Bedford Street Brigade 02 - Love Unbidden by Laura Landon

have your son taken from you when he was just a babe? What it would be like to leave your wife alone, without any means of support?”
    Carter Paxton stepped nearer to his father and clasped him on the arm. “I’ll go with you to the police and explain what’s happened Father. Then, we’ll make sure Henry Dunston is released so he can be reunited with his family.”
    Father and son looked at each other for several moments, then Baron Paxton nodded in agreement.
    Mack took Baron Paxton’s arm and addressed the man’s son. “I will accompany you to the police and explain the steps you took to cooperate with us. I’m sure your assistance will influence any decision the police, as well as the courts, make.”
    “Father and I would appreciate your help,” Carter Paxton answered.
    The two walked to the door and into the cool night air. Jack went with them. Mack followed, but stopped in front of Quinn before he left the warehouse.
    “You’re very fortunate I realized how impossible it would have been for me to remain behind, had the tables been turned. It was wrong of me to order you to do so. But you took a great risk by confronting Paxton by yourself.”
    “I wasn’t alone,” Quinn said, holding Nellie closer.
    “She’s a find, Quinn. If you’re smart, you’ll ask her to marry you so you always have her with you.”
    Quinn watched Mack walk away from them, then turned to Nellie. He laughed at the blush that darkened her cheeks. “He’s right, you know.”
    “Don’t, Quinn. I didn’t take Mack’s words seriously.”
    Quinn took note of the other Bedford Street investigators rounding up Paxton’s men, and led Nellie to a corner. When they reached a point where they couldn’t be overheard, he sat beside her on a stack of opium bundles.
    He knew this wasn’t the time, nor the place, but she needed to know how things were with them. He needed her to know that he cared for her more than anything, or anyone, on earth.
    “You may not have taken Mack’s words seriously, but I did. I love you, Nellie. Marry me. Take my name and grow old with me. Have my children and make your home with me.”
    Quinn watched as tears filled Nellie’s eyes. For a moment he feared her tears meant she didn’t love him as desperately as he loved her. He feared she’d refuse his proposal.
    “Nellie,” Quinn whispered, taking her hands in his. “I love you. I think I’ve loved you since the first day I walked into Fletcher’s Bakery several years ago. If not the first, then the second. And I will always love you. With my whole heart.”
    Quinn wiped away a tear that spilled from her eye. “I’ll always love you, Nellie. Always. Can you bring yourself to love me at least a little?”
    “Oh, Quinn.” Nellie wrapped her arms around him. “I know the exact day I fell in love with you. It was the first day you walked into the bakery. I knew then that I could never love anyone but you. Never.”
    “Then you will marry me?”
    Nellie smiled through her tears. “Of course I will. How could I refuse you when you’ve brought me to such a romantic place?” She laughed as she patted the bale of opium they sat on.
    Quinn blanched, and she reached for his face with both hands. “Oh, Quinn, dear Quinn, don’t you know I could never refuse you? How could I when you already possess my heart?”
    Quinn wrapped his arm around her, then brought his lips to hers. This is how he wanted his life to be always and forever.
     
     

EPILOGUE
    Quinn looked around the room and smiled. His bride stood next to her sister Eileen, alongside Mack’s wife Cora, and Daisy Fletcher, who owned the bakery where he and Nellie had first met.
    Nellie was beautiful. As beautiful as any bride had ever been. And he reminded himself for the hundredth time today that he was the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
    “If you don’t stop looking at your wife that way, we might take the hint that you want us to leave.”
    Quinn turned to Mack Wallace and the