Masterful Trickery

XXXIX. Three Weddings

One year ago...

Ralph opened his eyes and found a sleeping angel before him.

It was Lady in Blue!

Her wild, curly hair nearly covered her face as she slept sideways, her bare shoulder peeking through the thick covers.

Was he dreaming?

The question brought a frown on his face.

He blinked.

The woman was still there, but her face was far from the woman he saw when he first opened his eyes.

Cursing in his head, Ralph slipped out of bed and padded across the room to collect his clothes.

Before he walked out the door, now fully clothed, he looked over his shoulder at where his lover was still sleeping.

Why, in all of a sudden, did Lady in Blue came back to haunt him?

It was a question that may never be answered.

He left the estate and went to Grey's. He may not have answers there, but at the very least he would be distracted.

*****

"Now, do not think I am not happy, Lex, because I am," Ralph murmured to his now-wife, "but you must know the repercussions of our actions. And to think that my mother had everything to do with it is absurd at best!"

"Hush!" said Alex, "Sophia's sleepin'."

Ralph glowered across the carriage to find Nicholas grinning at him silently. It was as though his brother was already seeing his limp body hanging in the middle of Meriwether. "And to choose this one brother to be our witness is the worst of all," he said through his teeth.

"I have been witness to Maxwell and Maxine's wedding, brother," said Nicholas. "Trust me, I am the best candidate."

"And I am not sleeping," said Sophia. "I simply find no use opening my eyes when I can barely see anything," she added, snorting at her own jest.

"You and Mother ought to have another plan on how to keep your father from murdering your husband," Ralph addressed Alex. "For I would not receive his punishment as I have done nothing."

"You did say 'I do'," Nicholas reminded. "Did you hear him say it louder than I did during our wedding, Sophie?"

Sophia merely smiled, reaching for Nicholas' hand. It was a silent gesture to stop her husband.

"Are you not going away to travel the entire Town?" Ralph asked. "I was quite ecstatic to be free of you, really, brother."

"Oh, not quite yet, brother," Nicholas said, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

Suspicion clouded Ralph's mind. "Why is that?"

"As ye've said, guv," Alex said, clasping his hand with a wicked smile, "Mother and I ought te have plans. And we do."

*****

Ralph was not certain he was feeling all right when he found himself riding the same carriage from Devonshire merely a day after their arrival from Tiny Town. As a matter of fact, he was feeling sick that he might throw up whilst his mother looked quite calm and ecstatic as she calmly folded her hands over her lap, sharing a smile with her new daughter-in-law.

Lady Alice's words when they arrived two days past still rang in his ears. "Very well, it is done. We must tell your father, dear. It is about time the Everards go to Meriwether."