Tears clouded Lydia’s eyes. “I wish there were some way to get word to mother that I am all right.”
Lord Saxonby piped up. “Did you know there is a new company called Western Union Telegraph Company? We could send a telegram to the British Consul’s office in New York, and then have that office ship the telegram to London. From London I will request a courier hand-deliver the cable to your mother’s home in Chatham. That is correct, is it not? Chatham?”
“Yes! Is that really possible? I was under the impression telegrams were not very reliable.”
“That used to be true a few years back. But this new company has purportedly rebuilt broken-down lines and consolidated many of the telegraph line companies into one functional company. We should be able to get a cable out to my New York office within a few days. The cable may have to be relayed between Western Union offices, but it is something we can definitely do.”
Lydia felt some of the tension melt away from her shoulders.
“Where are you getting married?” asked her Ladyship.
“I will be making those arrangements this afternoon,” said Ian. “I guess it will be at whatever parsonage or church has an available minister. We plan to be married tomorrow, if we can work it out.”
Her Ladyship’s face lit up. “My dear, wouldn’t it be wonderful for the Captain and Miss Holcomb to be married here in our reception area?”
“Why, that is a splendid idea!” he answered enthusiastically. “You would not mind, would you, Captain?”
“I do believe it should be Lydia’s choice,” said Ian. “What do you think, my love?”
Lydia blushed from ear to ear. “That is such a lovely offer, but I could not think of imposing on your hospitality.”
“Nonsense,” bellowed the Lord Saxonby. “Not only would it be our distinct pleasure to have your wedding here, but we insist upon it! Think about it. What are your choices? City Hall and a judge in some stuffy courtroom? A chilly church where no one knows you? We feel as though we know you, after having met your mother. She said so many wonderful things about you.
“William is right, you know,” chimed in Sacha. “We could have the ceremony here in the reception parlor around seven o’clock tomorrow night and then enjoy a nice supper afterwards. We can contact our minister to perform the ceremony. Please say yes.”
Lydia was overwhelmed. Were they really English? Such an outpouring of affection and care – and from people whom she had just met. How could she refuse?
She smiled brightly. “You honor Ian and me with your gracious offer. It will be our pleasure to accept.”
Ian’s face lit up. He reached out to shake William’s hand. “This is incredibly generous of you, sir. When you and your family return to England, I insist you visit us so we may return your hospitality.”
“Lydia, we must be off if we are to find you a dress for the wedding,” said Ian.
“Nonsense,” interrupted Sacha. “Captain, you should not see her wedding dress until the wedding. I will accompany Lydia, and we will pick out her dress.”
Ian put up his hands in mock surrender, “As you wish, ladies.”
“Wonderful,” said William. “I have some friends I would like you to meet, Captain, unless you have other plans.”
“It would be my pleasure.”
CHAPTER 27
“Lydia, please come upstairs with me while I change into a dress more appropriate for shopping. I know the perfect modiste for us to visit. She always has several dresses made ready for sale, except for the final fitting. The alterations will not take long at all.”
“Annabelle,” Sacha called out to the maid. “Please prepare the pink room for Miss Holcomb and the blue room for Captain McLeod.”
“Lady Saxonby,” began Lydia.
“Please, call me Sacha. After all this is America, and titles simply are not used here.”
“Very well. Sacha, there is no need to prepare rooms for us. We must return to the ship, because we have a couple of people there whom we wish to have present at the wedding. So …”
“My goodness. How thoughtless of me! You should have said something. You are undoubtedly right. Whom do you wish to have in attendance at the wedding?”
“Dr. Miller, who is Captain MacLeod’s best friend. However, we would especially like to have the two people who aided in my recent escape, Pakelekia Makaiwa and Sing Hee. They …”
“Consider it done. I will send a carriage to the ship immediately and ask Sing Hee and … How did you say her name …Pakelekia?”
“Yes, that is right.”
