Never Land the First Fish

Epilogue, Part 4

Maddox kissed Emily awake as the sun rose on their wedding day. "I'm off to dress at Gills' place," he told her. I will see you in..." he leaned over to check his pocket watch, which lay on his bedside table. "Four hours. I love you, Emily."

She watched from her nest of blankets as he crossed the room naked to the couch. Her heartbeat kicked higher as he bent over the couch on which he'd tossed his clothes the night before. He was beautifully formed, and quite unaware of the picture he made.

Or perhaps not so unaware, for he glanced over his shoulder, and grinned, with narrowed eyes that recognised her desire and responded. "Later, my voracious beloved," he told her.

She smiled back. "Much later," she complained, as he continued to dress. He was quite right, of course. All the females of her family and his would be descending on her to help her prepare for her wedding.

"Go along with you, then," she told him. "I will save what I'm thinking of for tonight."

At that, he took several impatient strides towards her and covered her mouth with his own. "Something to be going on with," he murmured as he lifted his head. Wretch. He'd leave her fevered, though there was satisfaction to be had in knowing he was in no better a state.

Emily pushed back the blanket, but he put a hand on hers and pulled it up again. "No need to see me out, my love." Another flashing grin. "Rest while you can. It will be a long day."

She lay back on the pillows as he pulled on his coat and crossed to the door, carrying his boots. A blown kiss and he was gone. A few minutes later, a tap on the door heralded a maid with a pot of chocolate and some toast. "Lord Maddox said you would be wanting a little something before your bath, Miss," she said.

She had not finished the chocolate when she heard the footmen in the dressing room next door coming and going. The splash of water confirmed that they were pouring her bath. It was her wedding day! Without thinking about it, she cupped her stomach, her hand protectively curved about the life within. Her future. The child that she and Maddox had made.

She usually lingered in her bath, but she would have company before long, and sure enough her first guest arrived while she was still towelling herself dry. She thought it was the maid, and asked for help with her corset, and didn't realise her mistake until the person behind her said, briskly, "That will be tight enough, given your condition."

She spun about to face her friend. "Julia! I did not expect you so early,"

"I was ready to leave our hotel when Maddox arrived," Julia explained, "so I took his carriage. I met your mother and sister downstairs, collecting breakfast croissants and coffee. They will be here in seconds."

Emily made a face. "Not coffee. I can bear the smell of it again without losing everything in my stomach, but not the taste. I trust Maausi will bring chocolate. Enough for everyone! Lady Chirbury is coming to help dress the bride, too. Both of them. Maddox's mother and his sister-in-law. Plus two other sisters and a granddaughter. Where on earth are we going to fit them all, and what will they do?"

Julia shrugged. She and Gills had married by license with his valet and the vicar's wife the only witnesses. "Talk a lot. And tell jokes that the maidens will pretend not to understand. The gown is lovely." The maid must have brought it in while Emily was in her bath, for there it hung on its rack, a shimmering silk in kingfisher blue layered with creamy lace and embroidered all over with small flower motifs. "Do you remember the first gown you insisted on for me after you found out I was a lady?"

Emily laughed. They had held a vigorous discussion over whether Julia's new status as companion rather than maid required her to be as fashionable as her employer. "I knew I'd won the argument when I saw you looking at that gown," she said.

Julia nodded. "I still love that gown. For the friendship it signifies."

Emily took her friend's hand. "It is hard to believe we have known one another for less than a year. I am glad you are here with me today."

"And will be," Julia reminded her, prosaically. "Next week, we begin our European tour." In light of Emily's pregnancy, she and Maddox had agreed to delay their wedding trip. They would complete the tour Gills had organised for the capitals of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, several of the German states, and Austria, then retire to the south of France to enjoy a holiday and await the birth.

"I'm looking forward to it," she assured Julia, adding, as the door opened on her mother, her sister Sharada and the maid. "But first, the wedding."

Several hours later, Emily arrived at the chapel on Rue Marboeuf that was the centre of Anglican worship in Paris. Fresh from the hands of all the womanfolk of both families in a silk gown of pale blue, with a circlet of flowers on her head, she entered through the main door.

Several days ago, she and Maddox had visited the chapel and it struck her as painfully plain, but her family and Maddox's had obviously been busy, for it had been transformed with flowers and ribbon—large vases on every available surface and in every corner, and posies tied with bows to the stands of every pew.

Her loved ones and Maddox's stood and turned to face her as first Sharada and then Julia processed down the aisle and she stood waiting on her father's arm. Then she looked beyond her sister and her dearest friend to where Maddox stood with Gills before the English ambassador's chaplain.

Her father began to walk forward, and she kept pace with him, but her mind was no longer on her surroundings. All her thoughts were caught in Maddox's blue eyes, and her heart responded to the admiration she saw there and the welcome in his wide smile.

Any lingering doubts melted away. As her father gave her hand into Maddox's she returned his smile with her own. This was where she wanted to be. Side-by-side with her mate, her partner, soon to be her husband, with their child under her heart.

THE END