Chapter Twenty-Four
The day of Angelica's wedding dawned bright and clear. An almost cloudless sky; a nearly perfect morning.
The only thing that left something to be desired was Angelica's appearance in her wedding gown.
"I should have chosen white," she sighed, turning this way and that to study her own reflection.
"Nonsense," Lily assured her. "You hate white. Besides, it's too pale for you. This suits you much better."
"You're certain?" Angelica didn't think that she looked half so fine, in her pink satin overlaid with white lace, as Lily did in her elegant pale blue dress. The only redeeming quality was the way Edward's emerald ring glowed on her finger.
"It's your hair, Miss," said Kitty, coaxing Angelica away from the mirror. "When your hair is done you'll feel like a princess. See how lovely these roses are?"
"What if Edward doesn't like roses?" asked Angelica, batting her away. Lily and Kitty exchanged a wry look that did not escape her notice.
"Edward is waiting at the church to marry you," said Lily, kneeling down beside Angelica's chair. "Not your dress. Not your flowers. Not your hair."
"I understand, Miss," said Kitty, expertly weaving the roses into Angelica's blonde curls. "You want everything to be perfect."
Angelica squeezed her eyes tight and let Lily stroke her hand. "Everything will be perfect," she said, as much to herself as anyone else. "Edward loves me, and I love him."
A sigh from Lily set Angelica's eyes wide open again.
"It's so beautiful," she said, half-apologetically. "It's exactly what I hoped for you... and to think you came so close to never having it! And to know that it was I who encouraged you to run away! Oh, Angelica. My heart is too full."
"Better full than frail," Angelica smiled, kissing her cheek. For a moment, a dissatisfied frown crossed Lily's perfect forehead, and Angelica was sorry she'd said anything. Then, Lily threw back her head and laughed.
"A few more weddings, and I'll be well again! You must hurry up and have some children, Angelica. I have a broken heart that needs healing, you know."
"Children!" Angelica repeated in a daze. "Goodness!"
"Try not to waggle your head so, Miss!" Kitty protested.
"But, Kitty! Children! Edward's children!"
Angelica did not quite know whether the thought petrified or enthralled her. Edward wanted an heir, she knew, but to think that their wedding night was soon approaching...
"You look as though you could do with a nip of Papa's brandy," Lily teased her.
"I feel the way you look after dancing a jig!"
Lily shook her head, sending her curls merrily bobbing. "I mean to dance at your wedding party, Angelica, and there's nothing you or Mama can do to stop me! I've an eye on the Earl of Lathkill for a dance partner."
"As long as he doesn't tire you out," Angelica warned her. Lily gave a mischievous wink.
"If he does not, what on earth would be the point?"
"Girls!" Mrs Stirling would never do anything as inelegant as bursting into a room, but she managed to make her gliding entrance with an air of extreme urgency. "Are you almost ready? Honestly, Angelica, your hair still not done! You'll be the death of me!"
"Peace, Mama," said Angelica, blowing her a kiss. "You won't have to fuss over me much longer."
Mrs Stirling let out a sob and buried her face in a handkerchief. Lily went at once to comfort her. "Don't worry, Mama! We shall visit them at Redhaven Castle as often as we like. The Duke has promised."
"My sweet little girl!" sobbed Mrs Stirling. "A Duchess! Oh, it's too much! It's too much for me!"
Kitty, looking quite terrified by her mistress's display of emotion, hastened to provide a stack of fresh handkerchiefs from the chest of drawers.
"Off you go, now, Mama," said Lily, steering her towards the door. "You and Papa must not arrive at the church behind the bride, after all."
Mr and Mrs Stirling were taking the curricle through the London streets together, while Angelica rode behind with Lily in the closed barouche. Lily's health, while ever more robust, was not quite strong enough to risk a bouncing, windy journey.
Once her mother had been sent on her way, Angelica's hair was finished with a speed that was a testament to Kitty's skill. The three girls hopped into the carriage and settled in for a quick, merry ride. Lily and Kitty, it seemed, were not prepared to let Angelica forget the prospect of children and the wedding night for the entire journey.
