Loving Tales of Lords and Ladies

by Abigail Agar

  “Is that really working?” Gina asked as she tied together some flowers,

  Gretchen came in. “You look like an angel,” the woman said as she clapped her hands together.

  “Your mother did a wonderful job on this embroidery,” Penelope said with a smile at the woman. “I am really glad she is feeling better.”

  “She seemed to enjoy working on it. I think it gives her something to be proud of.” Gretchen smoothed her own dress in a sunny yellow hue down. “Are you excited?”

  “She has been talking to herself in the mirror,” Gina informed Gretchen. The two maids burst into laughter.

  Penelope just rolled her eyes at them. “Laugh all you want, but I swear that if I get sick while walking up the aisle, then you have both placed a curse upon me.”

  “Don’t say such things, Miss,” Gretchen said in fear. “You never know who is listening.”

  Gina smiled. “It might be herself.”

  “You two are very funny,” Penelope informed them. “Do you think my hair should be up?”

  Gretchen tsked. “No, you look so pretty with it down. I like the flowers that are in it too.”

  “That was my idea,” Gina chimed in from by the bed. “Gretchen, here take one of these bouquets.”

  Gretchen held the bouquet that Gina handed to her gently. “You have such an eye for these things, Gina. You should work with flowers, you should.”

  “I told her that, but she does not listen,” Penelope said as she dabbed a bit more colour on her lips.

  Gina sighed and put her hands on her hips. “I like my work just fine. I like flowers as well. I can do a bit of both.” Gina came over and slipped a flower behind Gretchen’s ear. “She looks quite ready for the altar too, don’t you think?”

  Penelope turned at the question and beamed at an embarrassed Gretchen. “I think she will be a beautiful bride.”

  “You two are terrible,” Gretchen said, but Penelope noted that the woman looked decidedly pleased when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

  “Now if only we could find a strong, strapping lad who had eyes for her,” Gina said in exasperation.

  Penelope snickered. “There has to be one around here somewhere.”

  “Oh, leave off you two,” Gretchen said as she hid her face.

  Gina shook her head and asked, “Why don’t you just ask the lad what he thinks of you? Or just show him that you like him a little?”

  “He seems very interested to me,” Penelope agreed.

  Gina nodded. “The whole household thinks you two have been on about for ages now.”

  “They do not,” Gretchen exclaimed as if she might die.

  Penelope cringed as Gina said, “I have people mention it daily to me. You just can’t see or hear it because all you see is that strapping footman of yours.”

  “He is not mine,” Gretchen proclaimed.

  Penelope laughed and countered, “He could be if you merely asked him.”

  “I couldn’t do that. Perhaps you could, Miss, but I just couldn’t,” Gretchen said miserably.

  Gina sighed. “I can. Do you want me to ask him?”

  “Lord above, no!” Gretchen put the bouquet down and shook her finger at the two of them. “You two should be ashamed of yourselves.”

  “I am too tired to be ashamed of myself,” Gina proclaimed. “You tend to twins and then deal with all of this. You would not be sitting around waiting for him to come to you.”

  Gretchen folded her arms. “Yeah? What about that carriage driver of the Duke’s?”

  Penelope turned in her seat. “What is this now?”

  “Go on, and tell her.” Gretchen eyed Gina challengingly.

  Gina sighed and wiped her hands off on her apron. “The carriage driver that the Duke uses asked me if I was married.”

  “Do not tell me that you told him you were married,” Penelope said as she slapped the back of her chair.

  Gina took a deep breath. “No. I told him the truth. I think the twins part is the thing that he took the hardest.”

  Penelope burst out laughing. “I am so sorry,” she declared. “I do not know why I am laughing.”

  “Because it is horrible,” Gina said with a laugh herself.

  “Do you really think that he wouldn’t want you because you have twins?” Penelope asked in astonishment.

  Gina wiggled her hand from side to side as if she was unsure. “Men are funny things. Some would rather a woman have children ’cause it shows she can bear little ones, some would rather have a fresh slate, so to speak.”

  “He seemed nice,” Penelope said as she pursed her lips. “I could get the Duke to speak with him?”

  Gina gasped. “Heavens no,” she exclaimed.

  Gretchen took her turn laughing. “Not so funny now is it?”

  “You just keep quiet over there,” Gina said as she picked up a bouquet and shook it at Gretchen in warning.

