Work Text:
Author's Note: I did not know where I was going with this. But I needed to find out what a love declaration from Caleb in a Bridgerton world would be like.
“Pipsqueak!” I heard him call out to me as I ran out of the ballroom.
“Pipsqueak, wait!”
“I do not wish to speak with you right now,” I called back, tears threatening to spill out of my eyes.
“Pipsqueak, please!”
“You have the audacity to call me that after what you just did?” I turned around and made him stop in his tracks.
“Let me ex-“
“The Prince was perfectly suitable to be my husband and my only chance to secure my future, and my sisters’ future prospects, and you ruined it!” I screamed.
My scream echoed in the empty hallway. The only other person present was my chaperone standing afar.
“Why? You know I do not have any other suitors. You made sure of that. So, why?”
Caleb stood silent, his eyes holding an array of emotions that I did not care to figure out at the moment.
“Speak, Your Grace!”
“I…”
“Caleb!” I shouted.
“Because I love you!” He shouted back. I could see his panic, his shock in his eyes as he uttered those words. But nothing prepared me for what he was going to say next. “Because I see you everywhere I go. I see you in the flowers that you pick out every time you promenade at the park. I see you in the pastries that you delight in when you think no one is looking. I see you in every corner of my estate where we used to play as kids before my parents passed. Every day, I crave to see your smile, to hear your voice, to hear about the new book you just finished. I crave your presence even if I am not the one who has the honour of basking in it.”
His words were like electricity running through my blood, and yet, I could not make sense of them.
“But you do not wish to marry. You declared it so.”
“It is true. I do not wish to marry. What I omit is that I do not wish to marry a woman who is not you.”
“Caleb…”
“Your smile lights up every room you walk in, and your eyes sparkle like the chandeliers when they hit the light. Your laughter is so contagious that no one, not even I, can help but smile, even if I’m in the other corner of the room. Your wits, your impulsiveness, are maddening, and yet, I cannot help but wish to be your accomplice to every idea you may come up with. I wish to make it happen. I want to make it happen just so I can see your smile.”
He took a breath. As if all of his thoughts were weighing him down, and he exhaled them in words he had held onto for too long.
“Please, do not marry the Prince.” He pleaded. “I am aware that he will be able to elevate your family’s status, give you everything you might desire and secure your sisters’ prospects. You will be a Princess, his princess. But I am a Duke, nine times over. I will be able to provide for you and your family just as well as a Prince would. Everything I own will have your name on it. Everything you want, I will give it to you, and if what you want doesn’t exist yet, I will make it exist.”
He fumbled in his pocket, pulled out a small box, and, as he went down on one knee, presented it to me. The nervousness in his eyes was evident, and yet, he continued.
“I, the Lonely Duke, would like to formally ask you for the honour of being my Love. Not just my Duchess, not just my wife, but my Love. In this lifetime and the lifetimes after that.” He opened the box, revealing the most stunning ring I have ever seen. The same ring that I saw unfinished in his…personal workshop.
He looked at me with hope yet fear. Fear that I might reject it. Fear that his words didn’t matter. But they did. Because it was at that moment that everything connected in my brain. Every look across the room, every accidental brush of a touch, every time he would meet me at the lemonade table and offer me lemonade. It's all connected. It was him all along. My Caleb from my childhood. I didn’t need to think much about his proposal. It didn’t need an answer, and yet, I offered it to him.
“Yes. I will be your Love in this life and the lifetimes after that.”