Chapter Seven
T he registry office smelled faintly of disinfectant and bureaucracy.
The chairs were the kind that made one’s back ache after thirty seconds, the beige walls were adorned with posters about civil ceremonies and legal name changes, and the lighting was just harsh enough to ensure that no one looked particularly attractive.
Even Isabella, who Eleanor had always considered a true English rose, looked jaundiced beneath the light.
Eleanor sat primly on one of the uncomfortable chairs, her hands folded in her lap, the very picture of poised patience.
She’d made an effort, choosing a cream-colored suit for the occasion.
It was stylish, rather than ostentatious, appropriate for what was, essentially, a business transaction.
She crossed her legs at the ankles and took a slow, deep breath.
“I’ll go and have a look to see if the bride is coming,” Elizabeth said after an eternal silence.
“The bride is here, my dear,” said Isabella, nodding toward Eleanor. Then she flushed slightly. “Ah, yes, I do see what you mean. Please, go on.”
Elizabeth left with a sigh of relief.
“Are you quite alright?” Eleanor asked her grandmother politely.
Isabella surveyed the setting with a look of mild horror. “You mean, other than you obviously fully embracing romance?” she said tartly.
“It’s not about romance,” Eleanor sighed.
“Clearly,” murmured Isabella, pulling her scarf up on her shoulder a touch.
She turned to Eleanor with a pointed expression.
“You know, I’m hardly a stranger to marriages of convenience.
In my time, they were probably the rule more than the exception.
What, with most of the aristocratic houses losing their money after the war and all.
Our family has had plenty of them, as have many of my friends. ”
“Indeed,” Eleanor said, wondering just where her grandmother was going with this.
“In fact, sometimes, I do rather think that such relationships do end up working for the best. Romance can be fleeting.”
“This isn’t about romance,” Eleanor said again.
“I know,” said Isabella with a sigh. “That’s rather the problem. Whilst I understand the… utility of a marriage of convenience, I do question whether you have the temperament for such an arrangement.”
Eleanor stiffened. “Meaning?”
Isabella laid a hand on her granddaughter’s arm, her voice a little gentler. “You may think that you’re all logic and reason, Eleanor. But you’re more sentimental than you realize. You get that from your father, you know.”
Irritation bristled over Eleanor’s skin. She knew an insult when she heard one, and she wasn’t about to accept it, even from her grandmother. “That’s insulting.”
Isabella narrowed her eyes. “Is it, my dear? You must barely remember the man. I remember him. I remember him quite well, as it happens.”
Eleanor closed her eyes. She forgot, sometimes, that when she lost her parents, her grandmother had lost a son. “Of course,” she said. “I apologize.”
“Apology accepted,” Isabella said briskly. “And my point here was that this might not be as simple as you think.”
Eleanor lifted her chin. “It is simple. I need to be married to inherit. This is the most efficient solution for everyone involved.”
“Mmm,” Isabella said.
And before Eleanor could pursue the matter further, Elizabeth returned with the news that a decrepit Land Rover was currently parking in the disabled parking space at the front of the building.
???
Danni threw the old truck into park and wiped her hands on her jeans. “Here we are then,” she said.
“Dan, this is ridiculous.”
She turned to look at her brother. To his credit, he was wearing a jacket and a tie. He must have done that for her, it was unlikely that their mother would have taken much interest in what he was doing or even where he was going.
“Yep,” she said. “And yet, here we are.”
“When I told you to be smarter with money, I didn’t mean to for you to marry your way out of debt,” he said, exasperation heavy in his tone. “I didn’t mean for you to get a sugar-daddy to pay all your bills.”
“Sugar-mummy,” Danni said. She sighed. “Look, I know how it sounds—”
“Do you?” said Hector, his cheeks flushed pink. “Because if you did, I’m not so sure you’d be so gung-ho about doing it.”
Danni rolled her eyes. “It’s a business deal, Hector. She gets her house, I get some breathing room. It’s just like you negotiating for feed or leasing the bottom field for the season, or any one of a hundred other little deals you make to keep the farm going.”
Hector gave her a flat look. “Right. And what happens when you start actually liking her?”
