“How do you do?” Elise said. She extended a hand. For a long moment, Dani thought Miriam would bolt from the room. But she peeled from Dani’s side, took Elise’s hand, and bobbed a perfect curtsy.
“Pleasure,” Miriam said.
Elise smiled with genuine warmth. “The pleasure is mine, madam.” Tearing her attention back to Dani, she said, “You’re so beautiful. I can barely look at you, you are so beautiful. And you are well? You are in good health? And happy? And loved?” She laughed. “Sorry. These have been my prayers, daily, all these years.”
“Oh yes. Entirely,” Dani assured her. She could feel herself smiling back at her. A tear fell from her eye and she swiped it away.
Elise laughed again, the broken sound revealing her own tears. “You look so very much like our mother. That is, the mother of your birth. She was Spanish—did you know? With black hair and green eyes, just like you. She has passed on; but I saw her, briefly, on the occasion of my own wedding. The resemblance is striking. Oh...”
Elise dropped her face into her hands and let out a tearful breath, the sound of exhaustion and relief. When she looked up, she was smiling through tears. “I’ve been searching for you, Danielle. Foryears, we have searched. We’ve a brother—Gabriel—and I searched for him, too. Gabriel and I reunited a little more than two years ago. He’s on his way here, actually. He and his wife live in Guernsey but I sent word, just in case it was— Just in case this was real... that it was actually you. And now here you are, and you’re so very real.”
“Oh yes,” Dani said, wiping away another tear, “quite real.”
“But I’m being terribly rude—to interrupt your most important day. I had no idea. An investigator was making inquiries, and we followed the questions, and we learned he was hired by none other than the national war hero Captain Luke Bannock. And thenmyinvestigator met with thecaptain’sinvestigator, and we learned your location. We came as soon as we’d heard—we left Middlesex the same day. I’ve brought my family with me—I couldn’t be bothered to make other arrangements. We’d been searching for so long, as I’ve said. I could only think to come to you.”
“I’m... I’m so very glad you did.” Dani looked at Miriam. Her mother gaped at Elise like she was a debt collector evicting her from her home.
“I’d love to...” Dani began. She wiped away another tear. “That is, perhaps we can speak more after the—” A tearful chuckle. “Sorry.”
“Oh course. Go, go, go. I’ll just— I meant only to see you with my own eyes. Please, carry on. If there is an inn in the village, we’ll take rooms. I’ve my daughters with me. And my friend Marie—oh, you must meet Marie. She is the nun who secreted me out of France; she’s been by my side for twenty years. Then Killian, of course, and his nephew, Lord Bartholomew. On second thought, there’s not likely to be an inn here large enough for the very great lot of us. We’ll embark on Maidstone. Days from now, when you take a breath—”
“But you must stay for the wedding,” Dani said. “Please. All of you. I insist. There should be room for everyone. If not on my family’s side of the aisle, then certainly on Captain Bannock’s. I should like to introduce you to him—the captain. I would... I would learn more about you, if you have time.”
“Yes,” Elise was saying, nodding and wiping tears away. “Yes, yes. If you’re certain. We’ll not be in the way, I promise. Thank you so much. I never dreamed to be included in the wedding of my... of mysister.” A watery sob.
“I would like that very much,” said Dani, grinning at her. Then she and Elise were quiet, smiling and drinking in the sight of each other. The moment pulsed and shone with love, and potential, and a shimmering peacefulness.
After ten seconds of grinning and staring, when Dani could no longer resist, she burst forward and threw herself at Elise. Her sister leaped, pulling her in, and they clung in a tight embrace. They cried in earnest now, rocking back and forth.
“We’ve found you, we’ve found you, after all this time, we’ve found you,” Elise whispered into her veil. “And you appear so very well. Praise God, you are well.”
Over Dani’s shoulder, Elise spoke to Miriam, her words thick with tears. “Thank you, Mrs. Dinwiddie, for raising up our sister. Thank you, thank you, thank you...”
Chapter 18
“You didn’t tell her?” Fernsby hissed. He spoke in the frustrated whisper of someone losing his composure in public. They weren’t in public, not yet, but soon. Five more minutes, ten at the most. He and Luke stood in the corridor beside the nave, waiting for guests to enter the church. Around the corner, Vicar Broom instructed the pianist on a selection of hymns.
“How was I to tell her,” Luke whispered back, “when an infantry of long-lost relatives descended on the churchyard? The timing was impossible.”
“That man,” Fernsby said, pointing outside, “Mr. Killian Crewes? He worked inside St. James’s Palace for years. As hired muscle.For the king.He’s shrewdly proficient in subterfuge, in court intrigue. He knows where all the bodies are buried, Bannock. I’ve no doubt he buried many himself. You’re in over your head, and I’m not sure I can save you.”
“Funny, I had the same thought when you’d been pitched, unconscious, into the Atlantic.” He exhaled. “Look, I’m going to walk away, James. But I can’t leave her at the altar like a dishonorable blaggard. I’ve got no choice but to marry her now and offer an annulment tomorrow.”
“Here’s an idea,” hissed Fernsby, “why not marry her andremain? She’s fond of you. She loves the estate. You can become her husband,remainher husband, and recover Welty some other way. I will help you.”
“If I thought there was an effective way to recover Linus without using her, James, I would have tried it—I did try it, remember? I spent months trying to breach Surcouf’s castle. I’ve researched every alternative but Princess Danielle and her dowry were the only leverage irresistible enough for Surcouf to cooperate. There is no better way. If she’s no longer an option—and she is not, I see that now—I’ll simply try again with the insufficient options left to me.”
“You saved Linus Welty when you forced him to surrender to Surcouf instead of fighting that night. He’s alive, Luke. You can—”
“Who’s ready for a wedding?” They were interrupted by Vicar Broom, calling down the corridor. The first strains of pianoforte music could be heard from inside the church.
Luke turned back to Fernsby. “I forced Linus to surrender but I ordered the remaining crew to fight, didn’t I?” he whispered. “My deadly mistake. We all should have surrendered. My vanity killed the crew and it saw Linus captured alone, and now I will die trying to recover him, and he’ll die in a dungeon. But first, I’ll break the princess’s heart.AfterI bloody marry her. The whole wretched thing has been mishandled from the start. I take full responsibility.”
“You’re too hopeless, Bannock,” Fernsby accused, shaking his head. “Your problem is not vanity, or bad orders, or failed rescue attempts, it’s that you rely on information and not hope.”
“My hope is at the bottom of the Atlantic with my ship and my crew,” Luke said. Turning to Vicar Broom, he put on a sad smile. “A wedding—yes. Lead the way, Vicar.”
From that moment, there was no going back. Luke took his place in the unlikely quartet of Vicar Broom, Amelia Broom, and Fernsby. The altar lacked only a bride. While they waited, Luke looked out on the rows of packed pews. Well-meaning strangers grinned back, their expressions warm and admiring. They regarded Luke as if they’d known him all of their lives. Except for Killian Crewes. His smile was cautious and reserved; Killian Crewes’s smile said,I don’t know you, but Iknow your kind.
