‘And I married the perfect wife,’ he replied, and kissed her temple.
‘Can you believe that’s the same girl I had to drag off the porch to be your croquet partner the day of the garden party?’ her sister Janine asked him.
‘No, I can’t,’ Drake admitted, while looking at Meridith. ‘Sometimes. Other times, I know she’s the same girl because she wins at everything she does.’
Laughter ensued as Meridith shook her head at his teasing.
‘I don’t know about the rest of you,’ Chesterfield said, ‘but I’m going to sleep better tonight than I have in the last six years.’
The duchess, Alena, slapped his arm, while the rest of them muffled their renewed laughter.
Other than Meridith. She planted her hands on her hips and said, ‘Just what are you saying, dear brother?’
Chesterfield stepped forward and kissed her cheek. ‘That I love you. Your husband does, too, and he’s going to take very good care of you.’
‘I know that, too, Peter,’ Meridith said, giving her brother a hug, ‘and I know that you took very good care of me, too.’
‘All right, you two,’ Alena said, stepping forward to hug Meridith. ‘I’ve already cried enough, and we still have breakfast to get through.’
After hugging her sister-in-law, Meridith looped her arm through his. ‘I mailed the letter, Alena,’ she said.
‘Yes, you did,’ Lady Alena replied, ‘and I’m so very proud of you.’
‘What letter?’ Drake asked.
Meridith looked up at him with a smile that was brighter than summer sunlight on a blue ocean. ‘The one that says I love you,’ she said.
Drake didn’t recall receiving such a letter, but made no comment because the ink had dried on the paperwork, and he was handed their copies. They were then ushered to the doorway and received yet another jubilant fanfare from the well-wishers who had waited outside of the church to throw rice.
Keeping an arm around Meridith’s shoulders and ducking his head over hers to protect her from the handfuls of rice being tossed ardently on them, Drake guided her to the new, open carriage he’d recently purchased that was waiting for them.
Once they were seated, he signaled to George, who was sitting on the driver’s seat, to set the team of matching white horses into motion.
Just as the wheels began to turn, Meridith lifted the bouquet of flowers she’d carried during the service and threw it backwards over her head. Then she jumped up to look behind them and see who had caught it.
‘Oh! Alice caught it!’ she told him as she plopped back down beside him. ‘She’s one of the girls I knew from school. Although, she got kicked out for sneaking out to see boys during her second year.’
Looping his arm around her shoulders, he said, ‘Sneaking out to see boys. You never told me about that.’
She snuggled up against him. ‘I never told anyone about that. It ranks right up there with cutting off a bustle. Although, I did tell Diana about the bustle.’
‘Would you like to know where that is?’
She frowned. ‘You burned it.’
Drake shook his head. ‘I kept it as a souvenir.’
She slapped his thigh. ‘You did not!’
‘I did. It’s in my bureau drawer.’
Mouth agape, she stared at him.
He laughed. ‘I love you.’
She laughed, too. ‘Well, now I know that for sure, and it’s wonderful!’
‘Wonderful indeed,’ he said, and kissed her, not caring an iota who saw as the carriage rolled along the streets of London.
