Apple Blossom Bride

by Marina Oliver

  Her father returned from Hereford in time for dinner. Eve considered him carefully. He was subdued, but not as deeply as she had feared. Perhaps the Bishop, like the Canon, had understood his need to follow James. It was not, however, the Bishop's leniency that the Rector was thinking of.

  'I see no need to fetch Susannah back to chaperone you,' he said, as the covers were removed and they were left alone. 'The Bishop is sending me a good, sensible curate, older than that wretched North, and you can wed him, and stay here to run the house.'

  Eve sighed. 'How can you know he would want to marry me?'

  'Why shouldn't he? You are much prettier than Rachel, and she found a husband.'

  Eve blinked. This was the first compliment he had ever paid her, and she did not like it.

  'But if he is older than Nicholas, he will surely soon get his own parish. And then I would not be here.'

  'That is the beauty of the Bishop's plan. I am to retire in a year or two, and the Reverend Cooper will have this parish.'

  'You, retire? But where will you live?'

  'Oh, there will be some arrangement for me to live in Hereford.'

  'In an almshouse?' Eve could not believe he would ever accept such an obvious solution.

  'Those for retired clergy are not the same as the almshouses in the village,' he said. 'I would certainly not agree to go to one of those. But you will be settled, the parish will be in good hands, and I can help at the Cathedral.'

  He made no mention of John, or James, and Eve dared not ask. Would he attempt to bring them home and have this new curate tutor them? She would, no doubt, soon be told. And before this curate came, she would make it clear to her father that she had no intention of marrying an unknown man at his command.

  *

  A few days later Eve was in the orchard with Farmer Blunt, marking the cider apple trees. Her father had made no objection when she told him of her plans, but he had assumed any money she earned would be put in the parish funds. She did not disillusion him. It would be well over a year before the cider could be sold, and perhaps by then he would be in Hereford and the new curate would agree to let her harvest the apples. Though could she stay here if she did not marry the new curate? Where could she go? Would Rachel take her in? She had married the man of her own choice, surely she would sympathise.

  Rachel knew their father was home, but she had written to say she wished John to stay with her for a while longer. She had employed a tutor, a retired schoolmaster who lived nearby, who said John was doing well. And then, she thought, he must go to Eton.

  Eve sighed. Would her father agree? Would he be able to afford the fees when he retired? As well as paying for James at Oxford?

  Farmer Blunt, having done all he could, and admired the wealth of blossom on the trees, which he predicted promised a good harvest, bade her farewell. She scarcely heard him. She wandered about the orchard, admiring the blossom which was just fading from pink to white, and doing what she had so often done as a child, trying to catch the petals that drifted to the ground. There was already a dappled carpet of petals on the grass. This was, Eve considered, the best time of year in the orchard, so pretty with the colours against the green of the leaves. It would be a good year, if no late frosts came to kill the new buds.

  She reached the end of the orchard and stood looking across the meadow which stretched down towards the small river, little more than a stream, bordering it. Then she heard a horse snort, and thought Farmer Blunt had returned. She swung round and found herself looking at the face of tall grey horse. The farmer had been riding a bay. So who was this?

  'Do you spend all your time in the orchard?'

  She gasped. It was the Earl. He grinned at her and swung down from the saddle. He glanced round, spied a low branch, and hooked the reins over it. Then he came towards her.

  'What – what are you doing here?'

  'Didn't you expect me?'

  'Expect you? No. How could I? But are you visiting the Montgomeries? Oh, you haven't come to say James must come home, have you?'

  'Of course not. He is safe from your father. I came to see you, having missed you in London because I had to go to France.'

  'Me?' Her heart was beating so hard she felt sure he would hear it. 'But why? Why should you want to see me?'

  'Dear Eve, do you really have no idea how I feel about you? I have had the utmost difficulty in trying to hide it, while your father was away. Those drives in the Park were almost more than I could bear, keeping the conversation on neutral topics when I wished more than anything to tell you how I felt.'

  'How – how you felt?'

  'Eve, my darling, don't be coy. It doesn't suit you. Did you honestly have no notion that I was in love with you?'

  She shook her head. This must be a dream, but she had not known that apple blossom was so strongly scented as to induce this kind of delirium.

  'I – I didn't know. I didn't dare to hope,' she added almost to herself.

  Justin bent closer. 'I didn't hear that. If I ask you to marry me, will you say yes?'

  'But how can you? You are rich, and important, and I'm nobody. You have to marry someone from an important family!'

  'Why should I? I can marry whoever I choose, someone I love, and if you'll have me, I choose you. Darling Eve, didn't you realise that I fell in love with you the moment I held you in my arms, in this orchard? You looked such a ragamuffin in your brother's clothes, but so adorable. I wanted to leap onto Mustapha and carry you off. All the time while I sat in your father's drawing room trying to concentrate on Stephen's academic progress, I was wondering how to see you again. However, I discovered you were friends with Amelia, and was able to hint to her how enjoyable it would be if you came to London with her. Amelia,' he said with a reminiscent smile, 'is fortunately a very persuadable girl.'

  'So it was your doing that they invited me?'

  'Yes. Do you mind?'

  Eve considered, then smiled. 'No, for I had the most wonderful time in London.'

  'And did that include me?'

  She blushed. Her heart had stopped leaping about in her chest, and she knew she had never been happier. 'Of course.'

  'Then you will marry me?'

  'I want to, oh Justin, yes!'

  He pulled her to him, and for a while she forgot everything as she revelled in his kisses. Then rational thought returned.

  'But Papa. He has plans for me to marry the new curate.'

  'Is he here?'

  'Not yet.'

  'Then we must carry you away before he comes. My sweet, I have here in my pocket a special licence. Your father can marry us as soon as we wish. Tomorrow, I hope.'

