Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

The next day, the duke and Wexford left before dawn.

The carriage had pulled up. Wellington put on his bicorne and nodded at Will. "You know, I am loath to grant my staff officers any leave of absence. I shall make an exception in your case. I suppose a fortnight's honeymoon will do? I expect you to be back at headquarters in Cambrai in time for the manoeuvres."

"Yes, sir. I appreciate it. I wish you a speedy and safe journey, Your Grace." Will clasped his hand firmly.

"We will ride through without a stop, except at Dover." The duke bent over Louisa's hand. "Paris is beautiful at this time of the year. The social scene is vibrant, and you will make a charming addition to it. I look forward to welcoming you to my place in Mont St Martin."

With those words and another nod at Will, the duke and his three aides-de-camp left.

Will turned to embrace his father. Wexford then drew Louisa in an embrace. "We will meet again soon in France." He swung himself onto his horse and left to join the duke's party.

"There he goes to join the Iron Duke. Next to Nelson, the greatest military hero our nation has ever seen," Will said.

"Says one hero about another." Louisa rubbed her arms in the chilly early morning air.

Will shook his head. "No. I may have brought home a medal or two, but I certainly don't feel like a hero, not even close. Wellington is a legend. He has changed the course of history."

The first grey rays of dawn crept over the horizon. The remaining guests were still sleeping, and would be until midday, if not later, after the late night.

Louisa and Will had not slept at all. A rosy blush covered her cheeks, and a warm glow of happiness engulfed her.

"Let us walk to the lake and watch the sunrise," she said impulsively.

Wrapped in warm woollen cloaks and shawls, they walked through the forest to the lake, holding hands.

"So, it appears we are going to France?" she asked.

"Yes." He gave her a quick look. "I have no intention of selling out. Not until I reach the rank of general, that is. I'm furiously ambitious, but you probably know that. Would it be a problem for you to come with me to France?" He held out his hand to help her over a fallen tree. "I won't force you if you'd rather not. You could stay at Wexford Hall if you prefer. Or anywhere else. I can buy you a house in London, even. "

She shook her head. "No. I think I'd like that, to live on the Continent for a while. It would be an adventure."

"The troops are stationed in Cambrai, which is a charming town not lacking in social entertainment. His Grace entertains lavishly in Mont St Martin. Lieutenant Carey has found us a villa nearby, large enough to accommodate your parents should they decide to join us. You will be exceedingly busy and much in demand as a hostess, Louisa. You won't have a moment's peace. They'll adore you."

She supposed it would be a busy life, indeed. But she also wanted to do something other than being a society hostess. She just did not know what.

They reached the shore of the lake. Will dragged a tree stump from the undergrowth for them to sit on, for the ground was cold and damp.

"Are you happy with last night's events?" Louisa probed. "Did it all develop according to your expectations?"

Will picked up a twig and played with it. "It went well. Better than expected, actually. You can't imagine the weight that has been taken from my shoulders. I've been carrying it around with me all this time."

"I can only imagine how much it must have meant to you." A boy who'd never had the chance to prove his innocence could finally do so eleven years later.

"George is only partly right about this being part of an elaborate revenge plan," he said suddenly. "Certainly, it is gratifying to be the master of a place that belonged to my former enemy. But this is the only reason I bought this place." Will waved at the lake. "Glubbdubdrib. There is no other reason."

"Of course," Louisa said softly.

"And because of you." He looked ahead, the first rays of the sun now touching on his face. He closed his eyes as he spoke. "You are the reason I have made it all the way to where I am now. You're the motivation behind everything. That night, before they dragged me away, the former Milford told me I wasn't worthy of you; he told me to forget you, that our union was, and always would be impossible. That someone like me wasn't worthy of even kissing the tips of your toes. I'd expected your father to spew such nonsense, but surprisingly, he never did. It was Milford. And when I refused to let you go, he refused to help me in prison."

Louisa nodded. "Papa may come across as high in the instep, but he really isn't. When it comes to choosing family or fortune, he will always choose family. But Milford?" She shook her head. "How sad he turned out to be like this."