“At any rate, I will have rooms prepared for all three of them this afternoon. You can all stay here with us. My goodness. This is the most fun and excitement we have had in ages! My friends back in England would not believe this. They are all so stuffy and formal. I just love living here.”
“You are too gracious.”
“Nonsense. As I just said, this is so exciting. My wedding was the last time I recall being in such a kerfuffle about a party. Once the children came along, all of our parties and galas have been governmental functions. Can you imagine how stultifying they were? I am looking forward to enjoying myself with people who do not have their own personal or political agendas.”
“We will certainly be a small, but eclectic group!” giggled Lydia.
The morning turned to afternoon in short order. Lydia and Sacha came back to the mansion with more bags than they could carry. The liveryman volunteered to bring everything into the house, rather than waiting for the maid to fetch them.
Dr. Miller, Pakelekia, and Sing Hee were already settled into their respective rooms.
“Now, if you will excuse me, Lydia, I must speak with the cook and the maids about our dinner tonight and the preparations for the wedding.”
“Of course,” said Lydia. “I cannot believe tomorrow evening I shall be a married woman. While as a young girl I had always hoped to marry and have a family of my own, my father made it clear to me that he would never, ever permit me to marry.” She couldn’t believe she had declared her life history out loud!
“Why ever not?” asked Sacha.
Lydia felt so at ease with Sacha, she continued. “He wanted me to go to my death as pure and saintly as the day I was born. He saw no reason for me to marry. As a rector, he had no money to give to a groom as my dowry, and he believed the physical relationship between a man and a woman was solely for the purpose of procreation. He feared I had “hot blood” and would never fully understand the sanctity of procreation – he felt I would engage in relations for unholy reasons. As a result, I never really believed marriage could even be a possibility for me.”
“How sad, and if you do not mind my saying so, how twisted!” offered Sacha.
“I agree, but then he was my father, so what choice did I have?” Now that Lydia knew the Reverend Holcomb was not her biological father, a whole new world of possibilities had opened up for her. Nevertheless, she chose not to share all those details with Sacha.
“True, however, … ah, well, we cannot solve other people’s problems – only your own. The fact remains that you will be Mrs. Ian MacLeod by tomorrow evening at supper!” She grabbed Lydia by her shoulders and wrapped her in a big bear hug.
Lydia pulled back slightly, uncomfortable with the bear hug. After all she had just met Sacha. It was almost as though Lydia felt more English than Sacha.
***
A couple of hours later, Lydia and Sacha examined the new clothing as the seamstress stitched a new hemline dress for the wedding. “How many crinolines did we get, three?” asked Lydia.
“Actually, we purchased one hoop and five crinolines for you. I know, you had only chosen three, but I saw two others I loved and got them too. Style dictates a very full wedding dress for you. Additionally, you will need some of the less full ones for the day dresses that we got for you. We may be a small gathering tomorrow evening, but I would like it to be memorable for all, especially you!”
“You are s
o kind, Sacha. I will never be able to thank you enough.”
“Bah! William and I may have to return to England next year and remain there for a year. The Queen is beginning to grumble we have been on this diplomatic assignment for too long without visiting with her personally. Despite our regular messages, she misses William. He is her third cousin, you know. And then our families are eager to see the children. So, if all goes as tentatively planned, we should be back in England late next spring. We will stay until the following spring and return here. Perhaps we can visit you and Ian sometime then. Where do you expect you will be?”
Lydia looked nonplussed. “I am not sure. We really have not had the opportunity to discuss where we will live. For that matter, we could be sailing somewhere around the world.”
“You might want to discuss it with Ian in the near future.”
“You are right. Actually, Ian and I have a lot to discuss. I am not certain where we will go after the wedding, because we have not talked about that either. I think this evening after supper, we will retire to the library to go over some of these things. Do you think William would object to us using his room for an hour or so?”
