Page 65 of A Duke to Undo her
At this news, Josephine clapped her hands and jumped for joy.
“I knew Cassius could do it. Constance and Victor were so sure it would take at least a week just to get the license, weren’t they?”
“I can’t imagine the bishop dared offer any objection, given how fierce His Grace the duke looked this morning,” laughed Norman, bowing a greeting to Madeline and then offering sight of the papers in his hand to his wife. “Victor and the Duke of Ashbourne are still with the lawyers but there seem to be no sticking points in the marriage contract.”
“Oh my,” Madeline gasped again. “How quickly this is all happening, Josephine. I cannot believe you will soon be a married lady with your own husband and home!”
Meanwhile, Vera glanced quickly through the papers, smiling as though pleasantly surprised.
“He has agreed to every single thing we asked?” she questioned her husband who nodded back with the same merry incredulity on his face.
“The duke has been most generous. Josephine and her children will always be secure and well-provided for, in his lifetime and after his death, no matter what. His only stipulation is that thewedding must take place as soon as possible, ideally in a week. That is the only point on which he will not move and I have left them to negotiate.”
“Constance wants them to wait at least until Josephine is of age, and ideally a year longer,” Vera sighed as she returned the papers. “However, that seems to me a losing battle. I only hope Victor gains us enough time to organize the logistics properly. It would be such a shame to send Josephine off without a proper engagement, or trousseau or wedding party.”
“Cassius told me that he would let nothing stand in our way,” Josephine said with a happy smile that Lord and Lady Elmridge could not help returning.
Josephine had no interest at all in weeks or months of receiving congratulatory calls from friends and relatives, and then having her older sisters fussing interminably over her clothes and hair in the run-up to her marriage, never mind the wedding day itself. She felt sure that Cassius would understand this.
“Your future husband is a most determined man, but I fear seven days is far too soon, even for the Duke of Ashbourne,” warned Vera. “The wedding breakfast must be organized, the duke must arrange his mother and brother’s living arrangements, and you do not even have a wedding dress, Josephine.”
Josephine waved a dismissive hand at these trivial considerations.
“A wedding breakfast is only really an extended family meal. I’m sure Duchess Nerissa and Benedict may live with us forever if they wish it. As for a wedding dress, I already have dozens of gowns and surely one of them must do. I can be ready as soon as the contract is signed.”
“You would be content to wear an old dress to your wedding?” Vera queried and received an emphatic confirmation from Josephine.
“I would marry Cassius in my nightgown!” she declared, to a guffaw from Norman.
“That you shall not do,” Vera said quickly, wagging a finger but laughing. “As you say, you do have dozens of quite serviceable dresses already. There is no need to resort to nightwear. We shall go through your wardrobe and see what would suit best.”
“Nightgowns and wedding gowns are a matter for ladies to rule on,” Lord Elmridge declared, walking away towards his study. “I have some letters to write while I wait for Victor and Percival to return. We three will all dine at my club tonight, since you ladies doubtless have much to discuss.”
“Let’s settle the wedding dress issue now,” Josephine said to Vera impulsively, clasping her hands. “Constance and Ophelia are here, as is Madeline, and we’ll bring Rose to Elmridge House too. We can all go through my dresses and choose one for the wedding. Then I will be ready to marry, won’t I?”
Vera and Madeline looked at one another and blinked with equal incomprehension of these leaps of logic. Josephine’s sister then shrugged and nodded with a weary laugh.
“Why not? The gentlemen are dining out and this has been a most peculiar day already. What you suggest is certainly no stranger than what has already occurred. I shall speak with Constance and Ophelia shortly.”
“I shall go and tell my father now,” Madeline agreed, her face bright with amusement and relief. “The carriage can take him home and then I’ll collect Rose and come back. Father will be most relieved to hear you are marrying the Duke of Ashbourne in the regular way and there is no real scandal, only your usual mischief.”
As Madeline temporarily departed, Vera put an arm around Josephine’s shoulders and kissed her cheek.
“No scandal, only your usual mischief,” she murmured fondly and then headed towards the housekeeper’s room to rearrange dinner plans.
“I like the pink silk,” Rose offered but Madeline shook her head.
“No, pink silk looks well on you, Rose. It does not flatter Josephine’s complexion. White, cream, green or blue are her colors.”
“Madeline is right,” Vera concurred. “I favor the cream muslin with green trimmings. What do you think Ophelia?”
“Madeline’s colors are right for Josephine, but I prefer silk for a summer wedding,” Ophelia offered. “What about that champagne silk walking suit, with the green sash and bonnet, as Vera says?”
Josephine stood among the multitude of dresses and accessories laid out around the drawing room of Elmridge House, moving from one to another and holding them up with the help of Betsy, Vera’s maid. For the first time in her life, she was really enjoying being at the centre of this game, perhaps because she sensed it would be the last time her sisters would get to dress her.
“It is a little too…functional,” Vera said critically. “It does not have the air of a wedding dress.”
“I suppose you are right, Vera. Do you remember how beautiful your wedding dress was?”
