Page 33 of The Mister I Married

It wasn’t that she didn’t wish to please Alex, but…a silk nightgown? She would feel ridiculous in such an impractical garment. And surely such a feeling was not conducive to satisfactory marital relations.

“Speaking of which…” Lady Keswick folded her hands in her lap and cleared her throat. “Are you…aware of all that happens between a man and a woman? The…intimacies, I mean?”

Emmy blinked. “I have no firsthand knowledge, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“You know perfectly well it isn’t.”

“I am aware of the mechanics of the act, yes,” Emmy said, fighting a smile.

“Well, thank goodness for that,” Lady Keswick replied. “I was not so lucky. On the eve of my wedding, your grandmother enumerated the mechanics in unsparing detail, and if I’d had any less faith in your father’s gentle nature, I would have been scared out of my wits.”

Emmy’s brows arched. “What on earth did she say to you?”

Her mother held up a hand. “It does not bear repeating. Suffice to say, she ended her lecture with some nonsense about the discomfort being a woman’s cross to bear and how I must endure with equanimity.” She met Emmy’s gaze. “I am telling you to do the exact opposite. Mr. Whitcomb strikes me as a kind man, and I believe he will do everything he can to make your wedding night a satisfying one. But, Emmy, if he doesn’t…” Her mother took her hand and laced their fingers together. “If you find your coupling unsatisfying, please tell him so. You are no one’s broodmare. You are to be his wife, his partner, and making love should be pleasurable for you both. Do you understand what I am saying?”

Emmy thought of the one and only time Alex had kissed her, of the pleasure she’d felt, and how she’d wanted more. Her mother was saying she should expect that feeling. Demand it, even.

“Yes, I understand.”

“Good,” Lady Keswick said. “You have never been afraid to speak your mind. Don’t change now.”

Emmy smiled and squeezed her hand. “I won’t, Mother. I promise.”

“I’m proud of you, you know. And I’m going to miss you so much.”

“I shall miss you, too,” she said, as her eyes misted with tears.

Her mother pulled her in for a hug and they held each other for a time, sniffling and snuffling, and murmuring nonsensical words of affection.

“I don’t know why you’re crying,” Emmy teased as she slipped free, dabbing at her eyes. “You’ve been trying to marry me off for ages.”

“These are tears of relief, dearest,” her mother quipped without skipping a beat.

Emmy laughed and Lady Keswick joined her, and soon the two were giggling like loons, their cheeks wet with tears.

“Come along, dear,” her mother said, climbing off the bed once their laughter had begun to subside. “We must get you dressed. It is almost time for your wedding.”

And, one hour later, dressed in a pale green satin gown with sweet pea blossoms laced through her hair, Emmy entered the drawing room on wobbly legs.

Alex was there already, speaking with their bespectacled clergyman who looked too young to marry himself, let alone anybody else.

Tess and Mrs. Lawrence approached, offering their compliments and congratulations as Emmy’s mother sniffled tastefully into her handkerchief.

Moments later, Emmy found herself standing next to Alex before the clergyman, torn between bolting for the door and laughing like a lunatic.

“You look terrified,” Alex said quietly, watching her closely, though his eyes held not a hint of recrimination.

“I am a little nervous,” she admitted.

He smiled as if recognizing it for the understatement it was. “It isn’t too late to change your mind, Emmy.”

She shot him a glare. “Of course it is,” she said. “But the point is moot. I don’t want to change my mind.”

She turned her attention to the awaiting clergyman and clasped her sweating, trembling hands at her front, signaling an end to the conversation. She was as ready as she would ever be.

The clergyman cleared his throat, pausing for a moment to ensure all eyes were on him, and then he began.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony…”