Someone to Remember by Balogh Mary

Author:Balogh, Mary
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780349424996
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2019-11-04T16:00:00+00:00

Nine

Several times over the following month, Charles sat alone in his library, wishing that he had not suddenly found himself at the center of a whirlpool or a tornado—both seemed appropriate metaphors. For of course the notice of his betrothal appeared in every London paper and perhaps a few provincial ones too. And wherever he went, he faced congratulations or—at his clubs—endless witticisms over which he was forced to laugh. His son and one of his sons-in-law dragged him off to his tailor and his boot maker and his hatmaker and Lord knew where else so that on his wedding day he would be able to astonish the ton with new and fashionable everything.

His daughters and every female on earth who had a connection with the Westcott family, no matter how slim, held meeting after meeting to discuss every aspect of the wedding that women invariably found to discuss and wrangle over. Though to be fair, he heard no reports of arguments or raised voices or heated discussions or rivalries between the two families. Early predictions proved quite accurate. The wedding breakfast was to be served at Westcott House, the home of Alexander, Earl of Riverdale, on South Audley Street. Invitations were sent. If any member of the ton then staying in or within a twenty-mile radius of London had been omitted, Charles would be enormously surprised. Relatives from farther afield had been summoned, including a few cousins he scarcely knew but whose presence on his wedding day was deemed by his daughters to be essential to his happiness.

Charles would just as happily have done what the Netherbys had once done and sneaked off to marry Matilda in an obscure church somewhere, special license in hand, while their families were in a flurry of plotting and planning for a grand wedding to outdo all others this year. But despite ever-changing misgivings and second and third and sixth thoughts through which Matilda suffered during the course of the month, he understood that a big public wedding was what she really wanted. And what Matilda wanted she would have. She had waited long enough for her wedding—thirty-six years.

What she had feared most was being laughed at. Charles felt no doubt that there were certain elements of society that ridiculed her behind her back. There always were. The world would never be rid of unkind people who compensated for their own insecurities by dragging down other happier, more successful people to their own level through their gossip. They were to be heartily ignored. She was well received wherever she went. Barbara held a soiree in her honor, and Jane had her as a special guest in Wallace’s private box at the theater the very evening after the announcement appeared in the papers. The Duke and Duchess of Netherby hosted a betrothal party at their home, and the Marquess and Marchioness of Dorchester organized an afternoon tea. Charles took her driving in the park several times and escorted her to a private concert and a literary evening.

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