“It will not be a problem, I am sure. While you are there, perhaps I will have the children entertain the rest of us in the parlor. They have all been taking violin and piano lessons. William and I were talking this morning about our need to see how they are progressing in their lessons.”
Later that evening, after dinner, Ian ushered Lydia into the library. “You wanted to speak privately with me?” “Yes,” she began. Before she could complete the sentence, Ian reached out, grabbed both of her arms, held them at her side, and pushed her up against the stack of books on the library shelf. He covered her mouth with his and nibbled away at her lips.
He leaned into Lydia and pulled her close against him. They fit so well together. As he continued to shower her with little kisses and nips up and down her neck, Lydia realized she felt safe, loved, and cherished. She was ‘at home’ in Ian’s powerful arms. A tingling sensation trembled in her nether regions. He pulled away, leaving both himself and Lydia breathless. “You wanted to talk with me, Lass?” he asked with a glint in his eyes.
Lydia took a deep breath and straightened out the front of her dress. She could not help but smile and blush at the same time.
“Ian, where do we go from here? What are we doing to do?”
“Where do you want to go?” he asked.
“Is this something where a choice is involved? I mean, do you have a contract you have to complete?”
“Nay. Taking the crown to Queen Emma was my primary duty, and delivering the tea to San Francisco was the secondary one. Normally, I would pick up a contract here, but we have not made a decision to do so, pending our discussions this evening.”
“Our decisions?” “Yes. We need to talk about our future and what we plan to do. I suppose I should tell you I have no mind to continue sailing. I own the business, and it is easy enough to hire on a new captain for the Emerald Tartan. Abigail is getting on in years, and she has been asking me to take over the paperwork of the business. I already control the contracts and deliveries. I bought her a place in Tonbridge Wells as a summer get-away. She likes it there a lot, and would love to live in Tonbridge full time. I was thinking we could find a place in London.”
“I see,” said Lydia. She sat down in a huge brown leather chair. “What about Scotland?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” asked Ian.
Some time back you mentioned to me in the time of your own choosing, you would deal with the issue of your estate and your brother-in-law, Percy. Is that something we should take care of before making any choices about where we live and what you do?”
“You have a point, lass. I am certainly old enough and financially secure enough now. And, I would like to know how my Annie is doing. Hopefully, Percy has not figured out a way to access Annie’s dowry. But then, all that occurred nearly fourteen years ago, and Annie could already be married!
“On the other hand, Lydia, I think we should return to England first and make our peace with your father.”
“Oh,” said Lydia, sounding quite dispirited. “He will only condemn me for marrying, and he may not even speak with me for having left without his permission. But then, I would so love to see my mother.”
“’Tis very important to see your parents. I suggest we go first to England to visit your parents, announce our wedding, and to meet with Abigail. From there we can sail to Scotland.”
“I agree.”
“For how long did you request to use the library?”
“An hour.”
Ian pulled out his gold pocket watch. “I do believe, my dear, we still have about fifteen minutes before we are expected to depart from the library.” He jiggled his eyebrows up and down and grinned.
“Why, Captain MacLeod, whatever are you suggesting?”
“Come here, my wife to be. Let me tantalize you a bit. So you will have something to think about between now and tomorrow night.”
Ian wrapped her in his arms and kissed her thoroughly. Warm, vibrating tingles resonated from her stomach downward. A couple of minutes later, Ian abruptly pulled away from Lydia. “That should do the trick,” he said. He grinned at Lydia again and motioned to the door. “Tomorrow night, my love.”
Lydia sighed. She was in heaven. Ian started to open the library door when she stopped him. She walked up to him and brazenly put her hands down inside his breeches. “You need to tuck this in so the whole world will not know what we have been doing, sweetheart,” she laughed.
“If you keep doing that, we will not be able to leave the library for the rest of the evening.” Ian closed his eyes and concentrated. He could affect no change. “We will just have to wait here for a few minutes. You are right. I can’t go out like this.”
