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Epilogue
Christmas, Elm Park 1822
Bella sat onthe edge of her chair in the morning room, where Carrie insisted she stay. “You are a young lady about to be married tomorrow,” she said with mock sternness. “It would not do to go racing out to meet the carriage like a hoyden. Austrians are exquisitely well-mannered people.”
Her heart pounding, Bella listened to the sounds emanating from the entry hall. Abercrombie had engaged their visitor in conversation. Why didn’t he bring him to her?
A moment later, the door opened, and the man of her dreams strode through it with a nosegay of flowers in his hand and a huge grin on his face. She had not forgotten how handsome he was. While she deliberated how to behave, he strode across the floor and, with a brief greeting to Carrie and a faint apology, he reached down and took Bella’s hands, pulling her to her feet.
“Liebling!” He drew her into his arms and kissed her.
“Friedrich.” She breathed him in and returned his kiss passionately, her arms at his nape, stroking his thick blond hair.
“Well,” Carrie said, rising from the sofa. “I am decidedly de trop! I shall allow you some time together.”
“Our wedding is tomorrow!” Bella could hardly believe it. “I shall be Baroness Holstein.” The long wait was almost over.
He framed her face in his hands. “You have not changed your mind? I have promised to bring you back to England next Christmas, but are you entirely sure you wish to leave your family and your country, for mine?”
She gazed into his remarkable eyes. “Nicholas and Carrie will visit us. You are my family now, my love.”
With a hard, brief kiss, he rose from the sofa. “Maria and Karl are in the salon. Come and see them. I can’t wait to show you off to them, in case they have forgotten how beautiful my fiancée is.”
She slipped her hand into his. This was the beginning of a beautiful life in the city of music, the home of Beethoven and Mozart. Friedrich had sent her a detailed drawing of their beautiful country house and their villa in the city and described the honeymoon he had planned. They would drive through the Black Forest and stay at small charming inns along the way. “Oh Friedrich, I love you so.”
He stopped at the door and slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her to him. He murmured his German name for her,liebling, darling, against her lips and covered her mouth with his own.
The door opening broke them apart. “Here you are,” Maria said with a smile. “I grew tired of waiting.” She kissed Bella’s cheek. “Welcome to the family, Arabella.”
“She is known as Bella,” Friedrich said.
Maria smiled and nodded. “Bella. It sounds like a bell, like the beautiful music of the harp. Come, we have been promised champagne!”
