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Chapter 21
When the carriage came upon Louisa’s family home, her mother came running out to meet them. Louisa was surprised to see her mother in such a state, as there was no possible way that she could have known all that had happened this morning. But when she saw that her mother looked panicked as opposed to overjoyed, Louisa’s heart sank. She knew there had to be something wrong with her father.
Louisa burst from the carriage and ran to her mother. “Papa?” she asked, and Martha silently nodded. The two women dashed inside the house, and Louisa flew into her parents’ room. However, when she saw her father, he was not even remotely in the state that she thought he would be. He was sitting up in bed, nicely dressed, with his hair combed and his beard shaved. He followed Louisa with his eyes when she appeared in front of him, and she came to sit right by him.
“Papa,” she said quietly, “what has happened; what is the matter? Do you feel that you are going to have another attack? Shall I fetch Doctor Abbott?”
Miraculously, Archie shook his head. Louisa jerked her head back in surprise, as he had not been able to do that since he had his fit. Then, to her further surprise ... he began speaking.
“L ... Lu ... Lulu,” he stammered. His speech was halting and quiet, but it was undeniably his voice returning to him. Louisa looked back at her mother and saw that she had tears streaming down her face. She found herself crying too as she looked back at her father.
“Yes, Papa, yes!” she encouraged him, taking his hand and kissing it. The ultimate surprise, however, came when Archie was able to squeeze her hand back. Louisa very nearly dropped it out of shock.
“Abbott ... w ... working ...” Archie explained. “Bett ... er by the ... hour. Miss ... ed talk ... talking to ... you b ... both.”
That did it for Louisa. She collapsed upon her father, breaking down in tears. She hugged him as tightly as she could, and when she felt his hand upon her back, trying to embrace her, it only made her cry harder.
Eventually, Louisa was able to scrape herself up off of the bed for long enough to say, “I missed conversing with you too, Papa. I am so very glad that Doctor Abbott’s work is helping you, and we shall not stop until we get you back at full capacity!”
Suddenly, Archie’s look turned sad. “May ... may never,” he reported, and Louisa quickly worked to undo what she had said.
“Oh, no, no … I didn’t mean that we needed you back at full capacity,” she expressed, “for I am just glad to have you here with us, Papa. But ... perhaps the next thing that you might work towards with Dr Abbott is being able to walk me somewhere special.”
Archie arched his eyebrow. “Sp ... ecial, where?” he asked.
Louisa looked back at her mother and smiled at her. “Down the aisle,” she responded, and both of her parents gasped.
“You’re getting married?!” Martha cried, rushing to her daughter. “To who, to who?”
“You’re already quite well acquainted with him, Mama and Papa,” Louisa responded. She let the question hang in the air for a moment to add to the suspense, and then called, “Isaac! Could you please come in here?”
When Isaac walked in (with his now well-bandaged arm), Martha looked like she was going to collapse from shock. Louisa looked to her father and saw his eyes welling up with tears. “Q ... Quince,” he said very clearly, and Isaac looked to him immediately. “Permission ... requested?”
Isaac’s eyes widened. “I must apologize profusely, Mr Pelham,” Isaac said. “You are absolutely right; I did not seek your permission to marry Louisa before we became engaged ... might I ask for it retroactively?”
Archie gave Isaac a hard stare, but then happily said, “The ... best man ... for my daughter. Wel ... come to the family.”
Isaac laughed delightedly and shook Archie’s hand as best he could. “And to put your mind at ease,” Isaac said, “your family will be well taken care of. You can choose to stay in this home or move to a new one nearby, and you do not have to worry about your work at the bank, for our wealth is now your wealth.”
The look of relief that came over Archie’s face was remarkable to see. Isaac thought for sure he was going to begin crying, but he composed himself and said, “Thank you ... stay. Close ... to Lulu.”
Isaac looked to his fiancée, who was beaming from ear to ear. “I’m so glad that you chose that, Papa, for I am so relieved that you and Mama will not be far away,” Louisa said.
“Oh this is wonderful, just wonderful,” Martha trilled, flitting about the room happily. “I cannot believe that all of this has come together in such a convenient and happy way! When can we begin planning the big day?”
Louisa laughed, and the two women began talking about the wedding right away. Isaac glanced at Archie, who had a look of pure contentment on his face as he watched his daughter and his wife speak. When he saw Isaac looking at him, he beckoned for him to come closer, and when Isaac obeyed, he winked at him and whispered, “Knew it ... would a .. all work out, thanks to you.”
It turned out that Archie was correct for several reasons. Isaac’s influence and wealth came in handy many times during the wedding planning process, including how his presence in a room would silence gossip and make dirty looks cease.
Society, of course, was in an uproar over the duke’s brother marrying the daughter of the disgraced family who lived on the edge of town, and everyone who was anyone turned up their noses at the turn of events. Not a single one of them, however, turned down their invitation to the wedding, which did not surprise Isaac or Louisa. If society wanted something to talk about, then they had to make sure they were in attendance.
Isaac did eventually have to inform his mother of their engagement, which he was incredibly anxious about doing, but Louisa coached him through it. When he finally admitted it to her at dinner one evening, she responded surprisingly well. Since meeting Louisa and seeing what a fine young woman she was, her opinion of her and the rest of her family had changed slightly.
She was quite upset that her son would not be marrying any of the fine young ladies that she’d had lined up for him, but she was shockingly well prepared to deal with the gossip. The dowager duchess was a tough woman and was unafraid of what society had to say about her son and his new wife.
The rest of Isaac’s family, however, (Gregory excluded, of course) was not nearly as understanding as the dowager duchess was. Isaac’s engagement caused quite an uproar in the family, but Isaac shouldered the responsibility of calming everyone down by himself. He was used to dealing with all of the eccentric members of his family, and because he was so naturally charming and amiable, he was able to negotiate some sort of peace within his family unit.
Isaac knew that marrying Louisa meant that they would never properly be a part of society again, but to Isaac, that came as quite a relief. He had never been one for balls or intrigue, and he despised gossip above all. He was quite contented to resign himself to a quiet life with his new bride, and as long as he could practice law respectably, he did not care what others thought of him.