Danni burst into laughter. “Really? That’s what you’re worried about here? Wait until you actually meet her. She’s… impossible. Annoying, irritating, she gets right under your skin like sand at the beach. ”
“Exactly your type,” Hector cut in. “Except she’s posh.”
Danni pulled a face. “Rude.”
“I’m trying to help here, Dan,” said Hector. “Come on. You don’t have to do this. You can come up with something else. I’ll help, if you want. We can sit down, brainstorm some ideas.”
Danni put her hand on the doorhandle. “If you want your tractor back and fixed, this is how it’s going to happen,” she said.
“Now, you don’t have to come in. I didn’t have to tell you.
But I did, because you’re my brother and I love you and I want you there.
Even if this is all just play-acting. Are you coming, or not? ”
He sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Fine. I’ll come and watch you make the worst decision of your life.”
“Oh no,” said Danni, opening the door. “I’ve made way worse decisions than this. What about when I bought those goats?”
And even Hector chuckled as they walked into the building.
It took a few minutes to figure out where to go and when they finally got the directions right, the two of them turned the corner to be confronted by Eleanor, who looked like a doll in a cream suit, a woman in a neat black suit that Danni assumed was Elizabeth, the friend and solicitor, and an older woman with an expensive shawl slung over her shoulders and a sharp look in her eyes.
Eyes that reminded Danni of Eleanor’s.
Danni suddenly found herself feeling oddly nervous. There was something about Eleanor’s grandmother that made her feel like she was being x-rayed, being tested and found wanting. She sniffed, wiped her hand on her jeans, and held it out, half-expecting to be ignored.
To her surprise, Isabella took her hand firmly and shook it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said politely. “You run a farm, I hear.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Danni, not knowing why she was addressing this woman like she was the queen, but feeling like it was necessary, nevertheless.
“Not an easy choice of occupation. Are you any good at it?”
Danni didn’t hesitate. “Yes, I am. ”
Isabella eyed her for a long moment, then nodded, looking satisfied. “Good. At least one of you knows herself and what she’s doing.”
Danni glanced over at Eleanor, who looked both scandalized and slightly betrayed, and had to bite back a smile.
Isabella reached over and patted her granddaughter’s hand. “Perhaps this isn’t such a bad idea after all,” she said, eyes still on Danni and a small smile on her lips.
Eleanor looked as though she might be sick, and Danni found herself liking Isabella rather more than she’d really expected to.
???
Eleanor looked across at where Danni was slouched on her chair, looking as if she might be about to doze off.
She was wearing jeans that looked clean in only the most relative of senses, boots, and a flannel shirt that might have seen an iron at some point in its existence, but not recently.
She also looked far too comfortable for someone about to enter into a legally binding commitment.
With a sigh, she stood up and went to sit beside her.
“I’m glad to see that you made an effort,” she said dryly.
Danni looked down at her clothes in surprise. “Didn’t know I was supposed to show up in the big white dress. You should have said something.”
“You could have worn a skirt,” Eleanor said. “Or a trouser suit. Perhaps a twin set.”
“I only know what one of those things is,” said Danni. “And I’ve been at work all morning and I’ll go back to work when this is all done, so be happy that I put on a clean shirt. The other one had sheep poo on it.”
“Right,” Eleanor said faintly. She swallowed. “Are you… Are you sure about this?”
She wasn’t sure if she was asking for Danni or asking for herself .
Danni looked at her and gave a lazy grin that made her dark eyes crinkle at the corners and her nose wrinkle a little. “We shook on it, didn’t we?”
“Yes, but—”
She was interrupted by an announcement of both their names. It was time.
“Let’s get this done, Princess,” Danni said, heaving herself out of her chair with what looked like great effort.
Eleanor sighed and straightened her jacket. “Fine.”
After that, it was all very fast.
The official called them forward. The ceremony, if it could even be called that, was brief. There were no vows, no rings, no fanfare. Just paperwork.
Eleanor signed her name in her usual elegant script, penmanship had always been important to her. Danni scrawled hers in a rushed, barely legible mess, like she was signing for a hay delivery.
Elizabeth and Hector signed as witnesses, both with varying degrees of concern on theirs faces.
Isabella watched it all with an unreadable expression.
And just like that…
They were married.