Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-four
It was the fullest, brightest moon Adam could recall seeing in a dog’s age.
Hands clasped behind his back, he stood on the ridge, overlooking the marsh where moonbeams gleamed on the glossy dales below and stars glimmered brilliantly in the night sky overhead.
There was a chill in the air—a sign of late summer—yet not a hint of wind off the bay.
He closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh scents of chamomile and spruce, and thought of Madeline.
He wondered what John Metcalf had said to her that evening. Surely the young man had proposed.
Adam truly had no idea what Madeline would do. There was a great deal of stormy water under the bridge—so much heartache, so many obstacles that had left them both bruised and knocked about.
He watched the moon shadows drift eerily over the land as a few lone clouds passed across the sky. It was too late to be out here in the dark, analyzing his mistakes and the guilt he felt over jilting both sisters at different times. Perhaps he didn’t deserve happiness in the end.
He buried his hands in his pockets and headed back to the house.
An owl hooted somewhere nearby. He stopped at the end of the tree-lined driveway to look up at the tall pines and spot the owl, but heard the sound of his front door open and close.
His attention darted to the house and then to Madeline on the stoop, wearing only her white nightdress and a shawl, holding flickering candles over her head.
Was she looking for him? he wondered, feeling startled and shaken by her unexpected appearance. He thought everyone was asleep.
Observing a slight change in his body—a nervous, squeezing apprehension—he approached and climbed the steps. “Is something wrong?”
“Yes,” she replied. “I mean, no, nothing’s wrong. I want to speak with you.”
Her hair was down. How curly it was. He hadn’t known it would be so full around her face, so soft looking. She was lovely in the candlelight, so natural and unaffected.
“Let’s go inside, then.”
Not knowing what to expect—perhaps she wanted to announce her engagement to John Metcalf—he held the door open for her. He would not be surprised if she wanted to marry the man. Nothing would surprise him now.
She led the way into his study rather than the parlor, then she boldly closed the door behind them.
Adam stood motionless in the center of the room, trying to subdue the dread that was spreading through him like a climbing vine. Following closely behind that dread was an unhealthy dose of frustrated desire.
For heaven’s sake! He should not be in this room alone with her with the door closed, facing the prospect of losing her to another man, while the entire household slept upstairs.
It was too much to ask of himself. He did not think he could resist the need to pull her into his arms and demand that she give her whole heart to him. She was meant for him, and no other!
Madeline walked to the desk and lit a few more candles. The room brightened.
“First,” she said, “I am going to tell you what I had intended to do tonight. What I tried to do.”
Adam strode to the window, working hard to speak with aplomb. “I am listening.”
Her voice was shaky, as if she were holding too much air in her lungs and could not let it out.
“Tonight when I asked you and Lord Blackthorne to excuse Diana and me, I was acting on an impulse that came over me very suddenly. I wanted…or rather I needed to talk to Diana about everything that had happened.”
“Do you mean with John Metcalf?”
Madeline shook her head. “No, this has nothing to do with Mr. Metcalf.”
Adam contemplated that for a moment. “He didn’t propose?”
“Oh yes, he did,” she said matter-of-factly, “but I turned him down. Did you think…?”
Adam shook his head as if to clear it. “It doesn’t matter what I thought.” He swallowed heavily. His legs seemed to be made of butter. She turned him down!
Madeline wandered to the bookcase and ran a finger over the spines. Adam wished she would just spit it out—whatever it was she wanted to say—for his patience was all gone.
She faced him at last. “I tried to tell Diana what she had forgotten the day of the flood—that you had broken off your engagement.”
Had he heard her correctly? Adam stepped away from the dark window. “You tried. But you did not succeed?”
“I did, eventually. You may relax now, Adam. Diana is releasing you from the engagement. She plans to leave tomorrow.”
The muscles in his back and shoulders relaxed in one great sweep of comprehension. The secrets were out.
“How?” he asked. “What did you say?”
