“I’ve no good news but our nuptials.” He gave Selah a sidelong smile, their fingers intertwined. “We’d like to be married today with little ado save a simple wedding supper.”
Widow Brodie clasped her hands together. “Just the tidings we need to weather such a turbulent time.”
“But mustn’t the banns be read? Three Sundays in a row?” Nurse Lineboro’s face darkened as she looked to Selah. “And are you not in mourning?”
“Mourning is seldom observed in Virginia,” Xander told her. “Here in the outer parishes, a clerk issues a license, and if one is underage, parental consent ends the matter.”
“Of which I freely give, though you have no need of it.” Candace rose from the table, looking considerably cheered. “Quite fortuitous that both preacher and clerk comprise the search party.”
Xander nodded. “Needs be we wed in the shire’s chapel rather than here. A New World custom I heartily approve of.”
“With pleasure.” Selah looked at him, feeling a dizzying pull to get it done. In the last few days, waiting had seemedfrivolous when life and death played out around them. “Best hasten to lay hold of my gown.”
“A walk in the sunshine shall do us good.” Candace moved toward the door. “I’ll fetch my hat.”
“And I shall consult Cook about the wedding supper.” Widow Brodie was the first to leave, smiling all the while.
By six o’clock in the evening, the chapel stood tranquil, doors open to catch the slightest breeze. Only a scant few gathered, Xander’s houseguests foremost. Though marriages in the forenoon were most common, an evening wedding was not amiss. Selah truly felt like a bride in the purple gown, her hair decorated with Rose-n-Vale’s white roses, more than happy to don a married coif. The pearl necklace Xander had given her as a wedding gift now rested upon her bodice, Watseka’s beads beneath. His tender gaze told her she was beautiful. To her great relief, he’d finally slept and bathed, his trimmed beard and best suit of clothes wooing her as much as his steady gaze.
Even if the circumstances they now found themselves in left them on tenterhooks, they joyfully entered into the sacred moment and pledged themselves to each other before God.
“...keep her, to love and entreat her in all things according to the duty of a faithful husband, forsaking all others during her life; to live in holy conversation with her, keeping faith and troth in all points...”
The vow saying paused as Xander pulled something from his pocket. A posy ring? Pleasure overrode her surprise as he placed it on the third finger of her left hand. Decorated withquartz crystal, the gold band glittered in the shadows. Was something inscribed within the band’s circle?
Xander leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Time shall tell I love thee well.”
Any remaining doubts she’d had about his devotion faded to the furthest reaches.
Hands clasped, they faced the small gathering as husband and wife. Clapping and fiddling accompanied them on their return to Rose-n-Vale as a tenant played the traditional wedding tune “Black and Grey.” Supper was already laid on the dining room table, a bounteous offering of late summer’s best, every dish and platter laden with seafood and garden fare, even a bride’s cake and groom’s cake. Izella and the maid wove in and out of the full dining room, replenishing cups and empty dishes.
Selah fought back tears as a toast was made by her mother in her father’s stead. But sorrowful as they were that Ustis and Shay and Watseka were not among them, they made the most of the occasion. For just a few sweet hours, the darkness of the present was swept into a shadowed corner. In the new wing still bare of furniture save a few hastily assembled benches and chairs, Selah and Xander led a dance, then bade the festivities continue without them.
Slowly they climbed the stairs while the fiddling continued below. On the threshold of their bedchamber, he swept her off her feet into his hard arms and carried her in with a defiant spring in his step, the trill of her laugh following.
39
Well before first light they awoke. Though the sun had not yet tiptoed into the room, a new day lay ahead, a blank canvas waiting to be filled by them both. Xander propped himself up on one elbow and slowly wound a tendril of his bride’s fair hair around one callused finger.
“Selah ... Hopewell ... Renick.” A smile of genuine joy broke over his face. “Mistress of Rose-n-Vale.”
“Good morning, Husband.” She yawned behind her hand. “Such feels right. Content.” She kissed him, long and lingeringly, growing used to the brush of his beard. “If I can make you forget your troubles for just one night, I am a happy woman.”
“’Tis not as I would have it, our beginning.”
“But we are together, and that is all that matters.” Selah kissed him again, longing to remove the regret in his gaze, the pressing cares of the coming day. “Our pleasures are doubled, our griefs halved.”
“Aye.” Xander lay back, one sinewy arm behind his head. “How shall you spend your first day as mistress?”
“Drinking cassina. Eating leftover bride’s cake.” Ponderingall the possibilities, she laid her head upon his bare shoulder. “Have devotions with Mother in the parlor. Consult Cook as to the bill of fare.”
“Dinner?”
“Of course. What are your favorite dishes?”
“Anything that is set before me. With gratitude. I am ever mindful of the starving time not so long ago.”
“A fine ham, perhaps.”
