Pleasance’s driver pulled up to the front walk of her family’s townhouse. Before she reached the top step, she heard the unmistakable sound of a yipping dog. Pulling her bonnet from her head, she greeted the butler and turned just in time to see a sizeable coal-black puppy scrabbling across the marble entryway. He or she was headed straight for Pleasance.
“Missy!” A familiar voice shouted from a hallway to the left of the staircase. And then she saw him. Gilbert halted in mid-stride. He looked confused and a little harassed.
Pleasance question was caught short at the sight of her papa running from the opposite hallway across the foyer. “Did you catch her?”
“Well, what have we here?” she asked her father and Gilbert.
“You’re home,” her father said. “Excellent. I assume you’ve met Mr. Beaumont.”
Pleasance turned to Gilbert, who had picked up the wiggling ball of fur. “I have, though I’m a little surprised to find him here.”
“Truly?” her father asked with a lilt of confusion. He cleared his throat and made an excuse to leave her and Gilbert alone, standing in the foyer.
“I didn’t expect to greet you this way.” Gilbert grimaced a smile as he wrestled the puppy into a better position.
“Is this your dog?”
“One might think so, wouldn’t they? But they would be wrong.”
“Oh. Then whose is she? Missy, is it?”
“Only because she doesn’t have a name yet. She’s but a pup.”
“If so, then she will be as big as a horse. I feel sorry for her owner.”
“Well, that’s unfortunate.”
“How so? And do not tell me you brought me a puppy.”
“All right, I will not tell you.”
“Gilbert,” she admonished. Then corrected with a whisper. “Mr. Beaumont.” Then she noticed the puppy had a white satin bow tied about her neck. “That better not be a stocking.”
“It’s not,” he said, grappling with the puppy. He walked toward her. He bent to set the pup down but didn’t get up. Instead, he leaned on a knee and looked up at her while the puppy yipped about her ankles.
With her hands to her mouth, she giggled at the spectacle.
“Well?” At that moment, her father re-entered the foyer. “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought… well, I’ll leave you two.”
Pleasance was laughing now. “Stay, Papa.” Then she looked down at Gilbert. “If that’s all right with you?”
She could see him swallow.
“No, I’ll leave,” her father said.
With her left hand in Gilbert’s, she turned to her father. “Can you take the puppy with you?”
Her father looked from her to the pup, then to Gilbert kneeling on the floor. His expression was stupefied. He pivoted on his heel, then turned back just as quickly. “No. No, I believe I’ll leave the pup.” Then, her father shot off down the hallway again.
“What is all this?” She asked Gilbert, who was obviously making a muck of a proposal.
“I’m trying to ask the woman I love to marry me. But it’s not going quite as I planned.”
“Why on earth would you bring a puppy to a proposal?” She shook her head. “Never mind. I’m at your disposal, Mr. Beaumont.”
He scratched his brow with his free hand and looked to the pup again, who was following with her nose some invisible scent about the floor.
“Ignore the pup and just ask me.”
“One moment.” He released her, and to her chagrin and confusion, he stood and swooped up the puppy. “Missy, behave, my sweet.”
Missy settled down; she imagined more from tiring herself out than the command of her future husband.
He stood in front of her again. “Now, as I was saying.” He took a deep breath, and she met his gaze. “I love you, Pleasance. I want to marry you. I want to be your husband, in truth. We may not know each other long, but my heart has known you existed forever.”
She smiled. The confession did not bring a tear to her eye, but the love she felt for him, the love she felt from him, was truer than any tear shed.
“Will you marry me?” He looked hopeful and exhausted. He tugged at the bow about the puppy’s neck, encouraging Pleasance to finish the untying.
Pleasance carefully released the ribbon and saw it had been strung through a wedding band.
“I didn’t know what jewels you liked, so I decided on a gold band instead. We can shop for something else when you’re ready.
“If I say yes, must I take the puppy, too?”
He laughed. “No. Felicity agreed to take her if this all went to hell.”
She bit into a smile, then leaned forward and kissed him. “I love the ring. I love the puppy. And I love you, Gilbert Beaumont, so much that I won’t even ask to name her Bertie or Gilly?”
She took the puppy from his arms, falling in love with Missy immediately.