Page 23 of A Counterfeit Engagement

On the day of the wedding, Sophie woke early.

She lay in bed for some time, looking out of the window.

It was an odd morning. The sky was nearly sunny, but broken again and again with rain showers that fell even while the sun continued to shine.

Idly, Sophie thought she remembered reading a folktale about such days.

They were foxes’ wedding days, when the fox spirits of the woods in some faraway land got married.

“I shall be happy to share my wedding day with you, if you will share yours with me,” Sophie whispered with a small chuckle, and swung her feet out of bed. She had idled away so much time in daydreams that it was nearly time to dress for breakfast.

There was a soft knock on the door. Sophie opened it, and Isabel slipped in. Wordlessly, the sisters hugged each other tightly, and Isabel went and sat on the window seat.

“I shall miss you,” she said at last, her lovely voice wobbling slightly.

Sophie laughed. “Isabel, we will be apart only for weeks! When Jonathan and I come back from Oxford, it will be just as it is now. And when the lease on this house is up, I am sure that Mama will agree that we may all live together. Don’t you think?”

“Oh, I have no doubt of it,” Isabel agreed. “It is too eligible a plan to refuse. Money, connections, and good society are all in favour of it. But you and I have never been apart before, not for weeks or even days. I shall miss you all the same.”

Sophie smiled ruefully. “I believe you are right, little sister. I have been too busy to think of how everything will change. But it will be odd indeed not to sit at the same breakfast table and know that I may hear your knock on my door for these few weeks. I will miss it.”

“Then I am satisfied,” Isabel said with a small smile. “Oh, Sophie, I am so happy for you. I think Jonathan is exactly the man I would have designed for you if I could.”

“And we shall get Sarah into the bargain,” Sophie added. “It had never before occurred to me that I needed another little sister, but now I am certain of it.”

“Good, and I expect you know that the two of us together shall pester you three times as much as I ever could alone.”

Sophie shook her head. “No, Isabel. I expect I will have much less time with either of you than I would like. This marriage will remove the need for you to marry, lest you and Mama be sunk into poverty, but surely you will want a husband one day, anyway. Or should not you?”

Isabel had a rather strange expression, one Sophie could not decipher.

“I do want love, Sophie. And a husband and children. But this Season has been…I shall not quite say disappointing. There are many honourable men, and many handsome ones. Some even that are both. But I have not yet found reason to hope for my future happiness.”

“Isabel,” Sophie said in shock. “I have never heard you sound so…I don’t know. You sound nearly despairing.”

With a visible effort, Isabel smiled and shook her head. “No. Only discouraged. But let us forget all that for now. I will find my happiness one day, but you will find yours today. Your husband is terribly handsome, Sophie.”

“He is indeed,” Sophie murmured. “He is so much more than I ever hoped for. I had given up hope of marriage, Isabel. After Roger Webb, I thought I had no chance of ever being made an offer that might tempt me to accept it. But just think! After all this plotting and planning, I found the man I could give my heart to, after all.”

“I am so very happy for you both,” Isabel said softly, and held out her arms to her sister. The two embraced for a long moment, until Sophie felt tears welling up in her eyes. She pulled away to see Isabel looking no less weepy.

A knock came on the frame of the open door, and Mrs Anderson swept into the room. She took in her two girls’ damp and tear-stained faces at a glance, and swept them both up in a hug. “My dear girls,” she murmured. “This will be a wonderful day.”

∞∞∞

As Jonathan was unnecessarily fidgeting with the formal cravat his valet had already adjusted to perfection, he heard a small knock at the door. “Come in,” he called.

Sarah came in with a smile, shutting the door behind her. She was already dressed for the ceremony in her pale blue dress, her hair beautifully braided and arranged, and her mother’s pearls adorning her slender throat. “It is almost time, brother,” she said.

“Yes, indeed,” Jonathan replied. He turned from the mirror and gestured broadly to her. “What do you think, Sarah? Am I ready to be wed?”

She took the question seriously, carefully scanning each detail of his outfit and each fold of his cravat. “You look well, Jonathan,” Sarah said at last. “Ready to be a good husband.”

“I hope so,” he said seriously. “It seems almost impossible, but I hope it will be true.”

Sarah smiled crookedly. “You have been a good brother and a good foster father to me, Jonathan. Surely being a good husband cannot be that much harder. But there is one thing…” she trailed off.

Jonathan waited a moment. “Don’t leave me in suspense, Sarah.”

She grimaced, then finally spoke. “It is only that I wish you would open your heart, Jonathan. You are so determined that this will be a matter of practicality, but I am certain that it could be much more. Love cannot be as impossible as all that.”

A dark look crossed Jonathan’s face. “Our parents…” he murmured.

