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It was tense time and one that filled Gabriel with dread as he awaited the man’s response. He could practically feel Julia’s own tension coming from just outside the door and although he hoped her father hadn’t overheard her sneaking into the hallway, he could sense her there with her teeth gritted and her feet barely able to stay still. Likely she had known all along why he had come.
The viscount looked at Gabriel from where he was sitting at his desk, with eyes so like Julia’s, and yet Gabriel felt a pair of eyes had never looked so icy. Just when the earl believed the viscount would deny him, Lord Chalmers jumped up from his seat and hurried around the desk to grab his palm in a strong handshake.
“Of course you have my blessing, man!” He clapped him on the shoulder, and Gabriel was even more surprised when he pulled him into a tight embrace. “I have waited a long time for this day!”
At that, the door behind them burst open and not just Julia but also her little sister, Pam, rushed into the room, both screaming with hysterical happiness. Pam danced around them even while Gabriel took Julia into his arms and gave her a brief and careful kiss in front of her father.
When they turned in to the doorway, they found that Lady Chalmers was standing there smiling. “It is a good job. I have already sent word to your family to join us.”
Having all the family together under one roof, Julia’s own brother and his wife included, as well as Miss Chelsea joining them from next door, was made all the more merry when there was a surprise knock at the door.
Though they were all very high already on the celebrations of Christmas as well as the engagement, they were not so much so that they did not feel the shock when the butler arrived to announce that the Dowager Lady Sutthers had arrived and was requesting that she might join them in their celebrations.
“Did you know about this?” Gabriel asked, turning to his mother, who looked just as shocked as he was feeling. She quickly shook her head, and Gabriel turned to look at Julia’s father. “Forgive the intrusion, my lord. Perhaps my family and I ought to leave to take care of this unexpected guest.”
“No!” Julia protested before her father could even open his lips to say anything. “She is most welcome in!”
The butler looked to the viscount, who glanced at Gabriel for only a moment before giving a firm nod of approval. Gabriel had never believed that meeting his grandmother for the first time would be anything but awkward. Perhaps it was the liquor they had all shared or even the sheer merriment of the day, but the first encounter went far better than anyone would have anticipated.
Stepping out to the hallway with his mother and brother, he was surprised by himself when his first instinct was to greet the elderly woman with a warm and welcoming embrace. Though he would never allow a single member of his family to see it, a tear did roll down his cheek. He quickly wiped it away before he stepped away from her and said, “It is good to finally meet you, Lady Sutthers.”
“Oh, please, call me Grandmother!” the silver-haired woman insisted even as Jonathan stepped forward to offer her the same embrace as his brother had.
All this time he had spent worrying over how awkward it would be to finally meet the other side of his family. As they led her into the parlour where the rest of the party was waiting, he couldn’t help but feel as though everything was finally fitting together.
The old lady greeted his betrothed as though she were her own daughter, ensuring her that she too would receive a ring just like the one that Jonathan had given Chelsea that very morning, having been unable to wait until their wedding to give it to her out of sheer excitement.
All was well with the world. Gabriel came to realise even more so that all of Barnaby’s words had been bare-faced lies. Grandmother Tatford was just like any other grandmother, brash and perhaps sometimes harsh, though clearly loving and affectionate when it came to her family, and Gabriel got the distinct feeling that they were going to have a wonderful time making up for all the years they had lost together.
Though she tried to apologise several times for all that had happened in the past, Gabriel and his brother waved it away every time, determined that they should start anew and forget everything. All in the situation had suffered enough through sheer stubbornness, and Gabriel had quite had enough of it.
By the time the festivities were beginning to calm and many of the guests had turned to playing cards and board games, both the viscount and his grandmother having become exhausted, snoring away in opposite armchairs beside the fire just as someone always did on a good Christmas, Gabriel finally managed to find a moment alone with Julia in the library to give her a final gift.
“Though my grandmother has already assured you that you shall have a family heirloom of your own, I wanted to give you this,” Gabriel announced to her as soon as the door was shut behind them. Opening up the ring box he’d had in his pocket all day, he dropped down onto one knee and asked once more, “Miss Julia Pritchard, will you marry me?”
This time, there was no hesitation. Julia exclaimed, “Yes! A thousand times yes!” and all over again she threw herself at him, barrelling him over until they both rolled onto the rug beside the fireplace.
The flames roared beside them even as desire overwhelmed them both. They tore at each other’s clothes, lost in the merriment and excitement of the day, and Gabriel quickly found himself melting into her. Burying himself deep inside her was perhaps the perfect way to end the happiest Christmas day he had ever experienced.
The way her body welcomed him was the most exhilarating sensation that he had ever felt and he had to wrap his palm over her mouth to stop her from screaming her own pleasure as he thrust himself deep inside her.
Their lovemaking was fast and fuelled by deep desire, all their emotions from the last several weeks finally coming to a head. And the final questions that had been gripping Gabriel tightly finally melted away until he was certain that nothing could ever come between them again.
Wrapped in her arms and legs, buried inside her as he was, he could think of nothing else but spending the rest of his life with this woman. With her by his side, he knew that he would be able to handle anything that the Englishtonthrew at them, and more.
No longer would he hold himself back for fear of what others might think and so he made love to her as though he had never done so before, pleased when he felt her fingernails digging desperately into his back and he knew that he was doing a remarkable job.
Seeing the way her blue eyes rolled back in her head and feeling the way she breathed hot and heavy against his palm, he turned her head gently to one side and kissed her throat several times before he whispered into her ear, “You are mine now.”
Though it had only lasted a few minutes, the thrill of the possibility that anyone might wander in making them both hurry toward their climax. By the time they fell apart from each other, they were both panting for breath. Pulling her into his arms once more, he laid on the sheepskin rug with her resting her head on his bare chest. Only the roaring fire and his jacket laid over them kept them from the chill of the evening.
Stroking his fingers through her hair, he whispered, “I never thought I would enjoy Christmas again.”
Julia lifted her head from his chest at that and looked down at him with a scowl. Then the knowledge seemed to dawn upon her and she sighed. “Yes, I heard of your father.”
Gabriel gritted his teeth at the reminder and forced a deeper smile. Reaching up, he stroked a stray strand of blonde hair from her face and pecked a kiss to the tip of her nose before he assured her, “He would have loved you.”
“I hope so,” she responded, looking as though she wasn’t quite so certain. “I would have liked to meet him.”
“Maybe one day I shall take you too,” Gabriel told her gently. She looked terrified, and he quickly added, “At his graveside. I often go there to think.”
“I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“You wouldn’t be,” Gabriel assured her with a squeeze around her waist and a kiss upon her cheek and he realised that was the first time he had invited anyone to join him at his father’s grave. He hadn’t even been there with his own mother and brother since the funeral. “I can think of nobody I would rather have by my side.”
With that, he remembered the ring he had offered to Julia and, reaching awkwardly for it where the box had fallen at the edge of the rug, he pulled it from the cushion and held it out to her. “May I?”
With a brilliant smile, Julia held out her hand to him and allowed him to slip the large opal stone onto her finger. The ring sat upon her digit as though it had been made for her, and Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief. Everything truly had finally fallen into place.
THE END
