“He’d better nae,” Beatrice muttered, her nose turned up. “But aye, I’m sorry we willnae be there.”
It would have been easy for Anna’s temper to flare at the woman’s cold attitude, especially at such a moment as this, when Anna needed all the encouragement she could get. But she held her tongue as she watched Beatrice pick up a dried thistle and bring the purple flower of it to her lips, kissing it.
Of course, she is not in the mood for a wedding.Anna’s demeanor softened. She wasn’t the only widow now residing in Stonebridge Manor, and Beatrice’s initiation into widowhood was that much fresher. More to the point, it was obvious that Beatrice actually missed her husband.
“That is quite all right,” Anna assured. “I would not expect you to be there. It has all been rather sudden, and… considering what has happened to you, there really is no need for you to trouble yourself.”
Beatrice shot her a frosty glance. “What would ye ken of what has happened, eh?”
“I… um… know that you lost your husband recently,” Anna replied, blushing furiously.
In the face of such obvious dislike, she didn’t have a clue what to do. She had never much liked confrontation… until she met Jeremy.
“Lost?” Beatrice scoffed. “That’s such a small word for it. More like, I had half of me heart torn out and stamped on. Daenae tellmethat ye ken what happened when ye were nae there! How could ye ken what it is like to watch the man ye love breathe his last?”
In her seat, Sophie seemed to shrink from the noise.
Katherine squared her shoulders. “Her Grace has lost people, too. We were just talking about her father, who was as dear to her, I am sure, as your husband was to you.”
“It is not a competition, remember,” Anna said quietly, putting a calming hand on Sophie’s shoulder. “No, Mrs. Bolt, I do not know what you have suffered, nor can I understand the pain you are in. All I can do is offer my sympathies.”
Beatrice sniffed. “Aye, well, they’re nae wanted.” She looked as if she might cry. “Sympathies daenae do anythin’, and if ye had a bit of common sense about ye, ye wouldnae bother with marryin’. Ye’d find a convent, and ye’d stay there, as far removed from the world as ye can be.”
Without another word, Jeremy’s sister-in-law picked Sophie up, the girl’s flower crown barely done, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door so hard behind her that the walls rattled. In the wake of her departure, Anna and Katherine exchanged startled looks. This was turning out to be quite the unusual wedding day, and not a bit of it was helping Anna to calm her nerves and doubts for the actual occasion.
“Grief does odd things to people, Your Grace,” Katherine said to break the tense silence. “Take no notice of her.”
Anna cleared her throat and smoothed down the front of her skirts. “Unless she is right? Maybe Ishouldfind a convent. We could both go, then I would not have to be without you.” She chuckled stiffly. “It would be one way to avoid another terrible match.”
“Do you want to leave?” Katherine asked, her tone serious. “I can arrange it. If not a convent, I can certainly sneak you away to the townhouse.”
Taking a deep breath and squeezing her eyes shut to hold back any tears that might dare to fall, Anna shook her head. “It is not the first time I have married out of duty. I should not tarnish my papa’s legacy by being dragged through the muck of the scandal sheets for a second time.” Her voice hitched at the thought of his dismay. “I want to get this over with. Please, let us go to the chapel before my legs are too shaky to walk.”
Katherine swooped in and took hold of Anna’s arm. “Everything will be all right.”
“Do you promise?” Anna asked with a weak smile.
Her friend gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “I swear it, and you know that I would never lie to you.”
For now, it was all the encouragement Anna needed to get through the ceremony. With guests waiting for a wedding and society eager for news, she really didn’t have a choice anymore.
Be condemned to a loveless marriage or condemn herself to the worst possible scorn that would ensure shenevershowed her face outside Stonebridge again? Not to mention, bringing ill-repute down on the likes of Sophie and Beatrice, who had already endured too much.
No, it wasn’t a choice at all.
CHAPTER 25
The chapel was a somewhat soulless, gray place on the far side of the estate where all the weak-hearted Holtons were buried. Jeremy knew; he had wandered through the small cemetery, reading the engravings on the headstones in a futile effort to calm himself.
Ye could say it was all a jest,he reasoned as he wandered the faint dirt path back to the entrance of the chapel.A trick that they’ve all fallen for. Surely, that would be enough to undo any scandal there might be?
He had scoured the scandal sheets himself, every morning since the wedding announcement. There had been excited mentions of the ‘happy, unexpected union,’ but there hadn’t been any allusion to what might or might not have happened beneath the wisteria. Maybe that meant Anna was safe.
The gate to the chapel grounds swung open with a squeal of old hinges, and the butler walked down the neater gravel path to meet him.
“Her Grace will soon be arriving,” Mr. Miller said crisply. “You should probably wait for her inside.”
Jeremy glanced at the chapel doors, then looked back at the swaying canopy of the nearby woods, with a glimpse of green lawns and the manor visible through the trees. Even out in the fresh air, he suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe, the sting of phantom smoke in his nostrils, choking his throat.
