Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
They were married one month later on a gray day that did nothing to dampen everyone’s spirits.
Ram’s donated, and now faded, carpet was rolled out and pews set up on either side on the grassed area in the middle of the Crabbett Close.
While the weather was a touch warmer, it was still cold outside—not that anyone seemed to notice.
Mr. Peeky’s clergyman cousin had come through again with the pews, so there was a church out there somewhere where the congregation would be seated on the floor today.
Mungo stood with Bram, then Leo, Alex, and Theo.
“Mrs. Greedy wanted me to put this in your jacket pocket, Mungo,” Charles said, arriving with Violet, who was wrapped in a thick velvet cloak.
They were to have their first baby in five months, and the couple were ecstatic.
“She gave it to me this morning, but I just remembered now.” Charles tucked a sweet-smelling flower into his jacket.
Mungo had never thought he’d have children, but he wanted that now with Eliza, and she in turn wanted a family like she’d once had.
“Why are we not using the rotunda, surely it would be warmer?” Alex said.
“This is tradition,” Bram said.
“Your brother-in-law has arrived, Charles. He is with Miss Wilson, and they’re already arguing,” Leo said out the side of his mouth as a loud shriek of outrage filled the air. “I’m not sure if they truly loathe each other or the opposite.”
“Trust me, it’s loathing,” Charles said. “Ambrose’s gentleman’s club is close to the women’s club Miss Wilson is nearly finished setting up with the Pavlov money, and it’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
“Apparently all the women in this family have entrance without having to be vetted,” Alex added.
“God save us all,” Mungo muttered.
Charles wandered off to take his seat next to Violet, and Mungo shot another look to the beginning of the aisle. Still no sign of Eliza.
Her friend Sylvie arrived with her fiancé and gave him a smile before they slid onto a pew. Two days ago, she’d told Mungo that if he hurt her friend, there would be nowhere he could hide from her. He had to admire that kind of loyalty.
In the month since Eliza had agreed to marry him, both of them had changed. He was still gruff and rude, but according to his future wife, there was a softness to him now. He’d been horrified at that, which had made her laugh.
She still worked with the Nightingales to shave off their sharp edges and get them ready for society, and he still worked in the household and drove the carriage when needed.
But tonight they would spend their first night as husband and wife in their new home, and he couldn’t wait to wake with Eliza in his arms.
It was a wonder to him that she was his. That their life would be spent together. They would still argue because both of them were strong willed in their own ways, but she would never doubt he loved her.
“I heard that Ellington is being stripped of his title and will rot in jail,” Leo said. “Couldn’t have happened to a better man. That witch Mrs. Holton will not see sunlight again for a while either.”
Gray and Scotland Yard had tracked down some of the women who had been abused by the agency and the Baddon Boys, and none of them had ever gone to the authorities with what had taken place.
Instead, they’d just been going about their lives, with deep scars and dark secrets.
Some of the women had found a place to heal at the Pavlov estate, and yet more in two houses they’d set up.
It wasn’t enough, but it was a start. Out there somewhere were abused women who needed to be found, and Eliza wanted to locate every last one, and Mungo would be at her side to help.
“Don’t look now, but the residents of Crabbett Close are dressed in matching clothing,” Alex said.
Of course they all looked, and there they were. The Greedys and the Alvins were dressed in identical deep magenta with gold braiding down the fronts, the women in cloaks, the men in long coats.
“There are no words,” Leo whispered, awed. “They look very regal.”
“Clemmie has a matching hat,” Bram said.
They watched as the guests moved down the aisle to take their seats.
The Sinclair and Raven families were present, clearly excited to be at another Crabbett Close wedding. Mungo watched the Duke of Raven bow over Tabitha Varney’s hand. She was showing off her chest again and fluttering her lashes.
She’d told Mungo that even though she liked Eliza, she was devastated he was to marry her.
“Sit down, you lot!” Bram called out.
The guests all did as he asked and settled, like hens roosting.
A piano then started playing.
“Where the hell is that coming from?” Mungo looked around them.
“We had it placed in the rotunda. As it turns out, Mavis is an excellent piano player, which none of us knew, and—”
“Oh Lord.” Mungo sighed as Clemmie started singing.
Then two more voices joined him, the Duchess of Raven and Mrs. Rose Sinclair stood to accompany him.
“Beautiful,” Bram whispered.
It was, Mungo thought, but his eyes were on the beginning of the aisle. Lottie, Anna, Matilda, and Fred arrived first. The sight of them all dressed in thick dark blue cloaks with flowers braided into their hair made his throat tight.
These were his children in every way, and he loved each one as he did the men at his side.
“Damn,” Bram muttered, pulling out his handkerchief and blowing his nose.
But it was the two who came down the aisle next that stunned Mungo.
Calder had said his family couldn’t make the wedding, and Mungo and Eliza planned to travel there soon to reunite with his mother.
Fenella and her younger sister Heather, who he’d never met, appeared, also in deep blue cloaks with flowers in their hair.
He was moving in seconds, running to them.
“Hello, Uncle Mungo,” Heather whispered from the depths of the hug he was giving both his nieces. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you.”
“Aye, lass it is.”
“Look behind us now, Uncle Mungo,” Fenella whispered into his ear.
Mungo straightened. Three people were before him. Calder and his beautiful bride, but it was the one in between them who caught his eye.
“Mother,” he rasped. Releasing his nieces, he moved toward them. “Mother,” he whispered this time, standing before the woman he hadn’t seen in many years.
She was older, with more lines on her face, but that smile was the same, as were the eyes—his eyes. He stepped closer, and her hands came up to cup his face.
“Mo mhac ghràdhach.”
“Mungo’s mother just said, ‘my beloved son,’” someone—he thought it might be Rose Sinclair—interpreted loudly.
He wrapped an arm around her, and with the other, he reached for Eliza’s hand. She gripped it with both of hers and held him tight.
“I’m sorry I stayed away, Mother.”
“’Tis done,” she said. “Today is about happiness and the future.” She kissed both his cheeks before releasing him.
“Thank you, brother,” Mungo said to Calder before hugging him. Then he looked at his bride-to-be.
“Tha thu brèagha, mo ghràidh,” he said. “You’re beautiful, my love,” he translated.
Eliza was dressed in a long deep green velvet cloak, her hair loose like the others, and on her head she wore a circlet of flowers. Happy, he thought. Unlike the scared and lonely woman who’d come into his life, this one was happy—like him.
“Shall we marry, then?”
“I want that very much.”
He walked with them down the aisle to where the others waited.
“This is my mother, Bram.”
His friend smiled. “I know.”
“It was you who organized this?”
“Calder and me,” he said.
Mungo nodded, as the tears were choking him now. Then he nodded to the vicar, who in turn cleared his throat, as most of the guests were now discussing the goings on and how much Mungo looked like his mother.
Eliza said their vows in a steady voice, as did he, both more than ready to bind themselves to each other, and when it was done, he turned his wife to face him.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“As I do you.”
He kissed her softly.
“Ewww,” Lottie whispered loudly.
Trestle tables were heaving with food and drink, and lamps cast a soft golden glow over the celebrations.
As Mungo danced with his wife—Mavis playing the piano and Clemmie coaxing sounds from his violin that mimicked a rusty door hinge—he knew life would never be perfect.
But in this moment, it came wonderfully close.
***
Thank you for reading THE FIERCE SCOTSMAN.