The Duke let out a low, throaty chuckle. His uncle seemed so happy for him that he simply did not have the heart to tell him that his decision to get married had not been made out of love. Rather, it was due to much more practical considerations.
“Well, let us not waste any more time then, shall we?” Uncle Charles insisted, picking up an unopened glass of wine from the table in front of him.
It was a tradition in the Blackmoore family for the men to gather and open a bottle of wine on the night before the groom’s wedding. It had been happening for centuries now. The idea was for the older generations to bestow their wisdom about their experiences with marriage onto the younger generations. However, as the Duke’s father had already passed away, his uncle was the only man remaining in the Blackmoore family that was older than the Duke.
“Let us not waste any time,” the Duke urged as his uncle opened the bottle and poured him a glass.
“So, Uncle Charles,” Jacob said, rubbing his hands together in excitement, “are you going to bestow my brother with the wisdom he needs to go into this marriage?”
The Duke interjected before his uncle had a chance to respond.
“I do not wish to demean the tradition in any way, but I wonder just how complicated could the entire process be?” he asked with a casual shrug of his shoulders. “At least for the man. For the woman, I understand how things will change drastically as she has to leave her house for another’s, but as far as I am concerned, I believe that life will continue on as it always has.”
His uncle laughed out loud, wiping the sides of his eyes as though the Duke had delivered an exceptional comedic performance.
“What?” the Duke asked, annoyed. “You do not believe so?”
“My dear, Duncan, you know that I have always respected your opinion highly, more so than any of your peers. But I cannot be dishonest with ye. What you are saying is wrong.” He shook his head, taking a long swig from his glass.
Duncan raised his eyebrow.
“Is that so? Pray tell, why I am so wrong?”
“Yer life is to be transformed completely as ye know it.”
“Are you implying that there shall be more responsibilities on my shoulders, moving forward?” the Duke asked, curious to know what this drastic change was.
“Responsibilities is only one part of it,” his uncle noted, “but there is more. Ye are about to share a life with someone in a way that ye have never done before. I wager that you will discover things about yerself that ye did not even know…”
“Good things?” Jacob asked, amused by the whole exchange, “or bad ones?”
Uncle Charles chuckled.
“Both. Depending on how yer marriage is. I have not gotten a chance to meet the lassie yet, what is she like?” his uncle asked.
“We are curious to know as well,” Cousin Arthur quipped in. “Whoever the Duke picked for himself must be spectacular.”
Cousin Larry was quiet. He looked between his father and his brother and bit down on his lip.
“Well… I heard something completely different…”
All heads turned to look at Larry, and the Duke wondered if the gossip about Sophia had travelled to him as well, all the way over to Scotland. It would not surprise him if it did, for the ton wasted no time in transferring information at impressive speeds.
“I am sure that we should not be wasting our time discussing rumors,” Jacob tried to dispel the topic before it had a chance to start.
“No.” Duncan raised his hand. “Let him explain what he has heard. I would like to hear his perspective.”
“Well,” Cousin Larry gulped, hesitant at first, “I heard that the lady that ye have chosen for yerself has a bit of a dark past…”
“A dark past?” Uncle Charles said, shocked. “Ye are making her sound as though she is a witch, waiting for her turn to be burned at the stake.”
“I do not wish to be overbearing in my assumptions,” his cousin clarified, “but I am merely relaying what I heard. There were talks of her carrying some sort of a curse…”
“There is no such thing,” the Duke interjected firmly, “and I ask you to dispel that notion whenever it is presented to you with the same conviction that I am displaying now.”
“Curse?” his uncle related. “How come I have not heard of such a thing?”
“Because it is truly just a rumor,” the Duke replied. “It is something that is talked about amongst bored housewives and holds no substance. The fact that you have never heard of it only serves as proof of its ridiculousness.”
