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Chapter 22
The day of the big wedding had finally arrived. The ceremony was to be held in the garden at the Pelham family home, as the extended Quince family was in too much of an uproar to hold it at their estate. But that did not matter to Isaac and Louisa – as long as they could marry each other, they were as pleased as punch.
Because of the limited space in the garden, the couple was only able to invite their immediate families and select few friends. However, this did not take away from the joy and merriment of the day; in fact, it was rather the opposite. Now that only those that they cared about the most were attending their wedding, Isaac and Louisa were able to have a more intimate, loving day.
Louisa was getting ready in her bedroom with Sophie and her mother’s help when there was a soft knock on the door. Louisa did not yet have on her wedding dress, and so she went and opened it. Gregory stood on the other side, looking mysterious.
“There’s a gift waiting for you in the garden, Miss Louisa,” he reported. “I would recommend you going to see to it immediately.” There was a glimmer of fun in Gregory’s eye, and so Louisa was rather excited to see what this surprise would be.
She raced out to the garden and saw her father seated in a very regal-looking wheelchair. Louisa instantly recognized it as the one that she had seen in Isaac’s home that his father had used after his attack. She grinned from ear to ear when she saw him and ran over to hug him.
“I am so happy to see you sitting up, Papa!” she cried, flinging her arms around him and embracing him tightly. But when she pulled away, she was surprised to see a very concentrated look on her father’s face.
“I wanted ... to surprise you ... at the last minute ... but needed ... to make sure that I could ... do it first ...” Archie said slowly and carefully. And then, Louisa took a step back in confusion, and with a great deal of difficulty, Archie stood up.
“PAPA!” she cried, not daring to touch him in fear that she would make him topple over. “You’re ... you’re a miracle!”
Archie laughed in a halting chuckle. “No miracle,” he said, “just ... hard work. Had to ... walk my daughter ... down the aisle ...”
Archie positively beamed at his stunningly gorgeous daughter, and Louisa began crying. She gave him the gentlest of hugs, and then Archie sat back down in his wheelchair. “My only ... request ...” Archie said.
“Anything,” Louisa responded.
“Make ... the aisle ... short.” Louisa burst out laughing at her father’s comment and promised him that the aisle would be only a few steps long. Then, the father and daughter parted one last time before he would be walking her down the aisle, and she went to put her dress on.
Getting dressed took only moments, but doing her hair took rather a long time as Louisa’s coarse black hair was known for being recalcitrant, but eventually they were able to wrangle it into a breathtaking style. She hugged her mother and Sophie, who were both crying as hard as she was, and then she took a moment to herself outside the back of the house to collect herself right before the ceremony was set to begin.
She was fidgeting with one of her hairpins when she heard someone clear their throat a little way away and say, “Lulu? Is that you?”
Louisa looked down towards the back of the house, and to her surprise, her sister, Evelyn, was peeking around the corner. Her jaw nearly dropped to the floor. “Evelyn?!” she cried, and Evelyn darted towards her, shushing her as she went.
“Do not alert Mama and Papa to the fact that I am here, sister,” Evelyn requested, “for I do not want to upset your wedding day. I heard through a contact that I have left in the village that you were getting married to a handsome barrister, and I knew that I needed to come back simply to give you my heartiest congratulations. I could not be happier for you!”
Louisa was still recovering from the shock of seeing her sister, but nevertheless, she welcomed her into a hug. It was then that she realized that there was something between them ... quite literally.
Louisa pulled away and saw that her sister was visibly pregnant. “You’re ... you’re having a baby!” she whispered excitedly, and Evelyn nodded.
“I did not want to steal any of your thunder, though, so I promise I came just to be happy for you and tell you how proud of you I was! I did not come to flaunt my pregnancy!” Evelyn looked rather panicked, as though she thought Louisa would really think those things of her.
“Evelyn, it’s all right; I am so happy to see you today, and I did not for one second think that you were trying to steal any thunder by simply being pregnant,” Louisa assured her. The relief on Evelyn’s face was palpable, and she squeezed her sister’s hand tightly.
“I hope that your wedding is everything that you could have ever dreamed of, and I promise that I will return to set things right with all of you very soon,” she said. Then, she took a thoughtful pause and said, “And ... I cannot say how sorry I am for what I have put the three of you through. To think that you have had to deal with all the ramifications of my actions since I left ... I can’t tell you how guilty I feel.”
Louisa hugged Evelyn once more and whispered in her ear, “I understand why you left, and thank you for apologizing. We’ll look forward to seeing you and the new baby soon.”
Evelyn pulled away from Louisa and nodded. She looked as though perhaps she wished that Louisa would have invited her to stay for the wedding, but they both knew what a disastrous idea that would be. There was still so much unresolved between Evelyn and their parents that today was not the day to make a sudden reappearance.
“I can’t wait to see you soon. Have the most incredible day,” Evelyn said, bidding her sister farewell and disappearing just as quickly as she had appeared.
Louisa took a moment to take in what had just happened when suddenly Sophie appeared at the other end of the house and said, “Well ... are you coming then?” Louisa looked at her and laughed, and then followed her around to the garden.
The small space was beautifully decorated with all sorts of flowers; both ones that had already been growing in the garden and ones that had been brought here for the occasion.
While they were having the wedding at the Pelham home, the Quince family had spared no expense for their son’s wedding, and so there were a great many things in this wedding that were quite extravagant.
The main extravagance was Louisa’s dress. It was an ivory gown that made her positively glow and had a handmade lace overlay with pearl detailing. It made her look so stunningly beautiful that it looked as though it had been sent down from heaven for her. And now, as she walked towards her father, she scooped up her gorgeous bouquet, took his arm and aided him to his feet, and then laid eyes upon her soon-to-be husband for the first time that day.
Instantly, Louisa started crying. She knew that he would be looking handsome but hadn’t expected this. His blond hair was handsomely pulled away from his face, and his suit made him look even more like the man that Louisa knew he was on the inside.
