A/N: This is the final chapter, and will be followed by an epilogue.
"That one looks like a horse." Emily announced, pointing up at a cloud directly above them, squinting as the full force of the sun hit her.
It was a lovely, bright morning and Nate and Emily had decided to take full advantage of it and had packed a picnic breakfast to take outside. They'd even neglected to take a chaperone, for they had no one to object to them not taking one along. Besides, it wasn't as if Emily had parents who would raise questions against the man she was going to be marrying. In fact, they hadn't even responded to the wedding invitation she had begrudgingly sent them, after days of Nate's wheedling that, at the very least, she would feel better about having made the effort.
And, so, the morning was spent lying on their backs in the ticklish grass in the field behind Somerhall, staring up at the clouds in the sky. They were side by side, but there was less than an inch of space between them and, every so often, Nate would extend his fingers ever so slightly and twine his hand through hers.
"I think it looks far more like a deer." Nate said, turning his face to her with a teasing smile, knowing full well that it looked absolutely nothing like a deer.
"Do you now?" Emily asked, with a slight giggle as he leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to her lips that she gladly reciprocated. "Then, I'm afraid, we must invest in a pair of spectacles for you, my dear fiancé."
Nate chuckled lightly, falling back down. "I think I'd look rather dashing in spectacles, don't you? Also, I can't wait for you to begin addressing me as something besides 'fiancé'."
"What, do you expect me to call out 'husband' through the halls of the house? If you do, then, Nathaniel Whitlock, prepare to be heavily disappointed." She informed him, grasping his hand and playing with his fingers.
"Why not?" He answered in mock offense, "I shall be taking great pleasure in yelling 'wife' gruffly until you respond and serve me a glass of whiskey before sitting demurely in a corner."
"Unfortunately for you, my sitting demurely in a corner would result in your entire estate falling to shambles. Your skills when it comes to arithmetic are somewhat...lacking to say the least." She reminded him, laughing when he tickled her in the stomach lightly before finally letting go.
It had only been a month since he'd proposed, and invitations had gone out three weeks before, yet it still felt as if they had already spent a lifetime together, yet in the most wonderful of ways. If that was what married life was like, then Emily was willing to spend a hundred years married to the man.
"What sort of wedding do you want?" Nate asked curiously, "I know it's a little late to be asking but, if Cassandra and Allie hadn't insisted on certain things, what would your ideal wedding be?"
His sisters had contributed quite a lot to the process of planning the wedding, not that Emily minded. Cassie's contributions stemmed from the fact that her own wedding had been tiny and practically an elopement, and Allie's from a sincere desire to make the wedding as romantic as possible. There were also a number of people that they were obligated to invite although they would not necessarily be welcome attendants.
"In truth, I don't care how or where we get married." She answered, entirely honest. "As long as you're the one standing on the other end of that aisle."
Upon seeing his unchanging look, Emily rolled her eyes before amending her answer slightly, "Well, I suppose, if I had to choose, I'd have a small wedding. It would only be the closest friends and family and, of course, it would happen in the Somerhall chapel. We'd have an even smaller reception after. I do know, though, that that isn't exactly possible. There are certain standards to be upheld when you're marrying a Duke and, while I do enjoy breaking traditions, I won't be the one to defy these."
"Are you sure?" He asked, frowning. She loved him even more for being so considerate of what she wanted. "Because we could always just run off- tonight, even- if you wanted to."
"No," Emily said, shaking her head. "I meant what I said. I don't care when and where I marry you as long as, by the end of it, I have your ring on my finger and your name tacked on to the end of mine."
Nate smiled, about to respond, when there came the sound of a voice calling. "Your Grace! Lady Emily!"
Upon looking, Emily saw Ellen rushing towards them, panting rather obviously. She was in a tizzy, and Emily immediately sat up straight as she approached. By the time she reached them, Nate had stood up and helped Emily rise to her feet.
"Ellen? What has happened?" Emily asked, concerned. What on Earth could have made her so upset?
"You must come quickly, milady." She informed Emily, for the first time ignoring propriety by not even acknowledging Nate. Neither Nate nor Emily ever cared about that, but Ellen usually did, which was why it only surprised Emily further when she chose to do so. "A carriage arrived not five minutes ago, and Lady Hawthorne asked me to call for you immediately."
"Who has come?" Nate asked, his brows furrowing in confusion and worry.
"It is your parents, milady. Lady Alexandra tried suggesting to them that it would be better if they left, but they insist on seeing you before they do so." Ellen explained, and Emily turned to Nate in horror, for she had not seen them in two years, nor had she ever expected to see them again.
"Nate, I don't want to see them." Emily whispered, her face turning pale as a ghost's. "I can't."
"Em, I think you should listen to whatever it is they have to say." Nate suggested, hastily adding before she said anything else, "Of course, it is entirely your choice. It's only that you might regret it a few years from now. If you truly do not wish to speak with them, we can turn them out immediately."
