Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
There was something happening between them. Something special. Something real. Iris could feel it as clearly as she could the wind in her hair and the sun on her face. And as the day rolled on, she was certain that Philip could feel it too.
“How long were you listening for!” Iris cried as if she was upset, but her laughter gave her away.
“Not too long, I promise you.”
“Promises?” she blew through her lips. “I don’t know if I can believe such things. Seeing as you have given me no reason.”
Philip rolled his eyes. “Barely a minute. Perhaps two at most.”
“See how he fidgets,” Percy joined in with humor. “That means he is lying.”
“I do not remember asking for your opinion,” Philip snapped at his younger brother.
Percy stuck his tongue out playfully. “And yet I am giving it. She needs help understanding your intricacies.”
“I take it that means you are on her side?”
“Obviously,” Percy shot back.
“So, you were standing outside the room for at minimum two minutes,” Iris continued. She raised both eyebrows at her husband, feigning being angry. “Listening to what very well might have been a private conversation.”
Philip scoffed. “Had in the breakfast room. And with my brother there—besides, I announced myself eventually.”
“After all the hard work was done,” Percy added with glee.
Philip leaned back. “If I knew that I was going to be ganged up on like this, I might have stayed home.”
“Likely, you would have followed us anyway,” Percy laughed. “Crouched over in the bushes so you could listen in. You seem to like doing that.”
“Ridiculous,” Philip exhaled sharply and crossed his arms, looking away. “Utterly ridiculous.”
Iris struggled to remember the last time she had enjoyed herself like this. It has to have been years, before my sisters all married and moved out of home. Even then, I cannot remember a specific time. If one ever existed in the first place.
Such was how perfect today had become.
As Percy and she planned, once breakfast was finished with, the three of them had lunch packed for them and took a walk together through the estate. They were in no rush, able to take their time and enjoy the warm weather and pleasant company.
Once the sun reached its zenith in the sky, Philip hurried ahead so he could find a place for them to set up for a few hours. It was on the edges of the forest, a small clearing surrounded by large boulders as if they were cut off from the rest of the world.
And there they sat themselves on a blanket, a helping of sandwiches spread before them, utterly at peace in a way that a week ago might have felt impossible.
“I suppose I can forgive you,” Iris exhaled as if she were giving in.
As she did, she shuffled across the blanket slightly so that she was able to nestle where Philip’s legs were curled behind him.
In the nook created by his knees, one hand around his waist so the two were wrapped together.
“But only because you more than made up for it.”
“Thank you,” Philip said. He then moved his arm around her waist also, happy to hold her close. “It is about time that I am appreciated.”
“Ha!” Percy cried with laughter.
“Careful,” Philip warned him. “I might decide that I am not in the mood for house guests.”
“Good luck getting rid of me.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
Iris smiled to see the two brothers bicker. And she smiled to find herself a part of it; included because this was her family, and Philip was welcoming her into it without hesitation. And most of all, she smiled to feel his arm around her waist, how protective it was, how right it felt.
She could not stop thinking about what Philip had said to her mother. Oh sure, Iris wanted to believe that she no longer needed protection, as she was not a little girl anymore. But she knew too that wasn’t what Philip had meant. Not really.
What he was saying was that he was ready to treat her as a husband ought to treat his wife. No more doubting himself. No more ignoring her or pretending this marriage wasn’t what it had become. The fight within him was waning, as was Iris’ objections to this marriage as a whole.
Is it possible… might I get my happy ending after all?
She did not want to get ahead of herself. Still, they had so far to go. But if things continued down this path, she saw no reason not to dream.
“You know what…” Percy sighed and pushed himself to his feet. “I know when I am not wanted.”
“Where are you going?” Philip laughed. “Do not tell me that I hurt your feelings.”
“You did.” Percy scowled at him. “Such that I am inclined to go home. I won’t though, because I know that deep down you will miss my company. Thus, a little walk, I think. Stretch these legs. Climb a boulder.”
Philip rolled his eyes. “Oh yes, I forgot that you were ten years old.”
“Going on eighteen,” Percy laughed.
“We’ll be right here,” Iris said to him. She did not see a need to try and change his mind, because she could sense the real reason that Percy was giving them some space.
He sat across the blanket, looking positively out of place when compared to how she and Philip were holding one another. And where she did not mind his company at all, she also appreciated a chance to be alone with her husband. In fact, she relished the idea.
Percy was quick then to leave them, darting into the trees and soon vanishing from sight. This left Philip and her alone, arms still wrapped around their bodies, a slight tension hovering in the air because Iris realized suddenly that they had not been on their own since the previous evening.
