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Silence.
Without any warning, the bells stopped and so did the sleigh. Steam rose from the horse’s backs in spirals of translucent smoke. One of them pawed at the ground, flinging snow. The old man’s pipe flared orange as he inhaled before he blew out a tangy, sweet-smelling circle of tobacco in a wreath of gray.
“We’re here, my lady.”
Alexandria blinked in confusion. “We are?”
All she saw was an open field and a distant cluster of pine trees, with nary an ice sculpture to be seen. Twisting in her seat to look behind her, she froze when her gaze landed upon the familiar outline of an estate made of stone and brick, with twin chimneys jutting up into the clear blue sky and a second-floor terrace spilling off the side.
“You’ve–you’ve brought me back to Chesterfield Manor!” she cried, snapping her head around. Somehow, someway, they’d made a giant circle and approached the house from the east. “Why would you do such a thing? This is what I wanted to leave!”
“Are you so certain?” The old man took another puff of his pipe and then grinned, his round cheeks pushing up the corners of his moustache. “Unless I’m terribly mistaken, I believe there is a certain young earl who would rather you remain here, with him.”
“Duncan?” she scoffed even as a fresh slice of pain cut through the numbness. “Duncan doesn’t care where I go or what I do. He doesn’t want me here. He doesn’t want me at all.”
If he did, then he wouldn’t have abandoned her.
If he did, then he would have told her that he loved her.
If he did, then she wouldn’t have felt like this.
“Please.” Hunching her shoulders, she curled inward, as if by making herself small she could somehow hide from the hurt. “Please take me away. Take me anywhere but here.”
The old man chewed on the end of his pipe for a moment. The sparkle in his gaze dimmed. “As you wish, Lady–”
“ALEXANDRIA! ALEXANDRIA, WAIT!”
“Duncan?” Stunned, she watched as her husband came running towards her from the direction of the manor. Floundering in the deep snow, he fell once, twice, but each time he got up, shook himself off, and kept coming. When he reached the sleigh he grabbed onto the edge of it as if he were a man half-drowned, then vaulted up and over the door to land beside her.
“Don’t go,” he said hoarsely, grabbing both of her hands. “Don’t leave me.”
“Youleftme,” she rightly pointed out. “This morning, before I woke–”
“I only went to the village.” His hair was wild. His cheeks flushed. His eyes a vibrant blue. “To find you a present for Christmas. When I came back, you were gone. You were gone, Alexandria, and I…” He sucked in a breath. “I cannot lose you.”
When hope fluttered, she ordered herself to remain calm. Words were words, but actions were actions. And while Duncan may have very well bought her gift, all he’d given her so far was a cold pillow to wake up next to.
“You didn’t lose me,” she whispered achingly. “You gave me no choice.”
He squeezed her fingers. “I know. I know that I’ve ignored you, and taken you for granted. I haven’t been there when you needed me. But I’m here now, Alexandria. I’m here. For you. For this marriage. For whatever the future may hold. And I am never going to let you go again.”
She wanted to believe him!
Oh, how she wanted to believe him.
“What has brought on this change?” she asked, swallowing hard as her head cautioned her heart against plunging recklessly into a happily-ever-after that wasn’t going to be there to catch her.
“You,” he replied simply. “You have. When you stood in that foyer and told me that you wanted a separation I…I was shocked. But I shouldn’t have been. I shouldn’t have been, because I should have known how unhappy you were. How unhappy I had made you. I apologize for that, Alexandria. For my arrogance and my carelessness. For ever thinking that you would wait for me indefinitely. I…I love you.”
I love you.
The tears came, then. Little pinpricks of moisture that clung to her lashes like frost on a window. “Don’t say that,” she begged, leaning away from him. “Don’t say that unless you mean it. Every day, for the rest of our lives.”
His own eyes suspiciously damp, Duncan cupped the side of her face, sliding his thumb along the arch of her cheekbone to catch a tear before it could fall. “I will love you,” he said solemnly, “for as long as there is breath in my lungs and blood in my body. I will love you as I should have loved you since the moment that we spoke our vows. I will love you today, Alexandria. I will love you tomorrow. I will love you forever.”
She searched his gaze. And what she saw there melted her heart. “I love you, too. Today, tomorrow. As many snowflakes there are on the ground and stars in the sky, that is how much I love you.”
“Here,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “I’ve the perfect thing.”