  ***

  The day of the wedding was as luck would have it gray and bleak. Gina, Gretchen, and Penelope peered out the windows of the carriage at the rain clouds that were gathering. Gina hummed a bit of a hymn to pass the time.

  “They say that getting married in the rain makes the union stronger,” Gretchen said conversationally.

  “I would still prefer the sunshine,” Penelope concluded. “Although I suppose it is somewhat poetic that our wedding day be as testing as possible.”

  Gina giggled. “You two have had a bit of a wild ride. Still, I am just glad to see you marry someone. I thought for sure you had just about talked yourself out of it.”

  “There for a bit I had,” Penelope agreed. “It seems odd to be so close to finally married. What if all those things that I feared, what if they really do happen?”

  Gretchen warned her, “If you try to run, I will sit on you.”

  Gina and Penelope laughed at the image of that. Then Gina said, “They might come to pass, but they might not. You spend too much time worrying over it, and you’ll miss all the good parts.”

  “My mother was happy when she married my father. Every bit as happy as I feel now.” Penelope frowned as she spoke. “I do not want to jinx myself or my marriage. I just want to go in with my eyes open.”

  The church loomed up, and Penelope felt her stomach flutter uncomfortably. The two maids filed out of the carriage and helped Penelope out so that she did not snag her wedding dress. They followed her into the building making sure that her skirt did not drag across the wet ground.

  They waited just inside the door until they were given their cue. It was such an odd sensation walking down that aisle. Penelope felt like perhaps this was not real, none of it was. She was still dreaming in her bed.

  When she reached the altar, the Duke smiled at her, and she returned his smile somewhat in a daze. The words, repeated and memorised became almost meaningless. She really was only aware of time as they joined hands and were pronounced man and wife.

  She turned towards the crowd with her hand in the Duke’s hand as their family and friends stood up to honour them as a newly formed couple. Penelope felt light and free. Not even the rain that pelted them as they got into their carriage bothered her.

  She fell against the Duke in laughter as her skirt got caught on the carriage door before it was rescued by Gina and Clint. The Duke put his arm around her protectively, and it felt right, but she noticed the wince he gave as she snuggled next to him. It would perhaps be a bit before she could truly be a wife to him, but she was happy with him as of now.

  When they arrived at the country estate, she slipped upstairs and changed into a soft dress that was far more suited to movement than her wedding gown. Gina had to practically pry it off of her after the rain, but that only caused them some laughter.

  “This must be some sort of ill omen,” Penelope said as she regarded her ruined dress.

  Gina said, “Yes, do not wear that fabric in the rain.”

  “I wonder if it can be repaired,” Penelope pondered out loud as
she eyed the dress with a frown. “The seamstress and Gretchen’s mother worked so hard on it.”

  There was a knock on the door. Gina grinned. “I bet that is your husband come to call upon his wife.”

  Gina slipped out the door to the adjoined room while Penelope gave the dress one last frown before she turned to answer the door. “Yes?” she asked with a grin as she pulled the door open just a fraction.

  The Duke of Richmond looked rather amused, and Penelope opened the door wider. “Hello,” she said shyly.

  He smiled at her. “Hello to you too. I see that you did manage to get the dress off.”

  “Yes, but I do not think it will be good for much after it,” Penelope said with a sad sigh.

  He gave her a helpless shrug which caused him to wince yet again. “Have you called the doctor about that side?” Penelope hated to pester him, but the man was forever putting off the doctor in favour of other things.

  “Of course, I have,” he said as he stepped into the room. “He just keeps telling me to rest and such. What sort of advice is that?”

  Penelope laughed. “Sound advice, or so it seems to me. Imagine how well you would feel if you actually followed it.”

  “I have too much to do to dawdle around in bed for weeks,” Jules said with disgust.

  Penelope grinned at her husband. “Fine, be that way. I have arranged for us to have separate rooms.”

  “Have you?” Jules asked with a confused frown.

  Penelope looked at him curiously as she crossed over to the bed and scooped up the wedding dress. “Of course. Is something the matter with that?”

  “I thought we would be sleeping in the same room,” Jules said as if that should be common sense.

  She shook her finger at the man. “I do not mind that idea at all, but you should rest, and I fear that I will bump you in your sleep.”

