Chapter 22
Bennet saw red. Heat and fury pulsed through him as he looked at Mrs. Merryfield as if through a tunnel. He couldn’t see anything else, just her arrogant, angry face.
He felt a hand close around his. The scent was familiar…Prudence. She pushed in front of him, the top of her head obscuring his view of his former betrothed.
How had he ever planned to marry this harpy?
“I don’t know how you learned about my parents,” Prudence said softly, but with an edge of menace Bennet could never have imagined. “However, I will assume it was by nefarious and scandalous measures.”
Mrs. Merryfield opened her mouth, but slammed her thin lips closed once more.
“You should be ashamed of yourself. Imagine being so pathetic as to start a rumor about someone out of sheer jealousy. You couldn’t have been more wrong.” Prudence stepped back and put her arm around Bennet’s waist. She leaned into him. “As you can see, we are deeply in love.”
“We had an agreement,” Mrs. Merryfield growled.
Bennet had just begun to relax, but a new wave of anger rolled through him. “Not that again. If you—”
“Bennet, allow me, please,” Prudence said sweetly.
“Mrs. Merryfield, think of your children and the example this sets for them. I can’t imagine they’d be proud of your behavior, for whatever reason you felt it was justified.
It simply was not. Furthermore, there is no damage done here.
Bennet and I are married, we are happy, and we will continue to be happy.
I hope you can find an opportunity to do the same.
Now, do yourself the greatest of favors and leave. ”
With a final glare, Mrs. Merryfield spun about and stalked toward the house.
Bennet saw that his family—and Prudence’s—had come outside and were standing near the doors.
As Mrs. Merryfield walked near them, it seemed as though his great-aunts and Cassandra might prevent her progress.
All three of them looked as if they might commit some act of physical violence.
Thankfully, Wexford was there to step in front of them.
Nearly in unison, they turned their attention to Prudence and Bennet, their glowers turning to bright smiles of joy.
Then a smattering of applause broke out in the garden, accompanied by a few cheers. Bennet felt Prudence relax, and his anger flowed away. That had never happened so quickly before. It generally took hours for him to truly calm down.
He looked at his wife and felt more peace than he’d ever known.
She was smiling at people who waved and inclined their heads. A gentleman walked near them and called out, “Bravo!”
Now Prudence blushed.
“Should we go speak with our families?” she asked.
“No, I need you to myself for a moment.” Bennet put her arm around his and guided her to a darkened corner. Then he pulled her behind a shrubbery and cupped her face. “I love you.” He kissed her, softly at first, then more deeply as she twined her arms around his neck.
At last, he pulled back and brushed his lips across her cheek, her forehead, her temple. “I have loved you for so long.”
“How long?” she asked breathlessly.
“Since Riverview—the first time,” he added.
“I like to imagine those days we spent together, except I didn’t have you kidnapped, and I wasn’t beholden to my family or duty.
I was worry-free and able to choose my own path without fear.
I would have chosen you then. I would have begged you to marry me.
” He traced his finger along her hairline from her forehead to her cheek.
“Now, I beg your forgiveness. I’m so sorry I wasn’t honest with you.
I was afraid for my future and for the future of any child I will have.
That fear prevented me from wanting to marry, from allowing myself to love. ”
She laid her palms flat against his upper chest, pushing them out to the sides near his shoulders.
“I didn’t want to marry either. After my father died, my mother urged me to bury my emotions, assuring me they weren’t helpful.
I believed that, especially after she died and I felt so alone.
If you don’t allow yourself to feel, it’s much easier to bear loneliness. ”
Her words twisted his insides so that he could scarcely breathe. “Oh, Pru. You always seem so strong and confident.”
“I didn’t even realize I was lonely until I met you.” She touched his cheek. “But I think I was—am—strong and confident too. I’m confident that I love you. I was not, however, confident that you loved me. I was sure you didn’t, especially when I learned you’d kept the truth of your family from me.”
Agony and regret washed through him. “If I could go back and tell you everything from the start, I would.”
One of her brows arched. “From the start? You would tell me about your family’s troubles when I was trussed up like a pheasant? I think that’s what you said, isn’t it?”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “Perhaps not at that precise moment.” He grew serious once more. “Don’t ever doubt my love for you. I vow to tell you every day, multiple times a day, for the rest of our lives.” He kissed her again, a leisurely exploration filled with promise.
She pulled back and looked up at him intently. “What about the baby? Are you still afraid?”
“Yes.” He wouldn’t lie to her. Not anymore.
“But with you, I’m less so. My great-aunts have also pointed out that I am not—probably—afflicted with the family illness.
It seems I’m merely, ah, emotional. Or can be, anyway.
And that while I have made some rather poor decisions, they don’t compare to anything my father did.
They don’t think I demonstrate any behavior that’s out of the ordinary for most people. ”
“How lovely of them.”
“Yes, it was, actually.” Bennet was extremely grateful to them.
She laid her hand against his cheek. “You’ve been alone in your fear and worry for so long, shouldering a terrible burden, even when your father was alive, I suspect.
But you’re the one who holds them all together.
Don’t you see how wonderful that is? How much love and strength it takes to be who you already are? ”
How he wanted to believe that. “You see a better man than I am, but then that’s been true since I kidnapped you.”
“You are a far better man than you think, but I suppose I shall just have to remind you every day.”
“I will never tire of that,” he said fiercely. “To think that I get to spend every day with you is a joy I never imagined.”
“I know neither of us wanted this, that if not for a series of misfortunes, we would not be here right now. But I am not sorry.”
“You say misfortunes, and I would have agreed. I told you I was unlucky. I don’t think that anymore.
I look at those misfortunes and see the greatest luck a man could have.
All of it led me to you. To us.” He put his hand over her belly and thought of the life growing inside her.
“Whatever the future brings, we will manage it—together.”
She stood on her toes and touched her lips to his. “Together.”