Chapter 16
The chapel next to Heron House was ablaze with light. It mattered not that it was the middle of the night. Oh no, they were lighting up the dark, her family, waiting for Crispin to appear.
“He bloody well better show up,” Ajax said.
“Of course he will,” she retorted. “He’s not that sort of fellow.”
Hector paced. “Look, I can’t blame him entirely for doing what he’s done. I have likely done worse, and yet I still want to pull his teeth out.”
Zephyr looked at his brother and said, “His teeth? I’m going to pull his bloody tongue out if he doesn’t show up, and then wrap it around his neck as a cravat.”
Hermia grimaced. “The three of you will do no such thing. First of all, he’s a man of honor and he will show up. Second of all, stop saying such things. It’s terrible for the morale.”
The Duke of Westleigh, her eldest brother, leaned against the chapel wall looking completely nonchalant. “Oh, he shall arrive. He is a man of honor. And the truth is, I’m quite pleasantly surprised.”
She gaped at her oldest brother.
“Whatever do you mean?” she asked.
Her mother was inside the chapel making last minute notations to the vicar. The marriage was happening immediately, before dawn could break. Before the gossips could make their calls. Because this way, Hermia and Crispin might have been caught, but the deliciousness of their night time nuptials would also be shared. Otherwise, she had no doubt her mother would be running this entire conversation, and her brothers would not be saying such things to her.
The duke arched a dark brow. “That he’s so much like us. I didn’t think he had it in him.”
She coughed. “I beg your pardon?”
“He just seemed so…bland, if I’m honest,” the duke said with a shudder. “After all, he’s not done anything particularly interesting with his life. He just behaves like all the other young men who gad about town and spend their lives in pleasure and power. But tonight he proved something to me.”
“Do you think he did it on purpose?” Ajax demanded.
“No,” the duke said, “I don’t think he’s that calculated. In general, he’s terrified. If you can spot it.”
“Terrified,” Hermia echoed. “He’s not terrified at all. He’s a remarkably strong individual.”
“Strength,” Ajax said, turning to her, “does not mean freedom of fear. And with his mother, he’s no doubt spent his entire life trying to get out from underneath her thumb. He’s a strong enough fellow who is clearly capable, but those kinds of things can leave a scar, don’t you know?”
“And how would you know?” she demanded, propping her hands on her hips.
“Have you seen our mother?” Zephyr challenged, his blond hair glinting silver in the moonlight.
“She has left no scars,” Hermia pointed out, aghast that her brother might suggest such a thing.
“Of course she hasn’t,” Zephyr scoffed. “But she certainly has shaped us, wouldn’t you agree?”
She hesitated, letting her gaze drift up to the sparkling stars above. Yes, their mother had shaped them but in a wonderful way, with hearts that were strong, and bodies and minds that were resilient.
“Ah,” she said, her heart aching for the man she would marry this night. “I see. You’re saying he did not have someone like our mother to guide him. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
And Crispin’s own words had confirmed such a thing.
The duke nodded. “I’m glad to know he’s more like us than I thought,” the duke affirmed. “Ready for scandal, after all.”
“I don’t know if he’s exactly ready for it,” she said.
“Oh, he is,” the duke countered steadily. “Look at how he was prepared to deal with it, to step up, to take it.” Westleigh gave a knowing look. “And I warrant he’s the one who instigated it.”
She blushed. “Something like that,” she confessed, “though I was rather surprised by my own behavior.”
“I’m not,” the duke said, striding forward and giving her a quick hug. “You’re one of us, my dear. You can’t escape that. It’s in your blood to act out according to your innermost passions.”
She frowned. “I didn’t think so, but here we are.”
“Indeed. Here we are,” the duke replied, squeezing her. “Take heart. All will be well.”
With that, the rumble of a coach echoed down the road.
“Good,” Ajax said, cracking his knuckles. “I didn’t want to have to bury a body tonight.”
She let out a laugh. “You wouldn’t do it anyway.”
Ajax gave her a strange look which made her wonder if perhaps he would have done. How she loved her brothers, but all of them were so odd. Ajax performed in boxing matches all over the country, and her other brothers were always out and about having adventures.
Most of the time, they were traveling throughout Europe. They’d only recently come back because of the debacle happening in France.
Her youngest brother, Cronus… She wished he was here and not trying to negotiate the frantic streets of Paris.
She let out a sigh, thinking of her little sister Perdita, who was tucked safely in her bed this night, with no knowledge of the way the family was changing.
“Is Juliet still in the church?” she asked.
“Of course she is,” informed Ajax. “She and Mama are exact replicas of each other, don’t you know?”
She groaned. It was true. Juliet even looked exactly like their mama, save for her darker hair which came from their father.
The coach pulled to a halt before them, and the earl threw the door open and jumped down. He looked about warily as if he was afraid of suddenly being attacked.
“Don’t worry. We’ve decided you shall live,” the duke said, “After all, you’re keeping your word.”
He gazed about, clearly wary and suspicious.
“Do not worry,” she said. “They were professing their admiration for you and your boldness just a few minutes ago.”
“I beg your pardon?” Crispin asked, clearly doubtful.
“Well, not exactly admiration. How can one ever admire someone for debauching one’s sister,” Ajax said with a shudder. “But we didn’t think you had it in you to go outside the bounds of propriety and break a few rules. And for that, well, we like you a little bit more. And the fact that you are willing to go quite far for what you want? That…That is good.”
“Besides, it’s not as if our sister was going to remain a virgin forever,” Hector said.
“Hector!” she yelped.
“Well, it’s true,” Zephyr said.
She rolled her eyes. “Brothers.”
