Sometimes, explicitly so.
Her mind had absorbed every scandalous detail like a sponge.
Alex tore his lips off hers with a wrenching groan. “Viola, I am in agony. Let’s set a wedding date. My family is here and so is your father. The villagers need no more than an hour’s notice to show up at the church. Even less if they hear there’ll be food and drink offered afterward. As for me, I don’t need to invite anyone else. We can hold a proper celebration later in the year for anyone we’ve left out. What do you say? Will the day after tomorrow do?”
She nodded. “It is mad and utterly impractical, but yes.”
“Thank you, love. The wait will still seem endless for me.”
“For me as well,” she admitted. “I’ll need to borrow your kitchen staff again. This is not negotiable. If we’re to have a proper wedding breakfast, then I will need to give Mrs. Stringer and her girls instructions on the menu.”
He grinned and held up his hands in surrender. “Instruct away. I am not messing with your food.”
“Will you see to the musicians?”
“Yes, love. I’ll take care of that and summon the vicar from the neighboring parish to conduct the service. What about your gown?”
She glanced down at herself. Her finest gown was now stained and probably could not be salvaged. “I…”
“Never mind. Laurel and Daisy will figure it out for us.” He gave her another quick kiss and then turned her toward the stairs. “I’ll wait down here while you run up and change. I still intend to have you join us for supper.”
“Are you certain? There could be a battle.”
“No battle. My father will be writhing and moaning in his bed. Everyone else will be enjoying a meal at the dining table and delighted to get to know you.”
She quickly changed out of her finest, now ruined, gown and sighed as she looked for another suitable one to wear. Well, none of her clothes were fancy. She considered them to be simple but elegant. Another of her Sunday best would have to suffice.
Besides, she did not think any of the ladies would pass a remark.
She finally decided on a blue gown, a very pretty blue the color of a May sky, that had a little satin trim around the collar. Digging through her small jewelry box, she added an opal necklace to go with it.
She hurried into her father’s chamber to kiss him goodnight since he would soon be fast asleep. “Sweet dreams, Papa. We’ve set the wedding date for the day after tomorrow. It will be a mad rush to get everything done in time. But we’ll figure it out.”
“All that matters is your happiness, my beautiful child. I will be ready, no matter the day or the hour.” He kissed her cheek. “Enjoy your evening. Be yourself and they will love you. Even Lord Ardley’s father will come around soon. You’ll see.”
“If you say so. Goodnight, Papa.” Any doubts about her appearance were erased as she walked downstairs and saw the enraptured look in Alex’s eyes.
“You look beautiful, Viola.”
“It is a pretty gown, don’t you think?”
“I was looking at the girl inside it,” he said with a grin. “Yes, the color looks very pretty on you. You ought to have a similar one made of silk for my parents’ anniversary party. I shall be the envy of every man there.”
She paused as he was leading her out the door. “Will your father allow me to attend?”
He laughed. “I have no idea. I hope he will come to his senses by then. But my mother will and that’s an end to it. My father hasn’t won an argument with her that I can ever recall. In truth, she has always been the tougher of the two. It may not appear so just now, but my father is the most softhearted of us all.”
“But he loathes me.”
“No, he doesn’t. I promise you.”
Viola was not certain of the reception she would receive from any of the others, but with the Earl of Trent laid up in bed, she was met with nothing but warmth. It struck her then how much she would gain from marrying Alex. It had nothing to do with his wealth or title, but all to do with him and the family she was about to marry into.
“I never knew my mother,” she told the ladies when they retired to the parlor for sherry while the men remained behind in the dining room after supper to speak among themselves. “She died giving birth to me. She was an only child and so was my father. My grandparents, all of them, passed on while I was still a child. But they never resided close by, so I don’t think I saw them above once or twice in my life. There has been no one for me but my father in all these years.”
“Poor thing,” Lady Withnall said.
“Oh, no. I have had a good life and do not complain.” She now turned to Lady Trent who was seated beside her on the sofa. “In marrying your son, I am also gaining an entire family I never had before. A grandmother. Parents. Brothers and sisters,” she said, smiling at each lady in turn. “This is the true fortune, I think.”
