by Jane Charles
“Gwendolyn!” Father roared with shock.
“This is not a time to be sensitive, Donald.” Then she smiled at Charlotte. “Let’s see what we can do about the matter of your marriage being addressed post-haste.”
There were exactly three options available. Traveling to Scotland would be the quickest, but despite the danger, Lady Halesworth insisted on being present when her daughter wed. As the will had not been read yet, it wasn’t as if the family could leave.
Nor was the Special License easy to obtain since it needed to be sent for, and Lord Halesworth couldn’t go for it himself, at least not until after the reading. Then there was waiting for the banns to be read in his parish church, which would be done in the event the Special License did not arrive within three weeks.
Three choices, none of them acceptable.
If it were simply a matter of Charlotte’s innocence, Adam would happily claim her before the vows, but he feared it wasn’t that simple. Marriage and consummation, which meant they’d need to wait. However, that didn’t mean he’d be leaving Castle Keyvnor. Someone needed to be here to protect Charlotte, which he intended to do for the remainder of his life. Her family meant well, but she was to be his, and Adam wasn’t about to let anything happen to her while they were forced to wait.
“I should go inform my grandmother,” he finally said after all wedding options had been discussed and decided upon.
“I’d like to go with you,” Charlotte said. He hadn’t asked her but assumed she would accompany him.
“Grandmother?” Lady Halesworth asked. “The woman who started all of this? The Gypsy?”
His mother’s family had faced many prejudices in his life, and Adam had witnessed many himself. However, he was not going to stand by while his future in-laws looked down upon them as his grandfather did. “Yes,” he answered, waiting for a response. “And she didn’t start all this. A ghost did. She had the second sight to warn Lady Charlotte, thus saving her life.”
Lady Halesworth took a step back as her mouth popped open.
“Further, I am more connected to my mother’s side of the family than I’ve ever been to my father’s. I will remain at Hollybrook Park with Lady Charlotte. When the time comes, I will accept the title of Viscount and attend Parliament. But in my heart, where I truly wish to be is with my grandmother and my family.” He would not stand by if they wanted to pretend that part of his life, his heritage, did not exist.
“I meant no disrespect.” Lady Halesworth stepped forward, holding out her hand to him. “I simply wished to meet her. And thank her.” Tears welled in the marchionesses’ eyes. “My daughter might be dead otherwise.”
Perhaps he had overreacted, but few welcomed Gypsies. His family wouldn’t be here now if Banfield hadn’t wanted to be a thorn in grandfather’s side. And, it was important they understood he was Rom.
That was it! A Rom. A Gypsy. What a bloody fool he’d been.
Chapter 17
“Your grandfather will not be here?” Charlotte asked as Adam led her into the Gypsy camp. Her mother, father, and Anthony followed.
“He will not recognize this marriage.”
“He’d better, after the banns are called,” her mother insisted.
“As long as the church and England has approved, he will,” Adam assured her mother. It was a bloody nuisance to participate in a second wedding when Adam needed only one, but the laws of England would not recognize he and Charlotte’s wedding otherwise.
“How do you know this will work?” Father asked. “If others won’t recognize the marriage…”
“Because I recognize it,” Adam insisted. “In my heart and mind, Charlotte will be my wife, despite the type of ceremony. As long as she feels the same, then the laws of Gajikane matter little.”
He looked down at her. The question in his blue eyes. “It matters not to me how we wed.” Then she leaned up and whispered in his ear. “In fact, I find it all very romantic and adventurous.”
“What is Gajikane?” her mother asked, but the word didn’t roll off her tongue as it did Adam’s.
“Non-Gypsy.” Adam grinned and led them to where Charlotte had come to have her fortune told. She could have never imagined what was to come after that first visit.
Six chairs were set around a table outside of his grandmother’s wagon. The table was covered in a bright red cloth laced with gold. A bottle and one wine glass sat at the center.
There were more people out and about today than the last two times. A half dozen tables dotted the lawn. The men roasted meat over roaring fires, as the women carried large bowls to the tables. So much activity and everyone was smiling and laughing. Were the Gypsies always so happy? And did they always eat as a community?
His grandmother approached and took Adam’s strong hands into her gnarled ones. “Are you happy?”
“Yes.” Adam smiled down at his grandmother with such love and devotion that it nearly broke Charlotte’s heart.
“You know already?” Charlotte asked.
“I knew the moment the two of you met. It was the same as it was for my Lela and Adam’s father.”
“Why did you make me take the emerald back to the castle?” Not only was it not necessary, but it was embarrassing. All of Michael’s friends were probably wondering where her sense had gone.
“I never wanted you to have a question or a doubt.”
“I wouldn’t have,” Charlotte insisted.
“Ah, but your family may have.”
If they’d returned and only told them she needed to be wedded and bedded, who knows who her father would have settled on for her? Even though she didn’t need the proof of a glowing emerald, they would never question this match.
“Come!” His grandmother gestured to the table and then instructed everyone to sit while Adam disappeared into her wagon.
