A Bride For Windridge Hall

by Jeanie P Johnson

  They rode in silence, back to Windridge Hall. When they approached, Roderick stopped his horse and looked at her.

  “Would you like to return to the Hall, and stay until the wedding?” he asked, hoping she would accept the offer.

  Emily shook her head. She didn’t want to stay with him until they were married. The way he was treating her now, was breaking her heart. She knew she would change her mind if she stayed with him and he continued to act indifferent towards her, now that she had agreed to marry him with no strings attached. She shook her head again.

  “I think I will stay with my friends until the wedding can be arranged,” she told him truthfully.

  There was something wrong. Roderick could feel it but wasn’t sure what it was. However, he didn’t want to question anything any longer. She said she would marry him. She said she loved him still. She didn’t care whether he loved her or not. Certainly, there was no game going on if she followed through with her agreement. Still, something was amiss.

  Roderick could see by her face that she was not happy about her decision. Could it be that Alfred had changed his mind about marrying her? Perhaps she had no other choice but to accept Roderick’s offer since Willard was going to marry her best friend, so he couldn’t save her. He watched as she turned her horse and rode away slowly. Then she gave Ebony a kick, and she was cantering away, down the drive and out onto the road. Roderick feared his problems were not over yet, but at least a little progress had been made.

  When Emily reached the Duval’s home again and entered the drawing-room, she found her friends all waiting for her. Their eyes were full of questions, but no one said anything. They were waiting for her to say something. The look on Emily’s face worried them, so they dare not say anything until she told them what happened. If she would tell them what happened.

  Emily collapsed into a chair and Lilith immediately came to her side and took her hand.

  “By the look on your face, I fear it did not go so well,” she murmured.

  “As well as could be expected,” Emily replied. “I will have to come up with a wedding date.”

  “You are going to marry him still? That is wonderful! Then he did profess his love to you!”

  “No. I did not ask him to. I said I would marry him regardless. I am tired of this cat and mouse game. Everyone keeps telling me he loves me, while I keep telling him that I love him, but it makes no difference. Neither of us can believe the other! He said he would still marry me, only he was so indifferent about it. He kissed me on the forehead, for God’s sake! After the way he kissed me when…”

  Emily didn’t finish for fear of telling too much.

  “The Cad!” Alfred hissed.

  “It doesn’t matter. I all of these games are becoming stressful. I am going to marry him because I love him. I will give him his heir and his future will be set. My future will be set. Everyone should be perfectly happy.”

  “You don’t look very happy,” Willard observed.

  “I am just tired. It is over now and we can all breathe easy. You and Lilith can get married and I can get married. Alfred can find someone who can love him in the same way he loves her, and life should be all peaches and cream!”

  Lilith put her arm around Emily’s shoulder.

  “Since you haven’t decided on a date, why don’t we have a double wedding? Willard and I and you and Roderick can get married together. That way Willard and Roderick will have to make up and be friends and we can all start our new lives out on the same day.”

  “I second that motion,” Willard agreed. “Since Roderick has left the date up to you, he cannot back down when you suggest it. I hope you agree to be my best man, Alfred,” he added as he nodded towards Alfred.

  “Certainly,” Alfred accepted.

  “Then it is all settled,” Lilith smiled. “We will have a double wedding and all live happily ever after.”

  Emily nodded. Yes, a wonderful ending to an impossible love story, she thought. The only saving factor was that she did love Roderick, and she didn’t think that would ever change, whether he professed to love her or not. She would love him to her grave.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  The wedding day would take place a month before the deadline for Roderick to find a wife, which was mid-July. The Duval’s were financing the wedding of their daughter, and since Emily was getting married with her, she could share in the extravagant affair. Roderick offered to pay for Emily’s wedding dress, though, and Lilith took her to the dressmaker to have it made, along with her own wedding gown.

  “I have a marvelous idea,” Lilith laughed. “So we do not out do the other, why don’t we have our dresses made exactly the same?”

  Emily gave a half-hearted smile.

  “That would be fine,” she agreed, not wanting to make any waves.

  Lilith hustled her into the shop, and they began to look through the books to pick out a design that would look just as good on either of them.

  As they thumbed through the books, Emily could not keep her mind on the different illustrations depicted on the pages, as Lilith poured happily over the different styles. She was thinking about the way Roderick had all but ignored her this whole time that they were preparing for the wedding. He told her he was sure her days were full of making plans, so he would give her all the time she needed, without interrupting her with his company. Whatever she planned with Lilith, he claimed would be fine with him.

  At first, he had balked at a double wedding, but then relented and said it would suit him well enough if that is what she truly wanted.

  “Anything for you, Emily” he would half-heartedly say.

  Emily could not detect any enthusiasm in this remark, which made her feel all the worse.

  Finally, they agreed on a dress with lace and netting in a style that would turn the heads of more than just their husbands-to-be. The seamstress measured them both and jotted down the measurements in her book. She told them to return in a couple of days so she could pin the dresses in all the right places before finishing them off. They both thanked her and the two left the shop.

