An Unexpected Love

Chapter 41

He has confessed so much... Is it truly possible that there can be a new beginning for us as father and son?

"Father... I...I don't know what to say... I'm sorry you endured such misery..." Edward looked down at the floor uncomfortably.

His father dropped his hand from his blotchy face, tears trailing his cheeks. "No. Don't be sorry for me, I don't deserve it." He paused for a moment, studying Edward closely with his intense blue eyes. "Do you truly love her?"

Edward lifted his eyes and smiled softly, "With my whole heart, with every fiber of my being. No one has ever made me so happy, as her."

His father regarded him for a moment more before speaking softly, "Then you shall have her."

Edward stared back at his father, wonder filling his entire being; he feared to even speak, in the event it would snap him from this surrealistic state.

His father continued softly, dropping his head, "I am honestly sorry, Edward. It is the very least I can do, to give you and Miss Montgomery my blessing... I don't know how I can ever fully make things right with you; or with her..."

Edward grasped his father's shoulder, unable to contain the joy welling up in his heart. "Father, I thank you. I have never wanted anything so much." Edward's face fell as he remembered, "But it may be too late... As I said, she won't let me see her." Edward felt his heart deflate as the previous joy vanished.

Scrunching his brows, his father spoke, "Oh, Son, I'm sorry, that is my fault, I know it. After I locked you in that shed, I told Miss Montgomery that she'd only see you again once her father agreed to my terms...and of course, by then it would be too late for her salvage any relationship with you, as you would be engaged to her sister." He considered a moment, "She did the most surprising thing, she offered to..."

His voice trailed off, and his eyes took on a glazed look. Edward couldn't tell if he was remembering or just tired and drowsy from the laudanum in his system and the emotional talk they were having.

"What, Father? She offered to what?" Edward resisted the urge to shake him, yet he desperately needed to know what his father was speaking of.

His father stirred again, shaking his head slightly, "She said that she'd make you forget her, if that was what would make me happy and reconcile the two of us. I thought it most odd that she'd be willing to give you up..."

Edward's mind raced as he absorbed all the things his father had said.

That would explain why she's acting so strangely, Elizabeth must have thought that breaking our relationship would help to mend all of this... She is surely trying to purposely push me away... At least, I hope so...

"Edward," his father spoke again, "you need to go to her, no matter what she says; barge into her bed chamber if you must. Try to convince her to come see me; I will do all in my power to right things for the two of you. If she will not come, please communicate my deepest apologies to her. Perhaps in time, she will let me speak it myself."

"Father, thank you... I, I do hope she will come."

And I hope she still has love for me...even after all of this.

"Edward, she loves you, I know it. She told me that she has never been happier..." He smiled slightly, "Yes, I do believe I will spend the rest of my life making up to that prodigious, darling creature. I must say I was very wrong in my assessment of Miss Montgomery; I chose only to see her as an obstacle. Would you believe that she strangely forgave me for everything I had done, to her and her mother, while I was yet holding her captive?"

Yes, that is certainly what my Elizabeth would do...

Edward smiled. "Of course she did. She's quite an exceptional woman."

His father nodded weakly, "That she is. And I am so very glad for you to have found a woman like her, my son. I just hope she's still feeling forgiving even now..."

"Father, I'll convince her somehow. I won't give up until I do." Edward patted his father's shoulder and pulled the blanket up to his neck. "You rest now; you'll need your strength to talk later, I'm sure that you'll want to speak to Mr. Montgomery as well," Edward said, as his father nodded in response. "I'm going to talk to Elizabeth now; she'll be glad to know that we have reconciled." Edward smiled at him, watching as his eyelids fluttered closed. He couldn't remember the last time he had a smile for his father.

Lord, thank You for melting my father's heart... It is as I had always hoped, that we could regain our relationship, only I wasn't sure that my father could be capable of this sort of emotion, it is extraordinary. I now beg You to let my Elizabeth open up to me again, please let it be so that her soul still loves me.

Quietly leaving his father's bed chamber, Edward made his way toward Elizabeth's. This time, she would give him audience; he would make sure of it.