An Invitation of Their Own

The next morning, a package arrived from Ashford.

Sera opened it in her sitting room while Rose arranged fresh flowers. She expected a letter from her mother and perhaps the small paint box she had asked to have sent from home.

The paint box was there.

So was a wedding schedule.

For several moments she only looked at the pages.

The ceremony had been placed at the end of the six weeks. There were guest lists, menus, three possible dresses, and a note in her father's secretary's hand advising which option would best complement the cathedral.

Sera read the note twice.

Yesterday she had fallen asleep thinking about the way Alex had looked when she said she loved her. Today somebody wanted her to consider aisle dimensions.

"They've ordered white lilies," she said.

Rose looked over.

"You dislike lilies."

"They give me a headache. Apparently I can have one on my wedding day."

She wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Both seemed unnecessarily dramatic for a few sheets of paper, and yet the tight feeling in her chest refused to leave.

She did want to marry Alex. The realization was warm and certain.

She simply hadn't known until that moment how much she wanted to be asked.

Rose set down the flowers.

"Shall I send for Her Highness?"

Sera folded the schedule.

"I'll go to her."

Alex was crossing the entrance hall with a steward when Sera found her. She took one look at Sera's face and excused herself.

"What's happened?"

Sera held up the papers.

"Our wedding has excellent administrative support."

Alex read the first page. Her eyebrows rose.

"I haven't seen this."

"I didn't think you had."

Relief crossed Alex's face at that simple answer. Sera felt better for having given it.

They took the schedule to the study, where Alex pulled the two chairs together instead of taking her usual place behind the desk.

Sera pointed at the menu.

"I don't even like that soup."

"Neither do I."

"A poor beginning to our marriage."

Alex studied the proposed music.

"And this is the dance the ambassador slept through."

Sera began to laugh. Once she started, the absurdity of it all became difficult to resist.

"Perhaps he's been consulted."

"Perhaps this is entirely his event."

They laughed until Sera could breathe properly again.

Then she put her hand over the papers.

"I want to marry you," she said.

Alex went quiet.

Sera swallowed, suddenly conscious that she had never said it plainly before.

"I do. But I want us to have a moment that belongs to us before everybody starts counting chairs."

Alex turned her hand palm upward and threaded their fingers together.

"I want to marry you too."

The words settled somewhere deeper than Sera had expected.

She leaned against Alex's shoulder, smiling helplessly.

"You could sound a little less certain. I'm trying to have a serious conversation."

Alex kissed her hair.

"I've thought about it a great deal."

"Have you thought about asking?"

"Yes."

Sera lifted her head.

Alex's ears were pink.

"Oh."

"I had hoped to be more original than a letter from your father's secretary."

Sera pressed her lips together to keep from smiling too widely.

"I should hope so. His handwriting is excellent, but I didn't feel swept off my feet."

Alex laughed and drew her close.

Sera rested her hands against the soft wool of Alex's waistcoat. It was becoming familiar, this place where she could stand and fit her forehead beneath Alex's chin.

She wanted it for years. For mornings when they were irritable and evenings when they had nothing particular to say. She wanted Alex looking up as she entered a room.

"I don't want anyone congratulating me for finally becoming obedient," she said quietly. "I haven't. I fell in love."

Alex's arms tightened.

"I know."

"Will you tell them with me?"

"Everything."

They worked out what they wanted before speaking to anyone else. The original arrangement would end. Their families could continue discussing trade and travel without treating a wedding as the seal on the documents.

If they chose to marry, the date would come from them.

Sera would return to Ashford for a short visit rather than remain until a ceremony she hadn't arranged. Alex would call on her as a suitor, not collect her as a promised bride.

"You realize," Sera said, "that this may require more dates."

"A dreadful burden."

"Letters. Flowers. Some attempt at poetry."

"My poetry is very poor."

"Then write plainly. I like how you sound when you forget to be impressive."

Alex looked at her for a long moment.

"I miss you when you go to another room," she said.

Sera's smile softened.

"That will do beautifully."

She kissed Alex, slow enough to feel the answering smile. Alex's hand rose to the back of her head, holding her as though there was no hurry to return to anything else.

The schedule slid from the edge of the desk and scattered across the rug.

Neither rescued it immediately.

That evening Sera wrote to her parents, asking them to visit Blackwood for a conversation. Alex wrote beside her, inviting her mother to join them.

When Sera finished, she found Alex watching her.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Sera raised an eyebrow.

Alex reached across and gently smudged a little ink off Sera's finger.

"I like this," she admitted. "You and me, deciding what to do."

Sera turned her hand and kissed Alex's thumb.

"You should get used to it."