Chapter 34
Thirty-Four
Isolde’s father appeared remarkably healthy compared to the last time that she had seen him.
He was no longer confined to his bed and was able to make his way outside and sit on the front porch to enjoy the midday sun.
She liked to think that somehow, the good news that had found her had also helped to heal him.
However, despite how much better he looked, that did nothing to alleviate the shock that settled on his aged face when Isolde told him what she had learned.
“That is…” He blinked several times. “That is not possible.”
She laughed. “I assure you, Father, it is the truth. Cassian has shown me proof, so there can be no doubt.”
“The daughter of an earl…” His brow furrowed as he reckoned with the news. “She… she never said anything. Although rarely did she speak of her past.”
“Now you know why.”
“It…” A shake of the head. “She was always well spoken. Educated too. I just assumed that she had grown up in a lord’s home. That he was who she was running from.” Then he laughed. “It is just like your mother, really. Even in death, she still has the ability to surprise me.”
“You know what this means, yes?”
“I can gather,” he said. “Your marriage to His Grace stands.”
“Well, we will have to remarry. But yes, he will remain as my husband.”
“And no lies this time,” he said with a smile. “Oh, that is good news. I might not have shown it, but I was so worried about you, Isolde. The last time I saw you…” A shake of the head. “You were broken in a way I had never seen before. But no more.”
“It means more than that.” She crouched down in front of him and rested her hands on his knees. “Thomas and Marianne are also of noble birth, Father. And because they are, we no longer need to hide them.”
“They will be so thrilled. Thomas, especially. He has been going on nonstop about when he can visit again. I cannot wait to tell him.”
“He will be doing more than visiting,” she laughed.
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, come now…” She looked pointedly at him. “You cannot expect them to grow up here. Propriety and everything demand they are raised in a proper home.” She winked. “And as my father, the same will be said for you.”
“Isolde…” He leaned back.
“You are to move in with Cassian and me at once,” she said firmly. “No arguments. There, you will get the best care available. And there, Thomas and Marianne will have a chance at a real future.”
“What of the parish?”
“We will find someone to take over,” she assured him. She’d had this conversation with Cassian last evening, and he was willing to do whatever was needed. “But only after we fix this place up. It is high time it was given a good refurbishment, and I expect you to take a hand in it.”
Her father said nothing at first. He just looked at his daughter as if he did not understand what she was saying. But then tears found his eyes, followed by a smile on his face, and he laughed with joy.
“Our lives are going to change, Father,” she assured him. “For the better this time.”
“I just wish your mother was alive to see this.”
Isolde sniffed back her own tears. “Somehow, I think she is. This is her doing, so it is only right.”
She pulled her father into a tight hug, and she relished feeling his strength. He was still old. Still frail and feeble. But Isolde was certain that with time, he would return to his old self.
Just as I promised him would happen…
The following two weeks were a hive of activity, the likes of which Isolde had never known.
Word of her birth spread across the ton like wildfire through a dry forest, and while she expected people to object or complain, not a soul dared to do so.
It was simply accepted, agreed upon, and nobody would dare to contradict the duke.
The first major change was seeing her family move into the manor.
Her father was naturally a little hesitant about it, but Marianne and Thomas took it in their stride.
Excitement poured from them, and not once did they voice concern or fear.
It was, in many ways, as if it was always meant to be this way.
Next, Cassian hired a team of builders to fix the broken parish and its chapel.
They found a new vicar to give the sermons.
Isolde’s father gave his final one, which was greeted with both joy and tear-stained eyes.
Again, nobody begrudged him for leaving them, and all seemed to agree that this was a good thing.
Following that, Cassian annulled his marriage to Isolde, and two weeks later, they remarried.
Unlike their first wedding ceremony, this one was announced across the ton, and all were encouraged and welcome to attend.
It was held on the estate in the back garden, and there were close to one-hundred guests.
When Isolde walked down the aisle, she saw no judgment or scorn in their eyes. Rather, she saw acceptance.
Cassian beamed as she approached him. He took her hands. He held them and her eyes both. Not once did he look away as their vows were read, and not once did his smile fade. He wanted the world to know how he felt, just as he refused to hide his feelings.
The man I first met is the same man I am marrying. Better, even, as I love him with my whole heart.
Once they were wed, Cassian pulled Isolde into a kiss.
It was polite, it was wholesome, but it was felt so deeply in Isolde’s chest that she started to weep.
Not their first kiss, but it felt as if it were.
It was the kiss that they had not been able to share the first time they had married, and one that sealed their fate, so there could be no denying that this marriage was a love match and that it would last across the ages.
“So, how do you feel?” Cassian asked as he pulled away from her, a smile still on his lips.
“How do you mean?”
“You are officially my wife,” he said. “No lies this time. Does it feel different from the last time?”
She considered the question. On the surface, it ought to have felt different. There was no guilt this time. No shame. She wasn’t hiding anything. She did not doubt how Cassian felt about her. It was as different from their last wedding day as could be. And yet…
Isolde looked across the crowd. She saw them clapping and beaming, and she realized at the moment why she did not feel as relieved or justified or even happy as she should have done.
Isolde did not care what anyone thought of her.
She did not marry Cassian to prove a point or because she thought that she must. She was the same person who she had been yesterday, and the same who she had been before her true origins were learned.
In fact, she was the exact same person as that same day when Cassian had woken up in her cottage.
Sure, she no longer had to lie. She no longer had to pretend. And she no longer had to live with guilt that was crushing. But she turned and found Cassian watching her, and she accepted that while so much had changed, the one thing that had not was also the one thing that really mattered.
Cassian was that same man who had woken in her cottage.
He loved her then, he loved her now, and he would continue to love her, no matter what happened next.
And for that reason, their newly anointed marriage was hardly worth considering.
Life would go on as it had done, as it was always going to do, because Cassian would be there for her always.
“No,” she said as she looked up at him. “It doesn’t feel different.”
He frowned. “Really?”
“Why would it?” she laughed. “You have not changed, and nor have I. The only difference is that we are finally able to admit that.”
“But is that not the point? No more lies, no more secrets? Surely, you must feel relieved? Thrilled you do not have to pretend to be somebody you are not.”
She shrugged. “I do not care about any of that. All I care about is you, Cassian. And as you love me the same as you did when we last wed, then nothing has changed.”
“Except that you now love me,” he countered with a smirk.
“No.” A shake of the head. “I always loved you, Cassian. Silly me, it just took a little while for me to realize it. A mistake I plan on spending the rest of my days making up for.”
He grinned. “I will hold you to that.”
“You better.”
With that said, they kissed again. A deeper kiss. A more passionate one. A tad inappropriate for the setting, perhaps, but Isolde did not care. All she cared about was the man who was her husband, and that he loved her as she loved him.
Based on the way that he kissed her back, she knew that was the case. Just as she knew that the rest of their lives together would be worth living, happy and in love, and the memories they would create together were those that neither would ever want to forget.