Chapter Twenty-Two
“The newspapers are calling it the wedding of the Season,” Eden said, helping to fasten a strand of pearls around Tia’s neck.
Tia fingered the pearls. “They are beautiful and the perfect touch to my wedding gown,” she told her sister-in-law. “Thank you for allowing me to borrow them.”
Lia bent, placing her hands on Tia’s shoulders, pressing her cheek to that of her twin’s. “You make for a most beautiful bride. Oh, I am thrilled you have found love with Hugo.”
After Hugo’s very public declaration of love and offer of marriage, the past four weeks had been a blur, as wedding preparations had begun in earnest and the banns were called.
Dilly had suggested that Tia and Hugo wed at the same time she and Lord Forsythe did.
Instead of a country wedding in Kent, as she had always thought would take place when she did marry, Tia had agreed to wed at St. George’s, the parish church of Mayfair, and one of the most fashionable in London.
She and Hugo had gone to tour it, along with Mama, Dilly and her mother, and Lord Forsythe.
From the vicar, they had learned that the church was the greatest achievement of designer John James, who had been a student of Christpher Wren.
The building had stood for over eighty years, and it had become the place for couples from Polite Society to wed if they chose to hold their ceremonies in town.
Close to a thousand couples had spoken their wedding vows at St. George’s last year, and the vicar who spoke with them said that number was increasing every year.
After settling on a date, the two couples had sent out joint invitations, and this particular double wedding ceremony was on the lips of everyone in the ton.
Mama had told Tia to expect the church filled to the brim.
Frankly, she didn’t care who was in attendance.
All she wanted was to start her life with Hugo.
They’d had several long talks over the past few weeks.
Her fiancé had been brutally honest with her, sharing how difficult his childhood had been with a father who had a heavy hand, especially when it came to a son who stuttered.
Hugo didn’t know if his stammering had been a result of the beatings he received or if the stutter had appeared first, resulting in subsequent discipline, which only made his stammer worse.
She had cried hearing of his time at school, but Hugo had insisted she know all before she committed to a life with him. They even spoke of what they would do if one of their own children stammered. He believed that with time, practice—and love—it could be conquered.
Hugo also spent many hours in the company of her family.
He had already become friendly with Val, Con, and Rupert.
Julian was quickly added to Hugo’s circle, and the Duke of Reddington and Lord Forsythe also became part of their group.
Tia was thrilled when Lucy finally came to the Season, bringing Judson and their newborn daughter.
Elizabeth had been born at the very beginning of March, and Lucy and Judson had decided to linger at Huntsworth a while, especially because Lucy’s sister Dru was increasing.
Dru would give birth in mid-July or slightly later, so Lucy and Judson had only come to town for a few weeks, in order to show off Elizabeth and spend quality time with their extended family.
Fortunately, the couple would attend today’s wedding before returning home tomorrow.
They were neighbors not only to Ariadne and Julian, but to Dru and Perry, as well.
Lucy wanted to be present when Dru gave birth to her first child.
Tia envied the sisters being able to live so close to one another.
She and Lia would be far apart, with Lia and Rupert in Cumberland and she and Hugo in Norfolk, practically on opposite sides of England.
Still, as Ariadne said, that was what the Season was for—to gather at a central place and spend time with family during several pleasant months.
By next spring, Lia would be a mother—and Tia herself might be increasing.
The thought should have frightened her since she knew so little about raising children, but she and Hugo would shower any offspring they had with love, the most important gift of all.
Lia had sat Tia down for a most interesting conversation.
In it, her twin explained some of the particulars of lovemaking, so Tia would not be caught unaware.
Fortunately, they were comfortable with one another, allowing Lia to be quite frank.
A few of the things her twin shared sounded impossible, but Lia assured her that everything would work like magic between her and Hugo.
“Just trust in your love for one another,” Lia had said, the best advice Tia could have received.
She had only heard him stammer twice since their betrothal.
Those times had occurred when he was overtired.
