.
“Yes.” She nodded firmly.
When he looked a little crestfallen, she grabbed a hold of his head and tugged him down to her, and placed a kiss on his smiling lips that left him in little doubt that she was happy with his plans for their future.
“I love you too,” she whispered.
“Well, that’s good then,” he murmured a little awkwardly, aware that several people had now stopped on the pavements to watch them. “I think we had better go before we cause a riot.”
Before he began to walk again, Joe held his elbow out to her. In the most ladylike fashion she could manage, Marguerite took it and allowed him to escort her down the street as though they were out for a casual stroll on a Sunday afternoon.
“Where are we going?” Marguerite asked, uncaring where they were going as long as they stayed together.
“We are going home, darling,” Joe murmured. “We have a wedding to plan.”
“I thought we were going to have a courtship?”
“We are,” Joe replied. “A short one.”
He looked at her. Those pursed lips of hers warned him that she wasn’t pleased about something. Eager to eradicate any doubts she might have he lifted his brows at her.
“Would you prefer a life of adventure?”
Marguerite didn’t need to think about that. “A lifetime together is adventurous enough or me.”
“Amen to that,” he murmured, and with a heartfelt sigh followed the others toward a bright new day and a wonderful new future.
The End.