Madeline tilted her head, as if she were considering how best to describe it. “If you must know, when I tried to tell her, she informed me that she already knew. The fact is, she remembered since the day after the accident, but she kept it to herself, because she didn’t want me to have you.”
Adam fought to keep his anger in check, while Madeline walked to him. She took his hands in hers, and pressed them to her soft cheek.
Caught off guard and instantly flustered, he looked into her eyes for the first time, searching them. What was this?
“The other day,” she continued, “when you convinced me to speak openly with Diana, I tried, but I failed. At least I thought I did. She turned me away and made me more certain than ever that I was doing the right thing to keep my heart closed off to the world. But Adam, somehow I managed to open her heart with all the things I said, and afterward, she began to regret what had become of our relationship. You were right. I did need to open my heart, and I need to open it again now. To you. Diana is leaving, and I wish to stay, if you will have me.”
She kissed his hands and pressed them to her cheek again, and he tried to focus on what she was telling him rather than the feel of her soft lips on his skin and the fire kindling in his veins.
Yet, through it all, he still had questions. “You said she is leaving tomorrow. Why so quickly?”
“Diana wishes to depart with Lord Blackthorne. He has proposed and she has accepted him.”
The fires within began to cool slightly. “When did this transpire?”
“Over the past few days,” Madeline explained, “and I suppose it began when they met initially on the ship.”
He shook his head. “This is quite unbelievable.”
A smile spread across Madeline’s face. “Yes, it is. But I want you to know something, Adam—that even if Lord Blackthorne hadn’t come to our rescue by proposing to Diana, I would have thrown her out of here myself if she had tried to keep me from you one more day, because I love you more than anything in this world. ”
At last. His beautiful, timid Madeline was wearing her heart on her sleeve.
With jubilant surrender, he dropped to his knees before her and took hold of her hand. The room was dimly lit, but he could still see the brilliant luster of her eyes and the dazzle of her smile.
“Marry me, Madeline.”
She smiled. “Oh Adam, I have dreamed of this moment all my life. That day when I stepped off the boat and you did not want me, I thought I was doomed to live without you forever. And when you still wanted Diana…”
He rose to his feet and touched a finger to her lips. “Forget about dreams, Madeline. No more of that. We are real, you and I. No more idealizing. Love me for the man that I am, as I love you for the woman you are. You, my darling, are the one I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
“Oh, Adam.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him lovingly. “I’ve waited so long for this.”
“I love you,” he whispered in her ear. “And I promise I will never stop telling you that, Madeline, for as long as I live.”
The love she felt brought tears to her eyes again. “Then I am yours. For as long as you will have me.”
“That will be forever, my love. Forever.”
* * *
The following afternoon, all the family gathered on the veranda to say goodbye to Lord Blackthorne and Lady Thurston and their entourage.
Penelope had picked wildflowers to present to Diana, to wish her well and to celebrate her betrothal to the viscount, and Mary had baked biscuits to send with her for the long journey to Halifax.
Adam felt a surge of warmth and gratitude for the people and blessings around him. His family was together; Madeline would soon be his wife. Everything seemed true and proper. Idealistic dreams were gone now, replaced by what was real, and there was a certain security in that.
“Will you come back to visit us, Lady Thurston?” Penelope asked. “You will be my auntie, after all.”
“I will indeed be your auntie,” Diana replied, “and I will be happy to visit, as long as you promise to make your father bring you to Halifax to visit me as well.” She tapped Penelope lightly on the nose, and a smile spread across the girl’s sweet cherub face.
Adam escorted Diana to the lieutenant-governor’s coach and swept her up into his arms to lift her in. She squirmed on the leather seat to try and sit naturally, fumbling with her skirts to cover her injured leg.
“You will be all right?” he asked her, closing the door and standing at the window. “There’s no hurry, you know. You can stay here as long as you like, until you are fully recovered. Madeline and I would gladly take you to Halifax in a week or two, or even a month if that is what you require.”
