Chapter Twenty-Five
Jasper stood proudly beneath a gazebo he had built himself—with a little help from the groundskeepers. From it, yards upon yards of shimmering cloth stretched out, finding poles set out amongst the settees and armchairs upholstered in very specific shades of gold and ivory that Julia had not been able to live without. Nicholas stood beside him. All around them, candles and draping lengths of cloth rippled in the breeze.
“You have to have an officiant,” Nicholas said for the hundredth time. “Even if it’s not a member of the clergy.”
“I recognize no authority but my own in this matter.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “I am utterly unsurprised that you would say such a thing.”
Jasper grinned. “I stole that from Julia, actually.”
“You’re made for each other.”
“We are.” Jasper scanned the guests. Ruby was eyeing the seating choices. She’d even managed to smile twice. That was a sign of progress. “Did you invite your parents?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’d like to live to see the end of this day,” Nicholas answered. “We’ve barely managed to get them to accept Amelia. This is not going to do me any favors.”
It couldn’t be helped. Jasper wasn’t willing to live without Julia, no matter how many feathers it ruffled. Why so many people felt it was their business was still beyond him.
Instead of choosing a seat, Ruby walked up to them on the gazebo. “Jasper.”
He smiled. “How do we stack up to Westminster?”
“It’s quite…” Ruby looked around, focusing on a pair of footmen waving fans to make everything flutter. “Whimsical.”
“Thank you, and thank you for coming. You didn’t have to.”
She stopped judging everything around them long enough to meet his eyes. “I wouldn’t have missed it. I’m happy you’re happy, Jasper.”
Jasper nodded. He was happy to be happy—finally. Julia was everything he’d ever wanted, right down to the way she’d insisted on the giant swans that were only barely being kept from harassing the guests.
There weren’t many guests. Nicholas and Amelia had been certain to attend. Julia’s parents were there, and her mother had finally stopped fainting every ten minutes. They were more used to this sort of pageantry from their oldest daughter than most. Ruby had come. Beyond that it was mostly members of the Bishop household and a few friends from Europe that Jasper had been able to get word to in time.
Nora, who had been there from the beginning, was sitting in the second row, steadfastly trying not to cry.
“Only the two of you would have a yellow wedding,” Nicholas muttered.
“Gold.”
“What?”
“It’s gold. Kindly stop griping through my wedding—you’re ruining it.”
“You griped through mine.”
“Did I?” He didn’t remember that at all.
He wouldn’t, either. Today was his and Julia’s day. Nicholas’s wedding might have been abrupt and more rustic than either he or Amelia had intended, but they’d been able to enjoy it knowing that no one could deny their existence as husband and wife after it had finished. All Jasper would have was this moment and what it meant to him—what it meant to the woman he loved—but Jasper couldn’t imagine it being any other way.
When they’d met, he and Julia had agreed to expect nothing beyond that one moment. They were still living for the moment—they’d just chosen to promise all of their moments to each other. As many now’s as they had, over and over again.
“I think it’s almost time,” Nicholas murmured.
Jasper looked around. “How can you tell?”
“The swans are about to line up.”
Jasper blinked at him. “Humor is not your forte. Please limit yourself to the law.”
Nick grinned. “Amelia thinks I’m funny.”
“Amelia loves you. Her opinion is notably biased.”
For a moment, they didn’t speak.
“It would serve you right if the swans did line up,” Jasper whispered. “Don’t mention that to Julia. She’ll be devastated she didn’t think of it.”
A hush fell over the servants at the back. Nick opened his mouth to respond, but Jasper silenced him with a gesture.
It was time.
Only, instead of his beloved bride, Amelia was hurrying down the aisle. An elderly gentleman was being towed in her wake.
“What’s wrong? Who’s this?”
Amelia presented the stranger with her brightest smile. “This is the archbishop of Canterbury.”
Behind them, he heard Ruby say, “Praise the lord.”
Jasper just stared.
“The queen sent him,” Amelia explained.
The reality of what was happening broke through. He asked the archbishop, “Is it true?”
The clergyman smiled. “The queen wishes you to know that she finds your choice of bride exceptional, and hopes Lady Julia will dedicate herself to being Duchess of Albemarle with as much passion as she displayed at court.”
He had to be dreaming. Amelia handed him a thick sheet of paper with Victoria’s seal on it, and he realized he wasn’t. It was written there, plainly and clearly. The queen’s approval.
