Sophie flinched at the word. What must Captain Overtree think of her?
“Thirdly, it was ordained for the mutual society, help, and comfort ... both in prosperity and adversity. Into which holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined. Therefore, if any man can show any just cause, why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.”
Sophie instinctively glanced toward the door. Captain Overtree gave her a cynical look, his mouth ruefully quirked. He no doubt guessed whom she hoped to see.
The parson now spoke directly to them, “I require and charge you both, that if either of you know any impediment why ye may not be lawfully joined together in matrimony, ye do now confess it....”
Last chance, Sophie thought to herself. She glanced up and found the captain watching her. She blinked and returned her gaze to the parson.
Hearing none, Mr. Partridge continued, “Stephen Marshall Overtree, wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor, and keep her in sickness and in health; and forsaking all other, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?”
He lifted his chin. “I will.”
Then the clergyman looked at her and asked her a variation of the same questions.
Heart thudding, Sophie ran her tongue over dry lips. “I will.”
Then the smiling parson took Sophie’s right hand and joined it with the captain’s. Would he notice her sweating palms? The captain’s fingers were cool and loose, and she might have easily slipped from his grasp.
“Repeat after me,” Mr. Partridge said. “I, Stephen Marshall Overtree, take thee, Sophia Margaretha Dupont, 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.”
Captain Overtree repeated the words in a low monotone, then released her hand.
Mr. Partridge turned to her. “Now take your groom by the right hand and repeat after me....”
Sophie repeated the words, a marionette on a string, her mouth opening and closing while a little voice in her mind cried out,“What are you doing? How canyou vow to love, cherish and obey this man till death, when you love another?”She ignored the voice, and repeated the words by rote. Words she had heard recited at several weddings in her life—including her father’s own recent nuptials. It seemed as if she were listening from across the room, as if someone else were intoning the words, while her heart remained aloof.
Mr. Partridge leaned forward and whispered to the captain. “The ring?”
The captain stiffened.
“Oh!” Sophie exclaimed. She had forgotten to give it to the captain in advance. She fished it from her bodice, unclasped it from the chain, and handed it to him, her face burning all the while.
The clergyman smiled and accepted it, laying it atop the black book. Then he instructed Stephen to place it on her finger and repeat after him.
“With this Ring I thee wed, with my Body I thee worship, and with all my worldly Goods I thee endow... .”
How unsettling and embarrassing to hear this man she barely knew pledgeto herin his low voice,“... with my Body I thee worship...”
Sophie’s face heated anew. And he, in his turn, seemed to avoid her gaze.
At the parson’s signal, they both knelt as he prayed over them. Then he joined their hands together again, and said, “Those whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.”
Finally, the man of God pronounced them man and wife, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”
There. They were married. Legally, and before God.
The parson blessed them, read from the Psalms, and closed with an additional blessing for procreation. But with her ears already burning and ringing, Sophie barely heard the words.
After the ceremony, Mr. Partridge led them to a table at the rear where they signed the register, and he and the witnesses added their signatures.
All smiles, he asked, “Would you like a copy of the license for a small added fee? Makes a nice keepsake.”
“Yes,” Captain Overtree handed over the coin, and when the license was delivered, he folded it and carefully, ceremoniously, handed it to her for safekeeping. For proof.
The clergyman’s wife closed the register and said, “Now. How about a nice room for the night, and a good dinner, hmm? We have a charming little inn up the lane. Much nicer than the crowded, dirty establishments here along the harbor.”
Captain Overtree returned his leather purse into his pocket. “Thank you, but no. We shall leave directly.”
