Page 72 of A Housekeeper for the Earl of Drinkwater
“Oh, my heavens, I am so happy to see you both,” she said. “But how did you get here so quickly?”
The pair exchanged sly glances and grinned.
“A certain countess wrote to us,” Whitton said, winking.
Evelyn nodded.
“She told us two weeks ago that you would be getting married,” she said. “We would not miss this for the world, so we made arrangements to come straight away.”
Serena turned to the countess, who was gazing at the trio fondly. Serena hugged her once more.
“You are the best mother-in-law in all of London,” she said.
Everyone hugged Serena once more. Then, Whitton cleared his throat and offered her his arm.
“Shall we?” he asked.
Serena’s face lit up as she realized he would be walking her down the aisle.
“I cannot wait,” she said.
As they walked down the aisle together, Serena noticed that many members of thetonwere also present. All her former servants from Magnolia House were in attendance, as well as Edward’s horrid aunts. Yet even they were smiling, real smiles, and Serena could not help smiling back.
“Lady Alice was never good enough for our dear nephew,” she heard one of them mutter.
“Fancy her eloping with that shipping owner,” the other said. “I always thought she was the flighty type,” the other whispered back, loud enough for Serena to hear.
Serena and Whitton exchanged looks, then proceeded to the altar, where her beloved Edward waited.
As she reached him, he took her hands and gave her the smile that always made her feel like swooning. During the ceremony, they could not look at anything but each other. She knew, as she spoke her vows to her future husband, that she had never been, nor could she imagine ever being, happier than she was in that moment.
As they shared their first public kiss, the church erupted with applause. And as the clergy pronounced them Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, Lord and Lady Drinkwater, they could hear his aunts bellowing with sobs of joy. They, too, exchanged looks, and Edward bent down to her ear.
“What a difference, no?” he asked.
Serena giggled.
“All that matters to me in this world is you,” she said.
***
As they left the church, she noticed Edward speaking with Whitton in a very conspiratorial fashion, and she couldn’t help wondering what they were talking about.
***
A few days later, Edward announced he was taking her on a trip, but he refused to tell her where—it was to be a surprise. After a day’s ride in the carriage, punctuated by an overnight stay at an inn, she still had no idea where they were going, despite her frequent pleas to Edward to enlighten her. Each time he’d merely laugh and say, “Trust me, darling, you are going to love it!”
On the second morning, after an hour or two of travel, her curiosity about their destination was almost unbearable. And when he suddenly produced a large handkerchief from his pocket, once again urging her to be patient and trust him, and proceeded to tie it gently over her eyes as a blindfold, she was almost at a screaming pitch.
“Haven’t I told you to trust me, darling?” he whispered in her ear again in a way that made her shiver from head to toe. “Remember, I love you with all my heart.”
“I love you, too,” she said, breathless. “And, of course, I trust you. But where are we going, and why must I wear a blindfold?”
“You’ll see,” Edward and Whitton said in unison.
Serena couldn’t help laughing, albeit a little nervously.
“Very well, then,” she said, sighing heavily. “But can you hurry up? I think I’m ready to burst with curiosity!”
