Unlacing Lilly. Gail Ranstrom

of voices from the church nave made her nervous since it was an indication of the growing crowd who’d come to witness the nuptials. She couldn’t see a thing since the vestry, an interior room, opened off a side passageway and had no windows and only one door. The minister would come in from an outside door just across from the vestry so he could enter the church and change unseen. He had already done so, leaving the vestry for Lilly’s use.

      She glanced at the small clock on the console table beneath the oval mirror. Only a quarter of an hour before she would become the Marchioness of Olney. Her heart skipped a beat at that realization. Heavens, she only wanted it over.

      A soft knock and a muffled, “Miss Lilly?” told her that her brother-in-law was outside. Was it already time to walk down the aisle? Her hands shook as she opened the door and let him in.

      Andrew Hunter was ungodly handsome in his dark jacket and trousers. As he took off his hat, only the expression on his face betrayed his concern. “May I have a word with you, Miss Lilly?”

      “Of course.” She stepped back to give him room to enter.

      He shut the door behind him and looked uncomfortable. He studied her for a moment before he began.

      “Miss Lilly, are you having second thoughts? Any misgivings at all?”

      “N-no. Why would you think that, sir?”

      “It would be natural at this point. And completely understandable.”

      “The excitement…”

      He nodded. “This must be a very…confusing time for you. I wanted to take this opportunity to assure you that there will always be a place for you at my home—Bella’s home. Whatever is to come, I will give you sanctuary.”

      Sanctuary? Lilly studied Andrew’s dark eyes and wondered what he could be hinting at to warrant such an odd declaration. “Do you anticipate a problem, sir?”

      He glanced down at his highly polished shoes. “I, ah, hardly know how to answer that, Miss Lilly. Anything can happen. Olney is a man who has varied and exotic interests. You are innocent of society and may take issue with…well, something.”

      “What in heaven’s name are you trying to tell me? That you do not like Olney and would rather I did not marry him?”

      He combed his fingers through his dark hair and frowned as if that were a complicated question to answer. “Until recently, Miss Lilly, I was shoulder to shoulder with him in interests. Just as anyone who cared for your sister would not have chosen me for her, I would not have chosen Olney for you. But Bella has proved to be my salvation, and if Olney is likewise inclined to change, then I would not stand in the way. If he is not…”

      “If not? Then you would give me sanctuary from my lawful husband? Is this why you and Bella insisted that we move to your house?”

      Andrew’s jaw tightened and he gripped her shoulders in his earnestness. “Lilly, try to understand. I wanted your family, including you, to have my protection should anything untoward occur.”

      “Untoward?”

      “Should you decide not to marry Olney after all. Or should you decide to leave him afterward.”

      “What do you think he would do?”

      She saw the defeat in his posture. “I can see that you are determined to proceed. I will respect your wishes, my dear. I will go inform Bella, and I’ll be back for you as soon as the last of Rutherford’s guests have arrived.”

      Lilly frowned as he turned and opened the door. She was about to call him back and demand an explanation for his odd offer, but the Duchess of Rutherford was standing there with her hand raised to knock.

      She pushed past Mr. Hunter carrying a small deep blue lacquer case with a jeweled clasp. “Oh! My goodness. I hope I am not interrupting. I must speak with Lillian immediately.”

      “I was just leaving,” Andrew said with a stiff bow and a reassuring glance back at Lilly.

      The door closed again and the duchess sighed heavily. “Well, as it appears this wedding is to go forward, I have come to do the proper thing.”

      “The proper thing?” Lilly was bemused. She could not imagine what the duchess meant. This was certainly a day for out-of-the-ordinary behavior.

      “It does not surprise me that you do not know of these things, Lillian. I believe we shall have quite a chore in bringing you up to snuff.”

      Torn between embarrassment and indignation, Lilly bit her tongue. She did not want to quarrel with her future mother-in-law mere minutes before the vows.

      The duchess put the lacquer case on the console table beside Lilly’s bouquet and turned Lilly to the mirror. “Does nothing occur to you, girl?”

      She could see nothing in her reflection that needed fixing, except, perhaps, the duchess’s proximity. “Nothing,” she answered cheerfully.

      “What would people say if you walked down the aisle like that?”

      “Here comes Miss Lilly?”

      “Do not be impertinent with me, chit!”

      She sighed and reminded herself that she and Olney would be living at Rutherford House until they could find a suitable place of their own. It would be much better if she could find a way to be at peace with her.

      She took a deep breath. “I apologize, your grace. I did not mean to upset you. But I really have no idea what is wrong. You designed the dress. You selected the modiste and milliner. You have made the preparations here at your own parish church and selected the refreshments for the reception following. I have only chosen the flowers. Are they not suitable?”

      The duchess surveyed her bonnet and the bouquet with narrowed eyes. “They are nice enough, though I wish you had chosen something a bit more colorful. Something blue, perhaps.”

      Lilly gritted her teeth. Had she chosen blue, the duchess would have wanted pink.

      The duchess opened the lacquer box to reveal a stunningly elaborate necklace of flawless clear blue sapphires between two rows of smaller glittering diamonds. Lilly had never seen anything even remotely like it. Her astonishment must have shown, because the duchess smiled with satisfaction.

      “Yes, I thought you might be impressed,” she said. “And there are earrings to go with it.”

      “But…it is too much.”

      “They are not a wedding gift, Lillian. They are the Rutherford Sapphires, the very best of the Rutherford collection. I have decided to loan them to you for this very special day. People will see them and recognize that you are one of us now. It is important that they believe we have approved of you.”

      Believe they approved of her? Lilly smiled before she realized that the duke and duchess were only putting a good face on a poor choice. They did not approve of her, but they wanted their friends to believe they did. She nearly refused to wear the jewels, but she remained silent again as the duchess turned her back toward the mirror, lifted her veil out of the way and fastened the clasp of the stunning necklace at her nape. She had to remove her bonnet to attach the earrings, clusters of diamonds surrounding large sapphires.

      She didn’t know what to say as she looked at herself in the mirror. She loved them. She hated them. She would wear them for Olney’s sake. “Th-thank you, your grace. I promise I will take good care of them.”

      “See that you do. You and Olney will not be attending the reception as it would be improper of you to appear publicly for the next month, so I will expect you to return them before you leave the church. Rutherford or I shall come while you and Olney are signing your marriage lines afterward.”

      “Yes, your grace. Of course.”

      “Now I must return to Rutherford. We shall begin the wedding immediately after Rutherford’s brother arrives. I believe your brother-in-law is escorting you down the aisle?”