The Mistletoe Bride(64)

Sophia heard the chimes of the church bell striking midday. On the cobbled path ahead, she saw her companions walking back up towards the coach. She waved and called out that she’d join them in a couple of minutes. Not to go without her.

There was one task remaining.

She walked quickly back along the avenue of trees to the chapel and went inside. It felt different this time, as if she belonged there. She walked up the nave to the altar and looked at the face of the girl – her ancestor – carved in bas-relief. Was she imagining it, but was her expression different now? Sophia lingered there for a few moments more, then turned. Her guidebook was still lying on the pew at the back of the chapel where she had left it earlier.

Sophia opened the book and saw there was more about the Lovell family than she had realised.

Lady Perdita Lovell had been married at Minster Lovell Hall on Christmas Eve 1485. Her husband’s life spared by Henry VII, though his lands were forfeit, they had a long and happy marriage and been blessed with many children and grandchildren. Descendants of the Lovell family were still to be found in Oxfordshire, Suffolk and Sussex today.

Sophia closed the book.

As she left the chapel for the last time, she looked up. Now beneath the inscription were the names of Lovell and his bride and their dates. Both had lived long into old age. The scratched letters – LOST BUT NOT FORGOTTEN – were no longer there.

Sophia smiled. Then, tying her yellow scarf around her neck, she stepped out into the autumn sunshine.