The creak of the door made her start. “Nicholas, your butler.”
They turned to face a white-faced Osborne standing just inside the door.
“I can explain,” Nicholas said.
“There is no need, my lord,” the butler replied as he looked over their heads. “Your business is none of mine.”
With a laugh, Jenny removed the hat. “Osborne, it’s I, Miss Clifton.”
“Dear heavens!” Osborne said, catching himself on the back of a nearby chair. “I doubt I’ve ever seen a better disguise. I certainly did not recognize you!”
Nicholas chuckled. “I couldn’t agree more. Women joining the theater is a new trend in London. But you mustn’t tell anyone.”
“I should change,” Jenny said before letting out a loud hiccup. “And prepare for my return to the school lest Mrs. Rutley grows suspicious.”
“Before you go,” Nicholas said as he smiled down at her, “I would like to make one request. There is something I wish to discuss before you go. Meet me out front when you’re dressed.”
Jenny bit at her lip. The way he was smiling made her heart flutter. “Let me look in on Louisa after I change. Then we may speak.”
She went to the library, where Louisa was pacing back and forth. “Well? What happened?”
“We did it!” Jenny said, giving her friend a hug. “It’s all over with now! But Lord Dowding wishes to speak to me before we leave.”
“Have you any idea why?” Louisa asked as Jenny sat and began to remove her boots. “What do you think he wants to say?”
Jenny went to pull at her braid before recalling it had been cut. There was just one thing she had wanted badly. The very thing she had thought about the day he had first called on her at the school. And now, at the end of all his troubles, she prayed he would say what she had waited so long to hear.
That he loved her.
* * *
After changing back into her day dress, and with the help of Osborne into her coat, Jenny stepped onto the portico. A mid-afternoon sun warmed the air, reminding her that winter would soon be gone, and spring would take its place.
She searched the grounds until her gaze fell upon Nicholas, and she made her way toward him. His smile was as wide as hers.
“When we were at the abandoned house, we shared much about one another. That excursion drew us closer together.”
Jenny took the hand he offered her and sighed as it engulfed hers. Nothing could have made her feel safer.
Or more loved.
“We did grow closer,” she said. “There has been this strange battle between us. A refusal to admit the feelings we’ve developed for one another.”
Nicholas nodded and led her to a nearby tree, his hand still gripping hers. “I returned to that abandoned house we visited to dig up this daffodil and plant it here.”
Jenny glanced down at the small yellow flower at the base of the tree trunk. “It symbolizes you, and how, even if the fiercest of conditions, you bring to life everything around you. Like this flower, nothing, not even the winter winds, can stop you from getting what you desire.”
“Nicholas,” she whispered, her heart near to bursting from her chest, “that is beautiful.”
“This bark,” he continued, moving his hand over rough ridges of the trunk. “This bark was my heart before I met you—hard, coarse, and unwilling to allow a single flower to bloom near me. Yet you did so despite my tough exterior, which has only made me stronger. For that reason, I don’t want to stand alone. I need you near me—as my wife. That day we went to the well, that was my wish. To have you at my side. Because I love you, Jenny. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved.”
Tears filled Jenny’s eyes as her heart soared to new heights. There was so much she wished to tell him, but where did one start?
“My dream has been to leave the school engaged to the man with whom I fall in love. I must admit, I wanted it so much that I threw myself at you. But I soon realized there was something wonderful between us. I’ve changed just as much as you have since our first encounter on the footpath in Chatsworth. And you were right. The world is not as fanciful as I once believed. My dreams, and those of my closest friends, may seem small to some, but that does not change what they mean to us. If one wants something bad enough, regardless of how insignificant it may be, in the end, it’s worth the fight. Even if a woman must don a mask to make it happen.”
His smile broadened. “You’ve demonstrated how to fight for what is needed. In fact, you’ve demonstrated a number of things I never considered before.”
A warmth formed in her abdomen. He was so dashing! So handsome! And she wanted nothing but to have him hold her for eternity!