“Well…” Philip clicked his tongue. “This is lovely.”
“It is.”
“Sorry about my brother,” he then said. “He can be a bit…”
“Chatty?” she offered.
He laughed. “I was going to say intrusive. But yes, chatty will do.”
She felt him shift beside her, his body turning so he could look down and meet her eyes. She did the same, forced to look up but as had been the case since the first time she saw him, drawn to those eyes as if by a magnetic force.
“Iris, I wanted to…” He hesitated. “About yesterday.”
“Oh?” Her heart began to flutter.
“What we did together, I have been thinking about it and…” Again, hesitation and she could see how awkward he was. “And I need you to know, I do not want you to feel any pressure.”
“Pressure?”
“You remember my rules?”
Her eyes widened at the implication and her body turned warm. “Y—yes. I… I believe I do.”
“Not all of them,” he continued. “The third rule. The one that concerns us and… and giving me an heir.”
She had to look away from him. Not because she wanted to, but because if he held her eyes right then he would have seen exactly what was on her mind. And she would have died with embarrassment.
Iris had done a little thinking about that particular rule of late. That within a month of them marrying, a little over two weeks from now, he expected her to go to bed with him. To give him an heir. And if that was the case, she doubted that one time would be enough.
When Philip had first told her of this expectation, it had been easy for Iris to convince herself she wanted no part of it. And she had been certain that when the time came she would be able to deny the duke because she had hated the man and was certain he felt nothing for her.
Now… so much has changed.
Iris forced herself then to meet his eyes. To look into them and see through their worried stare to the man beneath. He was by no means a perfect husband. They still had so far to go. But he was trying, he cared for her, and most of all, she cared for him too.
The thought of being with him finally did not scare her like it once did. In fact, the opposite was true. It excited her, as she was certain it did him.
“I remember it,” she said softly, holding his eyes.
He nodded. “I need you to know that, when I gave you that rule, I… I assumed that things would be different between us. I was committed to treating this marriage as an imposition, as I thought you would be too.”
She laughed softly. “That is a nice way of putting it.”
“The point is, I need you to know that I do not expect anything from you. I do not want to force you. To make you do something you don’t want to do.”
“What…” She found herself frowning. “What are you saying?”
“I am saying that come one month from when we wed, if you are not ready, that is fine. I will accept it. Do not think that you have to do anything. I…” A smile tugged at his lips. “I just want you to know you have nothing to fear from me.”
“Philip…” She leaned back. “I know that.”
“Good.” He smiled with relief. “This whole thing is new to me, as it is you. I am still learning, I will make mistakes. But if you are patient, well, we can reassess these so-called rules when we are both ready.”
Her frown deepened. At first, Iris thought to be worried. Is he saying that he doesn’t want to be with me? His mind changed for some reason, because why would he not want such a thing?
Only, as she held his stare, seeing the honesty in it, she came to understand his true meaning.
He was falling for her. Where once he saw this marriage as an inconvenience, one that he did not care how it might play out, now he saw its potential.
His rules, as he had called them, were built on that fact, and the thought of sleeping with her was seen as a duty rather than something he wanted to do.
But now that they had come so far, she knew his views had changed and this new position he had taken was born from the fact. He wanted her, of that she was certain, but only if she wanted him too.
“Thank you for saying,” she said with a smile. As she did, she reached up and rested a hand on his cheek. “I know how hard that must have been.”
“Hard?”
She grinned. “Oh please. To pretend that you have it in you to wait. What if I am not ready for a year? Or two years?”
He laughed and rested his hand on top of hers. “Somehow, I doubt that will be a problem.”
They laughed together. They looked into one another’s eyes. And then, with the sun drifting behind a cloud, with the birds’ songs softening, with the world seeming to vanish around them, they kissed in a way they never had before.
It was tender and it was gentle. It was honest and it was open. It was a kiss that seemed to tell them both how the other felt, and that what they once thought of this marriage had long since changed.
And as they shared that deep and passionate kiss, Iris found her mind drifting to what Philip had just told her. That it would be up to her when they finally went to bed together. That she had the power to decide.
Did she want to wait? Did she want to see how long they could last, as if that might strengthen their marriage and their feelings for each other? Or was this right here the moment… is it finally time that I give myself over to my husband and make this marriage real?
Iris could not say. But rather than wasting time thinking on it, she focused on the kiss they were sharing in that small glade, because never before had she been so happy.
A perfect day, it had been. The first of many to come, she was certain.