Lost Love Found (70 page)

At that very moment Aidan St. Michael entered her daughter’s bedchamber. “Skye! What on earth are you doing here so early?” she asked her beautiful sister-in-law.

“Good morrow to you also, Aidan,” Skye returned. “I came to have a talk with my daughter-in-law before the marriage takes place.”

“You are not pleased with the match?” Aidan looked worried.

“Not pleased? God’s foot, Aidan, I am delighted! I am ecstatic! Relieved! It fretted me to think that Niall’s son would never marry and have children. Valentina is the perfect wife for Padraic. It is a shame none of us realized it, else that fiasco with poor Ned Barrows would not have taken place!”

Aidan smiled suddenly. “Aye,” she agreed, “Valentina is the perfect match for Padraic, isn’t she? And we shall have grandchildren in common, Skye!”

“My aunt tells me that she desires fifty grandchildren, and since she has only forty-two, Padraic and I will certainly have to be responsible for the others, won’t we, Mama?”

“I’m going to help you with the preparations,” Skye told her sister-in-law. “We’ve notified everyone that we could, and either they’ll come or they won’t, but come what may, at half after four tomorrow afternoon, my son and your daughter will be joined in holy matrimony!”

Aidan suddenly paled. “Skye! The banns! We’ve forgotten the banns!”

“They can be waived,” Skye said airily.

“Aye, they can be waived,” Aidan agreed, “Oh, my! ’Tis seven o’clock already, and there is so much to do if we are to have a wedding tomorrow!”

“We’ll get it done, Aidan,” Skye reassured her brother’s wife. “We’ll get it all done.”

“What shall
I
do?” Valentina asked.

“Gracious, child,” exclaimed her mother, “there is scarcely time for you to be prepared properly! What of your wedding gown?” She opened the door and called into the hallway, “Nan! Nelda! Hurry! We have so little time!”

Chapter 16

V
alentina St. Michael Barrows, Lady Barrows, a widow, was joined in holy matrimony with her cousin, Padraic, Lord Burke, a bachelor, on the first day of January in the year of our Lord 1603. The small, intimate affair was attended by the bride’s parents, three brothers, and younger sister; and the bridegroom’s mother, stepfather, elder brother, his wife and children, and two elder sisters, their husbands and children. Also in attendance was Thomas Ashburne, the Earl of Kempe.

The bride, considered an outstanding beauty in a family of beauties, was resplendent. Her gown had a bell-shaped overskirt of rich burgundy velvet and an underskirt of burgundy silk, decorated with velvet and pearls. The dress was fashioned with a long wasp waist and a very,
very
low neckline. This, considered extremely fashionable, was cheered by the ladies. The bridegroom, however, complained that it bordered on the indecent. He was shouted down by his male relations.

The burgundy velvet sleeves were leg-of-mutton, banded by many little ivory-colored silk ribbons embroidered with seed pearls. The sleeves narrowed toward the wrists, the fabric turning back to form an elegant cuff with an ivory lace ruffle decorated with small seed pearls. The cuff matched the bride’s ivory-and-gold lace neck whisk.

Narrow, pointed ivory kid shoes ornamented with pearls peeped from beneath Valentina’s bell-shaped skirts. Her dark hair was parted in the center and dressed in a chignon low on the back of her neck. The chignon was decorated with ivory silk roses, each of which had gold leaves and a pearl center. The bride had chosen to wear only pearls. Pearls were sewn to her bodice, fell from her ears, and were draped around her neck, falling over her fair bosom.

She carried a small winter bouquet of dried lavender, rosemary, and holly, tied with pearl-encrusted ivory silk ribbons. Lord Burke had carried the little bouquet from his mother’s home, in his doublet, passing it to Aidan to give to her daughter. Like his bride, Padraic was dressed in burgundy velvet and ivory lace. The colors suited his dark hair and fair skin as well as they suited Valentina.

