How to Turn a Frog into a Prince - Bree Wolf Page 0,117

chair, Pierce rounded the desk and knelt down beside her chair. His large hands settled upon hers as he looked into her eyes. “You are the most unusual woman I have ever met,” he told her warmly, pride ringing in his voice. “I suppose it is only right that you should have the most unusual courtship and wedding. Anything else would be frighteningly insufficient, would it not?”

Charlaine’s heart warmed at his words, and she smiled at him. Tears ran down her cheeks and dripped onto his hands, still covering hers. Always would he keep her safe. Always would he look out for her. Always would he be at her side.

Just as Peter had.

Squeezing her hand gently, Pierce pushed to his feet, pulling her along with him. “Very well, I’ll do this for you. I’ll procure a special license,” he paused and lifted a finger, “but only under one condition.”

Charlaine frowned. “What condition? You know, I don’t like conditions.”

He chuckled. “How could I forget?”

Tapping her foot rather impatiently, Charlaine regarded him. “Well then, what is it?”

A slow grin spread over his face as he leaned forward, fixing her with a pointed look. “At least during the wedding ceremony,” he paused, and Charlaine felt her skin crawl with a mixture of anticipation and dread, “you must wear shoes.” A large grin spread over his face, and a wicked gleam came to his eyes.

Charlaine was about to huff out an annoyed breath when a voice spoke out from behind her. “You don’t have to agree to this,” Nathanial chuckled, coming to stand next to her. Utter joy resonated in his voice and lingered upon his face as he reached out and gently draped an arm across her shoulders. “I’ll marry you even without shoes.”

Charlaine wanted to kiss him, but stopped herself as she caught Pierce rolling his eyes at them. “You are truly a match made in heaven,” he laughed, shaking his head. “I suppose I should’ve seen this coming.”

Charlaine turned to look at him, watching him closely. “Are you certain you didn’t?”

He merely shrugged then, and Charlaine could not shake the feeling that all that had happened had not truly come as a surprise for Pierce.

“Peter would be proud of you,” he told her gently, deep emotions lingering in his eyes. “As am I.”

“Thank you.” Indeed, these two little words hardly seemed enough, but they had to do for Charlaine knew no others. None that would do justice to the deep joy and peace she felt. After all that had happened, life was good again. She was surrounded by family and friends, people she loved, people she trusted. And now she was to be married to a man who was like no other she had ever met. They were perfect for each other, and they would be as happy as Peter and Amancia had been.

Charlaine was certain of it.

Epilogue

Winter 1813, Pembroke Hall (or a variation thereof)

Roughly Three Months Later

Pembroke Hall lay buried under heaps of snow. The footmen had labored for hours to free the drive, the front stairs and the inner path curving in a small circle through the gardens. The maids had rushed up and down the stairs, carrying linens and hothouse flowers, readying every available chamber while Cook ruled her kitchen with an iron fist, determined to see everything prepared for the Christmas Ball.

A first of many to come.

Gusford, Pembroke Hall’s butler, stood by the front door, his watchful eyes everywhere as guests arrived and were shown inside, welcomed by Becca and Zach, newly-returned from the Continent to enjoy the Christmas season at home.

Nathanial remembered well how Zach had first spoken of Pembroke Hall as home earlier in the year on Caroline and Pierce’s wedding day. Back then, he had felt excluded, an outsider, one who did not belong.

Today, everything was different.

“How is Emmeline?” Nathanial asked his cousin, Eugenie, who had traveled with her husband and one-year-old daughter to Pembroke Hall for the holidays. They stood a little to the side of the dance floor where it was less crowded and the air pleasanter. “How was the journey?”

A deep smile came to Eugenie’s face, and her gray eyes lit up with happiness. “Oh, she is utterly taken with all the snow. We could barely keep her from flinging herself out the carriage door.”

Nathanial laughed, remembering Daphne’s and Susan’s round eyes the first morning they had woken to find the world had been dunked in sugar. “They see such joy everywhere they look.”

Eugenie nodded, her watchful eyes lingering on his