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“I look forward to visiting Alderwood this week and joining in the celebration for your sister’s nuptials,” he said.
“We look forward to having you join us,” Rebecca said. What an entirely dismal conversation they were having.
“Yes, well, good,” he said. “I see that your esteemed brother is approaching the pulpit, so I shall take my leave.”
He bowed to Rebecca this time—a brief bow that still managed to speak words he hadn’t uttered—and then retreated down the aisle to a pew near the doors.
Rebecca didn’t hear a word of Isaac’s sermon as she pondered Ben’s actions. He had been cordial to all of her family and cordial to her as well, except there had also been a difference in his tone with her that she couldn’t quite put a finger on. Was it some sort of apology? Was he letting her know he still felt an attachment to her?
Dash it all! She couldn’t spend all of her waking hours trying to read messages into every little thing he said or did. It was only making her unhappy. What a tumultuous three weeks it had been!
She forcefully turned her attention to Isaac’s sermon.
“And so, in conclusion,” he said from the pulpit, “let us all remember that propriety—modesty of dress and behavior and language—is the true guide for finding happiness in this life. Our choices lead us to heavenly bliss or the anguish of the sinner. And so it is, amen.”
Rebecca closed her eyes and sighed. Obviously, Thomas and Lucas had told Isaac about their encounter with her and Ben earlier in the week, and he’d seen fit to lecture her from the pulpit.
Well, she needed no more lectures, and in retrospect, she was grateful she hadn’t heard his today. She knew what his sermon had been about. Sometimes a person finally had to acknowledge that life wasn’t going to proceed as one hoped. She’d certainly had plenty of opportunities to learn that this spring. So be it. She was done, foolish girl that she’d been. She was a changed woman.
Amen, Isaac.
* * *
Monday afternoon, once again reclining on her old friend, the chaise longue, and still working at the dratted flower embroidery on a handkerchief, Rebecca spied an elegant carriage progressing down the lane to Alderwood. As the only visitors they were expecting were Susan and her new husband, the Duke of Aylesham, an elegant carriage could only mean that they had arrived.
Rebecca set her needlework aside and reached for her crutches. What would it be like to see the two of them when so much had changed in such little time? What would the duke be like? Would he be haughty? Kind? Indifferent? And what of Susan? Would she be greatly changed now that she was a duchess? Things would surely be different between them now, and Rebecca felt a mix of joy and anxiety.
She hobbled as fast as she could down the corridor to the entrance hall in order to greet the new arrivals. Mama and Papa were already there, as were a few of the other family members.
They filed outside as the carriage neared the front door. It was a large carriage, lacquered black with the ducal crest emblazoned on each door. The coachman, a formidable-looking person wearing an impressive greatcoat, masterfully drew the horses to a stop. A footman in fine livery jumped down from the box and opened the carriage door, after which a handsome, distinguished gentleman who looked to be in his thirties descended. He then turned to assist a fine lady dressed in the most exquisite traveling attire—
The fine lady was Susan, of course, but Rebecca hardly recognized her. Her traveling clothes were of the finest fabrics, her bonnet, adorned with flowers and feathers, was immediately eye-catching, and dark curls framed her face. But it was her glowing countenance that was most striking of all.
After gazing warmly at the gentleman who certainly must be the Duke of Aylesham, Susan opened her arms and received Mama in an embrace. “We are here at last, Mama!” Susan said. She turned next to Papa and embraced him as well.
In the meantime, Thomas approached the duke. “Welcome,” he said simply.
“Allow me to present my family, Aylesham,” Susan said to the duke after placing a small kiss on Papa’s cheek and returning to her husband’s side. Her husband! “Mama and Papa you already know. And this is my eldest brother, Thomas.” She proceeded to mention every gathered family member by name, and there was curtsying and bowing, and the duke nodded his head in greeting and . . .
“And this is my youngest sister, Rebecca. Rebecca, my husband, the Duke of Aylesham.”
“We meet at last,” the duke said, bowing to her, but since Rebecca was still confined to her crutches, she only nodded her head in return—and hoped it was deemed acceptable by someone as grand as a duke.
“Yes,” Rebecca managed to say, suddenly tongue-tied.
He waited, an inquiring expression on his face.
“I am glad Susan found excellent companionship in London since I was unable to fulfill that particular role at the last minute,” she said.
The Duke of Aylesham nodded, which helped Rebecca relax a bit.
“Perhaps it was to my benefit that you weren’t there to draw her attention, then. And perhaps that means I owe you a great deal, little sister.”
Susan gazed adoringly at him. Rebecca had never seen such a look on Susan’s face before. Susan had obviously lost her heart to this man. Practical, intelligent, cynical spinster Susan. Rebecca knew that it must have happened for Susan to have married him, Susan being Susan, but to see the reality of it on her face—her glowing, adoring eyes and soft smile—Rebecca was dumbstruck from it all.
The family adjourned to the front parlor, and Rebecca, still feeling dumbstruck, decided she’d prefer to sit near the window, away from the others, and headed in that direction. But before she made it there, the Duke of Aylesham reached her side. “Won’t you please join your sister and me on the chaise longue?” he asked politely. “I understand that an acquaintance of mine was involved in your recent injury.” He looked down at her ankle and then back at her. “I should dearly like to hear the story from your point of view since its occurrence played a part in my marital bliss.”
How should she reply to that? “Very well,” she said simply. Even when the duke was polite, he was intimidating.
