“No,” he said. “It felt like the most natural thing in the world. It went…a little faster than I would have liked, but we have our whole lives to perfect it.”
Louisa smiled at him. “I love you, Fletcher.”
He kissed her forehead. “I love you, too, but you’d better get back into your clothes and out of here before someone at your house notices you’re gone. And I’ll be sending one of my footmen with you to make sure you make it there. And you will not sneak over to be with me again until we’re married.”
“You can’t possibly expect me to abide by that last rule of yours now that Iknow.”
He sighed. “Perhaps,you’rethe unholy terror.”
“If I am, I learned from the best.” She sat up, preparing to get out of bed and do as he asked. “You love me.”
“More than words can express.
Epilogue
The wedding was a quiet affair at the end of the season, held in the garden behind the Petty house with just their close friends and family in attendance.
After the wedding, Fletcher and Louisa spent a month on the Continent together, seeing some of the finest opera houses—and operas—in the world. They both had a wonderful time, touring museums, looking at art, making love both at night and at odd hours of the day when they were idle and alone and the mood struck.
Fletcher could not remember ever being this happy. How had he been so foolish as to not see that Louisa was his perfect partner in everything?
When they returned, they were invited to a house party at Beresford House in Kent. Also in attendance were the Duke and Duchess of Swynford and their son, the Earl and Countess of Caernarfon and their son, a friend of the Marquess’s named Baron Edgmont, and of course Larkin Woodville, Earl Warning, and the Marquess of Beresford’s son.
Lord Edgmont was a bit of a curiosity; Fletcher had never met him before. It seemed he was a childhood friend of Anthony’s who didn’t spend much time in London, but who kept up a lively correspondence with Anthony still. He’d been a vicar at a small church a few miles from Beresford House before coming into his title and deciding he’d rather tend to some land he’d inherited, but he jested when he and Fletcher just met that once a vicar, always a vicar, and that made Fletcher wonder if he should perhaps be on his best behavior, and if Edgmont knew the true nature of Lark and Anthony’s relationship.
Still, it seemed like a fairly normal house party on the first day. Beresford House sat on a sprawling estate that allowed for horse riding and long strolls, something Fletcher took advantage of with his new wife. The manicured gardens off the back of the house proved to be a lovely place to talk a walk and engage in casual conversation and steal a few kisses.
The two boys who could ambulate, Edward and Dafydd, took off running across the path in front of where they walked one afternoon, one of the nannies hurrying after them.
“There are too many small boys about,” Louisa said.
“There are three, and the third barely counts because he is not yet big enough to walk,” Fletcher pointed out.
“That is too many.”
Fletcher laughed at that. “It is kind of fun having children about. I’ve not had many opportunities to spend time with them.”
“I hope our first child is a girl.”
“I could see that.” Fletcher froze. “You don’t…that is, do you know something…”
“Oh, no. I am not expecting. I’m just saying that when I do, I hope it’s a girl.”
“We did have fun in Europe, though. It would not surprise me if—”
“All in good time, my love.”
In the evening, Anthony generally eschewed formality. They all had dinner together in his formal dining room, but wine and conversation flowed freely. After the meal, the genders didn’t segregate themselves. Instead, Anthony had everyone gather after dinner for conversation and some casual games. Heexplained the rules of whist to Louisa, who took to it the way she’d taken to chess and quickly swindled several of Fletcher’s friends out of the wooden tokens they were using instead of money.
The gratifying thing was that everyone enjoyed each other’s company. No one felt the need to exile the women because they were able to keep up their ends of conversation. Anthony refrained from breaking out the cigars, mostly for Adele’s sake because, now that she was expecting, many smells—cigar smoke, roasting chicken, Anthony’s cologne—made her nauseous, but Lark did pour wine for anyone who wanted it.
So Fletcher was having a great time with his friends and Louisa and couldn’t think of a more pleasurable house party he’d ever attended.
The party took a turn on the third day. That was when Anthony announced that they would be doing something a bit unusual that afternoon. He led everyone out to the gardens, where seats were arranged in a semicircle around a display of flowers. Lord Edgmont walked over and stood in front of the display. Edgmont looked like a vicar about to preside over a wedding ceremony.
When everyone was seated, Lark said, “Thank you all for coming. We wanted you all to be here because Anthony and I have decided to do something a bit unusual and we wanted our close friends as witnesses. We are going to have a ceremony, led by Lord Edgmont, in which Anthony and I declare our commitment to one another.”
“Is this a wedding?” asked Grace.
