Breathe Again

Chapter 42

Sterling readjusted his shirt collar for what had to be the hundredth time in the past twenty minutes while waiting for Louisa and Dottie to arrive, then looked at Ashfield and Reverend Thomas. Were they sweating profusely, or was it just him? He frowned. Apparently, it was just him.

He blew out a breath and rolled his shoulders. The day he'd waited his whole life for was finally here. He looked around at the meadow—their meadow. Had he chosen the right spot? He'd thought long and hard about where to have the ceremony take place.

At the time, he thought this was the right place to proclaim his love and marry the woman he'd always wanted to be his wife. But, what if Dottie didn't like it?

"She'll show up," Ashfield reassured with a smirk.

Sterling scoffed and rolled his shoulders. "I know she will." The blasted jacket and collar were driving him crazy. It had to be over ninety degrees today. He didn't know why he'd agreed to wear such formal clothing on such a hot day, but Reverend Thomas had insisted on it.

He'd known both Sterling and Dottie their whole lives and, therefore, was familiar with all the mischief they'd gotten into when they were younger.

His white hair was combed back against his head with militant exactness, making his beak-like nose appear even larger and more hooked than it was. The black cassock the reverend wore was faded and worn almost threadbare in places, straining to contain the expansive girth of his middle.

This morning, when Sterling sought him out, asking if he'd perform the ceremony in the meadow instead of the church, Reverend Thomas agreed under one condition. He was adamant that if they weren't marrying in the chapel, the dress coat was the only way to make the wedding respectable.

But, when fat beads of sweat began rolling down Sterling's neck and back, he growled and quickly removed the starched collar and flung it aside. The next thing to follow was the jacket.

With a defiant stare at Reverend Thomas's scowl of disapproval, Sterling focused on the direction Dottie would be arriving from. With marked determination, he ignored Ashfield's chuckling and waited. Any minute now, he'd see her come into view — any minute.

Another five minutes passed before Ashfield nudged Sterling in his side and pointed in the opposite direction. Butterflies swarmed within his stomach, and his heart raced. He rolled his shoulders, swallowed, and pinched himself to make sure it wasn't a dream.

~~~~~~

Dottie held her breath as her mother drove their surrey to the meadow and not to the church as she'd expected. The fact that Sterling would choose this place above all others brought happy tears to her eyes. Unable to contain her excitement, she pressed a kiss to Elliot's cheek and hugged him close.

He was a little crankier than usual, but compared to how he'd been only yesterday, she was grateful he behaved as well as he was.

When Ashfield arrived that morning to check on him, he'd beamed with happiness at finding the area on his calf to be improving remarkably well. He warned her Elliot would no doubt still be irritable, but that within a few days, provided there weren't any signs of infection, he would be back to normal in no time.

The surrey came to a stop, and Dottie glanced at her mother, swallowing and reminding herself to breathe.

Louisa smiled and dismounted, then turned and took Elliot into her arms, "Ready?"

~~~~~~

Sterling spun to where Ashfield pointed. His stomach dropped to his toes even as his heart tried to race its way out of his chest. His hands began to shake as Louisa pulled the surrey to a stop. This was really happening.