* * *
“I’m sorry,” Millie said to Ryan as they stood facing one another in his room in the servants’ quarters. She seemed to be apologising to everyone today. “I just didn’t really think it through before I acted–”
“There’s no need to apologise, Millie,” Ryan said, crossing the room and embracing her. At least they didn’t have to keep up the pretence of the servant and mistress relationship any more. Ryan had been shocked when she’d appeared at the door to his room but he now understood why she’d been able to come to him so boldly.
“If we can pack quickly and get John to take us to the station, we’ll be back in London by evening. But I don’t want to rush you–”
“Millie, I’m practically done,” Ryan said, letting go of her to fold another shirt to put it in his small case.
Millie watched him lovingly. She’d thought she had taken little enough away with her when she’d left Glassnest –most of her wardrobe being unsuited to her working life– but, when she saw how little Ryan possessed altogether, it made her feel humbled. His worldly goods amounted to no more luggage than she’d brought for a two-week stay.
“But it’s not just me dragging you away like this,” she continued, “it’s the fact that you’re having to leave at all–”
Ryan left off packing to seize hold of her again. He kissed her lips and then stroked her cheek, saying, “Listen, I’m amazed you had the courage to tell him. Of course he’s angry. Of course he wants shut of the both of us but I’m not in the least worried about that.”
Millie at last relaxed a little and even mustered a smile.
“This is sudden but wonderful,” Ryan continued, holding onto Millie and swaying her from side to side in his arms, his own expression becoming animated, the more he allowed himself to contemplate the future. “We’re going to London to start a new life!”
Millie reached up and kissed him, smiling broadly now to see him in agreement with her scheme.
“Are you packed?” Ryan asked.
“No, I haven’t begun,” Millie admitted.
Ryan rolled his eyes, knowing she would take far longer than him. “Well, get along and make a start,” he said, “and I’ll finish off here and find John.”
“What will you tell him?” Millie asked.
“That we need a ride to the station–”
“Won’t you be sad to leave them all?” Millie pursued. She knew that the staff at Glassnest were the nearest thing Ryan had known to a family since his earliest years.
“Of course, but I’m a whole lot happier about where I’m going and what I’m gaining,” he said, gazing adoringly into Millie’s eyes, so that his words and his look brought a tear to her own.
The door to the room opened, revealing the usually imposing figure of Randolph. But he looked small as they both turned to face him. “Ryan,” he said in acknowledgement as he entered the room.
“Sir Randolph,” Ryan replied deferentially.
Millie said nothing.
Randolph closed the door behind him and stood before them. They still had their arms about one another – Ryan’s deference didn’t extend to undoing his hold on Millie. Their faces, though, were fixed on Randolph.
“Unpack your suitcase, Ryan; there’s no need for you to go anywhere,” he said.
* * *
“I can’t pretend that this is what I envisaged for my daughter,” Randolph began, when Millie and Ryan sat before him in the morning room. He hadn’t wanted to talk to them in Ryan’s quarters and his study seemed too formal a location so he’d summoned them here. “But I accept that your mind’s made up, Millicent.”
“It is, Daddy,” Millie was quick to confirm.
“And I’m sorry about the way I spoke to you earlier but your revelation came as a great surprise to me,” Randolph, having been careful to avoid using the word ‘shock,’ continued. “But, on reflection, I realise that I should be glad that you intend to marry a man as good and faithful as Ryan, and so I give you both my blessing.”
Millie could hardly believe what she was hearing – she was speechless.
“Thank you Sir Randolph,” Ryan said simply.
“And so I would like you to stay here, Millicent; there’s no need to return to London.”
“Oh but I’ll need to eventually–”
“There’ll be no need for you to work when you’re married,” Randolph continued.
“But there will,” Millie insisted. “Until Ryan can find work, we’ll be dependent on my income–”
“You misunderstand me, my dear,” Randolph said, smiling at her wilfulness because it reminded him of her mother. “I would like you and Ryan to remain living here at Glassnest once you’re married.”
Millie turned to look at Ryan and saw a smile spread across his face. He was a country boy at heart; of course he’d rather stay here than move to the city. “Maybe we could find a little house nearby,” Millie suggested.
Randolph realised he needed to speak more plainly. “I was rather hoping the two of you might consider taking over the running of this place,” he said. “I’ve had enough of all the paperwork and you’ll be far better at dealing with it than I ever was, Millicent. And Ryan will make an excellent hands-on estate manager. I’m looking forward to my retirement already...”
Millie, heartened by her father’s display of good humour, looked at Ryan and asked him, “What do you think?”
Ryan, whose beaming face already conveyed his answer, nodded his head and said, “Yes.”
“That’s agreed then, Daddy,” Millie said, turning her attention back to her father.
“Very good,” he replied. “And now, I think we should really have a formal celebration of your engagement,” he said ceremoniously. “Nip out and ring for Mrs Overton, Millie,” he continued, “I’ve been saving a rather good bottle of Champagne for just such an occasion as this.”
Mention of the housekeeper reminded Ryan of what he should have been doing. “I’m afraid, Sir Randolph, I’m supposed to be chopping some wood this afternoon–”
“I think you can be excused that task, Ryan,” Randolph said, trying hard not to laugh at the situation, which he now realised to be somewhat comical.
“But I did promise Mrs Overton I’d do it.”
