Chapter 19
One month later...
Meredith held a bouquet full of Hundred-Leaved roses, their soft pink hue contrasting sweetly with the bright green satin of her wedding gown. She lifted up the roses to inhale their scent and smiled. Warren had said that Darius chose those flowers because they meant sincere love.
Tucked amongst the roses were apple blossoms, which meant he preferred her above all others, and red tulips, which meant he declared his love.
Learning the language of flowers had captivated her.
She remembered the look on Darius’s face when he had been forced to carry one of the bouquets of her suitors and smothered a giggle.
She took one final moment to check her appearance in the wall mirror of the drawing room. She’d had the modiste design her gown with a beautiful shade of emerald silk that matched the stems of the flowers in Darius’s garden.
“Are you ready?” Warren asked. He waited with her in the drawing room while Darius and the guests had gone outside to the gardens.
“Yes.” She smiled up at Warren. “You are so sweet to give me away.”
“I am delighted by the honor.” He winked at her. “Though I almost had to duel Felix for the chance. He wanted to give you away as well.”
Someone knocked on the drawing room door and Warren called for them to enter. Meredith expected it to be Mr. Chelsea to inform them the ceremony was about to begin, but she gasped at the sight of Prince George standing in the doorway, bedecked in his finest clothes.
“Mr. Burville, I understand you’ve been looking forward to this moment, but would you allow me to have the honor of escorting Miss Montague down the aisle?
It would allow me to put to rest anyone else’s poor opinions of this darling woman.
If a prince gives her away to Tiverton in marriage, then none can challenge such a union. ”
Warren exchanged a glance with Meredith, and she nodded her agreement.
“Yes, of course. I quite agree.” He kissed Meredith’s gloved hand, then walked her to the Prince. “I will be outside with the others.”
The Prince of Wales eyed her dress with approval. The pink roses on her sleeves and the flowers embroidered along the bottom half of her gown made it look as though a garden was growing up her skirts.
“Quite an exquisite design,” he said. “I expected nothing less for the Duchess of Tiverton.” It was high praise from a prince who prided himself on his taste in fashion.
Prince George took her hand and tucked it on his arm as they left the drawing room.
A footman was ready to open the doors for them to the back terrace.
Meredith’s eyes filled with tears as she saw all of Darius’s servants lined up on either side of the terrace.
They wore their Sunday best, and more than one woman dabbed a handkerchief at their eyes, as did one of the footmen.
Meredith murmured a thank you to them as they passed into the gardens.
A crowd of forty guests had formed rows on either side of the petal-drenched aisle toward and archway of flowers.
All of her suitors were present, including Jordan Evers, who beamed at her as she walked past him.
He had sent her a note expressing his delight that she’d ended up with the man who held her heart.
Darius waited for her under the archway of blooms, his eyes soft as he took in the sight of her. Meredith no longer felt shy or out of place in his bold, beautiful world, because it was her world too.
She had come to London without family, connections, money, or even a sense of value in herself. But all that had changed. Her new friends had shown her that even without money and connections, she was valued and cherished. It had taken a little time to believe it herself, but she did now.
I belong here. I belong with Darius.
Had Uncle Ben known that it would come to this? That the letter he had charged her to deliver to Darius would result in such wonderful happiness for them both? Somehow she suspected Uncle Ben might have known that they would belong together.
“This may be a small wedding by some standards,” the prince whispered as they approached Darius, “but I believe all the people who matter are here.”
Darius bowed to the Prince and accepted Meredith’s gloved hand in his own as she joined him and the clergyman. Prince George retreated to the first row of guests as the ceremony began.
Meredith spoke her vows of love to Darius, and he spoke them in return, his eyes never once leaving her face.
At last he leaned in to kiss her, and the world faded away beneath the tender press of his lips.
It was their first kiss as husband and wife, and it held such a sweet fire that Meredith’s soul would never be cold again.
When Darius raised his head, his grin was so seductive and yet so tender that she knew she would always be loved, always be wanted.
“I belong to you, forever,” he whispered before stealing another kiss. The clergyman cleared his throat and Darius’s friends cheered in the waiting crowd.
