“I gather Cathleen hasagreed to accompany us to England?”
Erina twisted her fingers together.“Not exactly.”
He turned on the seat to better studyher. “What does ‘not exactly’ mean?”
Her gaze fled to his. “I didn’treceive a reply to my last letter. The mails being what they are.”She waited for his reproachful reply.
“We’ll know soon enough,”Harry said in a mild tone.
“Yes.” She smiled at himgratefully. “I shall have to find a pawnbroker or jeweler in Dublinwho will agree to buy my jewelry.”
“What jewels would thosebe?”
“This cameo and my pearls.They were my mother’s. I hate selling them, but it’s for a worthycause. Mama would have approved.”
Harry said nothing.
An hour passed in relative silence asthe rain pattered on the roof of the carriage, slowing them to apainful crawl and blanketing their view. The landscape wasn’tparticularly exciting, just endless green fields where livestockhuddled together in the misty rain.
Erina was in danger of revealing herfrustration and declaring that at this rate they wouldn’t get thereuntil dinner when they came to a river where swans gathered. Theycould see a stone castle half of it in ruins on the hill in thedistance. Ahead, lay the town of Nass. She leaped up and opened thewindow, letting the cool moist air flood in. “Oh, we’re here!Driver! We are to go straight along the main street and take theright fork in the road. The lane is about a mile fartheron.”
They turned where a sign indanger of toppling bore the name,WighamHouse. The lane to the manor house wasrutted with potholes. They could hear the jarvie cursing as heguided the horses along it. After a bend in the road, they cleareda dense copse of trees and a charming three-story stone house cameinto view, the walls covered in creeper, the arched front doorflanked by stone columns. Smoke rose from one of the twin chimneysset side by side on the roof.
Erina turned from the window andseized Harry’s lapel. “We’re here, I can’t believe it!” She kissedhis cheek breathing in his cologne, citrus with a hint of lavender.“Thank you so much, Harry!”
“Steady on.” Harry smoothedhis coat. “Who knows what we’ll find.”
As they approached, chickens scratchedthe earth in gardens choked with weeds. Up close the house lostsome of its charm. Several slates were missing from the roof, thefront door and the windowsills bare of paint, and a creeperthreatened to grow across some upstairs window panes.
While Harry saw to the driver, Erinapicked up her skirts and half ran down the path to knock on thedoor.
Silence. She knocked again. Finally,footsteps sounded, and the door was flung open. The aroma of freshbaked bread wafted out. A plump woman stood in the stone-flaggedpassage wiping her hands on her apron. She looked at Erina and thenat Harry, who stood behind her. “Who’d you be wantingthen?”
“Miss CathleenSullivan.”
“Miss Cathleen didn’t saythere’d be guests. Why come here? Are ye lost? I’m busy with thebreakfast.”
Erina stared at her.
Harry stepped forward. “Where is MissSullivan, madam?”
“They’re at the church,o’course. Getting themselves wed. She and MisterGormley.”
Erina spun around and stared atHarry.
“Where is the church?” heasked.
“In the village,o’course.”
“Good thing I asked thejarvie to wait.” Harry took Erina’s elbow and led her back to thecarriage.
She felt as if she was wading throughwater. “What if we’re too late?”
“Let’s deal with that whenwe get there.” He helped her inside. “Back to the village, driver.The church, if you please.”
When they entered the small stonechurch, a slim girl in an ivory-colored dress with hair the exactsame red as Erina’s, stood at the altar beside a big carroty-hairedman. The priest in his robes was intoning the marriage vows, hisvoice echoing around the almost empty church. Her heart began tobang in her chest. Here, in this hallowed building, the enormity ofwhat she was about to do struck her. What if she was wrong, andthis had become a love match? She glanced at Harry tempted to askfor his support. Instead, she moved closer to the group gathered atthe altar.
After a frowning glance, the priestcontinued. “If anyone can show just cause why this couple cannotlawfully be joined together in matrimony, let them speak now orforever hold their peace.”
