Home. She found it such a strange place to consider this grand place home! It wasn’t that her parents’ home wasn’t comfortable and nice, but this was…beyond that.

He let her go and she turned slowly, looking around the gardens and at the back of the house in awe she whispered, “Home?”

When she finally turned back to face him he was down on one knee, holding up a ring delicate between his thumb and forefinger as he spoke with a voice choked with emotion. “Home if you’re sure you'll have me.” He cleared his throat and mumbled something about asking again and doing this the right way, “Elizabeth Ward, you have become the center of my world, my universe. I love you and hold you more dear than anything. I never thought I could feel this way and I want to be with you forever, will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”

She looked at the delicate ring in his hands and reaching out she touched his cheek and whispered. “I want nothing more, Edward.”

With a crooked grin he reached out and slipped the ring on her finger and then in a flash he was standing up and had her in his arms again as he swung her around in a circle, both their laughter filling the air.

He had shown her the house anxiously, surprised when she noticed some paintings she had liked in particular from some of the art galleries they had visited together hanging on the walls. He admitted that he had only bought a few things, wanting her to pick out things that she liked to fill their home.

As they passed through the mostly empty rooms she was already picturing the life she would lead there with him. She pictured him sitting in the front parlor, reading the paper while she played the piano. Upstairs she imagined the room that would be theirs and which one would be the nursery. She was already blushing brightly at the thought of having his babies.

Yes, this would definitely be home.

The wedding had been the true social event of the season, and though she had wanted a small wedding, but in certain circles of Chicago society there was no such thing. Her parents had a long guest like of friends and family, and his parent’s list had been even longer, but in the end she had not cared that the wedding had ended up being such a grand event, all that mattered was that she was going to be Mrs. Edward Masen.