“Am I to have no say in my own husband? My own future?”
Her mother laughed while addressing the room. “Please excuse my Veronica, it is the nerves before a wedding, I remember that from my own wedding day!”
Her mother promptly took her by the wrist and swiftly escorted her to a more quiet corner of the Archbishop’s office.
“I would have thought you would be happy about this,” her mother whispered. The nervous glance she cast over her shoulder suggested that she feared Lord Gallmore overhearing and taking offense.
Veronica just shook her head.
This couldn’t be happening.
"I don’t want to marry Lord Gallmore, if I am honest. Of course I don’t.” How could she? When his touch made her skin crawland her heart fill with a sense of wrongness. She was not his and never could be.
But Christopher….
She couldn’t. Not after everything he put her through.
“But you know, more than even my sisters do, what his rejection cost me and the rest of our family.
So how could I be happy about this?” She looked at her mother then, willing for all the unseen emotion inside her to be bared to her. She sighed. “I wish this was not our life. That I could give that man a piece of my mind, that we did not need any of their money.”
“But we do.” Veronica finished for her.
Her mother always looked so sure of herself, but it was clear that the older woman had been doing for her children the same thing Veronica tried to do for her sisters. To be strong, to take upon her whatever burden necessary so that they could have a better life.
She squared her shoulders then, as if to better assume the role she always knew she would have to play anyway.
So what did it matter who she played that role with? Only that her loved ones would be taken care of.
She began walking towards the men.
They were still debating the issue when she coughed loudly. “If I may have your attention...”
“Veronica dear, not now_” began her father, but she was done being talked about and discussed without her having a say.
“We all know that my consent to is as crucial a step to this marriage as anything else.” Afterall, even with all theton’srigid rules, a forced marriage was condemned and frowned upon.
“And are you here to leverage your consent against this charlatan? How excellent!” Lord Gallmore looked triumphant.
“No, my lord,” she looked at the man who had almost become her husband, knowing she needed to handle his rejection very carefully. “While I hope you know I would have been honored to be your wife, I must abide by the promises made by my family.
“It was a terrible oversight, as this contract was signed when we were just children.” She leveled a quick glare at the duke, who stood just behind Lord Gallmore.
The man looking at her looked nothing like how she remembered him. There was no hope of softness in his expression, none of the curiosity that might have led them to build a life together. He was ice cold.
The temper she tried to stifle flared up once more.
“But before I grant my consent and we move forward, I need His Grace to answer one question.”
His eyes were still on her when he broke the silence. “And what is that?”
“I thought you would not care if I married, you have ignored me for years, and you have said that you didn’t trouble yourself with my letters. So, why have you come now? You could have been rid of me and any deal our fathers made would be void.”
His jaw clenched, deepening the shadows of his face.
“It is a matter of honor. I always keep my promises, even if they have quite a mouth on them.”
“If you want some demure, silent wife then you should reconsider your demands.”
