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“Andrew, are you all right?” he asked.
Andrew swore beneath his mask, glad Edmund couldn’t see his face.
“Never better,” he said. “Why do you ask?”
Edmund chuckled.
“Well, considering that you never normally allow me to come so close to blinding you, I thought it wise to ask,” he said. “Come now, tell me what troubles you.”
Andrew sighed. Fencing was hardly a sport with which to pass the time when one was as distracted as Andrew. As Edmund had said, he was allowing his brother-in-law to come close to permanently maiming him.
“I will be fine,” he said, doing his best to sound sure. “I just have a great deal on my mind.”
Edmund nodded, unmoving as he continued to study Andrew. Though Andrew could not see his eyes, he could imagine his brother-in-law watching him with suspicious eyes and a set mouth.
“Are you having doubts about your upcoming wedding nuptials?” he asked.
Andrew swallowed. His mask suddenly felt very restrictive, but he forced himself to remove it slowly. As he did so, he plastered an expression of bemused innocence on his face and looked at Edmund with raised eyebrows.
“What gives you that impression?” he asked. He was careful to sound casual, even jovial. But he instantly knew Edmund would not be so easily fooled. Edmund also removed his mask, setting it aside with his foil and looking at Andrew with a sympathetic expression.
Edmund smiled in a way that told Andrew that he was pleased with himself for deciphering Andrew’s distress. He walked over to Andrew and clapped him on the back.
“It is quite normal for a gentleman to get cold feet,” he said. “In fact, may I confess something to you?”
Andrew looked at his brother-in-law warily.
“Certainly,” he said.
Edmund’s expression became dreamy, and he looked at the horizon before them.
“I felt the same way before I married Gemma,” he said.
Andrew’s eyes widened. He wasn’t sure of the point that Edmund was trying to make, but he was surprised by his brother-in-law’s words.
“Really?” he asked. “I would have thought that your wedding couldn’t have come soon enough, what with the enthusiasm and pleading you put on when you asked for my blessing.”
Edmund chuckled and nodded.
“But marriage is a lifetime commitment,” he said. “It can be nerve-racking to realize that you will be sharing your entire life with just one person.”
Andrew looked at his brother-in-law, thoroughly confused.
“I thought your marriage to Gemma was a love match,” he said. He recalled how eager Edmund had seemed to marry his sister. Had he only done what he believed Andrew wanted so that he could marry Gemma for convenience?
Edmund laughed heartily.
“Oh, Andrew,” he said. “That is not what I meant at all. It most certainly was a love match. Though, I didn’t even believe that love was a real thing until I met Gemma. What I meant is that, sometimes, when you love someone so much, it is that very love that causes you to have doubts.”
Andrew felt relief that his brother-in-law did love his sister. However, he was more confused than before.
“How can you doubt your love if you believe it is real?” he asked.
Edmund patted his back again and gave him a wise smile.
“I cannot speak for all men,” he said. “However, my love for Gemma was so strong before our wedding that I became afraid she deserved better than me.”
It was Andrew’s turn to guffaw.
