Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
The next morning, Marie was ready for the wedding before dawn.
Things were so different this time around.
Before she met Tove, she spent so much time worrying about what others thought of her.
She hadn’t realized it until the previous evening, but all of that worry had prevented her from really understanding people.
Reflecting back on the first time she’d met Edward, she realized that he hadn’t been put off by her awkwardness, nor did he find it repulsive when she’d fainted.
He had only been concerned that she was all right.
Now, she understood he had been satisfied with the upcoming marriage.
Funny how she needed to live another life to see things so clearly.
Though she was ready early, she opted to wait until her father summoned her before going downstairs.
All she would do was waste time pacing back and forth in the drawing room.
At least while she was in her bedchamber, she could add a little more to her trunks.
It was silly, of course. If she forgot anything, she could always come here and retrieve it.
But she found the exercise to be a good distraction.
When she finally made it to the drawing room, she was surprised to see that Edward was already there. She had assumed her father would call her down as soon as the guests started to arrive. She didn’t think he would wait until all of the guests were in attendance to call for her.
“I thought it only right to give the bride more time to get ready for her special day,” her father explained when she asked him about it.
Among the small gathering of guests were Lord Campbell, Lady Campbell, and—of all people—Miss Carter!
Marie had to hide her shock. So they really did exist. Tove hadn’t created them as part of the experiment.
She was glad that Juliet and Edward had shared no romantic inclinations.
Now a friendship with Juliet wouldn’t be awkward.
“I have a feeling we’ll get along splendidly,” Marie whispered to Juliet at one point while they talked.
On her side of the family, her young cousins had come with her aunts and uncles, so she spent some time speaking with them as well.
She hadn’t seen them as Lady Marie, but she was certain they had existed.
She supposed Tove hadn’t felt the need to make them apparent to her, given the cousins’ age differences and her aunts’ and uncles’ busy lives.
She never did spend a lot of time with them.
Still, it was nice to see them today, especially on her wedding day.
She spent a few minutes talking with them before she went over to Edward.
To her surprise, he was holding a rose leather-bound book. “I was going to give this to you after the wedding breakfast, but I couldn’t wait.”
“Is it a story?” She took it but didn’t see a title on the cover.
“Yes, but it’s one that hasn’t been written yet.”
A story that hasn’t been written yet? She opened it and saw that the pages were all blank. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s a diary.”
She blinked, her mind reeling. So Edward had given her diaries before? He was the reason that she wrote an account of her life. He was the reason Tove had learned about her. And what was it Tove had told her? That she had read Edward’s diaries, too?
“Do you have a diary?” she asked him.
“I prefer to think of it as a journal, but yes, I do. I’ve had one ever since I was twelve.”
Oh, well, that explained so much. Now she understood the scope of Tove’s experiment and why Tove had chosen her.
Tove had read Edward’s journals. Tove knew all along that Edward had sincerely loved her.
She, however, had never been sure of his love.
In her diaries, she must have recorded her insecurities.
If Tove chose to intervene, it meant that those insecurities went on for her entire life.
Perception. Wasn’t that what Tove said the experiment was really about?
Now that Marie knew she had a love match, her perception of everything Edward would ever say and do would be different than before.
And Tove would get proof of that in the future with the diary entries Marie would make this time around.
Tove had mentioned something about the experiment not being fully over. Not from Tove’s perspective. Marie, however, would never see Tove again. She didn’t need to. Marie’s part of the experiment was done. She’d lived another life and made her choice.
With a smile, Marie closed the diary. There were so many wonderful things she would write in it. She had a feeling Tove and the supervisor she spoke of would be very satisfied with the outcome of this experiment.
She turned her attention back to Edward. “Thank you. This is the best gift anyone’s ever given me.”
If he hadn’t given it to her before, then she never would have written her thoughts down. And if she hadn’t done that, she wouldn’t have been granted this new life with him. This life was going to be far better because she knew he would love her, and she, in turn, would love him.
