Chapter Ten

"This is outrageous! You two are not getting married, not if we have any say in this." Julia pointed to Sarah and Jonah who had been seated silently in the Holland House drawing room for over an hour.

Sharp nods from both sets of parents made it clear that no one wanted to see things their way. Sarah knew that she had to be strong and play her part but one look at her father's disappointed face and she felt tears well in her eyes. Total instinct drew her to find comfort in Jonah by slipping her hand in his. A wave of relief flooded her when he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and intertwined his fingers with hers. A smile formed on her face and when she looked up at him she was happy to see a similar one on his face, it was clear that none of them were listening to the ranting going on. They were in their own world and as much as Sarah was scared that their engagement would be cancelled, she drew strength from the knowledge that at that moment Jonah was holding her hand like he never wanted to let it go. She knew that he would fight for them, that made her want to fight for them too.

"Are you two even listening,"

The words from Sarah's mother, Amelia popped their little escape bubble and grabbed their attention.

Jonah cleared his throat then politely responded with, "Apologies Lady Sutton for our wandering minds,"

Julia shook her head disapprovingly at her son, "You two are so far up in your shenanigans that you're not even listening! James! George! Don't you two have something to say about this situation? Your children just announced that they are planning to marry to the whole of London and you have been silent all this time."

Both men exchanged a look and James cleared his throat before addressing the couple seated in front of them. "Are you two in love?"

"No." Twin replies from the two made both sets of parents let out frustrated sighs. Amelia rose from her seat and walked up to the troublesome twosome, frustration clear in her features, "then why in heaven's name would you two want to go through with this?"

Jonah and Sarah shared a look before he sat up straight and said, "Because we're good for each other?"

Identical scoffs came from their mothers and questioning brows rose from the fathers.

"The two of you, good for each other! That is utter and complete hogwash!  The two of you are only good for each other when it comes to driving us insane with your shenanigans. You two

obviously don't know what you are doing. Marriage is not easy for  us common folk let alone sworn childhood enemies like the two of you!" Amelia exclaimed raising her hands in the air.

A long suffering sigh was all the warning that Sarah got from Jonah before he let go of her hand and stood to address both sets of parents.

"With all due respect to all of you, I believe that Sarah and I are old enough to make this decision on our own merit and besides it's either we marry each other or we marry complete strangers. Is that what you want?"

"Yes!"

"Yes!" Both mothers responded with more gusto than was expected earning themselves questioning looks from their husbands.

Jonah took the opportunity to address both women, "so you two would rather that your children marry absolute strangers who may or may not make our lives miserable?"

Julia rolled her eyes and said, "oh come off it Jonah, don't forget that I am your mother and I know all your tricks. Granted you've never done this before but I still know that this is one of your shenanigans that will most probably lead to shaming both our families again."

Jonah felt anger rise within himself. Never had his mother spoken to him in such a way and it was not only insulting but frustratingly obvious that she only saw him as a disappointment. Blinded by rage and disappointment he stood and found himself walking over to Amelia and George. "Lord and Lady Sutton, I can assure you that my intentions to marry your daughter are pure and that I care for her deeply regardless of our past. I will take care of your daughter with every fiber of my being and to my last breath, I promise never to bring shame upon your daughter or your house." Jonah then trailed off regarding his parents with a cold and detached look, "no matter what my parents think." He added for their benefit. Excusing himself from his betrothed's parents, he lay a small kiss on Sarah's cheek before departing.

Silence filled the room at his departure and while both sets of parents looked guilt ridden, Sarah could feel her own anger rise. She was angry about how little faith their families had in them. She was angry that their own parents thought them to be shameful, granted they had done countless of shameful things in their past but they had been children then, bringing up such memories and saying those hurtful things was a stark reminder that both she and Jonah may never really earn the respect they desired from their parents. As much as it hurt her, it also fuelled her anger and she stood, startling the four parents in the room. Clearing her throat she started, "Your graces, Father, Mother. It is no secret that as children, Jonah and I never saw eye to eye on anything but that was more than a decade ago and I'm a strong believer in change."

Sarah then turned to face Jonah's parents, "I may not love your son as much as you want him to be loved but I care for him greatly and married or not, I will protect him from anything and anyone. I have been introduced to and have courted most of London's eligible bachelors and none of them have treated me with the respect and care that your son has. He is a true gentleman and I would be honored to be his wife. Your son will make a good husband and a wonderful father, I believe in him, question is, do You believe in him?"

Turning back to her parents she spoke gently, "Mother, Father, you have always looked out for my best interests and your love and support has been enough for me till this day. You may think that I'm making a mistake but I'm not, I want him in my life. I don't want to look back in the future and realize that I lost the one person who gets me, the one person who was good enough for me."

Sarah could see that everyone was considering her words but their indecision was still extremely visible on their faces. With a sigh she addressed all of them, "Jonah and I will marry and as much as we would appreciate your approval, it's not really a determining factor. Jonah is allowed to have his pick of bride and in a few weeks my grandmother is set to arrive and take charge of my hand. We will marry. That is something that all of you should know and as our parents I beg you to stop thinking of the past and see that Jonah and I are no longer children and that this is not a game, its not a prank. It's very real and it's happening." With those final words she walked out of the room, her heart beating faster than it should. She knew well and good that her mother would lecture her later on how she addressed the Duke and Duchess but at the moment she didn't care, what she wanted was to find Jonah and make sure he was alright.

