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"I see." Edward offered Jude a dark look.
"Oh, don't look at him that way. What was he to do? Push me out into the corridor naked?"
Jude put a hand over hers. "Marissa."
"Oh, I am done with all this. I am no better than I should be, and Jude does not mind that at all, and I love him."
"But no!" the dowager baroness squealed. "My darling girl ... it was lovely of Mr. Bertrand to offer to help, but to marry him for love... I cannot imagine."
Marissa shot her mother an impatient look. "You'll get used to it, Mother."
"Well... this is all very strange!"
"It is, " Jude agreed, and the baroness's feathers unruffled a bit.
She looked back and forth between the two of them. "I suppose we must make the most of it, as circumstances have already... progressed."
Aidan cursed again while Edward shook his head in disgust.
Her mother clapped her hands together with a sound like a shot. "We shall plan a spectacular wedding for just before Easter! Do you think your father might attend, Mr. Bertrand? What a coup that would be! I daresay—"
"I'm sorry, Mother," Marissa said. "But the wedding cannot wait until spring for obvious reasons. It might be more of a spectacle than even you would care to present."
Her mother's eyes dipped to Marissa's belly, and she actually took a moment to think it over. "Oh, I suppose you are right."
"Wait a moment!" Edward shouted. "I have not agreed to any of this."
"Oh, stop it, brother," Marissa scolded. "In a month's time, I will no longer be your problem."
"A month, you say?" His face lost some of its tension.
"Perhaps even less."
Her mother fluttered about, trying to convince them all that she could not possibly plan a wedding within a month's time. But when Jude assured her that his father would likely attend no matter the short notice, she settled into wedding plans with an enthusiasm that overtook the rest of the discussion.
"I'm due in Hull in a month," Aidan growled. "I've a new ship being outfitted."
Their mother quivered with outrage. "You will be at the wedding, Aidan York. She is your only sister, and she is blossoming into womanhood!"
The whole room went silent. Amazingly, no one laughed, though Marissa clearly came close.
Though Jude's mood had become impossibly light, he could see that neither York brother was at peace, so he offered a little bow to the room. "If
I could beg a moment of privacy with Edward and Aidan ..."
"Oh, of course!" the baroness chirped. "Marissa and Harry will come to the sewing room to look over the latest fashion plates that just arrived from London."
Harry had been sitting quietly in a corner, looking painfully embarrassed by the whole situation, but he brightened at the thought of escape. "Yes, of course! Anything I can do to help!"
"Mother," Marissa complained as she was ushered out, "there's no time for a grand wedding." Just before she was pushed out the door, she dug in her heels. "Wait!"
She rushed to Edward and gave him a tight hug.
"You're incorrigible," he growled, but when she smiled at him, his scowl twitched up for a split second.
"I'm happy," she whispered.
"You're sure?"
