The Fairy Tale Bride (13 page)

It was done. She was married. Standing in the
only home she had ever known, her beloved Anderlin, Miranda
realized she could no longer call it "home" now that she had wed.
She stood quietly for a moment in the corner of the dining hall,
amazed at the transformation that Simon's army of newly-hired
servants had wrought for their wedding feast. The silver and gold
gleamed. Doubt assailed her at the thought that this formidable
army of a staff was now hers to command. She hoped she had not made
a mistake, marrying a man who did not love or trust her. Truly,
what did she know of him? For all she could be certain, beneath the
saintly demeanor might lie the heart of a robber bridegroom waiting
to chop her up and eat her in a bride stew.

She frowned and walked nearer the
mantelpiece. Somehow, candlesticks had been found that matched the
ones from the study. The very candlesticks that had been stolen
from her in London. She sighed. She had almost put that incident
from her mind – Simon was no robber bridegroom, and he would not
let her family starve. Valentine had given up his melancholic
hibernation to throw himself into new plans to revitalize
Anderlin.

"How does it feel to be married?" Hero's
smile was shy as she joined her sister in the corner and took her
turn surveying the changed room. "To command such an army of
servants?"

"At the moment, I confess I feel somewhat
numb." Miranda's heart ached at the thought of leaving her sisters,
but Hero, at eighteen, and Juliet, at sixteen, were at least old
enough to understand what marriage meant. Indeed, they were no
doubt dreaming of being married themselves shortly.

What Rosaline, Helena, and little Kate
though, she had no notion. They had been kept away from her by Hero
and Juliet so that she could finish up the endless fittings and
little details that brought her wardrobe and her wedding together
in under a week. She had missed them terribly, even though they
were just in another part of the house. How much harder would it be
when she was gone from Anderlin?

Hero did not smile. She was such a serious
child that her anxiety was etched upon her thin face. "How should I
address you now that you are a duchess? It seems so strange to
think of you that way." She blushed as she realized that her words
could be taken as an insult. "I mean ... "

"I know exactly what you mean." Miranda
glanced across the room toward the bent head of her husband of less
than an hour. "It is odd. A few vows, a simple ceremony, and we are
bonded for life. What has always been the ending for our fairytales
is, in truth, the beginning of a very different life."

Hero nodded, her eyes flitting around the
room, as she whispered, "He is like a fairy godfather, is he not?"
When Miranda did not immediately agree, Hero faltered and added
softly, "Instead of a godmother, I mean .... "

"In some ways I think he's more in need of a
fairy godmother." She thought of Simon's disclosure but said
nothing of it to her sister. A wedding day should be joyous.

Hero shook her head soberly. "Oh, he's in no
need of that any longer, Miranda. Not now that he has you." A
sudden sadness obscured her smile.

Miranda reached over to squeeze her sister's
hand.

"But I shall always be the sister you knew.
My becoming a duchess changes nothing between us."

Juliet had come up behind them and slipped an
arm around Hero's waist for a brief moment, saying, "Except for
removing you from our household, of course."

Miranda nodded, once again looking toward
Simon. Her heart hammered inside her chest. "I have every
confidence in your abilities to manage the household, Hero." She
tried to coax a smile out of her by adding, "And I know Juliet will
help you as she has always helped me."

Hero, her quiet, bookish sister had a
disconcerting gleam in her eye as she laughed. "And since the duke
has agreed to give me a Season this year, I daresay you will soon
be trying your wings at managing things, too, Juliet."

She found it somehow frightening to think of
her younger sisters trying to manage Anderlin, never mind trying to
find husbands. For a moment she fought a strong desire to go jump
up onto the table and announce that she had made a terrible
mistake.

Hero, ever sensitive, leaned over to whisper
in her ear, "You look less than happy, Miranda. You should smile
more or some will say you are a reluctant bride."

