Chapter 32
THIRTY-TWO
A BLUR
James
The rousing chords of the church organ wheezing to life sent my pulse flying. I glanced up to the church rafters and sent up a quick thank you, the morning’s worries of any manner of things going wrong fleeing my mind.
She was here. My Beth. This was finally happening.
I was the luckiest man alive.
Callum nudged me. “Breathe.”
I barked a laugh, and he slung an arm over my shoulder, steadying me. Then the organ tune resolved to the opening bars of the wedding march, and we snapped up straight.
At the end of the aisle, Gordain and Ella walked together, Mathilda a few paces behind them, but it was the flash of white that held my attention.
My bride entered the church, the doors closing firmly behind her—part of the measures put in place by Gordain to ensure Richard couldn’t disrupt the ceremony—and I got my first look at her face.
The rest of the room, the people, and all their gasps became a blur. Beth walked to me, enchanting in white, so utterly beautiful my throat closed over.
When she reached me, her gaze took in my dark suit, waistcoat, the haircut I’d got early this morning, then settled on my eyes. And remained.
And I was trapped in hers.
“You look so beautiful,” she said.
I choked on a laugh, adoring the way her mouth curved into the most perfect smile. “That’s my line,” I uttered.
We grinned at one another, caught in a spell.
“Face the front now, children,” Belle’s voice chided, and a ripple of laughter came from the pews.
Half the village was here, people I’d met during my time with the McRaes. Then there were people who worked for Callum, friends of the McRae family—my friends, too.
This was what Beth and I would build at Belvedere. A community. Somewhere my sister would be happy to return to from university, somewhere my friends would visit, bringing excitement with them in seeing the changes we’d made. The place we’d raise our family.
The minister commenced the ceremony, welcoming the guests and giving the statement of marriage, and I managed to drag my gaze off Beth.
“Now,” the man said, a twinkle in his eye, “this is the tricky part, so we’ll get it out of the way first. If any person here knows of a reason why this couple should not be lawfully wed, speak now, or forever hold your peace.”
An amused hush fell over the room.
“Good.” The minister opened his book. “I—”
A thumping came from the back of the church, from the heavy door.
Nobody moved.
The thumping came again, and Gordain cast a glance down the aisle to where two burly men guarded the door. One gave him a nod. He returned his gaze to me and raised his eyebrows.
My uncle had turned up, after all.
“Richard.” I rolled his name in my mouth.
“What does he want?” Beth said, with her hand a gentle pressure on my arm. “With all these people here, he can’t hurt us. Or stop the wedding, can he?”
I hadn’t felt anger when Richard had tried to have me arrested. I hadn’t cared enough to even look his way. But to disrupt my wedding?
Fury surged.
The banging got louder.
I couldn’t take it. Couldn’t ignore it.
“He’s gone too far. I’m so sorry. I’ll deal with him.” Reeling from my anger, I kissed Beth’s hand then marched back down the aisle, my footsteps ringing through the church.
Gordain peeled away from his position and joined me in the aisle, his expression hard. The congregation murmured anxiously as we passed.
One of the men dragged the door open, and Richard appeared in the frame. His eyes widened with surprise, taking in the scene.
I stared at a decade of hatred and abuse, and I gritted my jaw. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Richard sneered. “Stopping you from making the biggest mistake of your life.”
“There is nothing you can say to me—”
“I’m not here for you, you damn fool.” His gaze left me and shifted to behind me. “It’s her I want to speak to.”
A figure pushed past me, her hands on her hips and her face pale. Beth glared at Richard. “Me? Out with it then. Do your worst. Try to persuade me to give up James. See how well you get on.”
“Then you need to know—” Richard began.
“No,” I barked at him. “Shut your mouth.”
Gordain planted a hand on my uncle’s chest and shoved him back a step.
I took Beth’s shoulders and made her look at me. “Please, go back inside. You don’t need to hear his abuse.”
“This time, I’m staying at your side,” she said. “Don’t let him do this. He can’t hurt us, I promise.”
I wasn’t so sure. My uncle might be cold-hearted, but he was rarely wrong. And after the lawyer said he wasn’t sure on the whole picture, I didn’t want to hear what Richard had to say.
“It’s not just about him. You’re bringing the whole family down,” Richard yelled, shoving at the obstacle that was my best friend. “If James marries you, he loses everything. How selfish are you, girl?”
“What are you talking about?” she replied. “He only needs to be married. You made up the stuff about him needing a rich bride for your own benefit.”