He cupped the side of her face with his hand and brushed her cheek. “No one’s watching us at the moment. I suppose a kiss wouldn’t be too forward?”
“If someone catches us, then we’ll just have to get married,” she teased.
“I think I can live with that.”
He brought his lips to hers for a kiss, and it was the most wonderful thing she’d ever experienced.
About two weeks later
“Are you sure you want to host a dinner party?” Edward asked as Marie had the servant arrange the chairs in the drawing room again. “You seem terribly anxious.”
“I’m sure.” She turned to her dear husband and clasped his hand. “I want to make sure everyone will be comfortable. A circular pattern of chairs will be better, I think. There’s a game I’d like to play this evening that involves us creating a story.”
As she suspected, his eyebrows rose in interest. “I’ve always wanted to play such a game but never had the chance. What kind of story will we be coming up with?”
“I’ll leave the details to our guests, but I think something to do with autumn would be fitting since All Hallows’ Eve will be tomorrow.”
She would have had the dinner party tomorrow except there was that masquerade ball at Lord Edon’s, and she didn’t want to miss it, especially not after Edward thought it would be fun to go with complementary attire.
After some lengthy discussion, he settled on a rendition of the Grimm’s tale of The Frog Prince.
Upon asking him about his choice, he shared the debate two teachers were having about whether or not any of the Grimm’s stories ought to be shared with the pupils.
The one argued that the stories could be frightening.
The other argued that the stories taught good lessons.
In the end, Edward had decided that the less graphic stories would be permitted. One of those was The Frog Prince.
So they had masks made to fit the theme. After going through all of that, there was no way she was going to miss the upcoming ball.
“The ball will be fun, don’t you think?” he asked with a smile that weakened her knees.
“Yes, it will be.”
He got ready to kiss her when the butler announced that the first guest was arriving in their carriage.
At once, the butterflies in her stomach began to flutter.
She had not met Brooke or Lord Monheim in this life yet.
Edward hadn’t either. Fortunately, her father knew who Lord Monheim was, and he happened to know Brooke’s father.
She’d had no idea her father was so resourceful.
But he was a pleasant gentleman who could go right up to a stranger and start talking as if he’d known the person his entire life.
“I hope the couples we paired up will get along,” she whispered to Edward.
“I’m not good at picking out which lady and which gentleman will go well together. I rely on others for that.” He squeezed her hand. “My father made an ideal match for me.”
Her skin flushed with pleasure. “My father made an ideal match, too. I couldn’t be this happy with anyone else.”
Without giving away Tove’s role in her own match, Marie had settled for simply expressing how much joy she was finding in her marriage when she made her most recent diary entry. She couldn’t wait to find out what she’d write tomorrow about this evening’s dinner party.
The butler returned with Brooke and made the introductions. Unable to hide her excitement at seeing her friend again, Marie hurried over to her, taking Edward with her.
“I’m glad you could make it this evening,” Marie greeted.
“I’m happy to be invited,” Brooke began, “but I am wondering why you invited me to this dinner party. I don’t recall us ever meeting.”
“We haven’t,” Marie said. “My father is acquainted with your father, and I was seeking out a lady for Mr. Richard Anderson to escort to dinner. I thought you would suit him well.”
And that was true. She did think the two might get along. It was just an added benefit that this evening would allow her and Brooke to start a friendship.
“I’ve heard of Mr. Anderson,” Brooke replied. “I thought he was betrothed to Lady Diane.”
“No, he isn’t. Mr. Anderson isn’t even courting anyone. I have it on good authority that he’s an honorable gentleman. I think you two might get along.”
“At the very least,” Edward began, “we should all have a good time this evening. My wife has arranged for us to tell a story after dinner.”
“What kind of story?” Brooke asked, looking intrigued.
“Any kind that goes with the autumn season,” Marie replied. “We thought it might be more festive that way.”
