Chapter 9
Fanny added the last flower to her sister’s hair and stood back. “What do you think?”
“I think she looks beautiful,” Jessica gushed.
“Indeed,” Gillian, the Duchess of Stapleton, agreed. “Rafferty will be the one to swoon today, I think.”
Rebecca smiled but shook her head. “He would never swoon. Besides, he needs to stay on his feet to speak his vows. He can swoon all he likes after we are man and wife, preferably not while he’s carrying me over the threshold of his bedchamber.”
Fanny scoffed at the idea of such a dangerous lapse in concentration on Rafferty’s part. “It would never happen.”
; Rebecca’s gown for the wedding was a delicate pink silk. The low neckline was almost scandalous to wear for a wedding but then again…this wasn’t Rebecca’s first marriage, and everyone knew the couple was deeply in love.
Fanny wore blue, Jessica rose, and the duchess wore pale green. She picked up the posy of flowers that Rebecca would carry, delivered by Whitfield fresh from his garden a few moments ago. “You’ll be needing this.”
“Indeed, I will,” Rebecca agreed, standing and fluffing out her skirts. “Oh, I would give anything to have this part over and done with quickly. I hate being gawked at.”
“We know,” they all said in unison.
“But today you must accept your place as the center of attention and accept it as your due,” the duchess murmured, coming closer to the jittery bride. “And well deserved it is. Rafferty told me only yesterday that he is quite the catch.”
“So was Papa.” Rebecca scowled. “Father deprived you of your due by marrying you in London by special license and not inviting more than a handful.”
Gillian shrugged. “But I’ve been gawked at ever since the news spread around. You’re well known in society so the gawking will cease very soon, I’d expect, as people accept that you are both happy. Whereas the novelty of my marriage to your father seems determined to endure forever.”
To Fanny’s surprise, Rebecca captured Gillian’s hand. “They gawk because you are so beautiful and smile so often.”
“Thank you. Loving your father does that,” Gillian promised, a blush brightening her cheeks.
“He needed you,” Rebecca insisted with a soft smile.
Fanny blinked several times in shock as the exchange continued. What an alteration love had brought to her sister’s attitudes in recent weeks. Rebecca had been against Gillian right from the outset of her arrival at Stapleton. Vocally so. Now, though, the pair seemed almost the best of friends.
“I had better go take my place with the guests and have Nicolas waiting to collect you from the hall,” Gillian whispered. “I’ll see you all downstairs.”
“Could you take Jessica with you and tell father I’ll be delayed a few more minutes. I’d like to speak with Fanny alone if you don’t mind.”
Jessica, always agreeable, kissed Rebecca’s cheek and left with Gillian.
Fanny cocked her head when they were gone. “What did you want to talk to me about at a time like this?”
“Nothing.” Rebecca looked up at the ceiling and let out a long sigh. “I just needed a minute and used talking to you as an excuse.”
Fanny didn’t mind but she was curious. “Having doubts?”
“About Rafferty? No,” she sighed. “He’s been wonderful.”
“What then?”
Rebecca glanced down at her posy. “In a few minutes, my whole life will change. I will no longer be Mrs. Rebecca Warner.”
“Widow of a heartless scoundrel who betrayed you with his housekeeper right under her nose?” Fanny suggested, getting to the humiliating truth straight away rather than sugarcoating it. Rebecca usually preferred that.
“Yes.” Rebecca shook her head. “I have to let it all go. My anger and mistrust. I need to reinvent myself as Adam’s countess.”
Fanny put her arm about Rebecca’s shoulders. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you have already changed in so many ways because of him and love. You are different already. Less offended by men.”