~

Sarah didn't have to look far to find Jonah, he was in the garden, seated on a stationary swing with his head hung low. She could tell that what his mother had said had really affected him and for the first time in her life she didn't know what to say so she sat in the swing next to him and they sat in silence. Jonah broke the silence after a few minutes when he said, "we are going to marry. I don't care if we have to elope or not."

Sarah let out a sigh before stating, "Your father won't give you your inheritance if we elope."

Jonah's head rose and he looked at Sarah, "I don't care anymore. My father won't control me or my choices anymore." Something about how he said those words made Sarah's heart break and she stood from the swing and walked over to face a patch of neatly trimmed rose bushes. "You can't just marry me to prove your father wrong Jonah. It wouldn't be... right." Sarah struggled to let the words out and the moment Jonah walked up to stand beside her she felt tears sting her eyes. She watched as he picked a perfect white rose and held it in front of her. Looking up at him she met his eyes as she took the rose, when she looked down at it she felt Jonah's finger lift her chin to look at him. Sarah couldn't tear her gaze from his eyes, she'd always found his eyes beautiful and intriguing but at the moment she saw something else, she could see his vulnerability, his sadness and all she wanted to do was make it better. She didn't feel the tear as it rolled down her cheek but she felt as Jonah wiped it away.

"For as long as I've known you, you've always been like this rose. Perfect, poised, graceful and beautiful." Jonah spoke the words as he took the rose and lifted it to show her what he meant.

Sarah studied the rose, it was indeed beautiful, graceful, poised and perfect.

"As a child it always drove me mad that you were that perfect, that young. You were like a challenge to me, I wanted to see if it was all a facade, an act. So I made it my lives mission to see if you could break, what I didn't put in account is that every rose, no matter how big, small, beautiful or withered, has thorns."

At his words she looked up from the rose to glare at him which made him chuckle and kiss her forehead softly before he continued, "I've been pricked by your thorns countless of times Sarah but not once have I ever regretted it. Not until now."

Sarah's glare dropped, her facial expression turned questioning and her heart started to race. Questions filled her head and she fought the urge to voice them. What was he saying? Why was he saying it? Was he going to leave her? At the last question Sarah felt a weight settle on her chest and found it hard to breathe.

A palm on her cheek was what calmed her down and she found herself once again looking into Jonah's eyes. The soft caress of his palm on her cheek coupled by the slight breeze and overall ambience of the garden was enough to make her dizzy and lightheaded. Unlike the other night, she was ready for his kiss but along with it came something unexpected.

"I'm sorry."

Sarah blinked back her surprise. The fog in her brain cleared and she raised a brow in question. Jonah didn't let her ask the question on the tip of her tongue before he kissed her deeply. He took her breath away and nothing had ever felt that good in her life. She felt her body heat up in ways it had never before that is until something warm and wet landed on her cheek. Her eyes blinked open. It was a tear. A single, lone tear from the man who held her in his arms. She would have never believed it if she hadn't seen the tear trail on his face or felt the tear on her cheek.

Letting her go he took a step back and wiped the tear away. They then stood in silence for what seemed like an eternity until Jonah faced her then spoke. "I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry for being the reason for this problem. I'm sorry for making your life miserable as a child and even now I'm still managing to ruin your life and reputation by just being around you. I shouldn't have come back to this place." At his closing statement Sarah walked up to him and took his hands into her own, taking in his crestfallen expression she knew what had to be done. "Do you want to marry me Jonah?"

Jonah looked up, surprised at the question and even more surprised at his answer. "Yes I do, more than anything in the world."

Sarah gave a nod in response to his answer before firmly stating, "then we shall marry, Jonah Holland. Whether we marry in a church with our parents approval or we run away and elope, we shall marry."

Jonah blinked a few times before he questioned, "What about your grandmother and your title?"

Sarah shook her head softly, "There is still an heir. An irresponsible and careless one but an heir nonetheless. Harold will carry the title and my crabby old bird of a grandmother will understand."

Jonah closed his eyes and let out a pained sigh before he once again looked at the woman who was slowly becoming his whole world. "I wouldn't be able to give you the life you deserve Sarah."

Sarah smiled in return and said, "believe it or not Jonah Holland, I'm actually a very easy woman to please. As long as we have each other then nothing else matters I suppose."

Jonah hugged her to his body feeling a sense of relief and joy when she wrapped her hands around his waist and settled her head against his chest. They stood still as the wind swayed the greenery around them just enjoying the moment together.

Jonah let out a chuckle which made Sarah look up at him in question, "why are you laughing?"

Jonah kissed her gently on the forehead before saying, "I'm thinking about how funny life is, a week ago I detested you since childhood then I asked you to marry me just to get my inheritance and now I'm willing to leave it all behind just to be with you."

Sarah smiled, "yes, life is quite funny but it seems that within a week we've been able to go through a bevy of emotions and get to where we are."

"It seems that I've finally grown on you." Jonah smiled as the woman in his arms tightened her hold on his waist and settled her head once more on his chest.

His smile widened when she responded softly saying, "like moss on a wet log." Everything was going to be okay.

★

Sorry I was late... Phone trouble.

Hope you enjoy. Will edit later💜