The morning of his wedding dawned bright, without a cloud in the sky.Matthew took that as a good sign.Rather than breaking his fast in the dining room, he ordered a tray in.The quiet was rather nice.Plus, it was bad luck to see his bride on their wedding day, so he flipped his coin to see if he should attend breakfast and discovered he should not.
So, a tray in his room it was.
He was not entirely surprised when his Grandmama stopped by to speak with him, not long after he finished eating.She did not even raise an eyebrow at finding him still in his dressing gown.
“Matthew.”She sighed as she sat down on one of his chairs.“Are you sure you know what you are about?”
Blinking, he tilted his head at her.
“What do you mean, Grandmama?I thought you liked Johanna.You certainly are spending my money as if you do.”
“I would spend the money regardless, as she and her family need to be brought up to snuff if she is going to be your bride,” she said reprovingly.“But you are moving very quickly.The poor girl is overwhelmed.Her family is overwhelmed.You have moved them from their own home and are thrusting them into the heart of theton, unprepared and untrained.”
“They are overwhelmed?”He had seen no evidence of any such thing.
“Yes.Well, not Bridget.”Grandmama waved her hand.“I do not think Napoleon’s armies could have overwhelmed that girl.But the rest of them…”
“If they are overwhelmed, they are bearing up incredibly well.”
“Perhaps.”She pursed her lips, and he knew that she had not yet gotten around to what she really wanted to say.Which was unusual for her, as normally she went straight to the point.She only avoided it when she thought he might take it badly.“More to the point, are you sure you want to marry her?”
“Of course.”He realized his hand was smoothing over the pocket where his coin rested, and he quickly dropped his hand into his lap.Grandmama, of course, saw everything anyway, and she raised her eyebrow at him.“I have already said I would, and I see no reason to change my mind.She is perfectly suitable.”
Besides, his coin had told him to.
Which he knew was his grandmother’s real objection.
“What I am saying is that you cannot flip a coin for love,” she finally said, sounding exasperated.
Yes, he’d been correct, although he was surprised by her assumption.
“Oh, I know,” he reassured her.“I flipped it for a bride.”
The expression on her face was very odd.If she was not his grandmother, he would think she wanted to stick him with a fork, the way Lady Astrid would with Drake.She closed her eyes for a moment, and he knew that she was calling on her patience, though he did not entirely understand why.
Matthew waited.If she had a point to make, she would do so when she was ready.
Finally, she opened her eyes again.
“I want you to be happy, Matthew,” she said firmly, and he nodded.Happy was also what he wanted.“I would like you to have a love match.Like your friends.”
“You know those were not truly love matches.”
“They became such.”
Had they?Matthew had not realized.Or perhaps it was just his grandmother being fanciful.Of course, Gregory and Nathanial liked their wives.Nathanial had forgiven Kalina for trapping him—or, rather, he now believed it was her father who had trapped him and he’d forgiven her father.Gregory was married to Sebastian’s sister, so of course he was going to do everything he could to keep her happy.
But love?
That seemed unlikely.
He would have to ask them.
“Do you think you could one day love Johanna?”Grandmama asked wistfully.
“I do not know.”It was the honest answer.
“Don’t you dare take out that coin to flip it for this!”Her sharp order made him drop his hand.
