CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The wedding of Lady Julia Marsden to the Marquess of Chiltern was the most talked-about event of the year. Of course, since it was only March, there had not been many events of note to which to compare it, but everyone agreed that there had not been such a stir through society for as long as anyone could remember.
There was such a hurry to get to know the new Lady, in order to acquire an invitation to the wedding and be seen attending the prestigious event, that Julia hardly had time to visit the dressmakers and order her new wardrobe between the whirl of balls, tea parties, masquerades, and trips to the theatre. Her old clothes had been left in Edmund's house in Seven Dials for him to dispose of as he wished in the brief interval between Julia's departure and his arrest for fraud.
A Marchioness required dresses much more extravagant than a mere governess, after all. Her wedding dress, in particular, would be a gorgeous confection of white silk overlaid with the finest Parisian lace.
In the end, Charles and Julia managed to whittle the guest list down to those who mattered most – plus a few admirers and hangers-on. Annabelle was Julia's only bridesmaid, and when the day came, the majority of the excited babble in the drawing room of Amberley House came from Julia's relatives.
The Marsden family had increased significantly in the past year. There had been scandals, weddings, babies, and even a duel. The youngest Marsden brother, William, had ventured up from Larksley. His wife, Celia, sat beside him, bobbing their baby on her knee. Next sat James Marsden and his wife, Emily, who had been instrumental in teaching Julia just how a Duke's daughter ought to comport herself in society. Alice and Captain Kirby sat behind them, Alice waving enthusiastically every time Julia caught her eye. In the front row, next to the Duke and Duchess of Rawly, Catherine and Harry sat hand in hand. The Dowager Duchess of Westbourne held baby George and explained to him in great detail all that was going on. Julia wondered how much of it she expected the little mite to understand.
All these guests were taken in with just the swiftest of glances. There was only one person in the room Julia truly cared about, and he was standing next to her. For Charles's part, his eyes did not seem to have moved from Julia's face since the moment she stepped into the drawing room.
She remembered that, once, he had told her she entranced him. Only now did she truly understand what he meant. Charles was gazing at her as though he had stepped into a fairy kingdom and was looking at its Queen. Julia doubted he had even noticed the exquisite white lace she'd spent so much time choosing for her dress.
He'd loved her as a governess in plain muslin, and he loved her no more or less in a Lady's silk and lace.
She put her hand in his and repeated the words as the vicar told her, feeling as though she were in a dream. Then, so swiftly that Julia had barely realised that it was happening, it was done.
They were married.
She was Marchioness of Chiltern, and Charles was her husband.
She was so surprised that, even when he kissed her to raucous applause, she could hardly move.
"Mama Julia!" cheered Annabelle, waving her little bouquet. They had debated for some time over the best way for Annabelle to address her. Lady Julia was far too formal, while a simple Mama seemed to erase Sarah's memory. But the moment they had told Annabelle of their upcoming marriage, the little girl had solved the problem at once by crying "Mama Julia!" and hugging her so tightly around the knees that Julia almost fell over.
Next, it was time for the wedding breakfast. Julia was very grateful that Lady Celia and Lady Emily had both taken over the seating plan. She still had no idea whether a Duke's second brother sat above or below an Earl. And where on earth ought she to put Felicity? There was so much to learn about her new position in society that she was lucky to have generous friends to guide her.
"But we are not friends," protested Celia from across the table, when Julia remarked as much. "We are all family. Why, the Marquess, Duchess Catherine, Lady Emily and I all have something in common – we have married a Marsden."
"And all in the past year," remarked Catherine.
"And not without some little trouble," said Emily, winking at her husband. The Marsden men all had the grace to look embarrassed.
"I must say, it has been the strangest year of my life," said Julia, holding Charles's hand under the table. "I am very glad to hear it has been just as unusual for everyone else."
"Unusual? Pah!" laughed Celia. "If you think we've had an interesting time, let me tell you what my brothers got up to in Scarcliffe Hall over the summer..."
Julia was growing accustomed to the endless flow of gossip which greased the wheels of society. At present, she was too much a subject of gossip herself to really enjoy it, but she was a polite listener if nothing else.
Charles gave her hand a squeeze. "Don't tell me you're losing your taste for scandal, wife of mine?"
"I absolutely am," sighed Julia. "Charles, if you don't mind, I intend our lives together to be absolutely ordinary from this moment on. We will take walks in the garden, we will paint together, we will read the same novels, and all in all we will be thoroughly boring and disgracefully in love."
"Hear, hear!" cried Harry, raising his glass. "I'll drink to that!"
Julia blushed and hid her face in Charles's shoulder as her friends and family raised their glasses in a toast.
"To being disgracefully in love!"