They waited in silence for him to return, though Charlotte couldn’t imagine what he was doing, but her heart soared when he emerged. He’d removed all clothing that identified him as a gentleman and was now wearing brown breeches, a cream linen shirt with billowing sleeves, and dark brown vest with gold buttons. He looked even more the Gypsy than he had when she first encountered him.
Her mother frowned as he took his place beside his grandmother, but she held her tongue.
“Has a bride price been settled upon?” his grandmother asked.
“Bride price?” Charlotte whispered. Was it the same as a dowry? Her father and Adam had been behind closed doors while she and her mother prepared to travel to the Gypsy camp, but she hadn’t asked what was discussed. She did have a rather large dowry, at least according to Anthony and Michael, but she’d just never asked the details. Women weren’t supposed to. Especially since it had meant so little to Charlotte because she’d never consider any gentleman if that was his only reason for wanting her.
“Lord Halesworth will not accept the bride price,” Adam bit out and it was the first time Charlotte sensed any tension between her father and future husband. “He insists upon the English way, by giving me a dowry.”
“You need to pay for me?” Charlotte asked. “That isn’t right?”
Adam turned and took her hand. “No price would be too high to take you as wife.”
Heat surged through her at his touch and words. “Nor any price for you.”
“You must accept the bride price,” his grandmother informed Charlotte’s father. “If they are to be married by our laws, then all must be done as our custom.”
“I cannot accept payment for my daughter.”
“I don’t understand,” her mother finally said.
“Payment is made to the family of the bride to compensate for the loss of a daughter and as a promise that she will be treated well,” Adam explained.
“Very well,” her father ground out. “I’ll accept five pounds.”
Charlotte gasped at the insult. She wasn’t worth any more to him than that?
“A token,” his grandmother hissed. “We will not pay so little when she i
s worth so much.”
“I don’t wish anything for her. It isn’t right,” her father argued. “It is not our way.”
“It is ours.” His grandmother banged her fist on the table. “You will do this our way, or it will not be done.”
Her father and the old woman held eyes for a moment, before her father broke contact, shaking his head. “I have no idea what to ask.”
“Forty thousand pounds,” Adam announced.
Her father’s mouth popped open as the figure sank into Charlotte’s mind. “That is too much,” she cried.
“It is twice the dowry,” Adam answered. “He insists on paying the dowry, I happily give him twice back.”
“Why not settle on twenty?” her mother asked.
“Because your husband’s pride will not allow him to give his daughter in marriage without a dowry,” his grandmother spoke. “And my grandson’s pride will not simply return the same amount as it would mean he paid no bride price.” She nodded with approval. “This is good. Pride is saved, and the bride price is paid.”
“I do believe I prefer our customs,” Anthony frowned.
“You might change your mind if you are blessed with only daughters,” Adam grinned at him.
Anthony chuckled and shook his head, the tension finally having been broken.
He’d like to be angry with his grandmother for all the trouble she’d forced them to go through, but he couldn’t when this had turned out perfectly. Adam hadn’t been so certain when they’d left the castle. Both he and her father had dug in their heels with regard to the bride price and the dowry. A small fortune would be exchanged for the honor of marrying Charlotte, but he would have paid more if it were demanded of him.
Grandmother poured deep red wine into a goblet and pushed it toward Lord Halesworth. “You must drink to show that you approve of Adam as husband of Lady Charlotte and the terms are in agreement.”
He narrowed his eyes on Adam, still not happy with the terms, but he lifted the cup and drank.
At the sign, the camp broke out in a cheer.
“And now, time for the Pliashka,” Grandmother announced as she stood.
“Pliashka?” Lady Halesworth asked as she looked around in confusion. Charlotte’s family had carried the same confused look upon their features since they’d stepped into the camp. Adam hoped they would remain for the festivities, or his mother’s family might not accept them or Lady Charlotte as his wife.
“A celebration of our betrothal. It is usually held a few days after the betrothal, but we don’t have the convenience of waiting.”
As they moved toward the gathering, an older man approached carrying a bottle wrapped in a red and blue silk, with a gold chain about it. “Uncle George.” Adam embraced the oldest brother of his mother.
“As your father cannot be here, I do the honor.” He removed the necklace of coins and put it around Charlotte’s neck, then embraced her as one of the family.
“My uncle,” Adam introduced the man with pride.
Uncle George then took a drink, passed the bottle to Adam, who did the same, and then handed it to his future father-in-law, who simply stared at it.
“Drink,” his uncle smiled. “To the health and happiness of the children.”
Lord Halesworth tipped the bottle back, took a swig, and then handed it back to Adam, who refused to take it. “To Redgrave,” he said.
Redgrave took the bottle and drank with none of the reluctance of his father. When he’d finished, his Uncle John, the younger brother of his mother, took the bottle, drank and passed it onto the other men in the camp.
Adam offered his arm to Charlotte. “And now, I shall introduce your family to mine.”
Chapter 18
“You are really going to marry a Gypsy that you’ve known only five days?” Samantha Priske, Charlotte’s cousin, asked as she stepped into Charlotte’s chambers.