Miranda grimaced and then quickly fixed a
smile upon her face as she searched the crowded room for Grimthorpe
– who, as a cousin, no matter how distant, had somehow managed to
attach himself to a group of wedding guests and insinuate himself
into the celebration. He was the only one who might suspect the
circumstances of her sudden marriage. "The broken stay has slipped
a little and is scratching my side."

Her sister winced in sympathy. "Stubborn
contraption. I thought we had it well fixed. Perhaps we can manage
to slip away and exchange stays? I don't need the new ones that the
duke had made for you. I'll return them."

"No." Miranda shook her head firmly. "I don't
know what help Valentine will take from Simon and I'll not have you
running the household with a broken stay jabbing your ribs when you
move."

Hero hugged her. "You are a thoughtful
sister. Thankfully you'll never have to worry about such things
again. I'm certain the duke will see that you have as many new
stays as you need."

Miranda frowned. "I hadn't thought of that."
She sighed. "I suppose a duchess must always wear her stays?"

"Do you really mind?" Juliet looked
incredulously around at the remains of the magnificent feast that
the duke had supplied. "Think of all your new clothes. I would have
chosen my wardrobe already."

Miranda smiled. "I was too busy dreaming of
presenting Hero to the new queen. I hadn't even given a thought to
how it would feel to be married, never mind how I would dress."

"I daresay you'll be used to it by next
year." Hero's hazel eyes danced with mischief. "And then you'll be
getting used to motherhood, no doubt."

Miranda blushed scarlet. "Hero. What if the
twins or little Kate heard you say such a shocking thing?"

As if on cue, Miranda's youngest sisters
crowded around her, exclaiming how beautiful she was, while at the
same time preening in the finery that had been hastily stitched for
them with no spared expense. It had been years since they had been
able to afford silk and satin. The girls had had new dresses once a
year, but Miranda had not had a new gown since her London
season.

"Miranda," Kate confided
sotto voce
,
"I don't think there's anyone here more beautiful than you." She
gazed wistfully at her own pink satin gown, and then added, "Except
for me."

Miranda smiled at her sisters, thinking how
glad it made her to know that her marriage would assure that each
of them would come out properly and find a husband worthy of
them.

She looked at Kate, twirling around in her
new gown. Except for Kate, perhaps. Kate herself would require an
extraordinary man to be a patient husband for her. She looked up
with a wistful smile on her face at the thought of Kate grown and
married, and found Simon next to her, gazing at her with an
unsettling intensity.

"Excuse me, ladies," he said gently as he
extracted Miranda from the center of her sisters. "But my wife and
I must be on our way home."

Miranda felt a clutch of fear. "Home," she
repeated without a smile. Home had always been Anderlin, and now,
because of a simple ceremony, a few words, and a ring on her
finger, home was no longer Anderlin. It was far away – with
Simon.

At one, her sisters' smiles fell. She had
prepared them for what would come after the wedding, but she
understood their dismay, as she was feeling the same herself. Hero
was the first to recover her composure. There was only a hint of
moisture in her eyes when she gently kissed Miranda's cheek and
pressed a quick embrace upon her. "We're going to miss you."

"Must you go?" Kate asked. She stared at
Simon angrily. "Why can't you stay here? Anderlin is the best home
that ever was. Who will tell me stories if I you take my Miranda
away?"

Hero, stepping almost naturally into the role
of eldest sister, chided Kate gently before Miranda could open her
mouth. "I will tell you stories, Kate. Don't be a baby."

Kate, disliking the change of command, stared
stubbornly at Miranda, the sister who had mothered her for as long
as she could remember. "She can't tell stories like you can. Please
don't go."

Simon knelt down until he was at eye level
with Kate. "When a man marries, his wife goes to live with him. One
day, Kate, you will do the same."

"Never," she declared. "My husband will live
here at Anderlin."

Juliet chided her. "Hush silly. Don't you
know that Valentine will take a wife and they will live here. You
will go with your husband."

Kate, ready to cry, was enfolded gently into
Simon's arms and lifted up to face him. "Just because Miranda's
home is now my home, little one, doesn't mean that you won't be
welcome to visit."

