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T he morning of Regina’s wedding dawned bright with a clear blue sky. She expected to be wrecked with nerves. She expected some level of excitement on the day itself. Instead from the moment her maids greeted her all the way throughout the process of getting dressed she only found an extreme calm.

Now she stood in front of her mirror in her dress.

It was a traditional design in ivory and gold banarasi silk, but a unique border patterned in red, and gold graced the wide off shoulder neckline, the edges of her sleeves and the hem of each flounce.

Instead of a typical English coiffure, she had opted for a traditional Marathi style of a long braid folded up onto the back of her head and anchored with golden hair pins.

Instead of orange blossom flower crowns made popular by Queen Victoria, Regina had opted to decorate her hair with jasmine and red tea roses.

She was everything she had hoped to look like as a bride so why didn’t she feel more?

There was something in her heart. Some strange pulsing sensation was locked away behind her ribs unable to break through.

It didn’t feel real somehow, even though she was staring at herself in the mirror in her dress.

The guests were at the chapel, everything was ready, but she couldn’t process what she was looking at.

That this was her wedding dress.

That she would have a wedding that celebrated both parts of her identity.

The door opened and she turned to see her mother enter holding three flat rosewood boxes and a chest carried by a footman.

“Mother,”

She paused, staring at her daughter before smiling. “You look beautiful my darling,” she said in Marathi.

“I have these for you,” her mother gestured to the boxes the footman was placing on her bed.

“These are some pieces we had made for you in India before we left.” Regina waited until the man left before walking over to the bed.

In the first box Regina saw bell-shaped jhumkas, with pearls and dark jade and a guttapusalu necklace with intricate clusters of pearls and gold beads.

In the second there was a kasumala with a coin necklace as a choker and a long necklace with images of Lakshmi glinting between small diamond lotuses.

In the chest she saw golden bangles of the most exquisite craftmanship with mango mala and peacock motifs.

She guided Regina over to the third box.

“This one is for today; it was part of my wedding jewelry when I married your baba.” When she lifted the lid, Regina let out a gasp, her eyes going wide.

Within, nested against the dark velvet was a magnificent golden temple necklace nearly 30 inches in length and matching earrings with the image of Durga painstakingly crafted in gold embellished with clusters of pearl and ruby drops.

“Aai, you cannot give all of this to me.”

“Nonsense you need your own pieces to give to your daughters, don’t you? And this temple jewelry was meant for you, from mother to daughter.”

“But what about Lillian?” Regina asked as her mother lifted the necklace from the box and fastened it around her neck.

“I have enough for her when the time comes. Do you like them?”

“They are exquisite. I never expected all of this.”

“Don’t say that darling,” she frowned at her, “you should expect to receive things from your mother.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that I never imagined you had all of this.”

Madhavi shook her head and stroked Regina’s cheek.

“It was never about what I had. When we came here, I understood that what I was would not be welcome here. It was the way I believed it had to be for you as well in order to be accepted and safe. But now I think perhaps I was wrong to take so much from you. So, these things are for you, to give you back something from home.” She wiped the tears from Regina’s cheeks and turned her to face the mirror again.

At the sight of her mother’s necklace, her mother standing behind her holding her shoulders, smiling at her with tears in her eyes, her throat tightened as her heart filled to bursting.

There it was.

“Thank you aai.”

She shook her head. “It is time to go down now, are you ready?”

Regina nodded and turned to face her before crouching down to touch her mother’s feet, seeking her blessing for the last time before she became a wife. The touch of Madhavi’s hand came seconds later, sweeping over her hair lightly before raising her to her feet.

“My blessing on you, my daughter. May your marriage last a hundred years, may your happiness never be extinguished, may your lap never be empty, may all your wishes be granted.”

*

Leo never imagined he would be so nervous on his wedding day.

Had Basil felt like he was about to come out of his skin?

