“No one does, apart from Cousin Henry. And now you. But that does not mean we can spend as much as we want, for the girls will need to be properly dowered, and there will be governesses and so on, and if there should happen to be sons, there will be schools, university, careers…”
“Horses. Sons want hunters and matched pairs for their curricles and all manner of expensive horseflesh.”
He chuckled. “So they do. And with all these expenses, I still hope to leave the estate in better heart than it was when I inherited it, for my eldest son to enjoy… or Henry’s eldest, whichever it may be. So we must still watch what we spend, my love, and keep to a budget.”
She sighed. “That is the husband I know so well already — the sensible one. He is not as interesting as the unexpectedly passionate one, but he is very necessary, I believe.”
“He is, because money is necessary. Having enough money to live upon without disagreeable economies is the very foundation of life. But even more important than money is food, my love. It is a very long time since a single bite passed my lips and I shall waste away if I do not eat soon. Shall we see if this place can find us anything tolerable to eat?”
“I am far too happy to eat,” Izzy said.
“Well, I am very happy, too, but even happiness cannot blunt my hunger. But we can eat in here, if you wish, so that we need not bother dressing properly, and then go straight back to bed.”
She chuckled. “That sounds like a delightful plan, combining all the virtues of both good sense and a romantic inclination. The perfect husband.”
“If only I had fashionably dark hair,” he sighed.
“Hush,” she said, leaning close to kiss him gently. “I would not change a single thing about you.”
***
Even excessive quantities of happiness could not entirely mitigate the disadvantages of a lumpy mattress, poor food and indifferent wine, so after one night in their wayside inn, Izzy was quite ready to move on.
“The question is, where should we go?” Ian said, as they lingered over breakfast close to noon, still not dressed. “I have left Wycliffe, Samuel and most of my luggage at Strathinver, and you have left all your luggage at Lochmaben, so—”
“And Brandon,” Izzy said. “Mama brought her and the rest of my boxes north with her. She always assumed I would arrive there eventually.”
“She guessed what your plan was, then?”
“Whatever it was, do not dignify it with the epithet‘plan’,”Izzy said. “I wanted to see my old suitors, but for what purpose, I could not have said, not coherently. I wondered what my life would have been if I had chosen differently five years ago, that much is true, and I was very much aware that I was not your wife and could now take a different path if I chose, but if any of them had thrown himself at my feet and offered to marry me… would I have done it? The only point where I wavered was with Robert.”
“Because you were in love with him.”
“No, because by then I thought I had driven you away once and for all. Mama was so confident that you would come for me, but… but you did not. A whole week I waited there, with no sign of you, until you abducted me, you crazy man.”
“You have no idea how difficult it was to follow your trail, just at first, but after Marsden, I knew where you were going, so I got on better. I came as fast as I could, my sweet wife.”
“Which I am not, not yet.”
“Is that what you want?”
Now that she knew him better, she could see the pain in his eyes as he spoke. She reached across to take his large hand in hers with a quick squeeze. “Yes. That is very much what I want.”
He closed his eyes momentarily, and exhaled. “Thank God! Then we have to decide whether to go back to collect our things and then go south in some dignity, or whether to race for the border.”
“Having run away from you so disgracefully for a full month, would it be perverse of me to want to marry as soon as may be?”
“Since it accords so precisely with my own wishes, I have no objection to that plan,” he said. “We are well to the south and west of our starting point, owing to my cunning scheme to take you to my little island, but the border is very close — no more than a couple of hours away.”
“Then let us get dressed and be on our way,” Izzy said. “Since I have no maid with me, you will have to help me with my stays.”
He grinned. “My pleasure, wife.”
Having so little to pack, they were on the road within the hour, turning now due south towards the border. More rain and the usual difficulties of travel assailed them, but the road was a major route between Carlisle and Edinburgh, so it was not as dire as it could have been. Ian’s estimate was optimistic, however, for it was past four o’clock when the mile posts changed to mark that they had crossed into England.
Only a few miles further on, Izzy pointed through the window. “There, on that rise — that is a church, is it not?”
The rain had finally eased and the westering sun peeping through the clouds lit up a fine sandstone building, topped by an elegant domed and columned bell tower. Turning aside onto a wide track, the carriage bumped its way nearer. The sexton was hard at work with his spade, but when asked, pointed them in the direction of the parsonage.
