"Charlotte."
Charlotte Fairchild removed her hand from her suitor's arm and turned so that she could look into his hazel eyes.
"Yes, Henry?"
She had been wondering when he would do this. Ever since her father had talked to her yesterday, she had been waiting. Waiting for Henry Branwell to look into her eyes and ask her to marry him. It had been something that she had been secretly day dreaming about for months- years.
She wished now that it wasn't happening. Not like this.
"I don't know if your father told you, but I visited him yesterday." He had. Her heart tightened in her chest. Henry was breathless and he was starting to turn an odd pink color as he stared almost directly at his shoes.
"And I… well… you see, um. Lottie. Charlotte. I…" He met her eyes and flushed an odd color. "I asked him a very important question. I… I asked him if I could ask you to marry me. And he said yes."
Her heart tightened further. "He's a good enough man, better than his father, and you need some sort of husband, Charlotte, if you are going to direct the Institute. I've forgiven his father's debts, so that matter is closed between our families."
What her father didn't understand was how much she loved the man in front of her. She had for a while. Not quite since the moment she'd met him, but not long after that. The way his eyes lit up when he was going on about one of his tinkering projects, how eager he always was, his bright red hair, that awkward smile, his absent mindedness that could somehow coexist with his extreme thoughtfulness.
He flushed again at her lack of response and continued with a look of determination.
"So. Um. Charlotte Fairchild, will you marry me?" There was something odd about the smile he was giving her. Nervous. Racked with nerves. Terrified that she'd say yes. That he'd be forced to marry her. That perhaps if she said no his family would be free from debt and he wouldn't have to fake love for her; that he'd be able to continue to tinker and laugh in that odd way of his.
But Charlotte was selfish. She was incredibly selfish. She wanted him to laugh for her. She wanted to be near him. She wanted to be able to look in his wide eyes and see him there when she went to bed. She wanted to know what it felt like for him to love her as much as she did him. And she did need a husband to run the Institute. There was no one she would want for that more than Henry. In time, he could grow to love her.
"Yes. Yes, I'll marry you Henry."