She Hid Under a Table to Escape a Matchmaker — The Duke Was Already There
Chapter 17
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Her expression changed so quickly that he nearly took a step towards her before remembering he had asked a question."Yes," she said.He let out a breath and began to smile. "Yes?""Yes."She came back along the path and put her arms around him. He held her tightly, his face against her hair, for several seconds before either could say anything more.Then he remembered the ring. "I had intended to get down on one knee."Daphne looked at the damp edge of the path. "You may, if you feel strongly about it.""I should like to."She took the muff from one hand and gave him the other. He knelt. She looked down at the very solemn business of opening a small box, and a laugh escaped her before she could prevent it.Gilbert looked up. "I trust this isn't a judgment on the ring.""No, I was remembering that the last time we were both this close to the floor, we hadn't been introduced."He began laughing, too. It made placing the ring upon her finger less graceful than he had planned, and much more like the rest of their acquaintance. When he stood, she kissed him before he could inspect his knee.They told the families that afternoon. Mrs. Selwood sat down, rose, embraced her daughter, and sat down again. Mr. Selwood shook Gilbert's hand with an effort at restraint that lasted until he discovered his wife crying.The dowager received the news with a pleasure she made no attempt to conceal. "I had hoped you might find someone you could be comfortable with," she told her son.He looked towards Daphne, who was explaining to her father that the wedding need not be arranged before supper. "I have."Winnie and Osric came two days later, bringing congratulations and a written promise not to acquire a single fern without permission."We thought you might appreciate it," Osric said."It is the most thoughtful present we have received," Daphne answered.They married the following April.The months between were busy, pleasant, and occasionally tiresome. There were rooms to choose, visits to arrange, people to tell, and more opinions about a wedding than either had remembered people possessing about anything else.Daphne discovered that having preferences was not the same as expressing them. Gilbert discovered that asking a question did not require him to offer four possible answers immediately afterwards.They discussed what their lives would contain beyond a ceremony: she wanted time with her family, friends she saw without needing to turn the visit into a grand occasion, and a room in which she could leave things without somebody improving the arrangement; he wanted her company, and sometimes an hour in which neither was expected to entertain the other. There were plenty of rooms. They began with those.Winnie offered to help with the wedding flowers. "Tell me what you like," she said, taking out a pencil. Daphne looked at her sister, then began with exactly that.