He had explained that it took a great deal of concentration to speak, and that was why sometimes he paused as he did, breaking what he wished to say into parts.
It didn’t matter to her. She loved her handsome fiancé with all her heart.
He was everything—even more—than she had ever dreamed of holding dear.
Mama appeared. “Millbrooke says it is time to leave.”
Lia kissed Tia’s cheek. “I will see you in Hanover Square.”
She took a final look in the mirror. “I suppose I am as ready as I ever will be,” she told Eden, Ariadne, and Mama.
Downstairs, her sisters followed Julian outside to Rupert’s carriage, while she and Mama joined Val and Eden in his.
The ride to St. George’s did not take long.
As they pulled up in front of the church, she admired its six Corinthian columns and lofty tower.
While the architecture outside the church was spellbinding, the inside was quite plain, with tall, boxed pews and a high pulpit.
Mama had hired a florist to provide a plethora of flowers to dress up the church.
Val handed each of them down, and she saw that Lady Merriman and Dilly were standing on the pavement. Smiling, she hurried to her friend.
“Are you ready to speak your vows?”
“I have been forever,” Dilly declared. “I could have wed Forsythe that first night. I was that certain he was the one for me.”
They entered the foyer of the church, and Eden led the two mothers inside.
Val would be escorting Tia to the altar, and Reddington now came toward them.
Since Dilly had no living father and her brother, who usually would have been the one to see her to her groom, was already at the altar, the duke had stepped in to guide Dilly down the aisle.
Reddington greeted them. “I have never been to a double wedding. I quite like the idea, especially for siblings.”
“You will soon be the groom awaiting your bride,” Val predicted. “I think it is time to take you on and introduce you to someone who could be your duchess.”
The duke laughed. “Let us get through these weddings first, Millbrooke. Then perhaps at the wedding breakfast we can start this search.”
Their moods lighthearted, the four took their places at the entrance. As the organist began to play, Dilly and Reddington stepped down the aisle first. She and Val were to allow them to reach the altar before they, too, would march along the aisle.
“You are happy, aren’t you?” her brother asked. “You do love Hugo?”
“Deliriously happy,” she assured him. “And yes, it is because I love Hugo that I am floating amongst the clouds, Val.”
He smiled at her. “We four Worthingtons have all made love matches. Lucy and Dru, as well. I suppose we need to work on Con next, along with Reddington. I think when our cousin falls in love, he will fall hard.”
Her brother then guided her down the aisle, past hundreds of guests. She felt their presence but did not look at a one of them. Her eyes met that of her husband-to-be, and joy filled Tia.
The ceremony took slightly longer than most, simply because there were four of them to repeat their vows after the vicar. She thought it incredibly special to be sharing this day with Dilly, a friend who would now become a sister to her.
Forsythe slid the wedding band onto Dilly’s finger, repeating the words of the vicar.
Then Hugo did the same with her. Her eyes never left his as he said, “With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”
Tears stung her eyes, happy tears, knowing she would spend the rest of her life with the best man she had ever known. That they would live to the fullest as they raised their family and cared for their tenants. She could not wait to go to her new home—and start making it their home.
The final prayer was offered, and then they were pronounced husband and wife.
Tia kissed her new husband, thinking how she had entered this Season not believing she would find love, much less marry.
All her plans had gone out the window, and for that, she was grateful.
She wanted to live every minute to the fullest, with Hugo by her side.
They marched back up the aisle, Dilly and Forsythe following them, to the cheers of all present. The fickle ton had, as usual, changed its mind, and now the four of them were the darlings of Polite Society. Tia knew it would not last.
But her and Hugo’s love would last forever.
As the two couples exited the church, Tia saw dozens of people gathered outside, average citizens of London who had turned out to wish them well.
She found it odd, in a way, that complete strangers would be there when the ton itself only a short time ago had ostracized both her and Hugo.
Still, they had been accepted back into the fold.
She knew now, more than ever before, that the most important thing to depend upon was family.