She was roused awake as she looked around at the crowd of people around her. Clara Mills only glanced around the faces hoping and praying to see her real fiancé among the small group. She shuddered as Duke Richards was grinning down at her as she sat straight up to get away from him.
“Clara are you alright?” asked lady grandmother as she looked concerned. Clara bit her bottom lip as Mr. Chambers helped her up as if signaling to him I am not okay. “I can see you’re so excited for the wedding…”
She held back her tears as she avoided looking into the Duke’s eye as Mr. Chambers looked sympathetic. She forced out a smile as she brushed herself off. “Of course,” she choked out trying to be polite. “May I be alone?”
Around her everyone was talking as they gave her space to leave the center of the group. She glanced around the room trying to find Ernest, but he was nowhere to be found. She caught Annabelle’s eye before felt the tears come on again as she gracefully exited the room out to the gardens. Clara found herself running out to the gardens where she was only an hour earlier and had her arms around him. She could still feel the tingle from his kiss on her neck and all over her face as she smiled at the thought. Around her neck was his mother’s pocket watch as she was sure that all of that had been real. She was really engaged to the man she was in love with.
“Clara?” said a voice behind her as she turned, her heart thudding hoping it was him.
Her eyes met her step-brother’s instead as she was a bit surprised. He had supposedly gone off looking for Briar but yet here he was in the garden for some reason. Edmunds eye’s glanced down at the watch in her hand as he was confused.
“It’s Mr. Sinclaire’s mothers,” she said as she toyed with her skirt. There went being alone for right now as she sighed. “We were out here earlier. He had proposed to me and I said yes.”
“Congratulations,” he said toneless.
“When I came in to tell Lady Grandmother, she, she, she had decided to arrange a marriage with Duke Richards. I do not want them though but before I could tell her Ernest was gone and I had fainted,” finished Clara if a bit breathless. “Did you catch up to Briar?”
He looked at her a bit surprised as his expression turned sullen. “She wasn’t at the townhouse,” he said gloomily. “I had come back but I’m not able to just walk in there and…”
Clara just smiled some as she thought of her friend. Briar was surely smitten with him “She’s at Mr. Sinclaire’s home. He’s the one that brought me here,” she said. “Briar is probably thinking that I’ll come back with him.”
“So I still…” he implored as his face lite up some. That didn’t stop her choked sob as Edmund looked down at her with kind eyes. He thought back to how she would stand up for him to his mother, when he couldn’t even do that. Then he glanced at the party going on inside through the window. “Clara you have been nothing but kind to me since you came to Edgewater. We should probably go to his home and explain what had happened.”
“But what about the party?” she asked a bit surprised as he helped her up.
“If I left the party, I think you can to,” he said grinning at her. “We should both deserve a happy ending.”
“Mr. Marlcaster, Edmund,” she said as she clasped his hands with her. “Thank you, you are truly my brother.”
They nodded at each other before going to the horses. Her reputation was already soiled enough as it was being a bastard and all. The party be damned, she never wanted to see the Duke’s face after tonight. Lady Grandmother had well intentions, but this was not what she wanted as she was determined to solve this first. She knew exactly what she was going to say to Ernest and hopefully he didn’t turn her away.
Together they pulled in front of Mr. Sinclaire’s home as the light was still on, for now, as she peered into the window. There was Briar talking with Ernest about something, clearly, he was just as upset as she was. He just didn’t want to show it at the Duke’s party and they could talk about this.
Edmund was already at the door as she quickly stepped up next to him. The door opened as Briar stood in the doorway. She squealed before hugging her before letting her in. Clara stopped as she saw the Briar and Mr. Marlcaster lock eyes. They had taken each other’s hands as he had pulled her close. Clara only shook her head as she stepped into the parlor as Ernest saw her, his own eyes wide.
“We left the party together,” said Clara quietly. “Edmund and me. I can only hope that you don’t think I want to be married to that…” She tried to think of the best words to describe Duke Tristian Richards. “Toad…”
Before she could finish her insult, he had walked over to her in two large steps before swooping her into his arms. He had kissed her long hard and passionate as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck as she pulled him in closer. His hands lingered on her waist as he pulled away from her. “I would never have believed that you wanted that. I was there when he was trying to slip under your skirts,” he said his eyes quite stormy at the memory as she gripped his hand.
“Why did you leave,” she asked now sharply as he just rested his forehead against yours as he smiled.
“I had a piece of business to attend to darling,” he said as she looked at him confused. Business, this late on a Friday night? Her skeptical look only made him kiss her head as his fingers brushed over her knuckles.
“Well whatever business it was, it left me a little hurt,” she said as he was about to say something. She had pulled away from him but didn’t unlock their hands. “There must be something we can do about this. I am not willing to marry that man, he may be well titled but he’s not deserving of it.” She paused as something in her mind clicked, the story. Ernest was about to say something as she put a finger to his lips. “I’m sorry for interrupting but Bishop Monroe told me a story tonight. About the time that he married my parents. I think, it doesn’t seem proper, but perhaps we could elope? My parents had talked the bishop into marrying them and he had done it. The annulment was forced, but without my grandfather…”
She was talking fast and nervous as Ernest only smiled at bit amused as he flushed. He thought of what he had upstairs in his bedside table as he pressed his lips up against her once more. Clara stopped talking as she kissed him again as her arms tightened around his shoulders. It felt like it was just the two of them again, just like in the gardens. They broke apart as he just smiled at her before sitting her down in his favorite chair. He had left her confused as Briar only looked excited. Edmund only looked just as confused at them, unsure as much as she was.
Ernest had come back to the parlor with something in his hands as she looked even more puzzled then before.
“Clara, I was afraid that it would come to where the Duke might have done something before I could,” said Ernest as he had stood in front of her. “By the time the announcement was made it was too late to talk to Bishop Monroe. So, I had gone to another parish here in London. I had told the local Bishop that before he passed; the Earl of Edgewater had expressed that he would have given permission of my marriage to you. I also told him about Duke Richards, his unwanted advances, and the forced engagement. And I even told him about my wife and why this was so important to me.”
“Ernest?” she said quietly as she looked at the papers in his hand. Her heart thudding hoping that this is what she thought but unable to say it out loud. Briar met her eyes nodding enthusiastically.
“I had paid five pounds to purchase a special license from the Archbishop of Canterbury in London. It means that we could get married anywhere and at any time. So we could get married tomorrow.”
“I think we should do it,” she said with a wide grin on her face. “We can get married tomorrow afternoon. I could gather Annabelle as a witness, we have Briar, Edmund, Mr. Chambers and… How much more would we need?”
Edmund coughed behind them as she looked at him forgetting that he had been here for so long. “Pardon to interrupt but what of her engagement to Duke Richards? As far as everyone at the party knows his was announced before yours.”
“When Mr. Chambers asked me about marrying him,” said Clara her heart thudding, “I told him that I had an offer that I would accept from someone else. I didn’t even look in Duke Richard’s direction, do you suppose that he would have thought it was someone else? He saw me faint and leave without anyone else. He might have even saw the pocket watch.” She clutched the watch she had underneath her dress close as Ernest put his arm around her.
“I suppose that is possible,” said Edmund as he looked at Briar as they were holding hands and grinned at each other. “Alright, tomorrow afternoon you shall get married. I’ll even give you away myself.”
With that she hugged her step brother tightly. This was going to be a glorious weekend.With that in mind she went over to Ernest and kissed him with all her might.