“They’re very strange ones. I’ve never heard a brother say anything like that before,” ground out Crispin.
“Welcome to the family,” she said. “We’re all very realistic about things.”
Crispin tried to give a tentative smile, but it came off more as a grimace.
“Come now,” the Duke of Westleigh said. “You’re one of us now. Family.”
“Am I?” Crispin asked.
“You’re about to be as soon as you say the words.” Westleigh cocked his head to the side. “And I assume you will say the words, won’t you?”
Crispin nodded swiftly.
Ajax frowned. “You didn’t bring your mother or your sister?”
“My mother refused to come, and she kept my sister at home,” Crispin confessed, a note of bitterness creeping into his voice. “I would’ve liked to have brought Gillian, but my sister said our mother needed consoling.”
“Your mother doesn’t need consoling,” Westleigh drawled. “You’re marrying into the family of a dukedom. Everything will be wonderful for you from here on out, I promise you that.” Westleigh gestured to Hermia. “As long as you don’t upset that one.”
Crispin squared his shoulders, clearly unintimidated. “As you know, I have no intention of upsetting her at all.”
The duke pursed his lips. “We shall see. You said you want to give her everything that she wants,” the duke whispered.
She gasped. “He told you that?”
The duke nodded. “I think it’s a terrible idea.”
“Now, don’t you go giving Crispin ideas,” she rushed. “I like the fact that he wants to give me what I want.”
The duke rolled his eyes. “That’s what people think until they get it.”
With that, Westleigh turned and threw open the door of the church.
“They’re ready!” he bellowed.
He strode down the nave and up to the altar, his brothers trailing close behind, leaving Hermia and Crispin for a moment before the deed was to be done.
“Are you ready?” she said, looking up at her soon-to-be husband.
Crispin’s face softened. “For you? Always. For them, it’s touch and go.”
She laughed. “Well, it’s too late, I think, for either of us to retreat. Besides, they like you.”
“They do?” he queried, astonished.
“They do,” she affirmed. “They actually like you better for all of this.”
His eyes rounded. “For causing scandal? For ruining…”
“You didn’t ruin me,” she cut in. “They know that I made the choice myself too. And yes, they like you better for not being boring.”
He gaped down at her. “I see. It’s nothing like my family. How I was raised.”
“Good,” she said with a nod. “You were raised to believe you would be approved of only if you did as you were told. We were raised to believe we could weather whatever storm came, even if we made it ourselves.
He blinked at that before blowing out an amazed breath. “Bloody hell,” he said. “What an idea.”
She smiled up at him as she offered him her arm.
He smiled down at her for that cheeky gesture, then tucked her palm atop his forearm. But then he hesitated. “Shouldn’t I go up to the front?”
“Why don’t we go in together?” she offered. “A united front.”
He laughed. “Well, we’ve already broken tradition. I don’t see why not.”
“Good,” she said, glad that he was amenable to doing things in ways that hadn’t been done before.
Together, they entered the arched doorway and headed down through the church.
Her mother and sister stood on one side and her brothers stood on the other.
Lips were twitching and laughs were being suppressed, no doubt at the fact that bride and groom were walking down the aisle together.
She rather liked that she wasn’t being given away. That they were giving themselves to each other.
There was no music; there was no need.
The vicar stood waiting too. He was one of their mother’s dear friends, and he looked as if he was delighted to be performing the ceremony. Hermia had known him since she was a small girl.
Of course, he must have been told the reason for the marriage. But luckily, he did not appear as if he was going to put forth a sermon on wrath, hellfire, and sin. Instead, he opened his book and immediately began the ceremony.
It took but a few moments, and the solemn vows were done. At the rapid conclusion, she couldn’t remember a single word that had been said.
And when at last, the vicar pronounced them man and wife, her mother, her sister, and her brothers all let out cheers.
Crispin looked bowled over as if he had expected her brothers to hate him forever, not welcome him. And the moment he bent down and gently kissed her lips, then stood back, her brothers rushed forward, swooped him up, and started cheering.
“Well done. Well done, old boy,” Hector announced, clapping him on the back so hard Crispin coughed.
“You’ve joined the institution of marriage! Better you than me. But we’re a damned fun family to belong to,” Ajax said, squeezing his shoulder.
“Put the noose around your neck and all that,” Hector declared with a grin.
Crispin laughed, taking it all in like a man who’d suddenly been at the champagne. “Indeed I have. It’s the fate of every man.” Crispin suddenly appeared to be bolstered by the Briarwood enthusiasm, and he declared. “So, you all look out as you shall be next.”
Ajax, Zephyr, and Hector let out sounds of protest.
“Not for years, old boy,” said Zephyr.
“I’ll be in my dotage,” said Hector.
“And I,” said Ajax, “shall be on my deathbed before I wed.”
Crispin, clearly relieved at the reception of her family, shook his head. “I wager you shall all be married in five years’ time. I don’t know why I think so, but I do. It’s your protests,” he insisted. “People who protest too much always end up doing what they say they won’t.”
Hermia smiled at him. “Very wise, indeed. Mother will be delighted.”
“Indeed I shall. I like this prophecy,” Hermia’s mother said, striding forward. She lifted her hands, cupped Crispin’s face, and said, “Welcome to the family, dear boy. I’m happy to have another son.”
His eyes lit at that. And for a moment, Hermia was certain that tears filled them, but it was certainly just a trick of the candlelight.
Juliet bolted forward. “I shall be visiting you two soon to make sure you’re treating her correctly.”
“Well, we’re going to a cottage immediately,” he said.
And then, Hermia thought to herself… What then?
It didn’t matter. There was no point in thinking too far ahead because all they had was now anyway.