All the Things You Never Knew

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Bridlington

Days went by since Leon had rescued Rose and her father from Lansing’s lair.

His siblings were all very glad that they had made it home safely.

“Now we can have a party and plan for the wedding!” Namine had cheered.

Leon smirked and pulls out the marriage license he had purchase before leaving to Leicester and waves it at Namine.

“Yes, but the miserable nights are over,” he said, grinning in triumphed.

Rose had blushed and threw her slipper at him after she had become conscious of what’s going on.

He only smiled and came to pull her into his arms.

“Rose, I never did this properly the last time, but–” He released her and got down on one knee, taking out a ring from his pocket. “Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife, even though I’ve been an ass in the past and made you cry? I promise that I will never ever leave you again. I’ll protect you with my life and sacrifice whatever I have to keep you by my side for always, now and forever. Don’t say no because I’ve already got us a license, and if I have to, I’ll just take your answer from the last time and take you to my room this instant with or without a wedding.”

Tears trickled down Rose’s cheeks as he spoke the words and she tackled him down with a “Yes!”

“It’s all I’ve ever wanted,” she said, kissing him on the lips.

“It’s all I’ve ever dreamed,” he answered and claimed her mouth right there in front of his siblings.

There was a loud roar of applauses and whistles before Leon heard Sheik scoffed and said, “That has got to be the corniest thing I’ve ever seen in my whole entire life.”

“Go get a room,” his brother Jack teased. “You’re making us blind.”

Leon took no hesitation at all to do so and before Rose knew it, he was up with her in his arms and was running towards the house.

The wedding was to take place a week from that day and Leon had allowed Namine to throw Rose the so-call bachelorette party that she wanted while he went out to the game tavern with his brothers and friends.

All the lady pupils from the school were invited along with a few of the children. Rose’s friend, Lady Susannah, was even asked to attend.

“Oh, I never thought this day will come true!” Susannah exclaimed, giving Rose a hug. “I told you Monsieur Leon had always loved you.”

“I know,” Rose chortled with a musing sigh. “I’m so glad there is you to keep my world together. I would have made the biggest mistake of my life marrying that Marcus.”

“You can always thank me by letting me be your maid of honor,” Susannah said, beaming gracefully. “Ah, I am so very happy for you.”

Everything was going on smoothly until the Miss Delilah Stanford arrived and demanded to see Leon.

“He’s not here,” Lavender said. “I’ll take a message for my brother if you’ll like.”

“I heard rumors all over London of his wedding and want to see that it’s not true,” Delilah answered.

“Fortunately, it is,” Namine beamed as she serves the fruit punch for the little children.

“Where’s the bitch?” Delilah cried angrily. “Everyone knows he’s mine.”

“Miss Stanford, how lovely to see you,” came Avangelene from the house, carrying a tray of apple tarts. “Please don’t use that kind of language with the children around here. Would you care for a light dessert or are you going to take leave?”

“I’m not going anywhere until I see the lady he’s marrying. Viscount Herring’s daughter, is it? The old man doesn’t know what he’s doing if he lets Leon marries his daughter. We all know you all are bastards!”

“Excuse me!” Rose bellowed from the door as she heard the insult. “This is my family you’re talking about.”

“Oh, so you’re the chit!” Delilah went over and stood before Rose, scanning her with disgust. “Ugh! Look at you. So thin and plump in all the wrong places. I can’t believe Leon wanted you.”

“Don’t insult my friend, Delilah,” Lady Susannah said, glaring at the woman. “Or you won’t be making it home.”

“Oh, yeah. Try me!” Delilah challenged.

“Why you–”

Lady Susannah leapt forward and so did Miss Stanford. However, before either of them could touch one another, one of the little children threw a ball and hit Delilah right on the bridge of her nose, sending her twirling face down into the bowl of punch on the table.

“Theodore!” Avangelene scolded, throwing the ball back at the young boy. “Be more careful!”

Phoenix and Susannah tried not to laugh but failed miserably as Namine and Lavender send away the little children.

Rose gasped and ran with a handkerchief to help wipe off the dripping sticky juice from Delilah’s face only to get push away.

“Don’t touch me!” snapped Delilah angrily. “You may have Leon now, but don’t be so happy. I’ll make sure your life becomes nothing more than a miserable hell!”