He couldn’t account for it. It wasn’t so much that he was anxious about Regina, he was only too eager to be her husband.

The guest list had been kept mercifully limited due to time constraints.

The only people outside of their immediate circle were Basil’s parents and Aunt Theo as he was now wont to call her along with her ever-present nephew.

She had made fast friends with his mother based on her role in pestering him into his title.

The chapel itself had been beautifully decorated with evergreen garlands, red and white flowers of all kinds and red and gold brocade ribbon. The sun was shining brightly but a cool breeze kept the heat at bay.

He was fighting to keep his hands still.

He wanted her here, so he knew everything was well.

He needed to set his eyes on her. It had taken weeks, but her anxiety had finally caught up with him.

Every time he closed his eyes he imagined some ridiculous scenario involving Harrison kidnapping her or some harm coming to her because he wasn’t there.

Abruptly the choir began singing and the doors opened to reveal Regina and her father. At the sight of her the tension in his shoulders evaporated like morning mist. She was just there with her father. Everything was alright.

So far . He couldn’t think about that, not with her standing here finally.

She wore a gown of ivory silk, pleated and tucked to hug her soft curves before billowing out in flounces.

And the light streamed in behind her as if she were some kind of apparition.

As she drew closer the light of the sun was replaced by her incandescent smile.

He saw the blood red roses in her hair, the tiara of jasmine flowers anchoring her lace veil.

The temple jewelry she wore around her neck and at her ears was at once shocking and yet entirely fitting of the young woman who was soon to be his baroness.

Only she would wear an image of her Hindu gods in a Christian church.

Her hand when her father laid it in his was warm and soft.

The unfettered excitement in her face brought a smile to his, and when she squeezed his hand and turned to face the priest the last of the nausea in his stomach was gone.

The vicar began the service, welcoming the congregation and directing any who had cause for them not to marry to speak.

He glanced at Regina and she wiggled her eyebrows at him.

He fought back a laugh and shook his head.

He couldn’t imagine what the onlookers were thinking, watching them giggle like children.

Then the vicar warned them about entering into the sacrament of marriage hastily.

He raised his eyebrows at her pointedly and she pursed her lips, looking away from him. Then he heard his name called.

“Leopold Hamish Kingston, wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony?

Wilt thou love her, comfort her honor and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live? ”

“I will.”

“Rajani Elizabeth Mason, wilt thou have this man to thy wedded husband, to live together after Gods ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou obey him, and serve him, love, honor, and keep him in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?”

“I will.”

“Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?”

“I do,” Captain Mason replied.

The Vicar looked Leo in his eye, “Take your bride by her right hand,” he said, “and make your vows,”

Leo smiled at Regina, “I Leopold, take thee Rajani to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth. ”

She smiled, a sheen of happy tears in her eyes as she recited her vows to him.

The vicar asked for the rings. Leo watched Regina’s eyes go wide when she noticed the extra item on the pillow beside his ring.

The thirty-inch, three strand necklace, strung with black and gold beads ending with two golden balls as the pendant had been given to Leo by Captain Mason.

The older man had presented it to Leo as an alternate to the ring he’d purchased in London.

When he fastened it around her neck, the love in her eyes left him breathless. Never had Leo been more grateful for taking another person’s advice.

By the time the vicar was ready to pronounce them husband and wife, Regina was positively beaming, bouncing lightly on her toes, brimming with excitement and his chest was full to bursting.

He’d known how eager she was to marry him, how anxious she was to be married, but her giddy anticipation was infectious.

All his life he’d wanted a place to belong, and he’d found it here with her.

His little goddess. His warrior. His wife.

He gripped her hands fighting back a laugh, barely able to look at her with the happy tears burning his eyes.

The pronouncement came and Regina bounced towards him, pressing her lips to his with an adorable giggle that finally had his laughter breaking free.

His grandfather had made him a Baron but the young woman clinging to his neck with her lips pressed to his had him feeing like the King of England himself.