Lucy laughed. Lady Bridgewater would definitely care. She would never hear the end of her son living his life as a working man. “Honestly, my parents would struggle with it as well, and I’m already going to have a lot of explaining to do when I get home.”
“Decide quickly,” Matthew said. “Mr. Miner just stepped out of the soap shop and I’m going to very much enjoy letting him know.”
“Let’s be Mr. Scarper and Miss Shroud for one more day.”
Matthew smiled at her, letting her know how much he enjoyed that thought by pulling her onto his lap. A noise somewhere between a laugh and a gasp of surprise escaped her lips. Matthew winked at her. “Good, because I’m fairly certain laborers are given a few more liberties when it comes to showing the world how deeply they love their fiancées.” Matthew had an arm on each side of her and the reins in his hands, but he still managed to wave to Mr. Miner.
Mr. Miner’s eyes went wide, but then the corners of his mouth rose in a broad smile. He strode toward them, intercepting them before they made it to his store. Lucy’s face was warm. She’d never sat on a man’s lap before, and never would have dreamed of doing it in public, but Mr. Miner seemed to take it in stride.
Perhaps Matthew was right. As long as they remained Mr. Scarper and Miss Shroud, no one would begrudge them some physical contact. She touched her lips to Matthew’s ear. “I like this idea of remaining anonymous.”
He squeezed her tighter between his arms in response.
Mr. Miner reached their cart and Matthew pulled Marge to a stop.
“Well, what do we have here?” Mr. Miner asked.
“Miss Shroud and I are engaged,” Matthew said, with a grin so wide it made him look like a giddy school boy.
“It’s about time. If Mr. Victor wasn’t a vicar, the two of us would have placed bets on when this was happening. Congratulations!”
Lucy and Matthew both thanked him, and the heat that had been in Lucy’s cheeks started to subside. What a blessing, to be able to show the world that she and Matthew belonged together.
“I have a delivery for you in the back of my cart,” Matthew said. “And while I would typically fetch it myself, I find myself very comfortable at the moment.” He rested his chin on Lucy’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I wonder if you wouldn’t mind grabbing it yourself?”
“Not at all,” Mr. Miner said, climbing up the sidebar of the cart and pulling up a parcel that he must have recognized as his. He landed back on the ground and held up his package toward Matthew. “Thank you for the delivery. It is some specialty lye I’ve ordered from London. Speaking of soap, though, I do feel like I should warn you. Miss Shroud spent so much time in my shop, but despite what you might think, she isn’t overly excited about soap.”
Lucy pushed her lips together to avoid laughing outright.
Matthew, however, narrowed his eyes at her and examined her face as if he were seeing her for the first time. “Really?” he asked, slowly. “I suppose I’ll have to keep a close eye on her. Just to make certain she doesn’t hide anything important like that from me.”
Mr. Miner laughed and put a finger to the side of his nose. “I’m guessing you won’t mind that a bit.”
“I won’t,” Matthew replied, then clicked his tongue so that Marge would take them to the next shop.
“Can I finally convince you to come into the millinery with me?” Matthew asked.
Lucy groaned. “I don’t think Miss Creighton likes me.”
“That's all right. She likes me enough for both of us,” Matthew countered.
Lucy dropped her jaw and shoved him slightly. “You told me she wasn’t interested in you.”
“Did I?” Matthew looked confused.
“You definitely did.”
“Huh.” He replied. “I guess I lied. It’s a bad habit the two of us have.”
Telling the rest of the town their news went better than Lucy would have ever thought possible. There was something freeing about not having thetonlook over them as they announced their engagement. In a town like Fenswallow, there was no talk of dowries or if the match would help either of them socially. Everyone they knew congratulated them, not on a good match, but on finding each other. Almost no one was surprised.
Even telling Miss Creighton wasn’t as painful as Lucy had thought it would be, though she didn’t seem quite as happy as the other townsfolk. Their last stop before heading out of town to Johnson’s farm was to see the Garvises.
Mr. and Mrs. Garvis were outside waiting for them when they got there. They both had huge grins on their faces. Lucy turned to Matthew. “It looks as though our news has preceded us.”
“Not all of it.” He grinned back. “I have to tell them the truth about us, and I’m probably going to have to buy all my books from Mr. Garvis for the rest of my life to make up for deceiving him.”
Lucy bumped her shoulder into his. “You were going to do that anyway.”