She waved her gloved hand through the air. “Oh, don’t be such a silly worrywart, Adam. I am fine. And do not forget—my betrothed understands a thing or two about my condition, and he assures me that I will soon be walking again. He intends to support me every step of the way. Quite literally.”
Adam smiled warmly at her.
“Goodbye, Adam,” she said. “I am trusting you with my baby sister’s happiness. You had best not disappoint me.”
“You know I won’t. I mean to make her happy, Diana. It is a promise I intend to keep.”
She touched his hand. “You are a good man, Adam, and I trust you to keep that promise. And I’m sorry for how things went between us, but it has all turned out for the best. We are all exactly where we are meant to be.”
“Indeed we are.” He squeezed her hand one last time. “Goodbye, Diana.”
As he turned away from her, he spotted Lord Blackthorne. The viscount was the last guest to leave the house, leaning on his cane and limping down the steps on his wooden leg, following his valet, who carried a leather satchel.
“My word, Coates, Mary has just given me enough blueberry tarts to turn me into one! What a perfectly delightful family you have.”
Adam met the viscount in the middle of the yard and pumped his hand. “Have a safe journey, my lord.”
“I most certainly will, and I will take up the case of your marshlands at Government House and see what can be done.”
Their handshake continued. The viscount seemed reluctant to leave.
He nervously cleared his throat and lowered his voice.
“And do accept my apologies, man, for what occurred between myself and Lady Thurston. I must thank you for not challenging me to a duel or something of that nature, Coates. You certainly had the right.”
Adam leaned closer and spoke quietly. “Nonsense. Diana was free to do as she wished. Life here in Cumberland could never have been right for her, and I think we all knew it.”
“Yes, yes, well, I’m glad things have worked out.
” He peered over Adam’s shoulder at Diana, waiting in the coach.
“By God, but she is a lovely creature, is she not? More charm than a sparkling jewel. What were the chances that a man like me could ever dream of marrying a woman like her?” He whistled in disbelief.
“You are a lucky man, my lord,” Adam replied dutifully.
“And so are you, Coates. Miss Oxley is a lovely lady in her own right. Quite ravishing, actually. She seems to belong here. I always thought so, from the first moment I saw her. She’ll be a good mother to your children, and with God’s blessings, she will give you many more.”
“I have no doubt.” They said goodbye again, and the viscount limped off to his coach.
Madeline went to say goodbye to her sister. Adam watched them hold hands and kiss cheeks. It was a fine thing to see sisters reunited after so many years apart. Or perhaps they had found each other for the first time, here in a new land.
Penelope and Charlie appeared on either side of him, and he wrapped his arms around his children.
The coach lurched forward, and Madeline waved goodbye. As soon as the convoy turned onto the lane, she faced Adam, a glow of true happiness lighting up her face.
Adam moved toward her and held out his hands. The children giggled and dashed for the house, leaving Adam and Madeline alone in the yard, facing each other with the warn sunshine raining down on their faces. Adam raised both of Madeline’s hands and pressed his lips to her soft knuckles.
“Shall we go and find the reverend?” he asked, with a seductive grin.
Madeline returned his smile. “Now?”
“Yes, now. I would have preferred it to be yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that, but I will settle for today.”
Her voice was silky and flirtatious. “Why the hurry?”
“You know why, love.”
“Because you are afraid I might change my mind?”
“No.”
“Because you are afraid John Metcalf will come back and propose to me again?”
“No.”
“Because…hmm. You have dykes to build and fields to drain, and today is your only free day?”
Adam covered her mouth with his own, tasting the sweet honey of her kiss, consuming the light that had finally begun to shine from her soul.
“Does that give you a hint?” he asked, rubbing his nose against hers. “If not, just wait until tonight, my Yorkshire bride—and I will show you exactly why.”
Madeline smiled enticingly and kissed him again. “Then take me to the reverend, my love, and let me tell him that ‘I do.’”