“Edwina,” Richard said softly. “Look at me.”
She turned, and he placed the necklace gently over her head. The men whooped and clapped. “To the new Lady Ballister!” they cried, lifting their tankards in salute.
Trembling, Edwina could find nothing to say. This wasn’t right. Richard didn’t want to marry her. He barely tolerated her. He felt nothing for her but lust.
Richard turned to the others. “If you men would kindly bring the remains to the vicar?” Freddy and Joseph lifted the old door whilst Sam Teas collected his tankards. “And Freddy, I hope you’ll begin work again directly after Christmas.”
“You may be sure I will, Sir Richard,” Freddy said. “Starting right here.”
“Which shall we have first, the wedding or the burial?” Richard called as the men moved slowly away.
“The wedding!” called Sam Teas, and the others agreed.
~ * ~
Richard faced Edwina again, his heart thudding painfully. In the dim light cast by the lantern, she didn’t look pleased or even content. On the contrary, she was trembling.
“I’m sorry, Edwina,” he said, “but there is no other way.” He put his arms around her and pulled her close.
She stood limply in his embrace. “There must be another way.”
“There isn’t, and you know it. I realize that marriage with me isn’t what you want, but to save John, we have no choice.”
She said nothing, and he let his arms fall. He’d thought she cared enough to put up with him for the children’s sake. Surely she wouldn’t refuse now?
~ * ~
She mustered the words. “I do want it. I do want to marry you.”
He took her by the shoulders, looking down at her. “You do?”
“Of course I do.” She shook him off. “Do you think I would have bedded you if I wasn’t willing to marry you?”
“Twelve years ago, I thought you were willing to marry me. Tonight…tonight I didn’t think at all. I just needed you, and suddenly you were there.”
“Because the ghost sent me, and I couldn’t help myself.” She shivered, and he held out his hands, but she stood away, huddled in the safety of her own arms. “She’s been urging me to use my woman’s wiles on you, but I resisted. I knew you didn’t want to marry me, so it would have been wrong to try to trap you.”
“You didn’t need to trap me,” he said.
“Because you feel you must marry me to save John, but you don’t love me anymore. You deserve to find a better wife, one you can love like your first. Now that you’ve found the necklace, surely the ghost will give you a little more time.”
“I didn’t love my first wife,” Richard said. “I held her in affection, but love…” He shook his head. “No.”
“Then you did marry her for her money,” Edwina said, resigned. She shouldn’t have judged him so harshly. She wasn’t perfect either.
“No, I married her because I was heartbroken, and because she wanted me.” He sighed. “You’ll never believe your money didn’t matter, will you?”
“I don’t know,” she said shakily.
“I may never forgive you for marrying Harold White, either,” he said, but he laughed. “Sweetheart, you had no need to use your wiles on me because I’ve been in love with you since the moment you arrived. I didn’t want to fall in love with you again, but I couldn’t help it.”
She felt her lips tremble into a smile.
He smiled ruefully in return. “I didn’t want to marry you because I’d already lived through an uneven marriage, where one spouse loves more than the other. It was far worse from my wife’s point of view, knowing I wasn’t in love with her. I don’t want to be the one who isn’t loved.” He paused. “But I’m willing to be that one if it saves John’s life.”
“Richard, I have always loved you, and I always will.” She put her arms around him. “You will never, ever be the one who isn’t loved.”
Dawn had come, and a faint glow in the eastern sky heralded sunrise. At the sound of children’s voices, they broke apart. Lizzie and John came running around the side of the house, clad only in their nightclothes.
“Did you find it?” Lizzie cried.
“Of course he did,” John said. “The ghost just told me so.”
Lizzie’s eyes lit upon the necklace. “Papa, are you going to marry Mrs. White?” she asked, eyes wide.
“Of course he is,” John scoffed. “It’s been obvious ever since she arrived.”
“Yes, Mrs. White and I are going to marry,” Richard said. Lizzie let out a squeal and hugged both her father and Edwina, while John grinned and congratulated them in a very adult way.
Then he rather spoilt the effect by asking, “Is there a skull?”
“Freddy and Joseph are taking the remains to the graveyard,” Richard said. “If you ask the vicar, he may let you have a look before the burial.”
“The lover’s bones,” Lizzie said with a shudder. “May I try on the necklace?”
“When we get indoors,” Richard said. “Run along now. It’s much too cold to stand out here in your nightclothes. Tell Mrs. Cropper to heat plenty of water in the copper, for both Mrs. White and I must bathe.” The children ran toward the house, holding hands and chattering happily. Tears gathered in Edwina’s eyes.
“What could be better than a Christmas wedding with the whole village in attendance?” Richard asked. “You can wear the crimson gown you’ve been making.”
“How do you know about the gown?” she demanded, and then flapped her hand. Perhaps Lizzie had peeked into Edwina’s bedchamber and told her father, but it didn’t matter. “We can’t possibly marry today. We must post the banns for three weeks first.”
“We will indeed marry this morning,” he said. “I sent for a license two weeks ago.”
“Two weeks ago? That’s only a few days after I arrived!”
“By which time my heart was telling me one thing and my mind another, but commonsense carried the day. You were here, you needed me, I wanted you, and time was running out. Planning to marry you made sense, and if you’d said no, I would have torn the license up and resigned myself to…I don’t know whom. Thank God you said yes.”
Fare thee well…
Like a whisper on the morning breeze, the ghost took her leave of them. The pall on Ballister Grange lifted with the rising of the sun. Hand in hand, Edwina and Richard made their way out of the knot garden, past the holly hedge with its glossy green leaves and red berries aglow in the day’s first light. Hearts now joined forever, they entered a house reborn, overflowing with love, joy and Christmas cheer.
About the Author
Barbara Monajem wrote her first story at eight years old about apple tree gnomes. After dabbling in neighborhood musicals and teen melodrama, she published a middle-grade fantasy when her children were young. Now her kids are adults, and she’s writing for grownups. Her award-winning Bayou Gavotte series of paranormal mystery and romance takes place near New Orleans and features hereditary vampires, Native American telepathic rock star Constantine Dufray, and other characters with paranormal abilities. Her Regency romances have bold, passionate heroes, spirited, adventurous heroines, and sometimes a dose of magic. Barbara loves to cook, especially soups, and the only consistent item on her bucket list is to succeed at knitting socks (or maybe tea cozies). She lives near Atlanta, Georgia, with an ever-shifting population of relatives, friends, and feline strays.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter
2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
About the Author
The Christmas Knot Page 12