Kate looked at him wide-eyed through her
tears. "Will you take me with you?" Miranda was ashamed at her leap
of hope that Simon would agree.

Valentine, who had come up beside them in
time to hear the last part of the exchange, gave her shoulder a
quick squeeze. She relaxed and reached for his hand to give his
fingers a return squeeze. He would not let Kate — or any of the
others — feel too much loss. He had promised letters and
visits.

As if to show her the truth of his words,
Valentine held out his arms to his little sister and said, "Kate,
you cannot leave me now. First I must learn to run the household
without Miranda, and I need your assistance. "

Kate looked doubtfully at him for a moment
and then came into his arms with a little sigh. "Very well. But
then, I must visit Miranda. After all, you have Hero to help
you."

Valentine nodded. "Of course, and Miranda
will always be welcome here." He looked at his sister, to emphasize
the full implication of his words.

Miranda smiled at him, glad that they were of
one mind again. She did not fear that she should need to take up
his invitation. But she knew how rare it was for even a loving
brother to boldly declare that he would interfere in another man's
marriage if his sister asked it of him.

Simon added dryly, as he firmly took
Miranda's elbow, "And your family is welcome to visit at any time.
Consider our home your own."

Our home. How odd. She smiled at her sisters
until they returned smiles of their own, though mere pale
imitations of their usual ones.

Simon squeezed her elbow gently, an intimacy
that startled her. "Come, my dear. The coach is waiting."

Miranda nodded and followed slowly. It felt
strange to have Simon's hand on her arm. And tonight it would be
like it had been in the hunter's cottage ... except he would have
no reason to pull back from her. He was her husband, now. She
looked down at the strong fingers that held her, and felt a soft
fluttering inside her. What on earth had she done?

Before entering the carriage, Miranda crushed
each of her sisters to her for a final hug. Juliet, who would come
out next after Hero and was already well , grown; Hero, who wanted
to live up to reputation of the Shakespearean character for whom
she was named; the twins, Rosaline and Helena, who had been the
despair of their mother when they cut their hair and declared that
they did not want to be "silly girls." And Kate of course, the baby
who remembered no mother but Miranda.

How would they fare without her? Or she
without them? But then, she comforted herself, Simon needed her
more than her sisters did for the moment.

"Wait a moment, Kerstone." Valentine was
suddenly by her side, looking into her eyes, and she saw the panic
she felt mirrored in his eyes. "You will be happy." He enfolded her
in his arms as he spoke. "If not, your husband will answer to
me."

Valentine's embrace twisted the stay into her
side, but Miranda did not protest. "I have not married a robber
bridegroom. He will be good to me — and I shall help him get well."
She threw her arms about her brother and whispered hastily, "I
shall speak to Simon about Emily as soon as I am able, Valentine.
And I shall not abandon our family simply because I am now married.
I shall find a way to increase our fortunes."

He said sharply, not bothering to whisper,
"Emily is beyond me, sister. Please accept that. And about our
"fortune", it appears to have turned." Miranda was startled when
Valentine grinned broadly. "It seems that one of our investments
has paid off at last. I heard from our solicitor late
yesterday."

"What? How could you forget to tell me until
now?"

Those investments that she had made while he
was away had been a nagging source of guilt for her for so long.
Miranda breathed deeply as the weight of guilt finally eased.

"I thought you had more important things on
your mind." He smiled, and her heart twisted at how easily he was
shutting her out of her former life. "It is not great wealth, but
it will keep us afloat." He hugged her once, tightly, and released
her into Simon's care. "Don't worry about us, Miranda. We'll be
fine."

"Of course they will," Simon added. His deep
voice sent a shiver up her spine, beginning just at the spot at the
small of her back where his hand gently rested. "And none of you
need worry about Miranda. I will take good care of her."

Valentine met her eyes and smiled. "And she
will take care of you, Kerstone. Won't you, Miranda?"

Would she? Could she? She struggled not to
reveal the crushing load of doubt that suddenly oppressed her.
Simon's life, not just his future happiness, lay in her hands.