Jasper turned to Amelia. “Does Julia know?”
His soon-to-be sister-in-law nodded, with happy tears welling in her eyes. “Get ready. You’re about to be married.”
Julia was about to become a duchess. The queen might be a serious young woman, but she certainly harbored a secret flair for drama. She’d waited until the last possible moment to send her approval.
But she did send it.
They’d won. The only thing that could have made this day any better had happened. Julia was going to be the Duchess of Albemarle. Her children were going to have Jasper’s name.
She stood next to Tryphosa in her gold dress, which turned out to float just the right amount. All of the nerves were gone. She knew it, because Tryphosa was calm as could be. They were certain of where they were headed, and they were certain it was where they wanted to go.
Beside her, Lord Bishop was a mess. He’d burst into tears at the sight of the archbishop, and he hadn’t stopped crying since.
Julia patted her father’s hand. “Papa, you have to stop crying or people are going to think you don’t approve.”
“Don’t worry about me, sweetheart. I just need a moment.” He’d said that five times now.
Julia kissed his cheek, wiped off as many tears as she could, and let him hand her up into the saddle. It was time.
Violins began to play when Tryphosa reached the designated marker. The music floated through the fantasy land that looked exactly how Julia imagined. She barely saw any of it, though. At the end of the long tunnel of draping cloth canopies and candles was Jasper.
He stood waiting for her in gold and white with his hands crossed in front of him. Every careful step brought them closer together. It had taken so many to get them this far.
If he hadn’t told her he loved her. If she hadn’t followed him after he left. If they had let the queen’s rejection break them. Any one thing and none of this would have happened, but here they were, eye to eye, in the world they’d imagined, surrounded by people they loved, who loved them in return—even when they’d thought Jasper and Julia were embarking on something completely foolish.
Now the archbishop was standing beside Jasper, and there wasn’t anything pretend about any of it. She was going to be his wife—in the eyes of each other and the law.
Tryphosa reached him. Jasper stepped close, squeezing her foot in the stirrup. “Will you come down, Rapunzel?”
She grinned. “I suppose I could. I don’t have anything else planned.”
He grinned back. “Good, because I do.”
He helped her down, and they stood on the dais of the gazebo. Amelia had joined Nicholas beside them, witnesses to their intention.
The archbishop turned to their assemblage of loved ones. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this Man and this Woman in holy Matrimony.”
Lady Bishop let out a sniff and a wail. Amelia rolled her eyes, and Julia saw Nicholas nudge her.
“Which is an honourable estate, instituted of God in the time of man’s innocence, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church: which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence, and first miracle that he wrought…”
Julia let the archbishop’s words drift into the background. She and Jasper looked into each other’s eyes, and their lips started to curve upward. Her eyes started to tear up.
“Therefore if any man can show just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.”
Julia had a moment of fear that someone would object—namely Ruby—but blissfully, the onlookers remained silent.
The archbishop took Jasper’s right hand and placed it on Julia’s right hand. “Lord Jasper Augustus DeVere, wilt thou have this Woman to thy wedded Wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony?”
It was impossible to keep the smile from her lips.
“Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honour, and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?”
Jasper opened his mouth to answer and had to clear his throat twice. “I will.”
“And wilt thou, Lady Julia Elizabeth Bishop, have this Man to thy wedded Husband, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony?”
Always.
“Wilt thou obey him, and serve him, love, honour, and keep him in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?”
It was her turn to be too choked up to speak. She’d practiced the words a hundred times, but never thought she’d have the chance to say them. “I will.”
There were more words—a lot more; the archbishop of Canterbury was not in any hurry to relinquish his pulpit—but they’d said the ones Julia cared about. She stood still like she was supposed to, and she bowed her head when she was expected to, but through the entirety of the sermon she was only waiting for one thing.
“For as much as Jasper and Julia have consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and thereto have given and pledged their troth either to other, and have declared the same by giving and receiving of a ring, and by joining of hands…”
This was it. This was the moment.
“I pronounce that they be Man and Wife together, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”
They turned to each other, and Jasper raised her hand to his lips like he’d done so many times before. He looked at her like she was the most beautiful woman on earth, and said, “Amen.”
“Amen,” Julia repeated. It was everything she’d hoped for, and it was only the beginning.