"Milford is cut of a different wood. It was he who wanted me destroyed. As for your father, I think he felt sorry for me, but he didn't spare me a thought when he packed you off to London. That night in gaol, when I was at my most desperate, I swore to myself that I would clear my name, get my revenge, and prove myself worthy of my girl. That gave me the will to survive, Lulu. I would prove them wrong. I would prove the entire world wrong. You were my light. In those dark, cold nights out on the battlefields, amidst all the horror and gore, you were the one who kept me going."

"And then I didn't even recognise you." Her voice wobbled. "As if that wasn't enough, I humiliated you and you became a laughingstock. That caricature!" She hid her face in her hands.

He laughed softly. "Yes, that brought me down a few notches. You wouldn't even give me the chance to explain who I was."

She frowned. "You hemmed and hawed. You should have just come right out with it and said who you were."

"But I did. And while you didn't exactly slap me like that other poor fellow, you slapped me verbally instead."

Louisa frowned. "You were just like the others. You uttered the same inane platitudes. Except then you went ahead and distinguished yourself by being even more asinine than the rest."

"I went up to you and said, ‘Look at me, Louisa, don't you know who I am?'" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, awareness crossed his face, and he smacked his hand against his forehead. "Oh." He winced. "I see. That was indeed an asinine thing to say. You were surrounded by fools, each more pretentious than the other, and then I came along, vain and eager to impress, and promptly put my foot in my mouth. You must have thought me an arrogant ass, one who made an unforgivable social blunder by addressing you by your first name, to boot. No wonder you were angry with me before we even had a chance to talk properly."

She'd said some things that now made her wince. She'd been so unimpressed by him she'd merely given him a look that cut him to shreds and turned away.

"You gave me the cut direct." He uttered a short laugh, as if he still couldn't believe it. "You were absolutely terrifying. I swear, Louisa, it would have saved us much trouble if you could've given the French forces the same look you gave me. You would've stopped the enemy in their tracks, and they would have retreated with their tails between their legs without a single shot being fired."

"You were … annoyingly persistent. And annoyingly predictable. You'd had your introduction, your dance; of course, you'd take me out on the veranda where you'd spit out a proposal. They all did."

He threw up his hands in defeat.

"You started by boasting of your exploits on the battlefield."

"To impress you, of course. It had worked well with your father, but it was the wrong strategy with you. I only accomplished the opposite and gave you a disgust of me, and a complete refusal to listen to anything else I had to say."

"And I brushed it all off and called you a tin soldier."

"That still hurts." He placed a hand over his heart.

"I thought you were aggravating, impertinent, and too full of yourself." Louisa rubbed her eyebrow.

"You humiliated me in the worst way possible. My pride still smarts every time I think about it. You didn't think I'd just let that go, did you?"

"You've always been terribly efficient at devising intricate plans of revenge," she agreed. "I just never thought I'd ever be at the receiving end of it."

"I was flabbergasted and furious. I'd obviously put you on a pedestal and didn't know how to deal with the reality of you. I decided to teach you a lesson. But how? One night at the club, I overheard your father ranting about you and your stubbornness. He was deep in the cups, otherwise he wouldn't have been so careless as to shout, ‘ Pon my word, and if it is the very next beggar she runs across, she will marry him! '" He imitated her father's tone, which brought a slight smile to her lips.

"Indeed. I came up with a revised battle plan, and it was brilliant. I would be that beggar. I was convinced that you'd become cold and cruel, and that you'd deserved it. The plan was to give you a taste of your own medicine, to turn the tables on you and to soundly reject you at the moment of your vows, in front of witnesses, too. I'd humble you thoroughly, just as you did with me and all your other suitors. Well, my plan backfired spectacularly, didn't it?" he chuckled softly. "I expected you to recognise me eventually, if not as Will, then as that tin soldier you'd so thoroughly ridiculed. But to my utter astonishment, you didn't recognise me. To say I was stunned is an understatement. You were so beautiful, proud, and heartbreakingly lonely. And when I looked into your eyes, deep down, there was such sadness inside. It was then that I knew that I'd got you wrong. We all had. That icy shell was something you'd built around yourself to protect yourself. Deep down you were still the same Lulu. And it occurred to me that maybe that sadness had something to do with me. And I wanted, no, I needed to find out if that was true. It became an obsession. So, I threw out my beautiful, elaborately plotted revenge plan then and there. I couldn't keep it up for ten minutes in your company. Everything that happened afterwards—the marriage, the journey to Dorset, the hut— none of it was planned. It was all because I followed you, because I wanted to know where it would lead us."