Meredith giggled and Darius smiled against her lips before he turned to face their guests.
“My wife and I would like you all to join us in the drawing room for a wedding breakfast.”
She and Darius led the crowd indoors, where Mr. Chelsea had arranged for the wedding cake to be cut and plated ahead of time.
Meredith had insisted that the servants would be able to join them for the breakfast as guests.
Everyone dined on cake and the breakfast meal that Frances and Meredith had carefully planned out a month ago.
By the time everyone was finished, Meredith’s face hurt from so much smiling.
After the breakfast had concluded, Meredith and Darius saw everyone off.
The last to leave were Warren and Felix, who had indulged in a bit too much champagne.
They were singing and weaving their way across the street toward Kit’s house, where the rest of the rogues of Devil’s Square were going to continue to celebrate Darius’s good fortune.
Vincent had even dragged along Jordan Evers to join the other bachelors, insisting the poor man deserved a drink.
Meredith flinched when Felix and Warren barely avoided a coach rumbling down the street before reaching the steps of Kit’s townhouse. “Do you suppose they will be all right?”
“It’s not the first time they’ve been foxed, my dear. Kit will handle them.” Her husband then grinned mischievously. “However, I have a wedding present to show you. I believe it should be installed now.”
“Installed?” She echoed as he led her back out into the gardens.
“Yes. They started the moment we went inside for breakfast. I wanted to give you something special.”
“I don’t need anything special. I have you.”
He turned to silence her with a kiss. Then, when she was good and breathless, he stroked his thumb over her bottom lip. “You must let me give you things, sweetheart. I fear it is the terrible price you must pay being mine.”
“Oh, all right, if I must.” She sighed dramatically, which made him laugh. She leaned against him as they walked down the aisle of petals upon the grass toward the back garden wall. When they were close to where the heart-shaped hole was, Meredith gasped.
A statue had been placed in the gardens, right next to the heart-shaped hole. It was of a tall woman dressed in a Roman robe and helmet. She held a spear in one hand, and an owl sat on her shoulder. A battle shield rested against the woman’s legs.
“This is Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and strategy.”
“Minerva…” Meredith covered her mouth with her hands. “You did it for her.”
“And for you,” Darius said. “Without you, we never would’ve known what Crell had done, nor would we have caught him. I don’t ever want you to forget how brave you are. And I don’t want anyone else to forget her, just as you wished.”
Wildflowers and roses had been planted around the base of the statue. The wildflowers would attract dozens of butterflies in the spring and summer. This part of the garden would become full of them.
“How are you so perfect?” she asked Darius.
“How? By loving you.” He pulled her into his arms, kissing her. His lips were soft and eager against hers, making her belly quiver in anticipation of their wedding night.
“Now, what say you to celebrating our newly married state in my bed?”
Their wedding night was to become a wedding afternoon…and she had no complaints at the change in plans.
“Our bed,” she corrected. “I want to share rooms with you.”
“I want that as well.” They raced back to the house hand in hand, their feet flying upon the ground and their laughter echoing off the stones of the house.
* * *
Warren sipped his brandy as he watched the Bow Street Runner bend over the billiard table and line up for his shot. “Answer me a question, Doyle.”
Doyle was unfazed by the interruption, focused on his present task. “Ask away, Mr. Burville.”
“How did he do it?”
“Who?” Doyle struck the cue ball, which shot across the green baize surface and connected with several other balls. One dropped neatly into a corner pocket, and another rolled perfectly into place for his next shot.
“Crell,” Warren said. “Did you ever learn of his wife’s fate?”
“Oh yes. The mistress told us the whole of it in order to escape the noose.” The other men in the room stopped talking. Several gathered around the Bow Street Runner to hear him speak.
“It was planned. He tried to smother her with a pillow, but she was stronger than he expected. She escaped the bed and tried to flee. She made it to the mews before he caught up with her and stabbed the poor woman. He cleaned up the blood with the clothes Darius dug up in the garden. He also hid the jewels in the same hole in the garden, hoping to sell them in a year once he’d convinced everyone his wife never planned to return to London and didn’t need her jewelry. ”
“What about the servants? Didn’t someone see the struggle?”