Page 57 of The Wise Daughter

After weeks of planning and preparing, of dress fittings and menu selections, and destinations chosen for an extensive wedding tour, the moment that all such preparations were meant to celebrate finally arrived.

Nora might as well have been dreaming while Janie and the other maids dressed her in her wedding clothes and meticulously styled each curl and flower on her head.

She didn’t think about the fine lace on her gown or the silk ribbons around her waist. She was floating through it all, light and fluid, and so very happy.

Perhaps she was dreaming after all, but it was the wakeful kind that kept her floating as she stepped into her carefully prepared carriage, then traveled to the church and down its aisle to join Aaron at his side.

She devoted all her attention to his face, memorizing the way he looked at her as if he was seeing their entire future together in her eyes.

She spoke her vows easily, the promises flowing from the truest part of herself that loved Aaron as if she always had.

Aaron’s vows were like a song that wrapped around her and warmed her like a blanket, filled her like hot tea, and lifted her like the morning’s first ray.

There was more, though Nora could hardly recall what.

After their kiss, she hardly noticed the chapel bells, though they chimed the news throughout all of Ravenglass and Eskdale and over the lapping waters of the estuary and sea beyond.

The duke has married his duchess!

She dropped her bouquet twice when reaching for Aaron’s hands, so eager she was to hold them that the flowers had to be returned to her each time by one of the many guests who came to celebrate.

The cheering crowds of people, which included her father, Aaron’s mother, and a variety of people she had yet to meet, blurred from her vision, blending into a background of smiles and congratulations.

To Nora, it was just her and her duke, finally united as one. Every moment her hand was in his, her heart pounded wildly with the rush of finally belonging to one another.

Nora patiently waited throughout all the celebrations, smiling and thanking as many people as she could. When their carriage pulled away, she nestled closer to her husband, and together, they whispered about their favorite parts of the day.

When they came to the bridge on the outskirts of Ravenglass, Nora insisted they stop. Aaron needed no persuading to follow her.

“I thought you said it didn’t work if you’ve crossed the bridge before.”

“We’re not the same people we were before.” She skipped to the center of the stone arch. “We’re married now. I’m a Derricott, and you are mine.”

“That’s true.” He gave her an adoring look, the sort that made Nora’s skin flush and told her a kiss wasn’t far behind, but for now he was listening. “All right. Tell me what to do, my bride.”

Bride. Her breath caught for a moment as she giddily reminded herself for the thousandth time that day that she was his and he was hers. “That is an endearment I never want to hear the end of.”

“Then whether we are in our first year of marriage or our fifty-first, I shall find opportunities to remind you often that you are my bride.”

Her cheeks warmed, and their lips met. Once she gathered her wits, she drew her attention back to their reason for stopping.

“Now hold my hand and make a wish.”

They stood silent with their eyes closed for several seconds.

The air filled with the gentle rushing of the water below.

Nora listened within for a budding wish, for the next desire of her heart that would be a small gift to herself, but the only images that flooded her thoughts were of her standing hand in hand with Aaron, making their wedding vows.

Aaron’s hand tightened around hers. “I’m sorry, Nora. I don’t think I can do it.”

She opened her eyes to find him observing her. “Why not, my duke?”

He leaned against the bridge and pulled her close. “Because I can’t think of a single thing to wish for. I’m too content. I already have what I want.”

She smiled her most coy smile, the one only he inspired from her. “So do I. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was having trouble making another wish.”

“Then perhaps, Mrs. Derricott, all we need to do now is savor the joy of being together.”

Under the open sky in clearest daylight, they agreed to do so with a kiss that made all previous kisses forgettable. With their pasts behind them and their future ahead, they crossed the bridge hand in hand.