Chapter 35 #2
Beau looked drawn and pale, his usually angelic countenance grey and his eyes heavy. He’d clearly lost a great deal of weight, one arm held securely against his chest with a sling. Sebastian couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow at seeing him so unlike himself.
“I-I thought you’d gone,” Beau said, looking awkward. “I would never have come otherwise.”
“Forgot the ring,” Sebastian said, his sorrow deepening as he knew Beau would never have let him do such a thing if he’d been here.
Beau gave a soft laugh and shook his head.
“Why doesn’t that surprise me.” The two men stood together, both only too aware that the closeness of their friendship was dead and gone.
“I just came to bring you this. A wedding present,” he said with an uneasy smile.
“I leave tomorrow but ... well I thought perhaps Georgiana might like it.”
He handed over a small parcel and Sebastian took it from him.
He untied the string and opened the brown paper to reveal a painting.
It was a delicate landscape painting, beautifully executed by a master painter.
An idyllic scene of a thatched cottage in the autumn, and a family going about their day in the countryside.
“This was your mother’s,” Sebastian said, looking up in shock.
He had seen it hanging in the study of Beau’s town house.
It was one of the few personal items of hers that he possessed.
“We can’t possibly take this,” he said, feeling out of his depth.
He knew Beau was trying to apologise, yet he wasn’t ready to forgive him.
But ... he didn’t want to reject such an obvious show of remorse out of hand, nor yet take something of such huge personal value.
Beau shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “Well, I can’t take everything with me, and I expect the bailiffs will clear the place out once I’m gone.
” Sebastian heard the familiar nonchalant tone, but he didn’t for a moment believe it.
The painting was small enough to be easily packed.
“I’d rather you had it,” Beau said, pleading in his eyes.
Sebastian stared back at him and didn’t know what to say. The anger at what Beau had done was still too raw, too fresh, but this was one of the only items he knew meant anything to his friend, and he knew what it meant to him to give it up.
“You’re going to France then?”
Beau nodded. “At least the weather is better there than Scotland, and if it’s good enough for Brummel,” he quipped, trying to make light of it, but Sebastian could tell his heart wasn’t in it.
“Anyway, I leave in the morning, assuming I make it to the boat in one piece,” he added with a lopsided grin.
“Maybe you’ll get lucky and someone will finish the job. ”
Sebastian felt his throat tighten. “Don’t,” he said, too confused to know what it was he wanted to say but knowing he couldn’t leave things like this. “I don’t want you dead,” he said, hearing his voice so harsh and gruff it was as though he didn’t mean any such thing.
Beau smiled at him, but there was such pain in his eyes Sebastian had to look away. “I know that, Sin. To be honest, I wish you did. It would be easier, but then ... well, you always were so much more honourable than I.”
Sebastian didn’t stop him as he headed for the door, but Beau paused on the threshold. He didn’t turn around, but Sebastian didn’t need to see his face to see the sincerity in his eyes as he spoke.
“I’m so sorry, Sebastian. Truly. I know you’ll never forgive me and ... well, of course I understand that. But I wish you every happiness. You’re a very lucky man.”
Sebastian didn’t stop him as he left, though there was a part of him that wished he had.
He took a deep breath and put the painting away in his office with care, before rushing up to his room and getting the ring, which he’d left on the mantelpiece in his haste to get to Hanover Square in time.
By the time he got back downstairs the carriage was waiting for him once more and he got in, yelling at the driver to make haste.
“Was that Beau I just saw?” Nibley demanded as Sebastian settled himself against the squabs once more.
He nodded and passed the small ring box to Percy to keep safe until it was required.
“Did you speak to him?”
“Yes,” Sebastian replied, hoping Percy would leave it at that.
He’d not known who to ask to accompany him this morning.
The idea that Beau wasn’t invited to his wedding seemed impossible.
He’d thought Percy would refuse too, as it was hardly appropriate as he’d offered for Georgiana as well.
But Percy had seemed genuinely pleased to be asked and Sebastian had been grateful for it.
He tried to put the unhappy face of his friend far from his mind. There was no use dwelling on it.
Beau had made his own bed.
Georgiana loved him, not Beau. That he knew with no question or doubt in his mind and the thought eased away the tension that had made his shoulders tight as the carriage drew up outside the grand portico of the St George’s church in Hanover Square.
The church’s tower stood proud against an azure summer sky as they walked into the cool gloom cast by the six massive Corinthian columns and made their way inside.
It was a rather plain, if impressive structure with a wide nave, and gave the impression of light and space.
With relief Sebastian noted that they had made good time and took a moment to gather himself before the day he had been waiting for with such anticipation began in earnest.
He smiled and greeted Georgiana’s aunt and uncle, who looked rather daunted at first meeting him. They had been unable to come before the wedding, as a sudden outbreak of scarlet fever had kept the good doctor with his hands full until that very morning.
Happily, they soon relaxed as Sebastian took pains to make clear that he really wasn’t as high in the instep as Georgiana had teased him about being.
For the fiftieth time Sebastian reached for his watch chain to check the time, just as Percy elbowed him in the side. Doctor Bomford had slipped discreetly away to meet his niece and now Lord and Lady Falmouth entered the church.
Céleste looked ravishing in a pale peach colour which set off her golden hair beautifully, and Falmouth, looking unbearably smug, gave Sebastian a wink of encouragement.
And then, there she was.
Sebastian caught his breath and held it as she made her way down the aisle on her uncle’s arm. Doctor Bomford looked proud enough to burst something and Sebastian was quite taken aback by the force of emotion that came over him at seeing his lovely bride make her way to the altar.
Her glorious red hair shone copper and gold in the sunlight and was no less dazzling than her smile and the light in her eyes.
She carried a simple bouquet of three white lilies surrounded by fern leaves and if she was in any way as nervous as Sebastian suddenly felt, the bouquet hid any noticeable trembling of her hands.
The exquisite dress she wore clung to her curvaceous frame in such a way that he wanted nothing more than to dispense with the ceremony and the blasted wedding breakfast with all haste and get his bride alone so he could divest her of it in short measure.
At least some of his impatience must have been visible in his eyes as his irrepressible bride chuckled in a very unmaidenly fashion and had the temerity to wink at him.
Sebastian snorted and promised himself the delight of extracting retribution in the very near future as the ceremony began and everyone fell quiet.