Twenty-Two
Luke wolfed down breakfast at the boardinghouse, grateful he was in the control group this week. He had personally appealed to Dr. Wiley to be spared chemical concoctions in the days before Caroline’s wedding. The doctor refused to confirm Luke would be in the control group, but the old bachelor had a huge sentimental streak he kept deeply hidden, and Luke was certain his request had been honored.
He headed to the Delacroix town house, where a team of seamstresses, a florist, and a hairdresser had already arrived to help Caroline prepare. Gray would be giving the bride away, and Luke still ached at the thought that after tonight, someone else would forever be first in Caroline’s affections.
Gray’s wife was in the front hall, taking an inventory of a huge mound of wedding gifts piled on the hall table.
“Good heavens, you look lovely,” he said to Annabelle, who was already dressed for the wedding in a breathtaking gown of canary yellow silk. It was a soft, floating gown that easily accommodated her expanding waistline.
“Caroline’s doing,” Annabelle replied with a wink. “We visited three different dressmakers before she was satisfied with a design for it.”
As a farmer’s daughter from Kansas, it had taken Annabellea while to adjust to the elegant fashions of Washington’s high society. Annabelle normally preferred to dress simply, but there was nothing normal about today. This was going to be the wedding of the year, and Luke’s formal suit was waiting for him upstairs.
“I’d better get dressed as well. I take it Caroline is still upstairs?”
Annabelle nodded. “She’s with the hairdresser. The train of her gown will get crumpled in the carriage, so the wedding dress has already been delivered to the church. We leave in an hour so she’ll have plenty of time to get dressed.” She glanced at the clock with an expression of baffled amusement. “I never realized it took so many hours to get properly dressed.”
He leaned in to kiss her cheek and forced himself to sound cheerful. “Hang in there. You’re doing a great job.”
Today was already harder than expected. He was thrilled for Caroline. Of course he was. And he was a master at faking good cheer even when he didn’t feel it.
Ten minutes later Luke was inserting a white carnation into the lapel of his black cutaway coat. He was in full formal attire, with a high starched collar and a lavender silk cravat secured with a tiny diamond stud.
Time to face Caroline. He flipped open the lid of a slim velvet box, gazing down at the gift he’d had custom-made. It had galled him to commission it, but Caroline deserved to know that he was fully prepared to accept Nathaniel into their family. Would she understand the symbolism of the brooch he designed for her? He didn’t want it getting lost among the dozens of gifts already mounded in the hall below, and he wanted to be there when she opened it.
He crossed the hall to her bedroom, where the hair stylist was putting the finishing touches on an artistic coiffure. Most of Caroline’s hair was artfully coiled atop her head, but plenty cascaded down her back in loose spiraling waves.
He met Caroline’s laughing gaze in the mirror. “Can I steal two minutes?” he asked as the hairstylist left the room.
“You can have as many as you want,” she said. “Or at least as many as you need before ten o’clock. That’s when the carriage arrives to take me to the church.”
“Dad always called us two peas in a pod,” he said as he retrieved the slim box from his pocket.
Actually,everyonecalled them two peas in a pod. As twins, they had shared the same womb and arrived into this world within six minutes of each other. They shared a crib for their first year and a school bench when learning to read. They had an uncanny bond of camaraderie as they grew older, but it was time to say good-bye to their exclusive friendship and widen it to include others.
“A wedding gift,” he said casually as he set the box on Caroline’s dressing table.
“Can I open it now?”
“Please do.”
She lifted the lid and gasped at the brooch. He needn’t have feared she would miss the symbolism, as her eyes misted in understanding.
The brooch was five perfectly cut diamonds nestled in a green enameled hull. Five peas in a pod. Over the past year, the bond he and Caroline shared had finally widened to include their sober older brother. When Gray married last year, Annabelle became a part of their family too. And now Nathaniel made five. They were five peas in a pod. No more Luke and Caroline, the intrepid duo who’d set Washington society on fire. It was time for them to loosen the bond and permit sunlight between them.
Caroline rushed to him, surrounding him with her lemony perfume as she embraced him, careful to protect the sculptural masterpiece of her hair.
“Thank you, Luke. You can’t imagine how much this meansto me. Nathaniel has no family. He’s been alone most of his life. I know you aren’t natural friends, but—”
“Shh,” he interrupted. “In a few hours, Nathaniel will be one of us. Never doubt it.”
A knock sounded at the door. “The carriage is here,” Gray said from the opposite side. “It’s early, but perhaps we should leave now. Rumor has it there will be quite a crush at the church. Something about a big wedding with all of Washington society invited.”
Luke offered his arm. “Shall we go?”
Luke sat in the front row of the church next to Annabelle as Gray prepared to walk Caroline down the aisle. He spent these last few minutes scanning the guests in the pews. No Magruder would be invited to Caroline’s wedding, but Luke was on the lookout for Colonel Phelps, Clyde’s hand-picked suitor for Marianne’s hand. Luke had met the colonel a few times over the years and had never heard anything but praise for the army’s youngest colonel. That didn’t mean Luke had to like him.
At ten minutes to eleven, the church was almost full. He was used to pomp and ceremony, and it was on full display this morning, with the church bedecked in white orchids and the guests wearing satins, silks, and uniforms.