Millie was struggling to hold back from giggling too. “Then why don’t you go down to the kitchens, find Mrs O and the bottle and then bring it and her back up here so she can make a toast with us?”
That plan of action receiving the approval of Randolph, Ryan promptly left the morning room.
“Speaking of duties,” Millie said to her father, “I do need to go back to London to tidy up my work at the surgery, if I’m going to hand it over to a new secretary.”
“But you weren’t due to go for another week,” Randolph pointed out, “so why not wait until then and you can take Ryan with you.”
Millie was amazed how supportive he was now being.
“The two of you can organise your wedding attire while you’re down there,” he continued. “We’ll book you into a good hotel for a few nights – my treat – and the bridal clothes, of course. In fact, Ryan could do with a new wardrobe, couldn’t he? If he’s going to be my son-in-law, he needs to look the part.”
Chapter 23
During the week that followed at Glassnest, Millie and Ryan’s wedding plans developed in an unanticipated manner. It began with Daniel remarking, when congratulating Ryan upon his forthcoming nuptials, how he longed to be able to marry Effie but was constrained by finances. When Ryan relayed this comment to Millie, she recognised the opportunity to make the wedding a more relaxed affair that would be better suited to both Ryan’s and her own tastes.
Millie had already declined Randolph’s offer of a fine trousseau, regarding it as a waste of money. Following the conversation with her fiancé, however, she returned to her father with what she considered a far better proposal for how he might invest his wealth.
So it was that on a mild, sunny day
in the autumn of 1919, Glassnest Hall and the little chapel that dwelt on the edge of its grounds, played host to not one but two marriages. And the guests present were as diverse as Randolph’s faithful manservant, John, and Millie’s distinguished aunt, Rose. It had been the brain-child of Mrs Overton to suggest that, if Sir Randolph hired in caterers, the house staff could all be in attendance at the ceremony and following festivities – she herself, of course, never quite let the kitchens escape from the corner of her watchful eye.
Although it was a pity that the occasion could not, therefore, be regarded wholly as a Glassnest affair, Mrs Overton deemed the overseeing of it to be her final gesture before retirement. John, too, held the status of a guest of honour on account of his impending withdrawal from working life. Their roles were to be taken over by one of the happy couples, whilst Randolph’s was to be shared jointly between the other.
Everybody, apart from Aunt Rose, remarked how radiant both brides looked in their simple, modest, almost rustic wedding dresses. Many guests who belonged to the household or the village were so bold as to suggest they might have been mistaken for sisters. Only Aunt Rose expressed disapproval that Millie’s dress –and indeed the occasion overall– didn’t exhibit more grandeur.
In addition to her misgivings about the bridal gown, Rose cast doubt upon Ryan’s ability to furnish his bride’s hand with a suitably expensive ring. She was further alarmed upon discovery, only hours before the ceremony, that the bride herself had no idea as to what the ring looked like or, indeed, whether there even was a ring.
In the event, Millie recognised the ring that Ryan placed on her finger, as they stood alongside Daniel and Effie before the altar of the small church, to be that which had belonged to her own mother – how like Effie to have returned it in such an understated way.
During the ceremony neither Ryan nor Millie displayed great emotion; it was Effie who cried when saying her vows, which softened Daniel’s heart. Only much later in the day, when Millie stole her new husband away from the celebrations, to stand beside her out on the terrace of the great house, and they surveyed the sun setting over the vast grounds of the estate, did she find tears welling in her own eyes. She could never have believed she could possess all this: both the home and the husband she adored.
Turning to face Ryan, Millie said, “I love you Mr O’Flynn.”
“And I love you, Mrs Millie O’Flynn,” he replied.
After a kiss that they both had to admit lasted too long, they returned, hand-in-hand, to the ballroom. It was there that Millie beheld a sight she would hold dear in her memory for years to come. Most of the more distinguished guests having now departed, the floor had been taken over by Glassnest’s staff and they were engaged in a boisterous country dance. Sitting alone at a table in a corner of the great room, with a small glass of sherry in front of her, was Aunt Rose. Thinking she went unnoticed, the superior lady was clapping along to the music of the dance, smiling widely and altogether –there was no denying it– enjoying herself.
“Come on,” Millie said to Ryan, “let’s go and sit with Rose.”
* * * * *
If you have enjoyed Miss Millie’s Groom, visit Catherine E. Chapman’s Smashwords Profile page for details of her other books:
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Catherine’s other books include:
The Hangar Dance - a short WWII romance:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/277501
Brizecombe Hall - a short Victorian romance:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/75187
Kitty - a short Regency romance:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/338206
Brizecombe Hall, Kitty and The Hangar Dance are also available as a collection of Three Romances:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/356113
High Sea – a short Victorian romance:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/517058
Braggot Park, Danburgh Castle and Rhiannon – short, sensual Elizabethan and Medieval romances – available individually and in the collection, Three Medieval Romances:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/404382
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/269771
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http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/414993
All seven of Catherine’s short historical romances are available in the anthology Collected Romances:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/560116
Elizabeth Clansham - a contemporary romance set in the Scottish Highlands:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/68015
The Beacon Singer - a contemporary novel set in the English Lake District:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/111240
Clifton - a contemporary novella:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/387978
For tasters of Catherine’s contemporary writing, read The Office Party, Opening Night, The Ramblers, The Family Tree and All the Trimmings, short stories available to download free:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/463518
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/393878
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