“But what about a criminal bride? What about one with debt?” Richard brandished an envelope from his jacket inside pocket then extracted a piece of paper.
I recognised it as one belonging to my inheritance file.
Beth froze.
I reeled around and took over from Gordain, grabbing my uncle by his collar. I snatched the paper from his hand then held it out behind. Someone received it from my fingers.
“Don’t tear it!” Richard gasped, like the preservation of an old record was more important than everything he was trying to destroy.
“Go,” I growled. “I don’t care about this. I don’t care about any of it. Do you understand?”
“You can’t say that. You… You can’t even comprehend,” Richard stuttered. “The Fitzroy name—”
“If you say one more thing about our ancient name or the duty I am supposed to pay, I swear to God—” I glared, getting right in his face and forcing him back.
“James?” Beth said from behind me.
“You’ve lost everything.” Richard shook me off. “All for nothing.”
I let him go, wanting this over with so we could continue the wedding. “No, I’ve gained everything, and that’s something you’ll never understand.”
“James, you need to read this,” Beth said.
I glanced over my shoulder to where she stood, Mathilda now at her side, the two of them examining the paper. The McRae brothers guarded the now-closed church door, keeping our debacle private.
My uncle took another step away. “You will regret this. You should have listened to me.” He raised his voice. “And if you won’t listen, she must.”
“You are wrong on all fronts. Now go.”
My uncle’s face twisted in confusion and ire. “James, you’re still going through with this?”
“Marry the woman I love? There is nothing else I’d rather do. Now for the last time, get out of my sight.”
To my surprise, he complied, walking back to his car. “You’re a bigger fool than your father,” was his parting gift. Then he got in and accelerated away.
I spun around to Beth, so utterly dismayed that this had almost ruined our day.
“We’ve got a problem.” Her eyes were wide with worry. Standing in front of the church, her hand to her stomach over her white dress, she’d never looked so beautiful. “He’s right. If you marry me you lose everything…”
“I can’t lose if I have you.”
“…and this makes me your downfall,” she finished. “James, for the sake of everything we’ve been trying to do, we need to stop the wedding.”
The bottom fell out of my world.
“No.” I stared her down.
Between us, the vicar wrung his hands, his small office at the back of the church the scene of our showdown. Confused chattering came from the congregation outside, and Mathilda and Callum discussed Richard’s paper in the corner.
“Yes,” Beth objected. “I don’t know what else we can do, but one thing is for certain—holding this wedding right now makes you ineligible, and that’s all down to me. Stop being stubborn and listen.”
“I don’t care. I love you. You’re my life.” I set my jaw and didn’t budge.
“Save that for the vows.” The vicar tittered nervously.
“There won’t be any vows at this rate.” Beth blew out a breath. She addressed the ancient man. “Can we stay in here while we work this out?”
He dipped his head. “I have another wedding today, but you have a little time.”
She nodded. “Good. Mattie, let me see that again.”
Mathilda brought her the paper. I’d refused point blank to look at it, fully entrenched in my corner.
I already knew the summary. My uncle had indeed made up the fact that my bride needed to have money, but it had been based on a truth—she couldn’t bring debt of any kind. And she couldn’t have a criminal record.
Beth had both.
Even if we paid the fine right now, the record stuck. Didn’t it? I wouldn’t voice my thoughts, as it gave her a reason to turn me down.
A raw feeling, an acute fear of loss, held me in its grip. I couldn’t lose her.
“This.” She pointed at a line, waving the paper under my face.
“Please don’t.” I looked into her eyes instead of at the paper.
“Listen. I think I have something. It refers to the debt on entering the marriage state.” She held up a finger. “That’s one thing we can tackle right now. Mattie? Give me your phone.”
Mathilda patted her dress. “I don’t have it.”
“Have mine.” Callum handed his over.
Beth dialled a number. As it rang, she stared me down. “Hey, Angela?” she addressed the unknown person. “I need your help with something. Can you grab our spare key and go into our house?”
Beth talked the woman through finding her court fine papers then scribbled a number on a piece of paper on the vicar’s desk. We all watched on, agog as to how this was fixable. But still, my shoulders inched down as I realised what she was doing.
She was trying to save this.
“Credit card.” Beth held out a hand to me. I handed the card over, brought along in case of any last-minute payments needed. I hadn’t expected it would be something like this.
She made a second call, putting the court’s automated payment system on loudspeaker.
“God, I hate these things.” She carefully selected the keys.
I managed to blink when the recorded message confirmed that the bill was paid.