She looked at him in silence.

He crouched down on his haunches, looking searchingly into her face. "Louisa. And now? Are we good?"

She smiled sadly. "If you mean to ask whether I have forgiven you for trifling with me, pretending to be a costermonger, tricking me into marrying you, the answer is yes. If you mean to ask whether I can forgive myself for not having been there for you when you needed me the most, then I might still need some time."

He framed her face between his hands and leaned his forehead against hers. "I love you desperately, Louisa. You know that, don't you? I shall remind you of this daily from now on, for the rest of our lives. You have possessed my heart and soul from that moment I was alone on the lake in the boat and you by the shore. I thought you were a magical fairy princess, and I was so startled and entranced I fell out of the boat and nearly drowned. And then you saved me. Not only from drowning, but you saved me in many other ways. You were vulnerable then, and sad, and all I wanted was to make you laugh. It hurt me to see you sad, then, and it hurts me now. Do not carry regret with you, Lulu. Whatever happened to me was fate, and I made the best of it. I don't regret now that it happened. Not a single thing. So let us both stop looking backwards, for the past is of no significance. Let go of thoughts of ‘if only I had done this', or what we could or should have said differently. Can we do that together?"

"I love you too, Will," she whispered. "I always have. And I will try my best to let go and stop mulling over the past."

Then, being characteristically Will, he had to ruin the moment lest it was becoming too emotional. "And like you said earlier, you have the rest of your life to make amends. I like that notion immensely. I don't give my forgiveness easily, you see, and I will make you work very hard for it." There was a cheeky twinkle in his eyes that belied his words.

"Something tells me you'll remind me of this for the rest of my life," Louisa muttered.

For a while, they listened in silence to the water lapping against the shore. Will stole a glance at Louisa, her profile softened by the golden light. A wave of tenderness washed over him. He longed to erase the hurt he'd caused, to build a future worthy of her love.

"What a shame you really aren't a costermonger. I wouldn't have minded staying a costermonger's wife." She leaned her head against him. "Truly. I would have been rather good at selling those vegetables in the marketplace. We would have made excellent business partners."

"Alas, my Lulu. You will have to be content with being a mere tin soldier's wife." He chuckled as she hid her face in his arm with a groan.

"I was thinking, Will, about what to do now. I had such plans to open my own business in the market. You know. Soap, I thought. There is a shocking lack of proper soap here; it seems to be terribly expensive. Or I could paint porcelain vases and sell them. Or I could learn how to weave baskets. Maybe I could even teach the children in a village school. But now …" She frowned. "I will be an ex cellent society lady and hostess, never fear. Our soirees and parties will be the best in all of Paris. But I would like to have some purpose other than that. I would like to set up an organisation, or a foundation. To help young ladies who, like Celeste, through the quirks of fate, have not been fortunate enough to find a suitable match. Perhaps a school for young ladies. And oh, speaking of Celeste, I would like it if we could invite her to join us. I would like to help her find a match. Especially now that her brother will be enlisting. Not that he ever did much for her." She made a face.

"Celeste is a sweet girl. I admit my enthusiasm for helping George marry off his sister is limited. But if that is what your heart is set on, then of course I will support you. I will support you in anything you want to do." He looked up and gazed across the lake.

"Look, the sun is rising over Glubbdubdrib," he said softly. "Isn't it magical? If the weather permitted, I'd have challenged you to a race across the lake. To see if I could finally beat you in swimming."

"Don't count on it. I practised swimming in the sea every summer when Papa would take us to the seaside at Bristol. I recall you used to thrash about in the water more than you swam. I wish I could've seen you swim across that river in Spain. I daresay I'd have made it through that river in half the time."

"Is that a challenge, madam wife?" There was a gleam in his eyes.

"Oh yes. One warm summer day, we shall have a race, you and I," she said. Her eyes fixed on his lips as they slowly approached hers for a heart-melting kiss.

Afterwards, they watched the island glow in the rosy rays of dawn.

"Watching the sunrise is wonderful and all, but I think we should head back to the house quickly." He reached out to pull her to her feet. "There's a lifetime of happiness waiting for us, and I wouldn't face it without you by my side."

Louisa smiled up at him. "Together," she whispered.