William. It was William, his half brother, and she hadn't even known he'd existed.
It wasn't Thomas.
Meggie felt the sun break over her head. The explanation-it had burst forth and it was clean and pure with no murky gray to muck things up. She felt such relief, such profound joy, she wanted to shout. She said, 'How old is William?'
'He's twenty-one, much younger for a male than it is for a female. Using myself as a measuring stick, I have determined that youth tends to encourage stupid behavior. Haven't you done foolish things, Meggie?'
'Yes,' she said without hesitation, 'but I have never searched out a boy to seduce him.'
This effortless charm of hers. It washed over him, whether he wanted it to or no. 'No,' he said, 'you wouldn't.'
'Why did you let Mr. and Mrs. Winters believe you were the one?'
He shrugged. 'Evidently Melissa was afraid to tell her parents the truth, so she told them it was me. Since I am now head of this family, I am responsible for William, and he knows it. He made a mistake. I have taken care of it. Hopefully, both he and Melissa are now a bit wiser.'
'My father always says that one must be accountable for one's own mistakes.'
'Perhaps, but it is done and I cannot now change it. I will say, though, that William is on a much shorter leash now.'
'He should have married her.'
'He refused. However, I made it perfectly clear to him that if the child survived, then he would be its father. I told him I would cut him off if he did not agree to this. He agreed.'
'Well, that's something. I am sorry, Thomas, but I am not going to much like William.'
'Perhaps not. I am hopeful that he will improve as he adds a few more years.' He paused a moment, then said, his voice every bit as austere as her father's when faced with wickedness, 'I am disappointed in you for not trusting me.'
'Don't put on that righteous act with me, Thomas. Actually the evidence would have hanged you.'
She hadn't apologized, just smacked him in the jaw with the unvarnished truth. 'All right, I accept that. Now, would you like me to go reassure your father?'
Meggie gave him a brilliant smile. 'Yes, please do, sir. Oh, Thomas, will we live in Italy?'
He said slowly, 'Perhaps, Meggie. Perhaps. Would you like that?'
'Immensely.' She ran around his desk, went up on her tiptoes, kissed his check, then stared at him a moment, kissed his mouth, hers tightly seamed, and it didn't matter a bit. He watched her rush out into the enclosed garden, her skirts rustling, her bonnet dangling from her fingertips nearly to the ground. He knew she would snag it on a rosebush, and she did, but again, it didn't matter.
The wedding of Thomas Malcombe, earl of Lancaster, to Margaret Beatrice Lydia Sherbrooke, spinster, was attended by four hundred people, another hundred or so milling about outside the church for word of what was happening. The men who'd managed to beg off were in the tavern, drinking ale, listening to Mr. Mortimer Fulsome's advice on married life, something none of them paid the least attention to since he'd buried four wives, none of them lasting more than two years, and he was eighty years old now and could barely be heard above the toasts.
Tysen led his daughter down the aisle to where Lord Lancaster and Bishop Arlington of Brighton waited, a twinkle in the bishop's eye. He had known Tysen since he'd been born, Meggie as well. He was completely bald and the sunlight pouring through the stained-glass window above him sent a wash of colors across his head.
'He looks like God wearing a rainbow,' Meggie said out of the side of her mouth.
'He's nearly blind,' Tysen said to his daughter as they walked past people who had known her all her life. 'Stand as close as possible to him. Tell Thomas to do the same. And don't stare at his head.'
It was a glorious Friday morning in mid-April, the air was fresh from a rain that had dutifully stopped at midnight the evening before. Clouds were strewn in a very blue sky.
Every Sherbrooke was present, including the earl of Ashburnham and his family come all the way from Scotland. And, of course, Oliver and Jenny from Kildrummy.
There was no one from Thomas Malcombe's family, but if anyone remarked upon it, it didn't get to Meggie's ears. She, herself, believed it for the best. If William had shown up, she just might have kicked him. As for Thomas's mother, he'd simply said she was ill and left it at that. He was so very alone, she thought that morning as all her aunts helped her dress in her wedding finery. But that would change.
The Vicarage was filled to capacity. Had there been ladders to the rafters, Thomas thought, there would be folk hanging off those as well. All of the boy cousins were staying with him at Bowden Close.
The Sherbrookes were a very popular family. No, it was more than that. Meggie was the daughter of the town, beloved by its denizens. He thought, as he watched her come closer and closer, that he'd never seen a more beautiful woman in his life. He smiled when she chanced to look at him.
Meggie didn't look again at Bishop Arlington. She was staring at the man who would be her husband in not more than fifteen minutes from now.
Organ music swelled, so loud the windows rattled a bit. The air was still, fragrant with flowers, many from the Northcliffe Hall greenhouses, brought to Glenclose-on-Rowan by Uncle Douglas and Aunt Alex. So many people, all of them here to wish her well. She passed by the Winters family and felt a stab of concern. There were no smiles on their faces. Even though her father had told her they accepted that William Malcombe was the father of Melissa's child, they still couldn't bring themselves to like Thomas Malcombe.
All her boy cousins were seated in one row; Grayson, she knew, was memorizing everything, later to embroider a rousing tale, probably replete with a congregation that were really demons from some pit in Hell and the demons had sprung open the pit just recently, just for Meggie's wedding. Leo and Max, both looking faintly worried, and she understood that. Everything was different now that they were all grown up. Now they realized just how many years separated all of them from childhood-her marriage underscored this. She wished she could have stopped a moment and hugged them, reassured them. She wanted to tell them that being a grown-up meant change, something to be desired not feared.
There were James and Jason, looking more beautiful than she did, both of them striving to look as austere and distinguished as their father, who, seated in the row ahead of them, looked every inch the powerful earl. Meggie gave him a big grin, which was returned, and which the twins didn't see. They might have relaxed a bit if they'd seen that smile. Her aunt Alex gave her a small wave with her gloved hand.
Aunt Sophie and Uncle Ryder were to her left, and what with ten of the Beloved Ones coming to Glenclose-on- Rowan, they occupied an entire row, very tightly. Her uncle Ryder's brilliant Sherbrooke eyes were still wicked, still so startling a blue, that ladies stopped in the middle of the street and stared at him and grinned like idiots. This behavior Aunt Sophie normally ignored, or poked her oblivious spouse in his ribs to make him stop being so damned delicious to the opposite sex. As for Aunt Sophie, she was solid as a rock, always calm no matter the trouble, no matter the pain.
And her godmother, Aunt Sinjun, sitting beside Uncle Colin, Fletcher and Dahling beside them, Dahling a young matron, married to a Scottish baron from the Highlands near Glen Coe way. Phillip was far away in Greece with the Royal Navy, Uncle Colin had told everyone. Phillip, it seemed, was a cartographer, something most all the male cousins had had to look up in the dictionary. Fletcher was now twelve, as magic with horses as Alec was with racing cats. She remembered so long ago how he had renamed her father's horse. He spoke to horses and they spoke to him. What would he do when he grew up? Meggie wondered. She thought with a pang of his little sister, Jocelyn, who had died while still very young. Thank God Rory had survived.
Jeremy and Charlotte were there, Charlotte well into her pregnancy, smiling, looking utterly beautiful, glowing, Jeremy, so proud, so possessive of her, standing close by her, always. Meggie had greeted them warmly, so very warmly. As for Jeremy, he'd had time to say to her, 'I need to speak to you sometime, Meggie.'
She'd nodded, having no intention whatsoever of listening to him lecture her on something, probably on copying dear Charlotte, the perfect obedient subservient wife.
Mary Rose sat between Alec and Rory on the very front row. She was trying to hold Rory still since he was