"No." Emily said seriously, pulling herself together and standing up straighter. She would be lying if she said she hadn't considered it but Nate was correct. "I shall hear what they have to say, but I will not entertain them for longer than ten minutes."
And, so, she hurried back to the house, picnic abandoned, Nate hot on her heels while Ellen followed at a short distance, her gait more relaxed now that she had conveyed the message she had been sent to convey. When they arrived, Emily found that her parents had been shown into the drawing room, where they had been served tea. All of the others were inside, but they immediately rose to their feet and excused themselves when Emily entered. Even Nate had declined to impose and muttered to Emily that he would be waiting for her just outside if she needed him.
"What are you doing here?" She demanded, head held high.
"We came to see you." Her mother admitted, tone softer than anything Emily had ever heard before. "Once we'd received the invitation to your wedding, we knew we had to have with you a conversation that is long overdue."
"And what exactly is this conversation?" Emily refused to let her guard down when it came to them. She had allowed it to fall so many times before, only to be hurt and humiliated when they never truly cared as much as they claimed to. "I thought everything had been tied up very neatly the last time we saw one another."
When she got no response at all from them except an open-mouthed gape from her mother who could not believe that she would talk to her so, Emily continued on, refusing to show any sort of weakness at all. "Besides, I was under the impression that two years ago would be the last time we saw one another. Isn't that what you told me, Father? Although, I can't remember whether this was before or after you screamed at me and told me that I was a disappointment to you."
"Emily, we wish to apologise." Her father gushed out, bespectacled eyes squeezing together as if he were in great pain.
"What?" Emily questioned, face contorting in confusion. She'd expected further chastisement, perhaps pleasure that she was finally doing what was expected of her and marrying someone, but an apology was the last thing she'd considered.
"It is true." Her mother interjected softly, about to reach forward to touch Emily's face. Involuntarily, Emily jerked back, flinching. Her parents hadn't touched her with tenderness since she was a child of, perhaps, six. She knew she should have felt guilty at the sadness in her mother's eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to.
"Why now?" Emily asked shakily. "Why not sometime during the nearly twenty years that I thought my parents did not care about me at all? That I thought I was unimportant, unnecessary, unloved? Where was the apology I so craved then? After all these years, once I've finally grown into myself, why now?" She demanded, her tone fluctuating between angry and confused.
If this apology had come years before, when she'd been a seventeen year old girl wondering why her parents so desperately wanted to pawn her off to the richest husband instead of allowing her to be who she was, it would have made sense. Not now, not when she'd finally found some happiness in the world.
"I don't know." Her father admitted, running a hand over his face. "Perhaps it took us this long to realise just how empty our hearts and home have been without you. Perhaps it took us this long to realise the true extent to which we ill-treated you. It isn't something forgivable, and it is perfectly understandable if you don't ever forgive us, but we want you to know that we are so, so sorry for everything we have done to you in the past."
"And how am I supposed to know whether this apology is stemming from genuine regret or the fact that I am finally doing what you so wanted me to do?" She asked, her tone finally having softened slightly, but still remaining tough enough for them to know that she had not forgiven them simply from that weak apology.
"I suppose you'll just have to trust that we love you." Her mother said to her, before adding hastily. "Not that we have ever given you any reason at all to believe so. We have been truly awful to you in the past, but we really are sorry for it all now. We did not even know you had returned to the country before we received the letter from Somerhall. It was once we saw it that we finally addressed the one thing that we ought to have addressed years ago."
"Emily, we do love you. We haven't been able to show it to you in the past, but that is entirely our own fault and not yours. We should have recognised the fact that living the life we wanted you to live would not have made you happy for it was not the life you had chosen for yourself." Her father explained, and Emily shut her eyes as she tried to register everything she had just heard.
Her mind raced as she attempted to sort out all the information she had just received. It was unexpected, to say the least and, if she was eight years younger, it would have been everything she had ever dreamed of. But, she'd grown and she'd begun to care less.
"Alright," she agreed finally, making them both exhale in relief. "For the sake of my own heart, I will forgive you but, please know this, I cannot forget. We cannot simply begin playing at being a loving family, for too much has happened between us all."
"That is understandable." Her father said, with a wearied sigh. "I wish you all the luck in the world, Emily, and I do hope you'll write to us every once in a while."
"I will." Emily agreed, thinking that this would be a promise she would actually keep. A relationship between them could be built from the ground up. On an impulse, she added, "You are welcome to attend the wedding."
Her father nodded, about to say something, when her mother exclaimed, "Oh, Emily!" before launching herself at her and throwing her arms around her neck in a hug that lasted a little too long. Emily enjoyed it, though. She couldn't recall the last time she'd embraced either of her parents, and this made her feel a sense of unfamiliar warmth that she quite liked.
Finally, they said their goodbyes and went towards their carriage, where her father shook Nate's hand and her mother congratulated him on choosing right. In the end, as they waved them off, and Nate asked Emily how she was feeling, there was only one answer she could give. It was something she was feeling for the first time in ages.
"Peaceful."