“Easy lads, easy. First, the proper thing is to congratulate the lucky gentleman and wish the lady happy. Second, to answer your most pressing question, no. I’m not taking your Miss Patience away. I’m afraid you will have to endure my presence atThe Academy for the Formation of Young Gentlemen.”
There was no room for more attention to Norb’s behavior, because Patience was surrounded by her boys rushing to wish her happy as instructed. Zach let go of her to accept the majors’ congratulations, leaving her with a peculiar feeling of being disconnected, but she was inundated with well-wishers among her friends from the inn.
Brewster insisted they all come to the tap room for a celebratory toast. Zach smiled down at her, “Are you at ease with all this fuss?”
“Perfectly,” she said, taking his arm to let him lead her in. She glanced up to see Mrs. Fullerton, the housekeeper from Morphew Manor, sneering at her. When the woman realized she’d been caught, she flounced away from the window.Your loss, you old witch. Run to my cousin with it. He’s likely to toss you out.
It was an hour before the celebration subsided enough for Patience to have a quiet moment at a table with old Mr. Morling. She loved the dear old man, and he, in turn, had been proud his grandson could attend her academy.
“I’d gone out to check my traps by my cottage early dawn Monday; still raining but the wind wasn’t as fierce. Found the lad on the road a quarter mile up staring into the marsh looking like a scared rabbit. Couldn’t find the track.” The old man took him home until the rain stopped, when he brought the boy to the inn. By that time, Zach and Patience were well on their way across the marsh, and he didn’t see them.
If there were raised eyebrows at the inn, the sight of their clasped hands and private looks reassured the locals. The others didn’t matter, not to Patience, not to Zach.
One of the footmen interrupted the excitement soon after when he announced that a sleek sloop was sighted off the coast.
Patience saw the majors rise to their feet. “May I borrow that spy glass of yours, Brewster?” Major Mallet asked. He and Heyworth rushed after the footman to the vantage point on the floor above. She saw a well-dressed gentleman follow them.
Patience followed the crowd to the seashore where they watched the sloop lower a whaleboat into the churning sea. By the time the boat rowed in to Fenwick and a very correct naval officer in a starched uniform jumped out, saturating his perfectly polished boots, the majors had come down, crisply uniformed and followed by two other guests from the inn, the gentleman who had followed the majors, who turned out to be an earl bound for Brussels, and his sister. A footman brought up the rear with their luggage.
“I’m looking for Major Andrew Mallet and Major James Heyworth,” the starched-up ensign called.
“You found them,” Jamie Heyworth replied, as Mallet directed the footman to put their luggage in the boat. “How did Glenaire find us?”
The ensign grinned. “How does the Marble Marquess do anything? When you didn’t turn up in Yarmouth as scheduled, he told the captain you’d be holed up from the storm somewhere snug. We guessed this place likely.”
“We were indeed.” Heyworth quickly explained the Earl of Hythe’s need to get to Brussels and their offer of transportation. The ensign assisted the earl’s sister into the whale boat and oversaw the loading of trunks while Heyworth turned to thank Brewster and Mallet discretely handed him more cash than required. The two of them approached Zach and Patience.
“It’s been a pure pleasure, Sergeant Newell,” Mallet said, shaking his hand. He handed Zach an envelope. “That will more than cover your uncle’s expenses. The rest is a wedding present.”
“Thank you, Major,” Patience said, impulsively planting a kiss on his cheek.
“It has been my honor, sir,” Zach told him. “You go take care of Boney once and for all.”
“That we will,” Mallet replied. Patience found his expression profoundly sad.
“Sorry we’ll miss the wedding,” Heyworth added jovially, giving Patience a peck on the cheek. “You two be good to one another.” He strode off and clambered over the side of the whale boat.
The crowd watched the boat row out to the waiting sloop. “That doesn’t look like any navy vessel,” Brewster sighed. “Beauty of a thing.”
“I was to deliver them to meet the Marquess of Glenaire’s personal yacht,” Zach replied, without taking his eyes from the sea. Patience felt his hand, long fingered and tender, slip up her back, caress the back of her neck, and go around her shoulder to pull her close.
His arm around her, her head on his shoulder, they stood together, gazing out to sea until the ship took sail and disappeared.
“Do you wish you were going with them?” she asked.
“I won’t lie. Part of me wants to see the end of this thing. If we don’t stop Napoleon now, we’ll be at war until our boys are grandfathers.” He turned to her then and cupped her cheek, “But I have more important things to see to; making you happy for the rest of our lives.”
He kissed her then in the gentle wind to the sound of waves lapping the shore.
EPILOGUE
To Zach’s immense relief, Patience adamantly refused his offer of “a proper courtship.” He didn’t think he could have kept his resolution to keep his hands from her if the thing had gone on for more than the three weeks it took to call the banns.
Those weeks gave him enough time to return his uncle’s rig, to share his joy with family, and to ship his belongings to Fenwick. Still, three weeks can feel interminable to an eager bridegroom. His wedding, or more to the point, wedding night, couldn’t come soon enough to suit him.
Sun blessed their wedding day, enabling Zach to walk to Fenwick on Sea’s ancient stone chapel side by side with Mr. Abney. Fenwick’s own vicar, Barnabas Somerville, met them at the door. Though still weak from a bout of illness, Mr. Somerville beamed approvingly and showed them to the sacristy. There, Zach paced, waiting.
Zach’s cousin Paul, the one likely to inherit the coaching business, joined him. Paul had come to stand up with him, and surprised Zach by filling one of his uncle’s carriages with his sister Abigail, her husband Ralph, and their little ones. They brought a polite note of congratulations from his brother Jeremiah, which was more than he expected.
