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“You are like a character in one of my books.”
It was yet another thing that meant the world to him.
“When I realized that you were not in London, I had moved onto Brighton as I knew Addison had a lot of friends there. That was where I truly felt hopeless. I had ridden for so long and had turned up nothing that I didn’t know what else to do. And then I remembered the town of Bath. It wasn’t too far from Hardon, and I remembered the whispers about how many successful marriages come from it. It was my last hope, and here we are now.
“So…are you saying that you could not have done it all without hope?” Matilda said in a teasing tone.
Aaron laughed, and he realized that it was most likely the first time that he laughed in an entire month. “That is right, Matilda. Without your stance on hope, I may have never found you.”
There was a pause, and he could tell that Matilda was thinking through her words. “Was there any time that you were about to give up?”
“Never.” He could feel himself getting emotional. The lump in his throat nearly prevented him from saying what he said next. “I would have searched every corner of this world to find you.”
She did not say anything in return, and he knew it was because she was holding back her tears as well.
“I love you, Aaron.” She finally said. “I love you more than I’ve loved anything.”
“And I love you, Matilda. You are the very best thing that has ever happened to me.”
As Aaron slowed the pace of the carriage even more, knowing that the ride could not last forever, they rode in some silence, letting the moment wash over them like rain.
“What will we do?” Matilda asked. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Through all the suitors that I had met with, there was not one that made me feel half as good as you do. I even thought about you while speaking to some of them.”
“I want to marry you, Matilda. I want the end of my days to be right next to you as well.”
“Then we must try to find a way to marry. We must reside in hope and not let go.” Aaron could hear the old Matilda coming back to life. But it would not be easy. They still had plenty of obstacles before them.
“I agree with you,” Aaron said. “But you know, we would have a lot of things standing in our way. It sometimes feels as though the entire world is against us. Your parents being part of that.”
“I know.” Matilda’s voice was less enthusiastic. “But we have gotten this far. We have already overcome so much. And with me still not having a suitor, the odds are somewhat in our favour. You also now have no one to answer to.”
The open air and stillness around them helped to keep Aaron hopeful. The road before them held trees and a dirt road that looked as though it could lead to anywhere. Aaron knew that it led right back to Bath, but still, it was somewhat poetic of their journey together, and he took it as a good sign.
He searched his brain for a way out of their problematic situation. It proved to be highly difficult because trying to find an answer under duress made his mind cloudy. There was no way to find solutions when a million different possible scenarios would present themselves. He was never one to dwell in the future, but that day, he had no choice. The future needed him to think about it.
“We are going to need to get back soon,” Matilda said with a reluctant tone. “It is only a matter of time before someone notices that I am not in the room.”
“I know.” The time constraint did not help the situation any. And that made thinking even harder, so much so that he felt himself beginning to panic.
“Aaron.” Matilda’s voice sounded defeated. “We might have to face the prospect that there is no way out. I am sorry to say.”
“Is that the only reason you met with me today, to let me know that we are going to have to cave to the demands of everyone around us?”
“Yes and no. I was hoping that once we saw each other, maybe we would come up with an idea, anyway to get past the terrible circumstance. But as we ride, I am afraid that nothing is coming to me. I am at a true loss. I wasn’t a future with you more than anything, but I can tell that even you don’t know how it’s to be made possible.”
That hurt his chest-deep. Hearing her lose that sense of hope that made Matilda who she was. He had watched the world around her change the one thing that made her special—her outlook. And that was not fair. But maybe the world was not fair. Maybe the rules were meant to be broken.
Aaron stopped the carriage.
“What is it, Aaron?”
“I know the answer.” His voice trembled with excitement.
There was a pause from Matilda before she replied, “Really? How?”
“Matilda…” He turned around to face her, and it was like the birds had even gotten quiet to hear what he had to say. “What is the one way that we have found our love…the one way that we have made things work the entire time?”
“I’m not sure, Aaron?”
