Lucy gasped, wondering how her ladyship dared to address him like that. She did not hear her father’s reply because she saw Myles coming across the hall towards her. She put her finger to her lips to tell him to be quiet and he came and stood beside her.
‘You ought to be grateful to me,’ her ladyship went on.
‘I am. I have expressed my gratitude more than once. What more do you want?’
‘I did not mean grateful for looking after Lucy and Johnny. I want no thanks for that, it was a pleasure to have them. I meant for turning you down all those years ago. If I had not you would never have met and married Lady Luffenham, would you?’
‘No, of course not. I would have been married to you and Myles would be my son.’
‘Oh.’ She sounded taken aback. ‘Would you have liked him for a son?’
‘He is a fine man, a credit to you.’
‘He is also his father’s son, John, as little Johnny is yours. Yours and Maryanne’s. She is the perfect wife for you. I should not have been so compliant, I can tell you, and my forthrightness would have had us quarrelling within a month.’
‘Very probably,’ he said wryly.
‘Then it all worked out for the best. You would not change your family for a king’s ransom, would you?’
‘No, of course not. Nor my wife.’
‘Then isn’t it time you told them so?’
Lucy looked at Myles, who reached for her hand and smiled.
‘Perhaps. But where is all this leading?’
‘Can you not guess?’
‘Tell me.’
‘Lucy and Myles. You must know they are in love.’
‘Love!’
‘Yes, have you never heard of it? It is a strange condition of the heart that sometimes makes us behave irrationally, but it is ignored at our peril.’
Lucy heard her father laugh. She rarely heard him laugh, especially lately. Myles squeezed her hand and she looked up at him. He was grinning from ear to ear. ‘You always did have a way with you, Hetty Porson,’ the Earl said. ‘You are saying you want me to consent to my daughter marrying your son?’
‘Is there any reason why they should not marry?’
‘He is not what I had in mind for Lucy.’
‘No, you were all for forcing her to marry that charlatan Edward Gorridge. Your judgement was sadly amiss there, John.’
They did not hear her father’s response because the Countess came down the stairs and they moved hurriedly away towards the breakfast room. Lucy was inclined to giggle and Myles was smiling broadly; they couldn’t help it. The thought of the Earl meekly allowing himself to be scolded by Lady Moorcroft was so funny. Oh, how they hoped her words would have some effect. Lucy wondered if her father might take her to one side and talk to her, but the time for their departure came and he had said nothing and her hopes plummeted.
The carriage was brought to the door, their bags were all loaded along with Johnny’s sled and there was nothing else to do but say their goodbyes. Lucy and Myles had had no chance to be alone and their farewells would have to be said in front of everyone, which meant they would consist of a handshake, a smile and a few polite words. Lucy made up her mind that, as soon as the hills were free of snow, she would ride Midge to the navvy camp. Nothing and no one would stop her from seeing the man she loved again.
Lady Moorcroft hugged Johnny and kissed Lucy and the Countess, while Lord Moorcroft shook everyone’s hand. Myles came forward to say goodbye. The Earl shook his hand. That seemed to Lucy to be the end of it. It was all very well for her mother to tell her to be patient, but patience and love did sit comfortably together.
She brightened a little and sat forward when she heard her father say, ‘No ban on coming to Luffenham, lad. You are welcome to come whenever you like.’
‘I will do that, my lord. And very soon, because there is something very particular I want to ask you.’
Her father chuckled. ‘I thought you might, but perhaps you should put your question to my daughter.’
‘With your permission I will do that very thing,’ Myles told him, taking Lucy’s hand and helping her into the coach beside her mother. ‘Soon,’ he murmured. ‘Very soon.’
The Earl climbed in beside them and they were away, but Lucy was crying tears of happiness. It was going to be all right. Myles was going to come to Luffenham Hall to ask her to marry him and this time it would be done formally with the agreement and good wishes of both families. And then…She sat back in her seat and allowed herself to dream.
The railway was finished and a party held to celebrate it, but that was not the only celebration that spring. Lucy and Myles were married at Luffenham church, attended by Rosemary and Esme and Johnny. When they emerged from the service, they found hundreds of cheering navvies and their families lining the road back to Luffenham Hall, where the wedding breakfast was to be held. Lucy leant from the carriage to wave to them.
‘Are you happy with your navvy?’ Myles asked, drawing her back beside him.
‘Yes. Oh, yes.’ He was impeccably dressed in dove grey with a white shirt and a mauve cravat. He could not have looked less like a navvy. ‘What about you?’
‘Do you need to ask? Later I will show you just how contented I am with my bride.’
Later that day, they set off in the carriage to the Lake District for a honeymoon. The railway between east and west was not yet a reality, but Lucy did not mind the slower journey. It meant they could savour the signs of spring all about them: burgeoning trees, yellow daffodils, amber gilly flowers and the song of the birds. The winter, the worst in living memory, was behind them, and they could see nothing ahead but sunshine; if the weather should turn inclement and a few tears were shed, well, that was life and they would face whatever came together.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-2197-4
WORKING MAN, SOCIETY BRIDE
Copyright © 2007 by Mary Nichols
First North American Publication 2008
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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