The previous day Lord Burke had asked his stepfather, Lord de Marisco, to stand with him as his best man. “I have called you Adam all my life, to please Mama,” Padraic said, “but although a man named Niall Burke fathered me, you are the only father I have ever known, Adam. You have been a good father to me, and I love you, though I know those are not words that one man normally says to another. Still, I would have you know it, and it would please me greatly if you would stand with me when I wed my Val.”

Adam de Marisco was seventy-two years of age, and there had been few times in his life when he had wept openly. Tears of happiness sprang to his eyes. He loved Padraic Burke as he might have loved a son of his own flesh. There had been no sons, only his beloved daughter, Velvet. And while he had never voiced it, Skye’s youngest son Padraic was most dear to him of all her children, excepting their own daughter.

“No,” he said slowly, “I did not father you, to my regret, but you have been my son since the day I wed your mother. I could not have fathered a better son! Aye, Padraic, I’ll stand with you, and proud I am that you asked me!” The big man hugged Lord Burke hard.

While waiting for the ceremony to begin, Lady de Marisco looked fondly at her husband and her Burke son, thinking how very fortunate they all were to have one another, how blessed they were to love one another.

Not all of the family were there for the wedding. Skye’s eldest two sons, Ewan and Murrough O’Flaherty, and their families had not been able to attend. Her youngest daughter, Velvet, the Countess of BrocCairn, and her family lived in Scotland. Of course, dear Dame Cecily and her brother, Sir Robert Small, were both dead. Skye felt tears pricking the back of her eyelids. God, how she missed Robbie and his wonderful sister! Dame Cecily had loved and mothered Skye for more years than her own mother had, God assoil both their good souls!

“What is it, little girl?” Adam, ever-watchful, was sensitive to his wife’s mercurial moods.

“I was thinking of Robbie and Dame Cecily,” she answered softly. “It seems so strange to have an important family event without them. They have always been with us.
Always.
”

He nodded understanding.

Sir Robert Small, Skye’s business partner for over forty years, had died the previous winter, having caught a chill while ice-skating on the lake at Queen’s Malvern with some of Skye’s many grandchildren. Robbie had turned eighty-two just before he died. It was a difficult loss for them all, but especially for his sister.

Dame Cecily had taken care of her brother for most of their lives, and the separation was simply too much for the old lady to bear. “He’ll not be able to get on without me,” she fretted in the days following her brother’s passing. Then several weeks later she began to insist to all who would listen, “Robbie says I must come and join him, for he is lonely without me.” She died a few days later, two days past her eighty-fourth birthday. They buried her next to her beloved younger brother.

“Robbie and Dame Cecily are here in their own way,” Adam said to his wife. “Do you think they would miss a family wedding?” He put a comforting arm around her.

Skye looked up into her husband’s face. “I do not like this business of growing old,” she said irritably.

“
You? Old?
Hah!” he scoffed. “You will never be old, little girl, nor will I!”

“Make me believe it, Adam,” she pleaded softly.

“Come home with me, Skye,” he said, smiling at her. “I shall, indeed, make you believe it.” His smoky-blue eyes smoldered at her. They were still lovers.

He always made her feel better. She chuckled. “You, my lord, are a randy old man, but I should have it no other way! We will go home across the winter fields tonight and play a game of bride and groom,” she teased him with a twinkle.

“As ever, my love, your inventiveness is astounding,” he replied with a grin. Somehow he managed to lovingly pinch her bottom through the layers of velvet encasing it. “I still do my duty by you very well, do I not, my little girl?”

Valentina’s lovely amethyst-colored eyes misted as she reached the altar of the family chapel on her father’s arm. She honestly thought Padraic Burke the handsomest man she had ever seen, and it suddenly occurred to her how amazing it was that he should love her above all women. The vows were sworn, the blessing given, and then everyone toasted the bride and groom.

Lord and Lady de Marisco, with a silent promise to each other, raised their goblets to toast their children, their hearts overflowing with their love not only for each other, but for their family as well.

“To our son, Padraic,” Adam de Marisco said, his deep voice filling the hall. “And to a lost love, finally found, his wife, Valentina. Long life, many children, and happiness always!”

