She heaved out a sigh. “Not that you need it, Charles, but I give you full permission to be happy. That is all I ever wanted for you since you were placed in my arms. And if marrying this girl will make you happy, then marry her you must.”
As if Mark didn’t love the woman enough, she had to go do that.
Charles grabbed her and pressed her savagely against himself. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for all of this.”
“Now, now,” she murmured against his shoulder, nestling her chin against it. “Go right this. She is waiting for you over in the servants’ quarters.”
Charles pulled away. “She is?”
A knowing smile touched those full lips. “She is, and it is fairly obvious that if you want a wedding, there will be one.”
Charles grabbed her face and kissed it not once, not twice, but thrice. “I don’t know why I ever doubted you. After everything we have been through together… I should have never…” He paused. “I have to go.” Jerking away, Charles dodged around her and disappeared into the ballroom, leaving Mark and Magdalene to stand alone in complete silence in the shadows of the terrace.
“Thornton.” Charles skid back into view, startling him, and pointed. “You are going to be the damn groomsman. Not to mention godfather to the babe. And anything else you want to be!”
Mark inclined his head. “I would be honored.”
Charles grinned and darted off.
Silence pulsed again, reminding Mark that it was time to go.
His gaze momentarily met Magdalene’s soulful dark eyes, which always made his breath hitch in the most annoying way.
She lingered, the candlelight from the chandeliers beyond illuminating her gathered chestnut hair in the softest of ways. He’d always been in awe of that glorious hair, which held barely a single wisp of gray despite her lavish year of forty. Unlike his own hair that was beginning to silver at the temples. There were so many times he wished he could have met her in his youth and in hers, before life had bloody—
He was digressing.
It was time to go.
He rounded her.
Magdalene stepped toward him. “Thank you for speaking to him, Thornton. He sees you as the father he never had. You do realize that, yes?”
He nodded, but started walking, refusing to skewer the last of himself in the name of a woman who, sadly, would never be able to step beyond the wrongs committed against her. No matter how much time, love, patience and hope he offered.
It was indeed Anne all over again.
Only this hurt more. Because he had expected more from Magdalene given all that she was. Instead, she had given in to victimizing herself and him.
Which was why it was time to rise above her. It was time to cease settling for women who just couldn’t see beyond themselves. He had a life. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good. More importantly, he had his girls. He would never settle for anything less than everything for them, and that was why he wasn’t going to bloody settle for anything less than everything for himself. Not ever again. At least Magdalene had taught him that much.
He inclined his head toward her one last time. “Good night.” And off he strode, knowing he was never going to see her again.
CHAPTER FIVE
THOUGH MAGDALENE HAD ALWAYS believed matrimony was but a form of imprisonment that permitted a man to legally do with his wife’s body and soul as he pleased, one she had sworn to never submit herself to again, this was Thornton. The one and only man she had ever come to trust and adore and love in her forty years, who had carried every imaginable burden she had ever placed upon him without fail.
Even when she had failed him.
And she was not about to fail him again. She already knew how it felt to live without him and his girls. This past month had been beyond torturous, and she wasn’t doing that again. God save her, she was about to jump off a ledge in the hopes that he’d be there to catch her before her brains scattered across the pavement.
Gathering her skirts, she darted after his stalking figure, which had veered past her on the terrace and through the open doors leading into the ballroom. “Thornton—”
“There is no need to say anything. In fact, I prefer the chirping of crickets. I prefer—”
“Marry me.”
He jerked to a halt and swung toward her, his burning green eyes intently holding hers in the wavering candlelight.