It was only a few moments before the carriage stopped and he had a smile in his voice as he spoke. “Wait a moment. I’ll help.”

She heard the carriage springs move under them as he hopped down and then he was lifting her off of her seat. She continued to take in the scents and sounds around her as her other senses were amplified by the fact that she couldn’t see. There was a garden gate squealing as it opened, the smell of flowers, and the sound of his footsteps on the ground. But, she didn’t concentrate on this for long. No, what was very distracting was the way he held her in his arms, close to his chest. She wanted nothing more than to snuggle closer and bury her face against his neck and kiss him till…

She blushed at the thoughts that went through her mind and tried to distract herself by whispering, “Edward? What’s going on?”

He had chuckled and she felt him slowly start to set her down, though she didn’t unwind her hands from around his neck and his own hands went immediately to her waist. There was nothing but silence for a few moments and she was about to ask her question again when suddenly he was kissing her softly.

Well, at least the kiss started off softly. It wasn’t long before they were each clinging to each other and kissing each other with much more intensity than she had ever experienced. She didn’t know if it was the fact that she was blindfolded, but it was like she could feel more than she should. It was like the warmth of his body was passing through the layers of her clothes and the kiss was spreading from her lips to every small inch of skin. His lips were moving against hers in a way that was making her toes curl up in her shoes, her heart pound, and her breath quicken. She didn’t want the kiss to ever end, even if it meant she had to stop breathing so it could continue but, unfortunately, the kiss did have to end and when it did, they were both breathless.

What she would have given to be able to see his expression at that moment. She thought about reaching for the blindfold and removing it, but then he leaned forward and she felt his own fast breaths stirring at the soft copper hair near her ear before he whispered. “Elizabeth Ward, will you marry me?”

She hadn’t thought it was possible for her heart to start pounding even faster and her breathing stopped all together at his words as she started to tremble in his arms and she held him tighter to her, her body pressed against his—propriety be damned!—and she whispered, “Yes!”

He laughed then, but it wasn’t that he was laughing at her; it was just a sound of complete and utter joy. Lifting her off the ground he started to swing her around as she started to giggle and grip at him tighter. After a moment she managed to gasp out, “I love you!”

He stopped turning and there was a smile in his voice again as he whispered. “I love you, too…and now you can have this.”

She thought he was going to put a ring on her finger and then take off the blindfold, but instead he removed the blindfold all together and revealed that they were in a garden, a garden that was an exact replica of the Cooper’s gardens where they had first danced, right down to the statue of the reading man that she had been admiring that night.

She looked around in awed wonder as he whispered in her ear. “Welcome home.”