Bonus Epilogue
Mouldsworth, Cheshire
While it was true that Burke would have married Enid anywhere in all the world, doing so at the Kennard family seat had proven less than ideal.
His family excelled at making otherwise joyous occasions uncomfortable at best, miserable at worst. They managed to render Burke and Enid’s wedding day a little bit of both.
Nearly an hour into what felt like an interminable wedding breakfast, Burke leaned closer to Enid sitting at his side and whispered, “Thank you for not allowing my relatives to convince you to change your mind about marrying me.”
“Oh, it was a near-run thing, Mr. Grandson of a Marquess.” Her mouth pulled down in a theatrically somber expression. “Not a single member of your family has wiped down a chair for me with the obligatory extra square of linen they are most certainly hiding on their persons.”
“Unforgivable,” he said, not bothering to hide his amusement.
“And I further suspect not a one among them has ever seen a ghost, which makes them shockingly boring.”
She was such a delight, such a wonderful source of sunshine and joy. And she had given him her heart and had gladly accepted his. Burke pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“Really, Burke,” Mother harshly whispered. She sat near enough to be overheard but, blessedly, not directly beside him. “A little decorum, please.”
There was nothing untoward about a groom kissing his bride on the cheek during their wedding breakfast. But his family could find fault in almost anything that was tender and affectionate. They were as staid as statues and almost as warmly emotive.
His sweet Enid didn’t look the least offended or hurt or even bothered by the Kennards’ ability to spread misery.
Indeed, Burke was quite certain she was struggling not to laugh.
Even the most cursory glance at Trevor, seated directly across from Burke, revealed he was in the grips of the same difficulty.
Mr. and Mrs. Pryce were managing to keep all hints of amusement and annoyance out of their expressions, but Burke suspected they found his family every bit as irritating.
“Have you decided where you are going on your wedding journey?” Trevor asked him.
Burke shrugged. “Enid insisted on being permitted to make that decision, and she has yet to tell me what she has planned.”
A glance at his wife revealed the troublemaker smile Burke had come to love so entirely. “I don’t intend to tell you.”
“Ever?” Burke asked with a low laugh.
“I plan to be thoroughly entertained watching you search the landscape for clues and hazarding guesses as our traveling carriage traverses the miles and miles ahead of us.”
Burke made a show of deeply pondering that. “Miles and miles, is it? Then this very secret destination you have in mind is not the Mouldsworth carriage house.”
She threw her hands up in a show of exasperation. “How have you guessed so quickly?”
That set them both to laughing, which brought a smile to the faces of the other Pryces, but looks of confusion to every single Kennard in the room.
“She is very. . . expressive,” was all Grandfather could, apparently, think to say.
“Yes,” Burke said. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
Grandfather narrowed his eyes, though his expression spoke more of bewilderment than true disapproval. Mother didn’t seem to know at all what to say. Father simply watched Enid with drawn brows. Burke’s brothers and sisters sat in dumbfounded silence.
There was no way of predicting with precision how the remainder of the morning would play out.
The Kennards might sniff and hmph a great deal, but little else.
Or they might ring a peal over Burke’s head for having chosen a bride they felt was not enough like the ladies of the family.
Or they might descend into tense “discussions” of what was to be done.
The only thing he could say for certain was that the sooner he, his beloved new wife, and her family could escape Cheshire, the better.
“Though I do not know where we are bound,” he said to Enid, “I feel quite certain we ought to begin our journey.”
“I could not agree more.” And, with no more preamble than that, she stood.
Shocked glances passed between the Kennards, but the gentlemen all stood as was expected, even when a lady did something so wholly unexpected as to seize control of a wedding breakfast.
“My family has a long journey ahead,” she said. “They need to begin it. And so do Burke and I.” She dipped the quickest of courtesies. “Thank you, and farewell.”
With that, she turned from the table, looking at Burke just long enough for him to see the unmistakable laughter in her eyes.
As she and her family slipped from the room, Burke turned to his relatives. “Thank you.” He bit back a grin. “And farewell.”
Enid must have been already packed and ready to leave; she was in the entryway mere minutes later. Of course, so was Burke. He’d never fully unpacked. Making a quick escape was usually wise when visiting Mouldsworth.
They weren’t quite swift enough. Mother, Father, and Grandfather stepped into the entryway, looking none too pleased.
“This is rather ill-mannered of you, Burke,” Mother said. “Abandoning your guests—”
“Your guests,” Burke reminded her gently. “And it is not at all out of the ordinary for the bride and groom to begin their wedding journey before the wedding guests depart.”
Father shrugged a bit, the gesture filled with reluctant acknowledgment.
“Unless you have congratulations to offer us,” Burke added, “I believe Enid and I will be on our way.”
Grandfather sputtered. Mother blinked in rapid succession. Father offered another begrudging shrug.
Enid snatched hold of Burke’s hand and pulled him across the entryway.
He felt certain she was barely holding back her laughter, and he didn’t dare so much as look at her.
Leaving with his family a bit discombobulated was acceptable.
But they would never believe that he was laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation and not at them. He didn’t dare wade into that quagmire.
Only when they were outside the front doors did Burke look at Enid.
“‘Unless you have congratulations to offer.’” Her eyes danced with barely restrained mirth. “Do they even realize you are poking at them a bit?”
“I suspect they do not.”
Enid twisted and rose on her toes and kissed his cheek.
“Really, Enid. A little decorum, please.”
That set her to laughing out loud. The last vestiges of annoyance he felt at his family’s lack of welcome and warmth evaporated at the sound. His darling Enid.
Her family offered hugs and words of warmth and love to them both, before he and Enid climbed into their carriage.
“I am assuming the driver knows where we are bound,” Burke said, settling in beside her.
“He does.”
Burke pulled her up close, wrapping his arms around her. “Are you truly going to make me guess?”
Her smile blossomed. “Trev told me about a ghost.”
“A ghost?”
Enid nodded. “A very mysterious one that has haunted a castle for nearly four hundred years.”
He hooked an eyebrow upward, feigning a look of disapproval he knew matched the one his mother so often wore but with enough ridiculousness to render it anything but believable. “We are going to go search out a ghost on our wedding journey?”
“I hope we will spend the rest of our lives searching out ghosts.” She brushed her fingers along his jaw.
“In Wales?”
“Where else?”
Burke bent closer. “Wherever else we decide to go, so long as we go together.”
It was a promise they sealed with a kiss.