Page 34 of Mischief and Manors (Change of Heart #1)

CHAPTER 34

W e carried my brothers inside, abandoning that empty drive and dark, stormy sky.

Mrs. Kellaway, Mrs. Everard, and Alice surrounded my brothers and me in the drawing room. The concern on their faces melted my heart. They couldn’t stop themselves from reassuring Peter and Charles repeatedly that they were safe.

I watched as Owen stepped outside with his uncle. I assumed he was taking the horses to the stables.

I held Peter tightly in my arms on the settee, then turned to Charles and did the same. I wiped the last of their tears from their cheeks.

“Are we still leaving today?” Peter asked in a quiet voice, as if he were still afraid of the answer.

I shook my head, brushing back his hair. “No.”

Mrs. Kellaway leaned down in front of us. “You may stay as long as you wish.”

“May we stay forever?” Charles asked.

I laughed, grabbing his tiny hand. “Forever is a very long time.”

Mrs. Everard laughed too, bustling forward in her puce satin gown. “If what I heard today is true, the three of you will soon be living with Owen at Willowbourne.”

I stared at the floor. I could always leave it to Mrs. Everard to bring up the most delicate of subjects.

All the eyes in the room turned on me. I was completely encircled.

It would be easy for the others to assume that Owen’s words—and mine—had been part of a trick to convince Aunt Ruth to unhand my brothers. After one fake engagement, I couldn’t blame anyone for believing there might be two. But I knew Owen’s intentions, and I trusted him. Still, I had never given him my answer the night before. The memory of our kiss came spilling back to me, making a blush creep over my cheeks.

“It is true,” I said in a hesitant voice. “At least—I think it is.”

Mrs. Everard’s eyes flew open wide. “How could you be uncertain?”

“He—well, he did propose to me, but I never gave him my answer. Not officially, anyway. I suppose he could still harbor…some degree of uncertainty.”

Mrs. Kellaway gave a delighted laugh. “Oh, Annette. You must tell him at once!”

I watched Miss Lyons cross the room to a bookcase. She plucked a book from the shelf and sat in the corner with it, seemingly intent to ignore the rest of the conversation. That suited me just fine. I did not care for her advice.

“But…how can I tell him?” I asked with a nervous laugh. “Until he asks me again…”

“Don’t you dare make him ask you again!” Mrs. Everard said with a firm look.

“Calm yourself, Mama.” Mrs. Kellaway pressed a hand to her stomach as she laughed. “The matter will work itself out, I am sure of it.”

Alice shook her head, plopping down beside me on the settee. She gave me a serious look. “I agree that you mustn’t keep him waiting a moment longer. My uncle is rather oblivious, and I suspect he will occupy Owen’s time a while longer.”

She glanced over her shoulder at her brother. “Edmund, you must call Uncle Pratt to the house at once.”

Edmund grinned, crossing his arms. “Perhaps if you ask nicely.”

“Please.” Alice’s expression was all business. She returned her attention to me with a smile. “That will allow you to speak with Owen alone outside.”

I nodded, a flutter of excitement racing through me. There was so much I needed to say to him. He had saved me that day, and so had everyone else in that room.

“Thank you.” I choked on a breath, casting my gaze at every face in front of me. “Thank you all for everything you all have done for me and Peter and Charles.”

Mrs. Kellaway smiled, her eyes wrinkling at the corners. “You are our family now. We would do anything for you.”

Family. The word made tears spring to my eyes, and seconds later, I was enveloped in so many arms that I lost track of them. Mrs. Everard, Mrs. Kellaway, and Alice surrounded me, tugging me up by my hands until I was standing again.

“Now go tell Owen so he will stop brooding all the time,” Alice said with a grin. “I miss my cheerful brother.”

I wiped a tear from my eye and nodded, laughing breathlessly. I felt light and free, as if I might float away at any moment.

The women pushed me toward the door after Edmund. I waited in the entry hall until Mr. Pratt stepped inside with him, then sneaked out the door. I walked quickly across the lawn, holding my skirts with both hands. I didn’t see Owen yet, but I expected to find him near the stables.

The air was thick with moisture, and then the low sound of thunder rippled through the dark clouds. Heavy raindrops fell from the sky, soaking quickly through my hair and gown. The ground turned to mud, the puddles splashing up to my hem as I scoured the grounds. There was no turning back now that I was so far from the house.