CHAPTER 28
The small wedding party gathered in the parlor. The only people in attendance were William and Olivia Fairchild, their children, the minister, Dr. Miller, Pakelekia, Sing Hee, and Ian and Lydia.
The candle glow in the parlor gave a golden tint to the walls. Gardenias and blush pink roses filled vases in every conceivable nook and cranny in the room.
Lydia carried a small nosegay with the same pink roses and gardenias. Her ivory brocade gown fit her beautifully with tiny pearls across the bodice in eight straight lines which followed the gore of the skirt. Even her veil was studded with tiny pearls in a random design. A stunning haku lei made of miniature rosebuds, baby’s breathe, and tiny fern leaves held the veil in place on her head. Pakelekia made it for Lydia as a wedding gift.
Ian was dashing in his dark blue, full dress Captain’s uniform, complete with white trousers and with gold buttons on both the doublet and coat. His penetrating eyes focused on Lydia as though no one else was in the room.
The minister reached the part of the ceremony in which he asked for the ring. Dr. Miller came along side Ian and handed him a small box. Ian opened the box, took out the ring, and handed the box back to Dr. Miller.
The minister directed Ian to put the ring on Lydia’s finger. She put out her hand and gasped as Ian slid the ring on her finger. The gold ring was set with princess cut diamonds in a channel setting on each side of the most exquisite emerald she had ever seen. Ian did not miss a beat. After he promised to take Lydia in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, and ‘til death do them part, he winked at Lydia and whispered, “To match the green fire I see in your eyes, my love.”
As soon as the minister had pronounced them man and and wife, Ian spoke out in a loud, clear, and firm voice, “Lydia, you are the love of my life, and not only are you now my wife, but you are also my partner and my equal. Upon our return to Scotland, I will take the necessary steps to ensure you are half-owner of all that I possess. You will be my partner in fact and in deed. I pledge to discuss all business issues with you, and together we will make all our decisions. I don’t want you to ever feel that you are being c
ontrolled by me or my actions. You are a very intelligent woman, and having been through some extraordinary experiences with you, I believe two heads are truly better than one. Together there is nothing we cannot do. I say this in front of these people today so we have witnesses to my statement to show you the depth of my belief in you and in us.”
Lydia’s eyes glassed over with tears of joy, despite the tremulous smile on her face. “Oh, Ian. I will do my best to never disappoint you. And, I pledge to control my temper and emotions … and to be the best partner you could ever have!”
With that said, the wedding guests spontaneously cheered and applauded the bridal couple.
After a round of congratulations, they all filed into the dining room where Sacha’s staff had prepared roast pheasant, poached haddock, chilled shrimp, potatoes with cheese sauce, green beans with almonds, fresh baked bread, and lots of champagne. In the middle of the dining room table stood a three-tiered wedding cake, decorated with miniature pink rosebuds around the sides of the tiers. Chopped almonds and chocolate drizzles covered the top of each layer.
Many bawdy toasts, hearty eating, and loads of laughter later, Lydia and Ian quietly slipped out to their waiting carriage for the trip back to the ship. Dr. Miller, Sing Hee and Pakelekia all remained at the Fairchild’s house for the night.
The night air was brisk and cool in spite of the fact that it was mid-summer. The stars twinkled brightly and the moon was just a slip of a fingernail. Exhaustion crept through Lydia and she lay back against the cushions of the carriage. Ian inhaled deeply and also lay back against the cushions, holding Lydia’s hand tightly in his own.
“Have I told you yet today how very much I love you?” whispered Ian.
“Not quite enough.”
“Then let me tell you again. I love you, Lydia MacLeod, with every bit of my being. You have brought me happiness I never dreamed could be mine and filled the emptiness in my life with love.”
“Lydia MacLeod. I just realized that my name is different now. What a relief – for more reasons than you could ever know.”
The Emerald Tartan Page 23
