When it was my turn to speak, I tried to sound as steadfast as David had, but my voice cracked the moment I opened my mouth. By the end, my words were clear.
And when we both answered, “I will,” to the vicar’s question, tears filled my eyes. Somehow, our little cottage felt as holy and sanctified as any church.
“Such a beautiful wedding.” Mama’s eyes were wet when she embraced me after the ceremony. Everyone else had very similar sentiments, including the vicar.
Mrs. Preston embraced me tighter than anyone else and bent to my ear. “I was so very worried about not being able to help you more. I’m so grateful everything turned out so well for you. Mr. Tate is one of the kindest men I know.”
After Mama and I served tea to everyone, our guests left with smiles on their faces. The carriage ride to Tate Hall was full of stolen glances between David and me, all while Mama and Julia discussed what rooms had been opened now that the family was expanding.
When we arrived, the servants lined the entry hall, and the second Mama saw them, she gave a quick little gasp and squeezed my hand.
For the size of the estate, there were fewer servants than I would have expected, but to have any help other than borrowed help wouldbe a luxury Mama and I hadn’t had since Atwood Manor had fallen into my uncle’s hands.
David held my hand throughout the introductions, and afterward, the servants were dismissed, and he pulled me aside. “We will have to hire a maid for you and your mother. I was thinking one of the Miss Mortensens might be taught, if you would be open to a maid who would need training.”
I beamed at him. “That would be wonderful.” Tate Hall was magnificent, and if Mrs. Mortensen could spare Maren, that would add one more thing to my happiness.
David swallowed and nodded, taking a step away from me.
“Would the two of you like to have dinner alone?” Julia asked.
“No,” I quickly responded. I wasn’t ready to spend an hour alone in my husband’s company. Not so soon after everything we’d vowed to each other during our wedding. It still felt too real. “We are all family now, and you are as important to me as David.”
Julia laughed. “I hope that isn’t true, but it is very kind of you to say.”
I smiled at her and grabbed her hand. “Show me to the dining room.”
Julia laughed. “I’m happy to show you toyourdining room.”
I should have walked into the room with David, but instead, he took Mama’s arm, and they followed Julia and me. David and I sat next to each other, and every so often, I had to remind my hands to keep to themselves. It would have been so easy to take his hand or brush some nonexistent lint from his shoulder. If I’d been a true wife to him, my fingers would have sought his throughout the meal. Perhaps I should have done all of those things—I was bound and determined to do everything on David’s list, including touching him in these kinds of ordinary ways. But I didn’t feel ready to start on the list yet.
After finishing the pudding the staff had made to celebrate the wedding, Julia and Mama stood simultaneously.
“It has been a very eventful day,” Mama said. “I believe I will retire early.”
Julia nodded her agreement. She walked to our side of the table and kissed David on the forehead and me on the cheek. Mama followed her, kissing both of my cheeks and tearing up slightly. Then turning to David, she grabbed both of his cheeks and to my complete mortification, placed a quick kiss on his mouth. David’s eyes widened, but thankfully, he laughed.
Mama put a hand on her hip, unrepentant. “I won’t be making a practice of that, but I want you to know how happy you have made us. I’m proud to call you my son.”
Then they were gone.
David and I were alone, in our shared home, as husband and wife.
He sat back in his chair, reached for my hand, lifted it to his mouth, and kissed it. I inhaled sharply. Mama wasn’t here, and despite his kiss this morning, I’d thought such little touches would be saved for when she was near.
“Mrs. Tate,” David said, “I hope you found the day agreeable?”
I nodded, not trusting my voice. I was a married woman, and I was married to a vibrant man with the kindness of angels. The fact that only weeks ago, I’d thought I may have to marry someone as unlikeable as Mr. Green was not lost on me. My life had taken a dramatic turn for the better.
Footsteps sounded in the corridor just outside the dining room door. After spending so much time in a small cottage, the vast and nearly empty rooms of Tate Hall seemed to make the noises of the servants’ busy work echo around us.
David dropped my hand and smiled a half-smile. He coughed softly and ran a hand through his hair, mussing it in a way thatreminded me that despite how much he’d grown, despite his skilled thatching hands, and despite the fact that he now had a wife, he was still young. “Should I show you to your room?”
He was not, as it turned out, so very young as to not make that sentence loom with meaning, even if he hadn’t meant it to. I nodded. “Yes, you must be exhausted.”
“I suspect I will fall asleep immediately tonight,” he said with a small chuckle. “Finding myself a wife cost me a full night of rest.”
He kept hold of my hand and pulled me forward. We left the dining room and climbed the stairs to a long corridor. We passed several doors on each side while we walked down it but didn’t stop until we arrived at a door that stood at the end of the corridor. David paused with his hand on the doorknob. “This was my mother’s room. It hasn’t been used for over thirteen years. I didn’t give the servants long to prepare it, so if you need anything—anything at all—ring the bell, and they will see that you have it.”