She turned and headed toward the carriage that brought her, but tripped over the little stool that one of the little girls had used to stand up on, and fell flat on her face.

“Miss Stanford, are you all right?” came the footman at the carriage as he scurries to help her up.

“Ugh! I don’t ever want to come to this dreadful place again!” she brawled, stomping into the carriage and banging her head on the side before slamming the door shut.

The footman hurried up to his seat and whipped the horses away before his mistress gets any madder.

“You should have slapped her silly,” Susannah said to Rose when the carriage was out of sight. “And you Miss Heartilys shouldn’t even have let her step on the pavement.”

“We do have to be considerate of the children,” Avangelene grinned, setting out the food.

“And Leon told us to not bother with empty-headed females,” Phoenix answered. “Miss Stanford sure is an empty-headed one.”

“Let us not mind that little intrusion,” Namine said, sorting out the saucers and tea cups. “We have our new sister to welcome officially. Welcome, Rose. You are no worse or better than any of us. We are all the same.”

Rose nearly burst into tears at the sound of her name without the ‘Lady’ title coming from Namine. She had never felt so at home, so part of the family, so very blissful.

“Hey, look, it’s a grandpa!” cried the little children as they all rush over to an arriving coach.

Rose and the ladies look up to find that it was Viscount Herring, her father.

Three days after they had returned from Leicester, her father had gotten better and apologized to Leon about everything.

The Duke of Hargate–having to be the duke–was able to simulate a threat and scared the viscount into granting Leon the right to marry Rose. He knew there’s going to be a scandal about it, but with a man that loves his daughter this much, how could he resist not risking it?

“Papa!” Rose picked up her skirt and ran to greet her father.

“Rose.” He got out and kissed her on the cheek. “How are you, my girl?”

“Very well, Papa,” she answered, giving him a hug.

“And where is that future son-in-law of mine?” he asked, looking about the place. “He didn’t leave you already, did he?”

Rose hesitated, not quite sure what to say until Avangelene interjected by asking if he would like to come and have some refreshments.

“I’ll like that,” he answered, forgetting the question as Avangelene led him along.

“Grandpa, grandpa, tell us a story,” said two of the boys from the group, one having to be Faelan.

“Miss Vange said old grandpas tells the best story,” said Faelan. “Didn’t you, Miss Vange?”

Avangelene patted Faelan on the head and said, “Yes, but his lordship is not an old grandpa.”

“He’s the lord of a ship?” Faelan asked at the sound of the word ‘lordship’.

“Well–”

“Hey, come, come!” Faelan shouted to the other children and pointed to Lord Herring. “He’s a real lord of a ship! A real one!”

The viscount laughed and look at Avangelene. “I say your boy here may need a lesson or two to understand the term.”

“Oh, Faelan’s actually really bright,” said Avangelene. “His obsession with pirates just kind of got carried away.”

“Are all these children yours?” Lord Herring asked. “They seem to like you a great deal.”

“No, no,” Avangelene said amused as she move the children along.

“Silly, Papa,” Rose said, moving around to sit in a chair across from him. “They’re little pupils at the Heartily Academy.”

“Are they?” The viscount looks around and smiled. “They are a good young bunch.”

“I say it’s time we eat,” said Phoenix as she joins them. “I’m famished.”

“Yes,” Susannah agreed after curtsying to Lord Herring. “I haven’t eaten since this morning.”

“We have to hurry before the men comes home,” Namine said. “They will totally eat every last morsel on here and we’ll have nothing left but the crumbs.”

“The crumbs are only if we’re lucky,” Lavender added, merrily pouring out the tea. “Eight brothers are really hard to feed.”

“Where is my son-in-law?” Viscount Herring asked Rose again.

“Well, he’s…” Rose didn’t quite know how to answer, fearing that her father might get mad at the mention of Leon gambling now at some tavern.

“They said they were going to go to old George’s tavern and rob the rich to give to the poor,” Avangelene put in to save her. “They’re leaving us ladies in peace for a couple hours.”

Rose thought her father would be angry but he only smile and said, “That’s very good then.”

Avangelene winked at Rose and walks off to line the children up for lunch.

“I see you’ll be very happy here,” her father said to her after a while. “You have witty, charming sister-in-laws who seems very loving and protective. They’ll look out after you.”

Rose looked at the Heartily Sisters and couldn’t help agreeing that she will be very happy and loved indeed.