Brooke’s eyes lit up. “Oooh! I just learned about an Irish folklore character by the name Shifty Jack.”
Marie had hoped Brooke would bring that up since she’d done so before. As she recalled, Richard had enjoyed learning about Shifty Jack. To Brooke, she said, “That sounds interesting. What do you think, Edward? Would you like to base our story around Shifty Jack?”
That wasn’t a genuine question, of course. Marie knew this would spark Edward’s interest. He might even want to go to the market tomorrow and select a certain tree sculpture. The best part about that was knowing she would be shopping with him, instead of running into him by coincidence.
Or, maybe it hadn’t been a coincidence. Who knew if Tove had somehow arranged for that to take place?
Maybe all of the times she’d run into Edward hadn’t been a coincidence, either.
Perhaps Tove had been nudging her toward Edward the entire time.
If Marie knew a gentleman loved a certain lady, she would do everything possible to pair them together.
Edward let out a thoughtful hum. “Shifty Jack. That sounds familiar. I think I’ve read something about him before.”
“He’s popular in Ireland,” Brooke commented. “In fact, they hollow out turnips and put an ember in them to ward him off this time of year.”
“I have heard of him!” Edward beamed. “Yes, I know the character of which you speak.” With an excited glance in Marie’s direction, he added, “Now I can’t wait for the story to begin.”
She grinned at his enthusiasm. Yes, they would definitely be shopping for that tree sculpture tomorrow.
The butler returned to the drawing room with Richard and Lord Monheim. Taking that as their cue, Edward and Marie encouraged the guests to take a seat.
“The last lady will be here soon,” Marie assured the two bachelors.
To this announcement, Richard gave a wary glance since Brooke was sitting between him and Lord Monheim. “Which lady will I be escorting this evening?”
“Miss Brooke McCord,” Marie told him, not surprised when he gave a visible sigh of relief.
“For a moment, I was afraid Lady Diane would be in attendance this evening,” he admitted.
Yes, she suspected that thought had gone through his head.
She was happy to relieve him of his fears.
“I am not acquainted with Lady Diane.” As far as this life was concerned, it was the truth.
“My father spoke favorably about Miss McCord’s father, and when I learned that he had a daughter of marrying age, I thought, ‘Why not try the match’? ”
Richard smiled as he glanced Brooke’s way. “I see no reason to complain.”
To this, Brooke offered a shy smile in return.
Excellent. The first match had been made, and it’d been done quite nicely, if Marie said so herself. She turned to Lord Monheim. “I have arranged for you to escort Miss Juliet Carter.”
“That’s my cousin’s sister-in-law,” Edward inserted on her behalf. “She’s visiting from Greece but could be persuaded to move to London if given a good reason. My cousin’s wife gave up Greece to be here, and she’s quite happy with the decision.”
Marie studied Edward in surprise. She knew he’d been supportive of her playing matchmaker, but she didn’t realize he would be an accomplice. How unexpectedly thrilling. The more she was learning about Edward, the more she fell in love with him.
“It might be nice to visit Greece sometime,” Lord Monheim said.
A smile tugged at Marie’s lips. She had a feeling that Lord Monheim would notice Juliet now that Tove had removed her from his prospects. Like Richard and Brooke, the two were wonderful people.
A maid brought in some tea, and Juliet arrived soon after. Marie noted the spark of interest in Juliet’s eyes when she was introduced to Lord Monheim and was glad she could finally pair her friend up with the gentleman she desired.
As the evening progressed, Marie saw that the matches were, indeed, good ones.
She just knew they would share many more dinner parties in the future.
She was certain she would write about them in her diary, too.
She would also write about the children she and Edward would have.
She wondered if she had mentioned children in her other diaries.
If so, Tove hadn’t said anything about it.
But that was fine with her. She preferred not knowing any more about the future than she did. She knew she had a love match, and that was good enough.