The rain fell faster as I approached the stables. I groaned. I was sufficiently soaked, right to the bone. And then I saw Owen, standing just inside, shielding himself from the storm. He squinted up at the sky. He was as dry as could be, and I looked like a drenched pink towel.

I started in his direction, but then his eyes shifted to me. They widened.

It would have been much wiser for him to wait for me to reach the shelter of the stables, but instead, he ran out, meeting me in the middle of the grass. The rain fell down his hair and face, droplets catching on his dark lashes. His blue eyes appeared more grey in the storm, wild with surprise. “What the devil are you doing out here?” A bewildered smile broke over his mouth.

I laughed, but he took my hand and started tugging me toward the stables.

I tugged him the other way.

He shot me a questioning glance, but followed my lead anyway as I ran toward the orangery. I could hardly hear above the beating of my heart and the rain sloshing under our feet. It occurred to me then that the women in the house were very likely to be watching us from the window. Thankfully the orangery was out of sight.

And I had always wanted to see it in the rain.

Owen jostled with the door, finally opening it and pulling me inside. I nearly tripped over my gown, stumbling forward. I gazed up at the ceiling, an instant sense of warmth and peace overcoming me. The patter of the rain was strong and powerful against the glass, spiraling down from the dark clouds, but never touching me. The atmosphere banished my nerves, and I turned to face Owen.

He dripped from head to toe, but he looked decidedly handsome with a wet shirt.

I laughed, covering my mouth with one hand. “That was…torrential.”

He laughed too before giving me a curious look. He took one step toward me, then another. “I was going to come back to the house soon, you know.”

I grinned. “I know, but I didn’t think I would find a moment alone with you.”

His lips curled into a smile. “Well, I am all yours.”

My face burned with a hot blush. “I wanted to thank you. Just now, with my aunt, and my brothers?—”

He took my face between his hands. “You were so brave. I doubt you even needed me.”

“But I did. You saved us. You made it possible for me to—” I stopped myself, my heart leaping. “You made it possible for me to be free of her. I truly, truly did not want to marry Mr. Frampton.”

His fingers traced each of my features as he listened, and I saw the hope in his eyes, a fierce hope that reflected my own. I took a deep breath. “Because I truly, truly want to marry you . I never gave you my answer last night, and before that, I was not able to give you the answer I wanted. Now, I have never been more sure of anything.”

Owen’s smile made my words stop in my throat. He leaned down, and I felt his smile melt into mine as he kissed me. He buried his fingers in my wet, sopping hair, guiding me into his kiss that was too perfect for words. I pulled him impossibly closer, my heart overflowing with the aching emotion in my chest.

Everything was different about this kiss—there was knowledge and hope and understanding. Not a trace of heartbreak. I was climbing higher than I had ever climbed before. I was at the top of the tree, standing beneath the clouds that seemed so close and away from the ground that now seemed so far. The sky was in my reach and there was at last nothing stopping me from taking flight.

His arms wrapped around me, and he lifted me off my feet. We spun in a circle, kissing and laughing, until I simply couldn’t stop smiling for long enough to kiss him back.

He set me down in the puddle of water at our feet, and I held tight to his jacket. I had missed his easy smile and that dimple in his cheek. He pressed a kiss to my forehead, making a blossom of sweet warmth spread throughout my face.

“I never thought you’d say yes,” he said. “Before I knew the true reason you refused me, I thought you were on a stubborn rampage of some sort.”

I gaped at him. “A rampage?”

He tipped his head back with a laugh. “I thought you were simply determined not to love me.”

I laughed, then shrugged. “I was, but I couldn’t help it.”

His adoring gaze made my face burn again. “I have loved you since the moment you arrived here wearing Charles’s vomit like a champion,” he said. “You won my heart from me that day and I knew that I would never reclaim it. It will always be yours, Annette.” His blue eyes gazed into mine, his very words inscribing themselves on my heart.

Beneath my hand pressed to Owen’s chest, I could feel his heart pounding through his shirt, strong and sure. How was it that all this time it had belonged to me? “I didn’t know,” I whispered. “I never would have assumed…”

“I thought I was making myself obvious,” he said with a laugh. “It was you who glared at me and constantly fled from my presence. I would also point out that you called me atrocious repeatedly.”