Angelica leaned her head against the side of the carriage and let their merriment wash over her. Her thoughts had run ahead of her, to the church door. To the long walk up the aisle, past her family and friends. To the man, tall, handsome, and brooding, waiting for her at the altar.
Would Edward muster up a smile as he saw her walking towards him? Angelica hid a grin of her own. No, he would be serious – serious enough that anyone who did not know him as she did would think he were not pleased to be married.
He was her opposite in that sense; the other half of her character. Her emotions were worn plainly on her face, and his were hidden deep inside. But his love for her was no less fervent for all that. Rather, she felt she could trust him more completely, because he had let her and only her see the man beyond the myth of the murderous Duke.
"Help! Help! For pity's sake, help me!"
The carriage jerked to a halt. Angelica stuck her head out of the window, careful not to muss her hair. "What is it?"
"There's a man hurt, Miss," said the driver. "Shall I drive on?"
"You must certainly not! Get down and help him!" Angelica opened the carriage door, ready to see what she could do for the poor fellow.
She saw a man lying in the road, blocking the carriage's path.
She saw a shock of dark hair that looked oddly familiar.
She saw Reginald Thorne leap up, smash the driver about the head with a cosh, and scramble onto the driver's seat.
For a moment, Angelica was ready to leap from the carriage, but as it began to move off at a tremendous pace the back of her dress was seized in Kitty's strong fist and she was jerked back inside.
"Have a care, Miss!" Kitty's face was white and frightened. "You'll be dashed to pieces under the wheels."
"What's going on?" asked Lily. The carriage was bouncing off every cobblestone, jolting her about horribly. "What happened out there?"
"It is my future cousin," snapped Angelica, "and we will soon find out what he is about, for I'm about to climb around to the driver's seat and give him a piece of my mind!"
She flung the door open again. The cobblestones below her were going past so fast they almost blurred. Well, that did not matter. She did not intend to fall upon them.
"Angelica, no!" Lily screamed. "You'll be hurt!"
"He's the one who'll be hurt!" Angelica countered, extending a foot cautiously down to the step. If she could cling to the door and pull herself around, she ought to be able to reach the driver's seat without tearing her dress too much. She had done it once or twice as a child, before her father banned her from the sport.
And then... Well, Angelica was not entirely sure what she would do then. She only knew that the nefarious, kidnapping Reginald Thorne would be on the receiving end of a sharp slap!
"Miss Angelica!"
It was Kitty's voice that brought her back to her senses, and the sound that accompanied it. A sound Angelica knew too well – the sound that still haunted her nightmares.
The painful wheeze of her sister trying to catch her breath.
"Don't," Lily whispered, reaching out for Angelica even as her face turned white with strain. "Don't..."
Angelica heaved the carriage door shut and sat back down, taking Lily in her arms. "Be calm," she said, "be calm, I'm sure it will all be fine, it's nothing but a prank – a silly wedding prank by the Thorne family. We shall laugh about it this afternoon at my wedding breakfast. We shall laugh, do you hear?"
Lily said nothing. One hand was pressed to her chest, as though she could push the tightness from it. Her eyes were closed as she fought to concentrate on breathing.
"Kitty," said Angelica, never lifting her eyes from Lily, "open the window and call for help. Make as much noise as you can."
"It's Sunday morning, Miss," said Kitty, doing as she asked. "Who'll be out and about at this time?"
"We can only hope that someone hears us."
A wave of hatred pulsed out from Angelica's chest towards the man now driving the carriage to who-knew-where. If this was a prank, it was in poor taste.
If it was something else...
Then she would stay quiet, gather her strength, and be ready to meet Reginald Thorne at the other end of their journey.
He was no match for her, Angelica vowed, even as she tried to rub some colour back into Lily's cheeks. If he thought he had kidnapped himself a scared and docile young debutante, he could certainly think again.