Helena handed her a small bouquet of white roses and followed them up the aisle. Both she and Richard would be the witnesses.
The church was packed with well-wishers and those who only wanted to gawk at her. She found it nerve wracking to walk past them, but then she saw George standing at the altar with a huge smile on his face. Her heart thumped, and she no longer cared about anything else. It seemed to take forever to walk down the long aisle, but soon she was standing next to the man she loved.
“You look beautiful, my darling,” George said.
“Thank you,” Lydia whispered.
The vicar looked over the crowd and began. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony, which is an honorable estate, and therefore is not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly to satisfy men’s carnal lusts and appetites, like brute beasts that have no understanding, but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God, duly considering the causes for which matrimony was ordained. Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?”
“I do,” Lord Surry said, then took his seat beside his wife in the first row.
The vicar continued. “Lord Hutchinson, please repeat after me. I, George Joseph Hutchinson, take thee, Lydia Joanna Weston, to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance, and thereto I plight thee my troth.”
George repeated the vows, and the vicar turned to Lydia.
“Repeat after me,” he said and recited the vows again.
Lydia repeated the vows as she lovingly gazed into George’s eyes, every word striking a chord within her.
The vicar instructed George to hold her hand and place the ring on her finger.
George pulled off her glove and slipped the gold-and-diamond band on her finger.
The vicar continued. “For as much as George and Lydia have consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and thereto have given and pledged their troth either to the other and have declared the same by giving and receiving of a ring and by joining of hands, I pronounce that they be man and wife together, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, bless, preserve, and keep you, the Lord mercifully with his favor look upon you and so fill you with all spiritual benediction and grace, that ye may so live together in this life, that in the world to come ye may have life everlasting. Amen.”
Lydia wanted to jump for joy. They’d done it. They were man and wife, and she never had to be parted from George again.
The vicar instructed her, George, Richard, and Helena to sign the Registry Book. As she wrote ‘Lydia Weston’ for the last time, she found that she wasn’t sad about letting go of that part of her life. It was time to look ahead to a wonderful future with the man she loved with all her heart.
Chapter 21
By the time they exitedthe church, there were even more well-wishers on the street shouting congratulations at the happy couple.
“I have a surprise for you,” George said.
“A surprise? I don’t need any surprises. You’re all I need.”
“I think you’ll like this surprise,” he said as he steered her to a black carriage with a ducal crest.
“My darling, this is the wrong carriage.”
“Are you sure?” He opened the door. “Look in there.”
Lydia stuck her head in the carriage. “Mercy! How wonderful to see you,” she said as George handed her up. “I had no idea you’d be here. I thought you were resting in the country.”
“How could I miss your wedding?” the Duchess of Wiltshire said. “I’m actually feeling better, so I convinced the duke that it would be fine for us to attend.”
“Good day, Your Grace,” Lydia said, turning to the duke. “Thank you for coming to Town for the wedding. It means so much to me, especially since Mercy was the first friend I made during my debut Season.”
“The pleasure is ours. When Hutchinson wrote to me, telling me of your happy news, I was so pleased for both of you.”
George hopped into the carriage. “See? I told you it was a good surprise.”
“It’s the best of surprises.”
“The only one missing is Hartley although I doubt he would have agreed to come to London. We know how much he hates Town,” George said.
“Well, about that…” Mercy said.