I laughed, my cheeks aching. “I was…defending myself. I didn’t think you would ever want someone like me.” I remembered Miss Lyons’s words… That he should overlook so much for the sake of his heart. I gave him a sheepish smile. “Especially when I learned of your inheritance. I worry to think of myself as the lady of a house like Willowbourne. I have no money to give you, and very little experience in society, and I have no accomplishments to note…it is a lot to overlook.”

I was shaking my head, but Owen stopped me, holding my face still in both his hands. “Listen to me. There is nothing to overlook. I don’t want to overlook anything about you, in fact. You are the most accomplished lady I know. You are accomplished in everything that truly matters, and nothing that does not. You are accomplished in the art of taming mischievous boys, being unfailingly witty, selfless, devoted, and brave.” He wiped away another tear that slipped from my eye. “So brave,” he whispered. “And there is nothing in this world that you could give me that is more precious than your heart.”

I listened to the rain falling on the ceiling above us. It was still powerful, showing no signs of slowing down. I stared up at Owen’s face. It would take time for me to truly believe he was mine, and that he had chosen me. My confidence was still growing, unfolding slowly like a rosebud. But Owen was the sunshine, the water, the promise that I would continue to bloom.

Happy tears streamed down my face, and I rose on my toes to kiss him again. He wrapped me up in his arms, encasing me in the warmth of him, his scent that I had memorized but couldn’t quite describe. He kissed me all over my tear-covered face, my hair, my lips. He seemed determined to show me how much he wanted me. His lips taunted mine with a series of slow, gentle kisses before he moved them to my neck, my throat, and back to my mouth again. I found myself breathless at the unpredictability and sensation of it all.

I should have expected him to tease me like that.

Every moment was poignant and profound, and I finally understood for the first time in years that I, Annette Downing, was loved. I was loved by someone stronger than me, someone who I could depend on and confide in, who had the capacity to protect me. I was loved by someone who I loved just as dearly. I had no doubt that Owen would protect me, my heart, and my happiness no matter what.

I couldn’t begin to imagine all the beautiful things our future held. I was the girl in Mr. Everard’s story with her vessel of water, full to the brim but never overflowing, I could love without end and be loved the same. It was the greatest gift I had ever received.

When the last of the rain had stopped and the sky was painted blue again, I finally pulled myself from Owen’s arms and we started walking back to the house, hand in hand. The sound of laughter reached my ears and I turned my head. Peter and Charles ran out the door of the house, as if they had just spotted us out the library window.

They ran to Owen with grins pulled to their ears.

“Annette does love you!” Charles told him, eyes wide. “So you don’t have to be sad anymore.”

Owen chuckled, throwing me a sideways glance. Then he scooped Charles up onto his shoulders, sending him into a fit of giggles. “That makes me very happy,” he said, ruffling Peter’s hair. “Do you remember the picture I showed you in the library?”

“The castle?” Charles asked from above.

Peter looked up at him, rolling his clear blue eyes. “It was called Willathorn.”

I stifled a laugh, sharing a smile with Owen. “Willowbourne,” he corrected gently. “How would you like to live there?”

Peter looked confused for a moment, scowling up at Owen. “What about Aunt Ruth?” His voice was a nervous whisper.

Owen pulled Charles down from his shoulders and set him beside Peter. “You never have to see her again if you don’t wish to. Do you remember my promise? She will never hurt either of you ever again.” My brothers nodded, and Owen pulled them into his arms.

“But is Annette allowed to come live there too?” Peter asked in a hesitant voice.

Owen turned his smile on me, a sight that made my heart flutter, and I knew then that it always would. “Annette is definitely allowed to come.”

Peter and Charles were giddy at this, jumping up and down, pulling on Owen’s hand and dragging me by my skirts across the lawn and through the door of the house.

“I get to live in a castle!” Charles yelled with unexpected volume as we stepped inside. I cringed at the echo it created, surely summoning every soul on the ground floor.

Owen laughed heartily, taking my hand in his. “It seems we will have the entire house to tell of our engagement.”

“They already know.” I smiled up at him. “I told them before I went outside to find you.”

His eyes filled with amusement and love and mischief all at once. “I should have known you would tell my entire family we were engaged without my consent. I thought you learned your lesson from the first incident.” His grin was all mischief now, his arms surrounding me, pulling me closer.

I was breathless; I could not manage a gasp. Instead I rose on my toes and kissed his grinning lips. “You’re atrocious.”