“To Padraic and Valentina!” cried the guests, raising their goblets.

The Earl of Kempe stood. Raising his goblet to the happy couple, he said, “To my friend, Padraic Burke, and to his bride, Valentina, who, in finding her heart’s desire, was forced to relinquish the better man. Long life and happiness!”

Much laughter greeted Tom Ashburne’s toast as the guests again raised their goblets to the bridal couple.

Skye rose to her feet. “To my fifty grandchildren!” she said wryly.

Padraic leaped to his feet. “To the pleasure of attaining my mother’s goal!” he responded, raising his own goblet to his new wife, who blushed charmingly.

“Mama!” Willow exclaimed, pretending to be shocked. “Fifty grandchildren?”

“At least,” said Skye, and the family all laughed.

“Madam,” said the Earl of Kempe, “you are not only beautiful, but even more fascinating than all the old court gossip would imply. Were I but ten years older! I salute you!” He raised his goblet to her with a twinkle.

“You, Tom Ashburne, are a rogue!” Skye told him bluntly. “Who gossips about me at court? All those I knew are long dead except for Bess herself.”

“You are a legend, madam,” he replied.

“Hah!” Skye laughed, and her Kerry-blue eyes sparkled at his charming and outrageous flattery. “What a pity I do not have a daughter left to match with you, my lord. Rogues have a tendency to breed strong children. But perhaps I might find a granddaughter in my brood who would suit you. I am told you seek a wife. Is it so?”

“It is, madam. Having, alas, lost my divinity, I shall have to content myself with another woman,” he answered mournfully.

“Since you have lost Val,” Payton St. Michael offered helpfully, “why not offer for our Maggie? She will be fifteen in February and she is ready for a husband.”

Another girl might have been mortified by her brother’s casual offer, but Maggie St. Michael tossed her copper-colored hair and said boldly, “I seek higher than an earl. Please take no offense, my lord. But the queen will soon be dead. Then we will have a king and a brand-new court. My cousin, the Countess of BrocCairn, will come south with King James. Surely with my wealth and beauty I can capture a greater name than yours.”

“Margaret Cecily St. Michael!” gasped Aidan, horrified. “Apologize to Lord Ashburne immediately! I am mortified that a daughter of mine should speak in so forward, unkind, and immodest a manner.”

Tom Ashburne laughed. “She has nothing to apologize for, Lady Bliss,” he said kindly. “She is absolutely right, and what is more, she is not the only young lady to think what she does. Many are considering the new opportunities King James will bring. Besides, I am not a man for carrot-colored hair,” he mocked, gently gibing at Maggie, who flushed a color that did not complement her hair. She hated being teased about it, but having brought this upon herself, Maggie wisely held her tongue.

“I’ll find you a wife, my lord,” Skye promised him softly.

“Make certain she’s a fiery vixen like you, madam,” he said quietly. “Now
that
would be an interesting match, wouldn’t it? Have you a granddaughter like yourself?”

“Several, my lord. I promise that I shall think on it” was Skye’s reply.

The wedding feast was a happy one and exactly as Valentina and Padraic had wanted. There was an abundance of food, plenty of good wines and ales, and a lovely bride’s cake. They had many of their family members about them. They danced the spritely country dances, growing flushed with the exertion. About them, the children played games, scampering in and out of the Great Hall, a pack of lively small dogs always at their heels. They ate, they drank, and they talked until at last the logs in the fireplaces, huge when the day began, disintegrated into glowing, red-orange embers.

Finally the de Mariscos gathered up their large brood and departed for Queen’s Malvern beneath a clear starry sky and an almost full moon that silvered the snowy winter landscape. Lord and Lady Burke remained at Pearroc Royal that night, planning to leave for Clearfields in a day or two. Valentina was anxious to return to court and see the queen, so their plans were not firm.

They returned to the hall to discover that everyone had mysteriously disappeared.

Padraic laughed. “You made such a fuss about not having a bedding ceremony that you frightened everyone away,” he teased her.