He sighed. “Sarah, our parents did not have a happy marriage. And I put the greater blame on our father. He was not all that he should have been.” The understatement of a lifetime, Jonathan thought grimly.

But there is no reason for Sarah to think of ill of him as I do.

With an effort, he continued. “But though I see no need for a marriage to be conducted with such incivility, such unkindness, I also see little reason to believe in the fanciful descriptions of love everlasting that we see so often. Surely it is enough to live with each other in good faith, like rational creatures.”

“Oh, Jonathan,” Sarah murmured. “Is that truly what you think? Would you truly be happy to hear my future husband speaking in such a way?”

Jonathan looked at her sharply. “Of course,” he said. Unaccountably, his voice was unsteady. He schooled it to evenness and went on. “Of course, Sarah. In speaking so, he would only be acting as a rational man, a man of sense.”

“I want more,” Sarah said simply. She pressed Jonathan’s hand with hers for a moment, then let go. “And Jonathan, I hope that one day, you will have more, too.”

Before Jonathan could think of a reply, she had left the room. He stood staring blankly after her for longer than he would have liked to admit.

∞∞∞

Odd, Sophie thought. A day of such significance, and getting ready takes no time at all.

I have primped and fussed longer for a country ball.

Indeed, the magnificent simplicity of her wedding gown left little to do.

The rich sheen of the pure white silk was its own ornament.

Even had her rubies not been broken, Sophie would have thought them too daring for church.

Instead, Isabel had insisted that Sophie borrow her treasured pearl necklace.

Looking in the mirror, Sophie had to admit her little sister had been right.

The delicate shimmer of the milky white pearls echoed the lush silk to perfection.

Her hair was done equally simply, ready to accept the lace veil that would be her last ornament.

Sophie smiled wryly at the mirror. “You lucky, lucky girl,” she murmured to herself. “All this confusion, and where has it led you? To Jonathan.”

“Are you talking to yourself, Sophie?” Isabel asked with a giggle, leaning around the door frame.

She looked exquisite in her pale blue dress.

Since her pearls were around Sophie’s neck, she wore a tiny golden cross on a delicate chain.

“Only, the carriage is at the door, so you had better finish up your conversation.”

“I am ready now.” Sophie rose and went to her sister, and the two joined Mrs Anderson in the parlour. She, too, looked radiant with the joy of the day, and her eyes were damp with unshed tears.

Sophie embraced her with a laugh. “Mother, are you crying already? You had better save some tears for the church!”

“I have tears enough for all the day, Sophie, I assure you. My darling, I am so happy for you,” Mrs Anderson said.

“Let’s go now, before I start crying too,” Isabel said hastily, and the Anderson family laughed on their way to the carriage. The horses stepped away proudly, bearing them away to the wedding.

∞∞∞

Standing at the altar, Jonathan felt as though his heart might burst out of his chest. How odd, he thought.

Only a little time ago, I did not know she existed at all.

Mere weeks ago, and I fully intended that we would go our separate ways forever.

And now I can hardly wait for her to join me here, that we might take our vows and be joined forever.

Sophie, my sensible Sophie. Since I must have a partner in life, let it be you.

At that moment, Sophie appeared at the end of the aisle. She walked towards him with firm, unwavering steps, Sarah and Isabel following behind. Jonathan passionately hated her beautiful lace veil for obscuring her face.

Then she was at his side, and he could at last fold it away, baring her expression.

What he saw almost knocked him to his knees.

He had seen Sophie amused, pleased, fond, and frequently in good spirits.

But he had never before seen her openly glowing with joy.

Suddenly, Jonathan realised that the ceremony had continued while he was lost in Sophie’s eyes.

“Will you, Jonathan Reginald Haverly, have this woman to be your wife, to live together in the covenant of marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honour and keep her, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?” the bishop intoned.

Jonathan nodded. “I will,” he said firmly.

“Will you, Sophia Mary Anderson, have this man to be your husband, to live together in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honour and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?”

“I will,” Sophie said. She caught Jonathan’s eye, and the crowd in the church seemed to disappear, leaving them in a moment all their own. She was brought back to reality as the bishop finished the ceremony.

“— then I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

Instantly, the room erupted into cheers. The stained-glass windows almost seemed to shake with it. Jonathan took her hand, and she felt the subtle pressure of their wedding rings touching where their fingers intertwined.

Then Jonathan had taken her arm in his and was leading her back down the aisle, stopping often to acknowledge the congratulations of their friends and family.

It all passed in a whirl of colour and joyful noise until the door of Jonathan’s carriage shut behind them and they rattled away down the cobblestones, Sarah and Isabel still joyfully waving at them.