  “It is a risk that I am willing to take,” Jules assured her.

  Penelope shook her head at the man. “Perhaps, I am just afraid.”

  “Afraid of what exactly? You are not afraid of dark alleys or murderers, but beds frighten you?” He gave her a grin that Penelope could scarcely look at without return.

  She turned away and said, “Well, yes. I told you about my mother’s journal.”

  “Do you really think that is our fate?” Jules asked her as if he very much wanted to know the answer. “After all we went through to get here, do you really think that is what God has in store for us?”

  Penelope shrugged and leaned back against the man when he came to put his arms around her waist. “I know it might seem silly, but I think about it. Now my dress is ruined, and it seems so prophetic.”

  “I think even your governess would say that perhaps you are just reading too much into things,” Jules’ reasonable voice said in her ear.

  Penelope pursed out her lips and leaned her head back against his shoulder. “Maybe,” she admitted. “Speaking of Miss Lorraine, do you think that her captain fellow will really sign on with you?”

  “I made him a very generous offer, in writing I might add.” She felt the movement of Jules’ muscles as he shrugged. “He might refuse just to be stubborn, but I do not think that your Madam Lorraine is going to stand for that.”

  Penelope giggled. “You are right. She probably will not.”

  Jules’ voice said near her ear, “Now back to the topic at hand. Are you going to give up the separate bedrooms?”

  “Fine,” Penelope said as she admitted defeat with a laugh. “But do not come crying to me if I hit you and hurt your stitches in the middle of the night.”

  Jules assured her, “I promise that I will cry silently.”

  Penelope sighed in contentment as she swayed in the man’s arms. “Do you think that Clint fancies Gina?”

  Jules groaned. “Uh, thus it begins. I was warned you liked to meddle with the household.”

  “I am being serious, Jules.” Penelope wiggled out of the man’s arms and took her wedding gown over to a cabinet where she laid it down carefully. “Gina said that he enquired after her marital status. Does he have some sort of issue with children that I should warn her about?”

  Jules sighed and shook his head at her. “I have not honestly talked with him about children. If he spoke with her, then I am sure they will sort it out.”

  “Perhaps,” Penelope said with dissatisfaction. It was clear that her husband did not share her enthusiasm for helping others. “You do not enjoy my charity towards the staff?”

  Jules laughed heartily. “I am rather generous in that vein myself, but I do not take everyone’s happiness upon myself personally.”

  “I think that we have a certain amount of duty towards the society we live in,” Penelope said as she folded her arms across her chest and glared at her husband.

  Jules nodded. “As do I, and I am grateful for our sense of duty for it kept me alive. However, there is some wisdom in just letting things work out the way they are supposed to. Believe it or not, Penelope, people have been falling in love for centuries without any meddling from their betters.”

  “Oh, you mock me now, but you just wait,” Penelope said haughtily. She spun on her heel. “I am going to meet the staff.”

  Jules called out, “Do not scare them all away!”

  Penelope laughed despite herself as she walked down the hall away from her new husband. She might be destined to be miserable eventually, but thus far she found that there was nothing to be feared. At every turn, Jules had met her with kindness, but she did not truly think that would last forever.

  Perhaps that was what her mother had been trying to tell her. She simply needed to take what she could find in this life and be happy with that. This moment was a good one to hold onto, and Penelope intended to enjoy it.

  She wandered the grounds and met the staff of the country estate, which consisted of a lot of the same people but a few that she had never seen before who only worked at the large estate where the Duchy was centered. She admired the ponds and fields. There was so much land that she was sure it would take a long time to explore it all, and truly she might never find the actual time to do so.

  One day she imagined children roaming the yards, and Penelope pondered what that would be like. Would she tell her daughter or sons of the wonders or horrors of marriage? Perhaps she would tell them both. Penelope stopped in front of the wide doors of the main room. She smiled out at the stables and lawns. Better or worse, this was her life now. She just hoped that perhaps the mix would be slightly weighted towards the better than the worse.

  THE END

  Can't get enough of Penelope and Jules? Then make sure to check out the Extended Epilogue to find out…

  How will Penelope and Jules be able to repel the demons of the past and see their dreams come true together?

  How will the couple be able to show generosity and forgive Lord Portland's family?

  Will eventually the dark desire of vengeance strike again and destroy their chances of making a happy family together?

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