“Are you ready?” Elizabeth asked.
“Yes.”
Lord Crew waited for them in the foyer and he smiled up at Grace. “You are a beautiful bride.”
Heat infused her cheeks. “Thank you.”
Matthew paced outside the church. He couldn’t breathe inside. He took deep breaths of fresh air to fill his lungs.
“What if she changes her mind?”
Jordan laughed. “Grace will be here.”
“She was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago.”
“Is your future bride ever on time,” John asked.
Matthew chuckled. “The first time I saw her she was coming into church late. I had already started my sermon.”
“When I saw her this morning she was just coming in from the barn, muttering something about the cows and the chickens not cooperating with her this morning.”
Matthew looked at John. “She was milking cows and gathering eggs on her wedding day?”
John through his hands up defensively. “I certainly don’t know how.”
“My first priority after marrying her will be to hire servants.”
“I hope that isn’t your first priority,” Jordan clapped him on the back as he walked by. “I know what mine would be.”
Matthew laughed. Leave it to Jordan to focus on the intimate side of marriage.
“Did you write Clay and Rose,” John asked.
“Yes, but I knew neither one would have time to make the trip.”
“Rose is going to be furious with you for missing the wedding,” Jordan insisted.
“She still won’t let me forget and it has been almost a year,” John grumbled. He looked up and met Matthew’s eyes. “Did you tell Grace about Adele and Julia?”
His stomach tightened. He had completely forgotten. Though he had plenty of opportunity, it never entered his mind. “No. Do you think she will be angry?” He took a step toward John. “Should I tell her before we wed so she has a chance to back out?”
Jordan chuckled. “Her uncle was Stillwaite and I am sure once Grace understands the circumstances, she will not hold this against you.”
“Still, she should know.”
“And you will tell her, later,” Jordan insisted as he turned and walked to the front of the church. He returned a moment later. “Your bride has arrived.”
Matthew’s pulse increased and his palms began to sweat. He hadn’t been this nervous giving his first sermon.
“Shall we?” John stood by the open side door. Matthew stepped inside and made his way to the front of the church and took up his place by Vicar Whitton. He had been visiting His Grace when Elizabeth wrote of the news and offered his services to perform the ceremony since the village was currently without a vicar and even if they weren’t, Matthew couldn’t have very well performed his own ceremony. The special license Lord Crew had been able to obtain arrived a day earlier. Matthew had fretted, fearing it wouldn’t arrive in time, but it had. Now all he had to do was wait for his bride.
The doors opened and she stepped inside and just as it had been the first Sunday, her smile lit the room and all his thoughts fled with the exception of how much he loved her.