Chapter 5 #2
Bert arranged everything quietly and efficiently.
He found a minister who would perform the ceremony at a small church he knew at the end of June, in two weeks.
A friend from Cambridge agreed to be his witness.
Victoria was going to ask a friend to be hers.
They would have a wedding lunch at her London home afterward.
They had no family to invite on either side.
It all seemed astonishingly easy once she made up her mind.
It was not the wedding they would have had if her father were still alive.
But she felt ready to do it and be Bert’s wife.
She called a friend whom she had known since they were presented at court together, Elizabeth Chisholm.
She was in London and Victoria invited her to tea, and told her that she had a favor to ask her.
Elizabeth had married soon after they were presented, a little more than a month later.
She was a countess now, and had three children.
She accepted Victoria’s invitation to tea with delight.
She spent most of her time at her estate in Yorkshire now, and she and Victoria hadn’t seen each other in two years.
Elizabeth told her how sorry she was about the loss of her father when Victoria told her.
She hadn’t heard before that. Victoria didn’t tell Elizabeth she wanted her to be her witness at her wedding, and planned to tell her over tea at the house.
When she did, she got the reaction Bert had expected.
Elizabeth stared at Victoria as they sat in her drawing room, after Parker had set the tea tray down and left them.
Victoria waited until he left the room. She hadn’t told the servants yet.
“Victoria, who is this man? How long have you known him?” Elizabeth was instantly suspicious because she’d never heard of him. All Victoria had told her so far was that his name was Bertram Banning, and he lived in Manchester, which had aroused Lady Chisholm’s suspicions.
“My father had known him for many years. I met him on the Titanic,” Victoria said innocently.
“That’s barely two months ago,” Elizabeth Chisholm said to her with a look of dismay.
“You must have had a terrible shock when you lost your father and now you’re rushing into marriage.
I’m sure you have a sizeable inheritance.
This man sounds like an opportunist to me,” she said, with nothing to base it on. Victoria was shocked.
“Why? Because he doesn’t have a title, you don’t know him, and he lives in Manchester?” Victoria said, her spine straightening as she said it. She was ready to do battle to defend Bert.
“What does he do there?” Lady Chisholm asked, with a disapproving look. She was the same age as Victoria, but she had become very grand in the last five years, married to a count, and one of the most visible members of Yorkshire society.
“He owns the largest textile mills in Manchester,” Victoria responded simply.
“I thought it was something like that,” Lady Elizabeth said, looking as though there was suddenly a bad smell in the room.
“He doesn’t need anything from me, Elizabeth.”
“Of course he does. Respectability, and a place in society. He’s an industrialist. And he’s preying on you now in your grief, because no one else would have him.” The assumptions Elizabeth made, and the way she spoke of Bert, gave Victoria shivers.
“He’s a kind, intelligent, responsible man, and as I recall you married Phillip five weeks after you met him. He was a very advantageous match, and your parents wanted you to marry him as quickly as possible, before he could change his mind.”
“There was never any question of that. My parents wanted to do the wedding at their city house before everyone left for the summer. You have no reason to rush this. You need to give yourself time to get over your father’s death, and to come to your senses.
It’s not a suitable marriage, Victoria, and you know it. ”
“It’s the right marriage for me,” Victoria said staunchly, “and I’m going to marry him whether you’re my witness or not. You don’t even know him.”
“And I don’t want to. You shouldn’t either. He’s not a suitable husband, no matter how nice he is. That’s not enough. You’ll regret this later when no one you know in polite society will receive you or speak to you.”
“That’s pathetic,” Victoria said with a look of outrage and disgust. Both women stood up then, their tea untouched.
“No, you are,” Elizabeth said harshly. “You’re lost now without your father. You refused to get married when you should have, and now, in desperation, you want to marry this unsuitable man. Victoria, no one will ever see you again as long as you’re married to him.”
“Then they’re not my friends and never were.”
“You’re making a terrible mistake,” Elizabeth said icily, “and I won’t be your witness. I won’t give my approval to a marriage that will be your undoing. I want no part of it.” Their voices were both rising and their tone was heated.
“I don’t want you as my witness, with your small-mindedness and snobbism. He’s a perfect gentleman.”
“Looking to force his way into society by marrying you. How can you not see it? I’m sorry, Victoria, I want nothing to do with this insanity.
Phillip would kill me for being involved in your unsuitable marriage.
I beg you to reconsider. You’ll regret this all your life.
You’re better off alone as a spinster than married to a man like him.
” Elizabeth picked up her purse and walked to the door, and Victoria didn’t make a move to stop her.
She was furious. She didn’t tell Bert what had happened, and decided not to call her other friends, for fear of a similar experience.
Bert had been right, and Victoria was horrified.
In the end, she asked the housekeeper, Mrs. Babbitt, to be her witness, and she was delighted.
Victoria was reeling from the blow of Elizabeth’s reaction.
She was clearly not a friend and had had the response that Bert had warned her would be inevitable.
He had lived with it for years. It wasn’t new to him.
Victoria didn’t want his feelings to be hurt by one of her friends, which could easily happen, she realized now.
The wedding went forward as planned. Bert was worried that she was ashamed of him if the housekeeper was her witness. She told him that all of her close friends had already left London for the summer. And Mrs. Babbitt had known her since she was born.
On her wedding day, everything went smoothly.
Victoria wore a white Paul Poiret gown that she already had.
She looked beautiful in the dress, with flowers in her hair.
She carried a bouquet of lily of the valley and tiny white orchids, and wore a short white veil that her new maid had found somewhere and that worked with the dress.
At the small church Bert had found, Victoria walked down the aisle alone, which was symbolic of her no longer having a father.
Only their witnesses were there with them, and George Appleby, Bert’s witness, had lunch with them at home after the ceremony.
He had gone to Cambridge with Bert. He was from a simple background himself, had done well in business, and was a loyal friend.
When the minister told Bert he may kiss the bride, he was the happiest man alive. He was madly in love with her, and she was coming to love him more each day. Elizabeth Chisholm’s awful reaction had made Victoria want to protect him from people like her, and the class she represented.
* * *
Bert placed the announcement of their marriage in The Times, and they received not a single congratulatory letter, and not a single wedding gift from Victoria’s friends, or her father’s.
Victoria didn’t care, she had no regrets.
She knew she had married a good man she had come to love, and she had fulfilled her father’s final wish for her. That was all she needed to know.
There were a flurry of letters and telegrams from Bert’s friends and acquaintances, which touched Victoria. They were happy for the couple.
They left on their honeymoon to Italy, and when they came back in July, they were going to stay in Hampshire for a week, to introduce him to it, and then she was moving to Manchester to be with her husband.
It was going to be a new life for both of them.
Lady Victoria Oldbrooke Banning was no longer a spinster.
She was a respectably married woman. She had sent Delphine a telegram to tell her of her plans, and on her wedding day, Victoria received a telegram from her which said, “Congratulations to the happy couple. May God bless you both. Love Delphine.” Victoria was only sorry that Delphine wasn’t there to be her witness.
But all she needed now was Bert. She felt certain that she had made the right decision, and Bert was infinitely grateful that she had, and proud of his beautiful young wife.
He felt like the luckiest man on earth, and toasted his late father-in-law at lunch, which brought tears to Victoria’s eyes.
She was sure that her father was there with them in spirit, pleased with the union and his new son-in-law and relieved for his beloved daughter.
She only wished he could have been there with them.