Five days certainly did sound like a short time, but she couldn’t help but feel she’d waited a lifetime for Adam, and she had almost died twice in those few days. “He is also the heir to Viscount Lynwood and will inherit Hollybrook Park.” Though if he chose the Gypsy life, Charlotte would happily wander with him.
“First Cassy and now you? I believe this corner of Cornwall may be quite mad.”
It was still surprising that mild-mannered Cassy had run off in the middle of the night. Charlotte almost didn’t believe the tale, but at the moment, she was much more focused on her own future than her runaway cousin. “Please reconsider and say that you will stand with me.” She crossed the room and took her cousin’s hands. “It would mean everything to me.”
“I don’t see why you just can’t wait to have the banns read like everyone else. You’re getting married in the church in three weeks as it is.”
That was her compromise to marrying Adam today. The Gypsy wedding that would unite them as one and keep her alive, then the one her parents always envisioned and the only one Adam’s grandfather would accept, in three weeks, in a proper church with a proper blessing. The church wedding wasn’t for her or Adam, it was for everyone else. But she couldn’t explain to Samantha that there was an urgency to her marrying Adam today, and that her very life may depend upon it.
“I don’t wish to wait.” Charlotte smiled and then turned in the room, the full skirts billowing out. “I am in love. I knew Adam was the one almost the moment I met him, and I can’t wait to be his wife.”
Samantha frowned at her. “Do you really need your hair to be braided like that? It isn’t very formal given this is your wedding.”
“It is custom.” Charlotte smiled, though her mother still insisted that she be dressed as a proper English lady. “And you’re one to talk about hair!”
Her cousin smiled sheepishly. “How did you know?”
“That you’d turned it orange? I’m afraid the whole castle knows by now. But never worry. That scarf looks lovely on you, and quite decidedly Gypsy. You will fit right in.”
The feasting and drinking would go well into the night, and probably into tomorrow, but Adam had a much more enjoyable way to celebrate his wedding to Charlotte. It was time to take his bride home. Except it wasn’t to Hollybrook Park, but to the cottage, situated further away from the others, the place he’d built for his grandmother, that would be his and Charlotte’s tonight.
At the nudging of his grandmother, Lady Halesworth came forward and unbraided Charlotte’s golden curls before his grandmother placed the headscarf on her head, knotting it and proclaiming Charlotte to be a married woman.
All Adam wanted to do was sweep her up in his arms, race across the camp, and disappear into the cabin. His mother’s family would cheer and perhaps a few guns would be fired off as laughter followed them. However, it wasn’t just his family here but Charlotte’s too. Her parents had remained seated with his grandmother all evening, taking everything in, smiling politely, though their discomfort was obvious. This was not the type of wedding celebration they were used to in society. The traditional wedding breakfast had been replaced by an outdoor buffet, the earthy dances of the Rom took the place of country dances, and the music came not from a small orchestra on a dais, but from his family’s handmade instruments.
Redgrave, Lord Henry, and Lord Michael enjoyed themselves the most, getting to know Adam’s relatives, asking questions, learning the customs, and dancing with the pretty women. Redgrave, normally sober and controlled, even relaxed and allowed himself to be pulled into a few dances. Adam had expected he would be the one to disappear early, but it had been Lord Henry.
His grandmother nodded and Adam approached; taking Charlotte’s hand, he led her around the merry group toward the cottage. The farther they walked, the darker it became, easing farther and farther from the light and music.
Her small hand trembled in his, and Adam feared she might be having second thoughts. This was rather quick. Quicker than he’d ever imagined, but his heart and soul called for Charlotte, and now she was his.
They paus
ed at the entrance after Adam opened the door. He turned, swept Charlotte up in his arms, entered, and kicked the door shut behind him.
Chapter 19
It would be a wedding she’d never forget, but now she was alone with her husband. The violins and laughter could be heard in the distance, and they’d probably hear them long into the night.
Adam let her slide from his arms, her body against his until her toes touched the floor. Her heart pounded and body heated, and she tilted her head back waiting for his kiss.
Instead, Adam grumbled and set her aside.
Had she done something wrong?
“One moment.” With that, he locked the door and pushed a tall dresser in front of it. He then made sure all the windows were locked and curtains were securely closed and that nobody could enter.
“My many cousins are drinking heavily tonight.” He laughed. “It is not unusual for them to pull pranks in their inebriated state, and I don’t want them to decide to visit us.”
Her face flamed. “Perhaps we should return to your home, or the castle.”
“No, my love.” He drew her back into his arms again. “We are safer here than either of those places, especially Castle Keyvnor.”
Truthfully, Charlotte hadn’t felt safe anywhere since she’d been attacked in Adam’s home.
“Put thoughts of danger from your mind and think only of love.”
“Love?” she blinked at him.
“Yes, love. You are my heart, mate to my soul, the very breath I breathe.”
Her heart melted. “And you are my heart. You lived in me before I ever knew you.”
Adam brushed his lips against hers, ever so lightly and gently. Charlotte ached for more.
“The passion I feel for you is barely contained.”
“Unleash it.”
“I don’t want to rush this.”
“Rush?”
“Passion reigned that first night we kissed. I shall rule it. It is your wedding night, and I want you to know tenderness.”