  “Why don’t you come with me to get lunch someplace?” Lilith suggested. “Willard said he would meet us after the fitting was over.”

  “That sounds nice,” Emily said with a shrug.

  “Where is Roderick? He should have come with Willard and eaten with us.”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since he agreed to marry me and gave me full rein to do as I please, concerning the wedding. I don’t think he is very excited about marrying me, Lilith. He is just anxious to get it over with. I believe he just needs a wife, and after all, we have gone through, it would be too much trouble to find another to take my place.”

  “Nonsense. Willard is sure he loves you.”

  “Della told me the same thing, but now I am beginning to have my doubts. If he actually loved me the way they both claim, he would act overjoyed that I had finally agreed to marry him, and furnish him an heir, whether he tells me he loves me or not.”

  “All men act strangely just before they finally have to say ‘I do’. After all, it is actually his father who forced his hand to get married in the first place and have an heir. I am sure he may be resenting it and wishing that he could have courted you in a normal manner. It would have given him the chance to discover his love for you without all this inheritance business.”

  “He said that once, but it doesn’t matter what the reason is. I feel like I am being pulled kicking and screaming to the alter when I really want to run to it happily. Roderick hasn’t shown me a moment of kindness since he begged me to remain engaged to him and I left him standing on the dance floor. It is all my own fault, and I feel horrible about it.”

  “I’ll get Willard to talk to him. He will straighten him out.”

  “No! Don’t do that. It will just make matters worse. Everyone has been trying to get Roderick to conform to their way of thinking. He already feels manipulated enough! I said I would marry him. I wa
nt to marry him, so it doesn’t matter how he treats me now. I have made my bed and I will just have to sleep in it.”

  “And if Roderick is in that bed, I am sure you will both end up happy in the end,” Lilith predicted.

  Emily thought about the times she had lain beside Roderick in bed, which had excited and contented her. Now she wondered if it would be the same after she married him? Or would he take his right to her body without ceremony? After all, before he was trying to seduce her into accepting his proposal. Now there would be no need for seduction or pretense.

  “There he is,” Lilith said cheerfully, pulling Emily out of her thoughts. “And look! He has Roderick with him, so I guess you were wrong. Roderick is going to spend time with you after all.”

  Emily looked up, just as Willard and Roderick approached.

  “Look who I found,” Willard said with a broad grin. “Silly man tried to avoid me, but I insisted he come have lunch with us. After all, we both are about to marry the two most beautiful women in this area. We must make sure no one has an opportunity to turn their heads while we are not looking,” he teased.

  Roderick gave a half smile and looked at Emily. Emily returned the smile, though it did not seem to touch her eyes, Roderick noticed. He had an uneasy feeling. He had avoided Emily because the last time he had been with her, she seemed distant. It was as though she had resigned herself to this marriage against her will, even though she had practically begged him to marry her regardless of how he felt about her. It may turn out to be a loveless marriage, after all, he feared.

  “I thought we would dine at that little place that has tables outside. It is such a nice day, and fresh air would do us all good,” Willard told them, leading the way to the place he had chosen.

  They presented themselves at the establishment and the waiter brought the menu after he helped seat them.

  By the time the meal was served, Emily was feeling a little faint. She busied herself by fanning her face and avoiding eye contact with Roderick. Lilith and Willard made small talk, discussing the guests that were invited to the wedding and what kind of flowers were being ordered. Roderick remained quiet, merely taking in the scene. He boldly watched Emily nervously fanning her face and smiled at her or Lilith, when the conversation called for it.

  “How did the wedding gown shopping go?” Willard asked.

  “You will love our dresses. You both will love our dresses,” she giggled, “but that is all I am going to say about it,” Lilith smiled and winking at Emily, only Emily had not been listening.

  Her only thought was to escape so Roderick could not look at her, making her feel a cross between wanting to melt in his arms and running away, refusing to marry him.

  Emily could not take a bite of food and merely pushed her meal around on her plate. She kept praying for the others to finish, so she could just go back to Lilith’s and try to block out everything that was whirling around in her head. Roderick appeared oblivious to her presences while making good work of the steak he had ordered.

  Willard kept looking from Roderick to Emily, his eyes narrowing at the scene before him. Roderick had not said two words to Emily since he joined them and this was getting on Willard’s nerves. He could see what effect it was having on Emily. She looked as though she felt totally out of place.

  When they had all finished, except for Emily, who had already pushed her full plate away from her, long before the others were done, Willard pulled Lilith’s chair out for her. As she rose up, Roderick did the same for Emily.

  “You two go ahead to where the carriage is tethered,” Willard told the girls. “I need to talk to Roderick about something. Wedding plans and all that, you know.”

  He winked at Lilith and smiled at Emily. Then he grabbed Roderick’s arm and pulled him aside, as the girls went up ahead of them.