  Eve could not speak. Her father, she was sure, would be angry at the thwarting of his new plans.

  'He will agree, my dear,' Justin said. 'He will see the advantages.'

  'You mean because you are wealthy, and have a title?'

  'Yes, and why not make use of them? But if I were penniless, I would still want you. Would you agree to love in a cottage?'

  She laughed. 'Could you afford a cottage?'

  'I'd build one. But I don't have to. Now, is your father at home? Shall we go and ask him to make the necessary arrangements for tomorrow?'

  'Tomorrow?'

  'Our wedding day.'

  *

  The Rector seemed not to know whether to be astonished, offended, or displeased. The whole gamut of emotions crossed his face when Eve and Justin walked into his study and announced their plans.

  'But, my children, you don't know one another,' was his first objection.

  'We have spent seven months in London, getting to know one another,' Justin replied.

  'Well, yes, but that is not at all the same as knowing one another's family for years.'

  This was too stupid a comment to answer, Eve felt. Rachel had known her husband for less than three months during one Season. And her father expected her to marry this new curate within, she suspected, a few short weeks, when she certainly would not k
now his family.

  'You should have applied to me, my lord, before speaking to Eve,' was his next sally.

  'Perhaps, sir, but I needed to know her sentiments before doing that.'

  'It's not proper. It is for the father to give you permission to address her.'

  'Would you have done?' Eve was getting rather irritated with his procrastinating.

  'I, well, you know I had other plans for you, and fathers have a right to decide on their children's future.'

  'And we have no rights? I'm sorry, Papa, but I would never have consented to marry this unfortunate curate, and then what would you have done with me? Packed me off to live with Rachel?'

  'My dear girl, of course you would have fallen in with my plans, in time. The Bishop assures me that the Reverend Cooper is an unexceptional young man, bound to go far in the Church. Why, he might even be a bishop one day.'

  Eve could not help laughing. 'Can you really see me as a bishop's wife? You are always calling me a hoyden, and unmanageable.'

  'But naturally a suitable husband would soon cure all these youthful follies, my dear.'

  Eve could sense that Justin was becoming impatient, though he kept his tone calm and reasonable.

  'Do you maintain, sir, that I am an unsuitable husband for Eve? I am wealthy, I have estates in three counties, and a house in Grosvenor Square. I have, I think, given satisfaction both when I was serving actively in the army, and when working at the War Office. Is there anything there which makes me unfit to marry your daughter? Less fit, in fact, than your new curate?'

  'Oh, well, in one sense, no. Though I had hoped she would remain connected to the Church by marrying my curate.'

  'I am a practising member of the Anglican Church. Now sir, will you marry us or no? I have a special licence, I hope to marry tomorrow. Sir Bernard and Lady Montgomery are aware of my hopes and mean to support me. Then I will take Eve to introduce her to my mother, who would love to be here, but is not able to travel so far. After that, we will go to Paris. I will bring Eve back to visit you frequently, sir, and you will always be welcome at my home.'

  The Rector made several more, increasingly trivial objections. It was clear to Eve that he most resented losing her as an unpaid housekeeper, but at last he agreed that he would marry them in the morning. Perhaps it was Justin's declared intention to go to a neighbouring Rector that finally swayed him.

  Justin left, and Eve began to panic over what gown, of the few sober ones she had brought home, she could wear on the most important day of her life. Then Caroline appeared, bringing with her the trunk of clothes Eve thought she had left in Albemarle Street.

  'My dear, I knew how it would be, and I wanted you to have some good dresses until Justin can buy you more. Now, which shall you wear tomorrow? I will make sure the rest are put in Justin's carriage so that you can change whenever you wish.'

  'Oh, you have been so kind to me!'

  'We love you, child, and are so happy for you.'

  *

  When the Rector saw Eve in the ball gown she had chosen for her wedding dress, he almost refused to conduct the wedding. Muttering imprecations against the follies of the fashionable world, he glanced at Lady Montgomery and shrugged, leading the way to the church. As he was conducting the ceremony, Sir Bernard gave her away, and Caroline was her maid of honour. To Eve's amazement the church was full, most of the villagers being there.

  'How did they know?' she whispered to her new husband as they stood to receive the congratulations and good wishes of the villagers.

  'A few words to Farmer Blunt and the Squire's lady,' he said, smiling. 'I know they love you, and would want to wish you well. And now there is a feast at the Crown awaiting us. Then, my darling, I will have you to myself at last.'

  The next few hours passed for Eve in a daze. She scarcely knew who was eating the luncheon provided by a smiling landlord, or what she herself managed to eat. Then Caroline helped her change, and she and Justin set off in the carriage Justin had sent from London.

  'Were you so sure?' she asked.

  'I was sure you loved me, but I knew that if you had any doubts, I could make you love me, for I love you too much to let you go.'

  She sighed. 'I really do love you, and always will.'

  ***

  THE END

  Marina Oliver has written over 75 novels, all are now available as Ebooks.

  For the latest information please see Marina's web site:

  http://www.marina-oliver.net

  More Regency Novels by Marina Oliver

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  The twins, children of his first wife, refuse to accept her as a new mama. The governess, having thought she too was applying for the position of governess, resents her.

  ***

  Louise

  Persuaded by her grandfather to supervise the coming out of Matilda, his great-niece, Louise reluctantly goes to London to take part in the season for the first time since her soldier husband was killed three years before.

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  The Marriage Gamble

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  As it is the first estate his family obtained Luke wants to regain it.

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  Lord Clifford's Dilemma

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  She, in turn, is wary of love after being cruelly jilted when she was just seventeen.

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  My Lord Tremaine

  When their father, the Rector, dies Elinor and her elder sister Jane Darwen are left with very little money.

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