Chapter 18 #2
“I am sorry,” Charity said between breaths, still laughing. “I am so sorry, you look mad enough to strike me.”
“I am considering it, but I cannot while I am hugging you and crying at the same time,” Temperance said, and her voice shook in exactly the way that proved she had indeed come in a rush and worried the whole journey.
Duncan, standing a step away, looked like a man who had prepared himself for many forms of disruption, and none of them included this one.
He did not move immediately, and Charity would have laughed at his expression if Temperance had not shifted and nearly elbowed him while trying to hold Charity tighter.
At the sound of Temperance’s voice, Augusta and Matilda turned from the water.
Matilda screamed first, but in delight.
“Temperance!” Matilda shouted, and then she ran toward them, splashing through the shallows, with Augusta close behind, pretending she was running only to stop Matilda from slipping.
Temperance lifted her head just in time to brace herself.
“If either of you has grown taller without permission, I am lodging a complaint,” Temperance declared, still sprawled partly on top of Charity.
Matilda launched herself into the embrace without waiting for permission. Augusta tried to keep some dignity and failed the moment Temperance grabbed for her, too.
Within seconds, all four of them were on the blanket in a tangled heap, talking at once.
“You came!”
“You sent no proper letter!”
“You smell like horse and road dust!”
“That is your fault for making me travel in outrage!”
“Did you really come alone?”
“Of course not, I came with a groom and enough anger to carry me the rest of the way!”
Charity laughed again, this time with tears in her eyes, and for a moment she forgot the wedding, the letters, the fear, all of it.
Eventually, breathing became necessary and the shouting eased enough for people to sit upright.
Temperance pushed loose hair back from her face and looked at Charity properly, her expression softening at last into something openly affectionate.
“I came as soon as I received the invitation,” Temperance said, still sounding offended but no longer truly angry.
“Mother’s house is close enough to York that I could make the journey in a day if I left at once, and I did leave at once, and I have spent every mile planning what I would say to you first, and none of it was forgiving. ”
Charity reached for her hand and squeezed it. “You have every right to be angry, and I should have written sooner, and I did think of it, and then every day became another day where too much happened, and I told myself I would explain tomorrow, and then tomorrow became impossible.”
Temperance looked at her for a moment, and whatever she saw there seemed to answer some private question.
“You look tired,” Temperance said more quietly, and then, before Charity could respond, she added, with firmness returning, “Which means I am still angry, but I am postponing the full speech until I have fed you and made you tell me everything.”
“That sounds fair,” Charity said, smiling.
Temperance then turned, finally taking proper notice of Duncan, who had remained close enough to help if needed and far enough not to interrupt.
Her expression changed at once into interest so immediate that Charity felt heat rise to her face before a word was spoken.
“And this,” Temperance said, getting to her feet and smoothing her skirts with only partial success, “must be the man who has caused all this chaos simply by existing.”
Duncan looked at Charity once, then back at Temperance, and Charity could already tell he did not know whether this was an ally, a threat, or some third category he had not yet encountered.
“Duncan,” he said, then corrected himself with formal restraint. “Your Grace, if we are introducing ourselves properly. And you are Miss Temperance…”
“Temperance Hale, and if you call me Miss Hale after I just threw myself on your future wife in front of you, I shall assume you dislike me,” Temperance said, offering him her hand as if nothing about the last five minutes had been unusual.
“I have decided already that I like you, which is inconveniently fast, but there it is.”
Duncan looked at her hand, then shook it, and to Charity’s surprise, he looked more comfortable than he had looked with many perfectly respectable guests.
“That is a very quick judgment,” Duncan said, and there was the faintest suggestion of dry amusement in his tone.
“It is, but I stand by it,” Temperance replied.
“Any man who lets a woman shout at him on a blanket while her friends and sisters pile on top of her and does not immediately demand order has at least some sense, and I am told you have also been kind to these girls, which matters more to me than titles.”
Duncan glanced toward Augusta and Matilda, who were both watching with shameless interest.
“They make it difficult to remain severe all the time,” Duncan said.
“That is the correct answer,” Temperance said, entirely satisfied.
Then she stepped closer to Charity as if to adjust her sleeve, leaned in, and whispered in a voice that was not nearly as quiet as she believed, “He looks exactly like the sort of man writers pretend is impossible and then put in books anyway, and if you blush any harder I will know for certain that this marriage is not nearly as practical as your invitation tried to make it sound.”
Charity’s face went hot at once.
“Temperance,” Charity hissed, horrified.
Temperance pulled back, looking delighted.
Duncan, who had definitely heard enough to understand the tone if not every word, looked at Charity with a calm expression that made her blush worse.
Augusta saw it and immediately looked far too interested.
“I like her,” Augusta announced, as if this were now the main matter under discussion.
“Of course, you do,” Charity muttered, still trying to recover.
Temperance turned to Augusta at once. “I like you too, and before the day ends, you may tell me every detail your sister has failed to put in her letters.”
Charity gave her a warning look. “Be careful what bargains you make. She remembers everything and edits nothing.”
“Excellent,” Temperance said. “That is exactly the kind of witness I need.”
Matilda tugged at Temperance’s sleeve. “Are you staying?”
Temperance looked down at her and softened immediately. “Yes, I am staying, if your sister will have me after that welcome.”
“You can stay with me,” Matilda said at once. “Unless they say no, but they should say yes, and more people are coming too, aren’t they, since you said in your letter that maybe others would come.”
Temperance looked up at Charity and then Duncan, more serious again.
“The others should arrive in a couple of days, assuming roads stay clear and nobody loses a wheel. I came ahead as soon as I could once the invitation reached us, and the rest are following behind with less urgency and, I hope, better packing.”
“You’re all going to make it?”
“Did you think we would let you marry without appearing in person to judge the groom?”
Charity laughed. “That does sound like all of you.”
Duncan looked between them, and Charity could see him adjusting to the force of Temperance’s presence in real time, yet he did not look irritated. If anything, he looked curious.
“You are welcome to stay here until the wedding,” Duncan said, speaking to Temperance with the same steadiness he used in the house, though his tone held more ease than usual.
“If your mother’s house is nearer York, that may have been enough for the journey, but there is no need to go back and forth now. ”
Temperance nodded as if she had expected nothing less. “That is very generous, and I accept at once, which you may regret once you discover I speak constantly and ask rude questions.”
“I had gathered both already,” Duncan said.
Temperance grinned. “Then we shall get on.”
Charity looked at him at that, and he looked back, and for one quiet second in the middle of all the noise and interruption, she felt something settle in her chest.
He looked comfortable.
Not guarded in the way he often was with strangers. Not polite and distant. Comfortable.
Temperance clapped her hands once and broke the moment.
“Now,” Temperance said, already taking command of the blanket as if she had always belonged there, “someone must feed me immediately, and then one of you is going to explain everything from the beginning, and if any part is left out I shall simply ask the staff.”
“You are not asking the staff anything before you ask me,” Charity said, laughing again.
“That depends entirely on how honest you are,” Temperance replied, sitting down and reaching for the basket with complete confidence.
Augusta sat beside her at once while Matilda climbed into Temperance’s lap as if no time had passed at all.
Duncan remained standing for a moment longer, watching the scene with an expression Charity was beginning to understand better now, and then he sat beside her on the blanket without comment.
The picnic had been a great success.