Mahogany Is The Color Of Devotion

Chapter 21

The ceremony went by in a blur. The clergyman said his words of faith, reciting his scriptures of love and promises to be true under the rule of God. 

Lafayette had listened with a heavy heart. A part of her was giddy, the rest of her felt as if she were carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. She blinked and suddenly they were in the large dining hall. Gentle music being played by the band Aunt Pearl had insisted upon.

The room was full, towns people and the wealthy of the area alike, all talking loudly. Their voice were like a constant buzzing in the room.

Lafayette looked around, her eye sight going blurry as tears quickly filled them. She couldn't do this! To stand here and pretend in front of all of these people felt suffocating.

She took a step back, her hands squeezing the fabric of her skirt so tightly her brown knuckles were turning white. She took another step back, easing herself further out of the room. She had to escape. For she could not breathe.

Just as she turned to do so, strong, familiar hands gripped her waist from behind. "Don't. This may not be the ton of London, but tongues do wag here nonetheless."

She inhaled rapidly, trying to catch her breath. "I can not do this. I have to go."

Nicholas leaned down, his lips brushing the seam of her earlobe, "I'm right here, Fay. You need only lean on me. But run from our wedding celebration, after a surprise wedding, and the gossip will never end. You must understand."

She closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of him so close to her. She did understand but with the circumstances, it felt as if it didn't matter. None of this mattered. She just wanted him to hold her. To pull her close and tell her that despite the baby, his love for her was all that mattered.

But instead he stepped back, holding out his arm for her to grab. She sniffled, forcing her bottom lip not to quiver. She grabbed his arm, wrapping her shaking fingers around his bicep. "I shall stay but do not expect me to mingle. I just can't, Nicholas." Her voice was small in the noise of the ongoing celebration.

He looked down at her, unable to pretend he did not see the miserable look on her pretty face. "Faye I-," his words were interrupted by Aunt Pearl and a gaggle of finely dressed older women wearing ungodly white wigs.

Pearl, holding a glass of wine, used her free hand to herald them, "A lovely couple are they not?"

The ladies nodded, each saying a mumbled compliment, "Lovely complexion!" 

"Very handsome lad, tall as they come!"

"Absolutely darling couple!"

"Your children will be beautiful!" One of them exclaimed. Suddenly as if some kind of twisted fate, they all began rapid conversation about babies, and heirs to estates and first born sons.

Lafayette paled. Was this some kind of cruel joke. Did they know and intend to mock her on this horrid wedding day? Her hand tightened on Nicholas's arm. 

Aunt Pearl slid into the conversation with a quick ease, saying rather dramatically, "I've run out of wine! We must go and fetch more. Leave the newlyweds to their bliss! No more talk of babies so soon! They've only just wed, you all would rush them into parenthood before they have enjoyed the splendors of each other? God forbid!" 

The other women flushed pink, each of them curtsying and saying their whispered, embarrassed goodbyes as they followed Pearl's trail back through the crowd.

Lafayette felt a sudden rush of relief for Aunt Pearl. Though now she felt more drained than before. 

"How long must we practice this charade?" She asked, her voice no longer a whisper.