Chapter Thirty-Four

“I’m so nervous, I could faint,” Rose said, her voice faint and thready as she paced from one end of the room to the other, careful not to snag her dress on the furniture or her shoes. “Aren’t you nervous? You don’t look nervous. Why don’t you look nervous?” Rose asked, her voice increasing in volume and octaves as she quizzed Maddy, who was sitting calmly on a nearby couch, examining her nails with detached interest.

“I don’t know,” Maddy said with a small shrug. “I’m just… not.”

“So what’s your secret, then?” Rose demanded, flopping down beside her, and then springing back up again as though she were a Jack in the box.

Maddy laid a comforting hand on her friend’s arm, stilling her panicky movements. “If you keep flitting around like that, you are going to make me nervous!” she said with a laugh. “I thought you would be excited, but not nervous.”

“I know, I thought that as well, but… here I am, nervous,” Rose said, pressing a hand to the butterflies in her stomach as though she could push them away physically. “And you aren’t,” she added, accusingly.

“I suppose I’m not nervous because I know this is exactly the way things should be,” Maddy said with a smile, thinking of Jamie, who was in another room, probably looking at his own nails with detached interest, she thought with a private chuckle. “I’ve dreamed of this for so long, and now that it’s here, I’m just… happy. Calm. Excited. Not nervous.”

“Well, I never dreamed this day would come, so apparently I’m a nervous wreck!” Rose exclaimed, striding over the mirror again and examining herself with a critical eye.

“Having you here also makes me happy, calm and excited,” Maddy said, and Rose whirled around, smiling at her best friend.

“Oh, Maddy, if you weren’t here, I would be ten times more nervous, I’m sure of it!” Rose wailed, turning back to the mirror again.

Maddy stood up and crossed the room to stand beside her friend, linking her arm around her waist and giving her a small squeeze, smiling at their twin reflections in the mirror, and then smiling more widely when Rose gave her a brave grin in return. “You look absolutely beautiful, my dearest friend,” Maddy said with affection for her best friend.

Rose kissed Maddy’s cheek. “You look a vision yourself, Maddy. Truly.”

Both women were framed in the mirror, gorgeously outfitted in white wedding gowns, their hair carefully done and their faces rosy with excitement and anticipation.

Maddy had waited a few days to tell Fitz of her impending marriage to Jamie, but when he strode into the parlor one morning and announced that Rose had agreed to become his wife, she knew the timing would never be better.

Though Fitz was initially skeptical of the match – and of Jamie’s devotion to her – he became increasingly supportive when he saw how perfectly elated Maddy was, the glow finally returning to her features, which had been missing for entirely too long.

Plus, Jamie and Fitz had had a long, long conversation that evening over a brandy, and Maddy assumed that Jamie had told Fitz of his devotion to her, and after that night, Fitz had been well on board with her marriage plans.

Once Rose and Maddy had shared their happy news with the other, it seemed only natural and fitting to join their families all together in a double wedding, put together over the ensuing weeks.

Now that the day was here, Maddy was eager to start her life as Mrs. Carrington, while Rose seemed eager not to throw up before the ceremony.

The door opened and both women whirled around, afraid it was one of the future grooms, and sighed in relief when Billings stepped in gingerly. “My ladies, the church is filled to capacity, the priest is in position and ready to begin, and the grooms are eager to see their brides. Might I suggest you make your way to the chapel?” Billings said, holding the door open wider for them both and giving them a deep bow.

Carefully picking up their bouquets, the girls linked arms again and walked towards the small chapel where they were to be married, both grinning in delight and anticipation, all butterflies suddenly gone, it would seem.

Maddy took a deep breath just before the door opened, glancing down at the beautiful diamond ring that sparkled on her finger, a surprise she was not expecting when Jamie had slid it on her finger the day after his proposal. He confessed that he had bought it in London, intending to make her his wife no matter what, though even he admitted the… passionate circumstances of his proposal were unusual, which made them both laugh at the memory of it.

As the door to the chapel finally creaked open, and her eyes immediately went to Jamie, who stood tall and handsome at the front of the church, his suit cut and fitting perfectly, his hair slicked back, his blue eyes shining with eagerness and delight as he looked around the room at their assembled friends and family.

When he saw her, though, his smile faded for just a moment and his jaw dropped slightly, which Maddy took to be a good sign. She and Rose walked up the aisle, taking their places beside Fitz and Jamie, everyone giving each other reassuring smiles.

Jamie leaned over to whisper to her, only loud enough for her to hear. “You look absolutely more beautiful than I have ever seen you, Mrs. Carrington.”

Maddy smiled at him, pleased by the compliment, but still wanting to rattle his cage a bit. “I’m not Mrs. Carrington yet. I could still bolt, you know.”

“You could,” Jamie agreed. “But you know I would chase you to the ends of the earth and throw you over my shoulder and bring you back, don’t you?” he said with a wink, making Maddy giggle slightly at the vision of her wedding dress draped over his shoulder, her bouncing along as he took her captive and hauled her back to the chapel to make her his.

“Then by all means, Lord Carrington, let us proceed,” she whispered in reply, and as the priest cleared his throat, the two happy couples turned towards the nave in preparation of reciting their vows of marriage.

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