Page 89 of The Mistress of Ashmore Castle (Ashmore Castle #3)
The prince’s other sisters – Sofie Waldsolms and Klara Rosbach – who lived within twenty kilometres of Usingen, arrived with their husbands, and a favourite cousin, Leonie, Princess Surova, the widow of a Russian noble, who was staying with them.
As well as German and French they all spoke good English, which made conversation inclusive.
They seemed to be stout, prosperous, richly dressed people, though Maud’s expression suggested she thought they were not elegant.
A sort of nuncheon had been prepared for everyone, a vast array of cold meats, cheeses and breads, and the newcomers tucked in with journey appetites while chatting cheerfully, their cheeks rosy, their mouths and hands busy.
Maud only picked, then excused herself to go up and dress.
Everyone had gathered by the fire in the great hall when she came downstairs, looking elegant in a jacket and skirt of pale lavender silk over a cream blouse of Brussels lace.
She wore a triple strand of very fine pearls – the bridegroom’s present to her – with matching earrings and bracelets, lavender suede gloves, and a large cream-coloured hat, wide as a boat, decorated with ostrich feathers and silk roses.
The prince, in morning coat and grey trousers with a white camellia in his lapel, looked by far the more nervous of the two, but Giles was both touched and a little uneasy to note that his mother seemed not her usual monument of icy calm, but just a little fluttered.
In consequence, she seemed younger and, to his astonishment, almost beautiful.
As she was a widow, there were no bridesmaids, but Rachel had a new dress of pale blue trimmed with narrow white fur, and a wide upturned hat of pale blue filled with wax flowers, and would have been very pretty if it weren’t for her beaten-down look.
The carriages were sent for. Outside the church a crowd of locals had gathered despite the cold, to cheer and wave handkerchiefs for ‘their’ prince, marrying at last. He paused on the steps to wave back, his eyes full of tears.
Giles thought he was moved by the tribute, though it might just have been the cold wind making them water.
The service was long and, of course, in German, and the church was cold.
The small number of guests made it seem overlarge, echoing and unwelcoming.
Kitty, her hands deep in the sable muff, tried to concentrate on the moment, but her mind kept drifting back to that very, very warm and downy bed, and Giles, and the thought that they were to have two more nights in it.
After the service and the cold church, it was back to the lovely warm house and the wedding feast that the servants had been preparing while they were out.
The best of the local families had been invited, for even a small wedding must be celebrated, and the nuptials of an Usingen were of import beyond his family.
In the great hall there was room for all to stand and chat and drink champagne, before being called to the dining-table.
Giles, glass in hand, did his best to circulate and talk to everyone, aware that as head of the bride’s family he had certain responsibilities. Soon he came up against Uncle Stuffy, already on his third glass, and looking mellow.
’Extraordinary thing of Maud’s, this,’ Stuffy said, by way of greeting. ‘Getting married again. I mean, I’m in favour of marriage in general, but she’s already done it once – you’d think she’d have had enough, after your father.’
‘Perhaps it’s a case of love,’ Giles said, not entirely ironically. The prince, standing by the fire with his bride, holding court, looked to be in rapture, while Maud seemed fairly pleased with herself, and certainly had a bit of colour in her cheeks.
‘Even if they like each other, marriage is going a bit far,’ Stuffy said.
‘I’ve overheard some of the locals on the subject – they’re not too pleased, given Usingen’s never been married before and has no heir.
The heir presumptive is some cousin called Adelbert, or some such name, who’s not popular, and they’ve been hoping Usingen would bring home some rosy Gretchen in breeding prime.
But Maud – if she’s not past child-bearing already, she soon will be. ’
Giles was uncomfortable with this line of conversation and changed the subject. ‘What can you have been doing in Italy all this time?’
Uncle Stuffy’s face took on a smile that was not just serene, but almost smug. ‘Italy’s lovely at any time of year,’ he said. His eyes twinkled, as though he was enjoying a joke at Giles’s expense. ‘As you ought to know – spent enough time there, haven’t you?’
‘I didn’t go for idle pleasure. I was studying,’ Giles pointed out. ‘And working.’
‘Nothing idle about pleasure, if you go about it properly. Takes it out of you. But in any case, I was working. Seeing to the renovating of m’ house in Venice. Got into a bit of a poor state over the years, from neglect.’
‘I didn’t even know until this year that you had a house in Venice. You never went there, did you?’
‘Forgotten about it.’
‘How can you forget an entire palace?’
‘Shan’t do so again.’
‘And what will you do with it when you have renovated it?’
‘Oh, something will occur, I expect,’ he said, his eye wandering. It fell upon his niece. ‘What’s going to happen to little Rachel, now Maud’s married? How does her step-papa feel about her?’
‘An odd thought. It hadn’t occurred to me before that Usingen is her step-papa,’ Giles said. ‘She’s not looking very happy about any of this.’
‘No, she’s very mumpish, poor child. But he’s as rich as Croesus, I understand, and well-connected. If he exerts himself to get her a husband, I can’t see how he’d fail. He might even stump up a dowry for her.’
‘It’s not his job to do that,’ Giles said, crossly because he was sensitive on that subject.
‘Well, it’s not yours any more,’ Uncle Stuffy said, clapped Giles’s shoulder, and eased himself away through the throng.