“You are married?” she cried, leaping to her feet. “Well, I am glad. That grand wedding everyone was planning would have been so stupid.”
Cousin Matilda had already produced a vinaigrette and a fan from her reticule and had turned toward her mother, seated beside her. It was only a pity she had no more than two hands.
“What?” His stepmother was on her feet too, her hand on Jessica’s arm. “What?”
“You are married?” That was Cousin Mildred.
“Now you can come home with me, Millie,” Molenor said, “and help me deal with our scamp.”
“Oh, you could not wait,” Cousin Althea said, her hands clasped to her bosom, her eyes shining as she looked from Anna to Avery. “How utterly romantic.”
“Romantic?” the dowager said. “Put those smelling salts away, Matilda, or use them yourself. Anastasia, you can have no idea what this will do to your reputation. Have you learned nothing in the past weeks except how to waltz? But Avery ought to know, and it is just like him to flaunt the unwritten rules of society and snap his fingers at its good opinion. You will be very fortunate if you do not find yourselves ostracized by the ton.”
“Anastasia,” Riverdale said, “may I offer my sincere congratulations and good wishes? And to you too, Netherby.”
“Oh goodness,” Avery’s stepmother said. “I am no longer the Duchess of Netherby, am I? Anastasia is. I am the dowager duchess.”
“It is just a name, Mama,” Jessica said crossly.
And then Anna spoke, in that same low, commanding voice she had used in the rose salon all that time ago. “Yesterday,” she said, “I was overwhelmed by the realization that I had become a commodity, the most highly prized item on the marriage mart. I wanted to escape, even if only for a short while to catch my breath and order my thoughts. I said, in the hearing of you all, that I wanted to go to Wensbury to see my grandparents, my mother’s parents, to find out if I could learn why they turned me out after my mother died, to somehow put that part of my history in its proper place. Avery offered to marry me and take me there. He knew that I wanted—that I needed to go soon. He knew that waiting for the grand wedding you have all been kind enough to envisage for us would be more than time wasted to me. It would be an ordeal that would overwhelm me even more. So he brought a special license here with him this morning and took me to a church whose name I do not know on a street I cannot name to be married by a clergyman whose identity I still do not know. Elizabeth and Mr. Goddard witnessed our nuptials. I know some of you are disappointed, both in me and in the loss of the splendid wedding you were beginning to plan. But this is my wedding day, and it was the loveliest wedding I could possibly imagine, and I must beg your pardon while not regretting for a moment what I have done. We will be setting out on our journey tomorrow.”
She did not take her eyes off Avery while she spoke.
He must surely, he thought, have fallen in love with her that very first day. Which was a puzzling possibility, especially when he recalled those shoes and that dress and cloak and bonnet. But even then he had spotted the quiet, poised dignity of the woman within. Actually the whole thing was puzzling. That the way she had conducted herself on that occasion and since had aroused his respect, even his admiration, was surprising enough. But romantic love? He did not believe in it. He never had and never would.
Except that it really must be romantic love he was feeling for her. His eyes traveled over her and found themselves well pleased, though he could not understand why. He looked back into her eyes and smiled. Good God, she was his wife.
“Well,” his stepmother said, resuming her seat and drawing Jessica down beside her, “I will not declare that I cannot believe it. I can believe it all too well. It is just what I might have expected of Avery. We will just have to make the best of the situation. We must plan a grand wedding reception and explain away the hurried, almost clandestine nature of the wedding with a slight embellishment of the truth. Anna’s maternal grandparents are elderly and infirm. They wished to meet their long-lost granddaughter before they die, and Avery insisted that he marry Anastasia without delay and take her there. We were all in reluctant but total agreement. Everyone will be charmed. The new Duchess of Netherby will be the sensation of the hour again. We need to get busy.”