She wanted to run to him and jump into his arms. She didn’t though. She resisted that impulse, wary that something still might be wrong.
“Aiden... I’m sorry. You didn’t give me the chance to explain about what you heard, and then when you saw Ben at my door...”
“It’s okay, I understand it all now. Judith made it perfectly clear.”
“Judith did?” Gwen said, frowning.
“Yes. I don’t know when or exactly how it happened, or what you did, but I think she’s turned the page on how she feels about you.”
“Are you saying Judith actually likes me now? She doesn’t think I’m a gold digger anymore?”
Aiden spread his hands apart, flinching when moving his fingers hurt his knuckles. “I don’t know about liking you, but definitely the gold digger part.”
“It’s over then? All the games? All of this between you and me?”
Aiden swallowed and glanced down, suddenly nervous. “It’s over. The Judith parts of it, anyway. As for you and me, I suppose it’s up to you whether that’s over or not.”
She ran to him then, wrapping her arms around his waist. He hesitated, but then hugged her back. “Of course it isn’t over! You think I’d let you off the hook that easily?” She had to fight to hold back the tears pushing at her eyes. These were happy tears, though. Relieved tears.
“You still want to get married?” Aiden said.
“Yes! And sooner rather than later, before another of your relatives pops out of the woodwork to try and screw things up again.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” Aiden said, smoothing the hair away from her forehead so that he could kiss it. The touch of his lips to her skin electrified her. For a while there, she’d been afraid that she would never get to feel that again.
And now it looked like she’d get to experience that the rest of her life.
Epilogue
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Beatrice said.
“Yes,” Gwen replied, the butterflies fluttering madly against her stomach disagreeing with that sentiment.
“Because you can still get out of it, you know. You haven’t signed this one yet,” Beatrice continued, still struggling with a few of the billion buttons holding everything together.
“I know.”
“If you like, I’ll cause a distraction. You can make a run for it. I’ll go and flip all the catering tables and while everyone is looking you can just slip right out through the door.”
“I don’t want to, B, but thanks. I’m ready for this. I think we’re both ready for this.”
“Great! I was just checking, anyway. If you’d said you wanted to run I would have hauled you on up there anyway.”
Beatrice did a once over to make sure everything was okay and then led her out into the corridor, where her father waited. He wore a tuxedo. When he saw her he smiled and offered her the crook of his arm, which she accepted.
“Are you ready?” David asked.
“Why does everyone keep asking me that? Yes, I’m ready.”
The processional started playing and everyone began inching forward, slowly making their way down the broad carpet that led through an opened set of double doors.
Everyone stood when Gwen came in. Cameras started flashing. She saw Aiden waiting for her at the top of a couple of stairs. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
When their eyes met, he mouthed, “Hey,” to her.
She mouthed, “Hey,” back, struggling to keep her tears in check lest they ruin the prolonged and expensive makeup job.
Yes, she was definitely ready to sign this contract.
THE END