  “What in the hell are you doing?” he demanded between clenched teeth. “Just why are you treating Emily like rubbish? Is this some new game you have devised to make Emily regret she ever agreed to marry you? Are you getting your revenge after all, for her silly actions toward you when you were both young and stupid?”

  “She begged me to marry her, dear cousin. I told her the engagement was off. It was her idea I maintain it. It seems that Alfred has rescinded his offer to marry her, so what other choice did she have?”

  “So now you are going to punish her for wanting to marry you despite any fond feelings you may or may not have for her? Wasn’t that the bone of contention between you? Now that she has given in, and is not demanding your love in return, you treat her as though you despise her!”

  “Truthfully, Willard, I don’t trust her. She begs me to renew our engagement, and then she acts like she has regretted ever saying the words. The moment she said them, I could see the worry in her eyes…almost as though she wanted to take back the agreement.”

  “I assure you, this is not a game on her part. There must be something else that is bothering her. I would blame it on the way you have been treating her. You did not bother to speak to her all during lunch. You have not come around since the wedding date was announced. I am wondering if you are even going to show up at the wedding?”

  “Oh, rest assured, dear cousin, I will show up at the wedding. After all my future is at stake here.”

  “At the rate, you are going, I don’t see much of a happy future for you, Roderick. Stop punishing Emily for your own misgivings. You are the one who approached her in the first place. All she asked is that you marry her out of love, rather than the need to fulfill some whim of your father’s. Don’t you realize she needs to feel worthwhile, instead of like a bought and paid for wife?”

  “You forget, dear cousin, I am marrying her to fulfill the whim of my father! She knew that from the very beginning. I told her as much. Then, after accepting my offer, she starts to balk out of romantic ideas which you and her girlfriend most likely have put in her head!”

  “However, I believe feelings changed between you. I saw it in both your eyes. I know you have seduced her on some level. You just wanted to make her fall in love with you, so you could make her miserable for the rest of her life, once she agreed to marry you. It seems that you are the one playing games here, Roderick.”

  “I have to be sure of her, Willard. She always had conditions, believing somehow, she could force me to love her. I can’t believe that she now puts no conditions on the marriage. I have to discover if she will actually follow through and come to our wedding bed willingly.”

  “You have bats in your belfry, Roderick. You are going to ruin any chance of happiness with Emily if you don’t change your attitude

  “It is my life, Willard…”

  “You forget, it is Emily’s life as well. If I had any inkling that you are doing this to punish the girl for her childish prank when she was a mere sixteen…”

  “I am not trying to punish her, Willard. I am merely testing her honesty.”

  “What more should she do? Bow down and kiss your boots?”

  “I asked her that once, remember? At the time, she said it wouldn’t matter if I did kiss her feet. It would not change anything. So I don’t think her doing that is going to make a difference either. I know what I am doing. If she shows up at the wedding, after the way I have been treating her, I will know she is telling the truth about loving me, whether I love her or not.”

  “You are playing a dangerous game, Roderick. Even if she shows up and marries you, your treatment of her may stand between you. You will both lose out if you keep it up!”

  “So be it, Willard. So be it.”

  Then he turned.

  “I shall be going on my own now, tell Emily goodbye for me, will you?”

  Willard watched him walk away. He felt like going after the sot and slugging some sense into him, but even that wouldn’t work, he feared.

  As the date drew closer to the wedding, Emily felt more and more fearful that she had made a terrible mistake. She started to regret throwing herself at Roderick and insisting
he marry her, even if he never told her he loved her. Willard was wrong about Roderick. She became convinced that Della was lying, to help Roderick get his revenge. Della probably hoped that once Roderick married her and Emily discovered Roderick did not love her, she wouldn’t care if he went back to Della. Yes…he always went back to Della, according to Della, Emily fumed. Emily knew she could not survive if that was the case. How could she ever stop it from happening once she was married to him?

  After that fateful lunch where Roderick never wanted to attend in the first place, Emily suffered through seeing Roderick one more time. It was necessary the four of them meet to discuss how the double wedding was going to work. They had to decide who would say their vows first, and where each was to stand. They needed to decide who was going to give Emily away since her father was dead. It was decided that Alfred would walk her up the aisle. Since he was acting as best man to Willard, he could then stand next to Willard, with the ring, once he brought Emily up. Roderick had not chosen a best man and said he would present his own ring when the time came. In fact, Roderick did not seem very enthusiastic about the wedding. Emily believed he was almost trying to complicate it.

  The wedding plans were going forth and Emily and Lilith went to the last fitting of their identical wedding gowns. When they brought them home, Lilith was full of smiles and anticipation for the special day to arrive. Emily, on the other hand, dreaded it arriving. There would be hundreds of guests since the Duvals had many relatives and even more friends. It seemed everyone from far and near wanted to be a part of the celebration. The Chapel was chosen, which was the only one in Bridgeport. After the ceremony, they would depart to continue the celebration in the garden at the Duval home.