Chapter 48
THE PROPOSAL
The trip from Alexandria to Gibraltar was grueling.
Colonel Fitzwilliam stood at the bow of the Mary Catherine, the familiar silhouette of Gibraltar’s Rock emerging from the morning haze.
The sight should have filled him with relief since they were approaching British waters with crucial intelligence about Captain Walker’s treachery.
Instead, his stomach churned with a different sort of tension.
For the past hour, he had been pacing the deck, his mind consumed with a decision that could no longer be delayed.
The crew had grown accustomed to his restless energy during their voyage, but today, his movements carried a desperation that had nothing to do with their mission’s urgency.
He was in love with Prudence Bell.
The realization had struck him with devastating clarity during the crisis in the catacombs, when his first thought had been not of duty, but of protecting the woman who had become essential to his happiness.
Every moment since had only confirmed what his heart already knew.
He could not imagine a future without her. The question was how to tell her.
Richard had spent his adult life in the military, where direct orders and clear communication were valued above all else.
Yet now, faced with the most important conversation of his life, he was paralyzed by uncertainty.
Not that he was uncertain about his feelings, of course.
No, it was uncertainty about how she would respond.
How did a man propose to a woman who had already experienced one loving marriage? What words could convey the depth of his feelings without sounding inadequate compared to her memories of Captain Garrison Bell?
He thought of Darcy’s courtship of Miss Elizabeth—the romantic gestures, the sunset proposals, the poetry that seemed to flow naturally from his reticent cousin’s pen.
Richard possessed none of those talents.
He was a soldier, practical and direct, better suited to battlefield commands than drawing-room eloquence.
Perhaps that was his mistake. Had he been approaching this wrong? I never properly courted Mrs. Bell, did I?
He paced from port to starboard. What if I presented her with honesty instead of pretty speeches?
The idea both terrified and liberated him. He could not compete with poets or romantics, but he could give her absolute truth, unwavering devotion, and mutual respect instead of flowery sentiment.
Taking a deep breath, Richard made his way to the ship’s galley, where he knew he would find Mrs. Bell reviewing their documentation from Alexandria.
The cramped space had become their informal meeting place during the voyage, and it seemed fitting that this conversation should take place where they had shared so many discussions.
She looked up as he entered, her green eyes immediately noting his agitated state.
“Colonel, you appear to be wrestling with some weighty matter. Are you concerned about presenting our evidence to Admiral Whitmore?”
Richard gestured toward the cook, who immediately understood the request for privacy. Closing the door behind the man, he turned to the woman who held his future in her capable hands.
An hour later, Richard emerged from the galley feeling as though he had run a mile and been appointed king of England at the same time.
The same deck, the same Gibraltar Rock rising from the sea, the same crew going about their duties, yet everything appeared different through the lens of joy so profound it threatened to overwhelm him.
She had said “yes.”
Prudence Bell had agreed to marry him, to spend her life as his partner in every sense of the word. The memory of her smile, of the warmth in her voice when she accepted his proposal, filled him with a happiness he had never believed possible.
Richard grinned at nothing.
When Tommy, the ship’s boy, approached with a question about their impending arrival, Richard answered with such cheerful enthusiasm that the boy looked at him with obvious concern for his mental state.
“Are you feeling well, sir?” Tommy asked carefully.
“Better than well, lad,” Richard replied, clapping the boy on the shoulder with genuine affection. “Better than I have ever felt in my entire life.”
With Gibraltar’s harbor swelled into view, Richard reflected on the extraordinary turn his life had taken. The investigation was almost complete, but for him and Prudence, their real adventure was only now beginning.
Note from Richard to the reader:
I bungled the proposal. What I intended to say and what came out of my mouth were two entirely different questions. I am not a romantic man. Therefore, I begged my dearly betrothed to give her account. She is the best woman alive. And as of a few moments ago, she is my woman!
Prudence remained in the galley for several minutes after Richard’s departure, still trembling with the aftershock of emotions she had not expected to feel.
Richard, dear sweet man, began his proposal by discussing how many yards of canvas it took to make a mainsail. In the midst of sharing this unnecessary information, he said, “I cannot offer you poetry or elaborate gestures or the sort of courtship that women are supposed to desire.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“What I can offer you is loyalty that has been tested in battle and found unshakable. I can offer you protection, devotion, and love that will endure for as long as I draw breath.” He cleared his throat loudly.
“My investments during our journey should increase the amount I already set aside. Combined with what I can get for selling my commission, we would have enough to obtain a small property, maybe start a family if such things interest you.”
Richard wiped his palms on his trousers. “The question I am trying to ask is whether you would consider spending your life with a plainspoken soldier who loves you beyond all reason but may never learn to express it with the eloquence you deserve.”
She was stunned into silence.
“Well, will you?” he asked.
“Will I what?”
“Marry me. Will you marry me, Prudence Bell, and let me spend the rest of my life proving that I am completely devoted to you?”
She gazed at him, surveying every inch of his face. “Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, you offer me everything I could ever want from a marriage.”
“Is that a yes?”
“That is definitely a yes, sir. I am not the sort of woman who desires a large estate or elaborate social position. The simple life you describe sounds like paradise.”
Without giving himself time to second-guess, Richard wrapped his arms around her and kissed her with all the passion he had been struggling to express in words.
She responded with equal fervor. “I love you, Richard Fitzwilliam. I have for a while, and I believe I always will.”
“Not even close to how much I love you.”
(This is Richard here. I am grateful that is over and done with.
Now, I must confess that I’ve kissed my share of ladies over the years.
But when my lips touched Prudence Bell’s, MY WORD!
Fireworks ignited. Cannons fired and hit me broadside.
I feared my scalp would blow off and my knees…
well, it would be unmanly to mention that they might have wobbled a bit.
She is the best woman alive. One who still wants to have her say…)
She was engaged.
To Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam.
The reality seemed almost impossible to accept.
When Captain Bell courted her, it had been a pleasant, predictable progression from friendship to marriage to affection.
She had loved him genuinely, but it had been the calm, steady love of shared interests and compatible temperaments.
What she felt for Richard was far different.
She had not expected to fall in love again, certainly not so completely.
Over the course of their journey, Richard had slowly but inexorably captured her heart through his intelligence, integrity, and unwavering devotion to duty and to those he cared about.
His protective instincts during their various dangers had touched something deep within her that she had not realized still existed.
More than that, his kisses—heavens above!
—had awakened feelings that even her marriage to Garrison Bell had never achieved.
Captain Bell had been gentle, affectionate, and considerate in all things.
But he had never made her forget herself in a moment of passion.
Richard did.
Goodness! He somehow possessed the ability to make her feel both utterly safe and thrillingly alive. When he held her, she knew she had found her proper place in the world. When he kissed her, she forgot everything else except the miracle of being loved by such a man.
Her deep, contented sigh sounded far too loud in the room.
The idea of making a home with Richard, of waking up beside him every morning for the rest of her life, was joyous.
There was no one she would sooner spend her future with.
No one whose children she would rather bear, whose old age she would rather share, whose hand she would rather hold through whatever joys and sorrows lay ahead.
She was, she realized with wonder, completely and incandescently happy.