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It was late into the night as Anthony tossed and turned in his bed, staring up at the painting drawn across his ceiling, a smile of contentment on his face which has not been wiped away since the Featherington Ball two weeks ago.
He was unaware that he could even be this happy in life, being engaged to a woman that he loves wholeheartedly. Since she has confessed that she loves him too, he has felt buoyant and as light as ever, willing to fly away at any moment now that the weight that has been weighing on his shoulders for a decade has dissipated. The only thing tethering him to existence now was Kate.
He reflected on his foolishness from earlier in the season, of his wishes to a marriage without love. Anthony chuckles to himself thinking about how incredibly wrong he had been. If he had known then that he did not have a fighting chance against the obstinate, but gorgeous force of nature that was Kate Sharma, would he have let go of his pride sooner? Most likely not he thought to himself.
Anthony knew he should be getting some rest with their wedding only a few hours from now. His mind still continued to race, imagining the moment his beautiful bride would walk down the aisle towards him. Taking her hand and promising their devotion and love to one another before God and their families. He envisioned sealing it all with a kiss upon her lips, their first kiss as a married couple, filled with a silent promise for more.
He knew that he had been rather boorish the past couple of weeks, impatient to wait the necessary weeks for the bans to be read before they could marry. Since he placed the symbol of his love on Kate’s fourth finger, he couldn’t wait to wake up everyday next to her sleeping form and kiss her each morning before they started their day together.
After the season that they have had, he can finally call her his wife tomorrow morning. The time that used to tick by so quickly for him now seemed to be at an all time pause as the anticipation was eating at him from the inside.
He rose up from his bed, unable to stay still any longer. He pulled on his shirt and breeches before stepping out into the quiet of Aubrey Hall, hoping to walk off some of his energy before turning into bed again. As Anthony approached the library door, he saw a flicker of light from the crack at the bottom, and immediately knew who he would find on the other side of that door.
Anthony turned the metal door handle and the door creaked open revealing the one person who had been a permanent occupant in his mind all night. All season really if he was being truthful.
Kate stood in all of her glory, in only her white nightgown behind the large wooden desk, an open book held in her hands. Her long tresses of wavy, black hair falling freely around her face, which had been kissed upon with the glowing light from her candelabra. She looked up from her book and a grin graced her face when she saw him. He couldn’t hold back his own glee at seeing her as well.
Anthony felt a wave of calmness wash over him as he appreciated her for a moment before making his way to her. It was only ever Kate who could inspire such feelings in him.
It felt very much like the first time he had discovered her here, in his father’s library, so many weeks ago. A sense of peace he had never known before taking over his body. It was here where her comfort enveloped him enough to share sentiments about his father that even his family were not privy to.
Even then he was drawn to her, not being able to ignore the magnetic force, always bringing him into her orbit. At times, he still couldn’t believe that she had chosen him. Would choose a life with him.
His fears and doubts that used to be so strong, still seeped through from time to time. After a decade of letting that darkness cloud his vision, it was hard to have them subside so quickly. But only as Kate would turn her gaze upon him like she did now, her amber eyes a beacon of light calling out to him in the dark sea that he was drowning in. It was only then that he found the strength to swim towards her light, leaving his worries to float away in the ocean of his despair.
Kate would look upon him with the tenderness that he had been craving for far too long. He discovered that with her help, it was easy to let those feelings of doubt evaporate into thin air, having no weight to keep him down. He would let himself fall freely into the easiness of her love over and over again.
“You could not sleep, my love?” He asked as he laced a strong arm tightly around her waist. He brought his other hand up to nuzzle upon her soft cheek, drawing tiny circles with his thumb, as he stared into those eyes that always welcomed him.
She in return wrapped her arms lazily around his neck, supported by his shoulders. She let the weight of her head fall into the warmth of his large palm, chasing his tender caress against her skin. “No, I am much too restless to even think about sleeping. So I thought I would come in here for some light reading to help me sleep.”
He hummed a nod of understanding. “I was having much the same problem too. Maybe I was inadvertently keeping you awake. I would have thought you would be tired since you have been running around my head this whole day,” he teased, a cheesy grin broke out on his face, a quiet laugh escaping at his little revelation, which made her smile widely, shaking her head in return.
“Well, if that were true then you must have been kept awake by me, for you have been the center of my thoughts all night too,” she threw back at him.
It was always like this. She never was one to back down from a challenge if she saw one.
They both let out a soft giggle as they stayed locked in each other’s gaze. Anthony could not help the overwhelming sense of euphoria, radiating throughout his body. As he stared into the large orbs of his beloved, knowing he was the luckiest man alive to have her stare back at him with such fondness and adoration reflected in them. To know that she would want him, even though he was not worthy of it all. But he knew he would try to prove his worth to her for the rest of his life if he had to.
A tranquil silence fell upon them as their laughter remained in the air. Anthony tugged her closer to him, her own warmth pressed against his body, their faces separated only by a mere breath. His lips dancing lightly on hers, “Kate, I could not sleep another moment as my heart beat in excitement for our wedding tomorrow. I reflected on how much of a cad I was towards you in the beginning of the season,” he paused, “to almost let you slip out of my grasp.”
He pulled her impossibly closer, afraid that she would fall right through his arms. He brought his hand that was cupped on her cheek down to hold her hand. Her hand, where the ring his father had commissioned for his mother when Anthony was born, sat on her fourth finger.
He pressed a light kiss to the jewel resting there, before continuing, “I cannot wait to call you my wife. There will never be a day where I do not wish to express my love for you again.” She let out a small moan in agreement.
“Kate, you made me better and make me want to be better. Sometimes I am incredulous to think this is all a dream that I have concocted out of nothing. That my happiness now is all a delusion. And then I see you." He paused.
Anthony inhaled deeply, taking a whiff of her lily scent that has captured all of his senses. "I would never be able to conjure up someone as perfect as you. Not even in my wildest dreams were you better than who you are now as you stand before me. You gaze upon me in that way that only you can - you see right through to my soul, Kate. And then my lungs fill and it’s like I’m breathing for the first time again. I don’t know that these feelings will ever go away.”
Kate moved her hand that had been resting on the broad expanse of his shoulder, tracing an invisible line up nape, against his strong neck, and laced her fingers through his soft curls. “Anthony, I don’t think these feelings will ever fade away and I don’t wish them to ever. You see me for who I truly am, through all of my flaws, my fears, and doubts. And even still you love me. You think that you are the fortunate one, when it is actually I who has been truly blessed,” she whispers this confession against his lips. “You were made for me.”
“And you for me,” he added. “In every way possible. You took in my imperfect, jagged edges that I never knew could fit so perfectly with another. You are my equal, my soulmate. I love you and will love you for-.”
Before he could finish, she crashed her lips onto his, enveloping him in her sweet embrace. She pulled him into her, enough to mold their bodies together if they could. Their kiss filled with the passion and love that they have for each other. Sealing their own promises to each other.