Epilogue

EPILOGUE

" E verything is ruined," Lavinia wailed a fortnight later, "Victor will never marry me now!"

"What is going on?" Her aunt burst into the room and stared at her, forehead scrunched up in confusion.

Jenny was the one who replied, "I am not really sure, but I think the dress does not fit."

"Of course it fits," Lady Hartfield waved the redhead away, "it fit a few days ago."

"That was a few days ago!" Lavinia snapped and then dissolved into more hysterical sobs. She had never been such a watering pot but since she had woken up earlier, the entire day had just found one way or the other to frustrate her.

Could it be a divine sign that Victor was no good for her? Or maybe and most likely, she was no good for him.

"Am I no good for him anymore because I do not have a dress?" Her bottom lip trembled.

The doors burst open and this time it was the newly married Lady Dillon that walked in, taking the room in with a curious eye, "I cannot tell exactly what is going on here, but it looks to me like the bride has no intention of getting married today."

"Is that what Victor thinks?" Lavinia threw her hand up into the air and tried to hold back more tears.

"I haven't spoken to my brother yet," Georgie continued, "but I have a strong feeling he will at the moment be regretting not calling a priest to bless your union in our family chapel like Patrick and I had done."

"He wanted to," Lavinia admitted, "I foolishly requested a big wedding. Have I ruined everything with my demands?"

The other three women exchanged glances that ranged from confused to incredulous to exasperated.

"It is not foolish to want a proper, big wedding. Mama would not have let you two get away with anything else, anyway," Georgie soothed, "so even if you had wanted to follow my footsteps, she would not have let you anyway."

"Your mother hates me."

"She- uh- does not," but even the Duke's sister didn't sound all that certain. "What is the problem right now?" she asked instead of continuing that line of conversation.

Lavinia saw it for the evasion it was and decided not to press the issue, but she was most definitely going to have a word with the Dowager Duchess or the Duke either. She would rather not be in enmity with her own mother-in-law, one whose son she was desperately in love with.

"Her dress will not fit," Jenny piped up.

"Let me try," Georgie smiled and she gave her her back immediately.

With the help of the three women, they were able to tighten her stays and secure the intricate lacing at the back of her dress. Madame Vandeleur had once again displayed her creative prowess with Lavinia's wedding dress.

The dress was a very pale lilac of a silken material, and over it was a netted lace, black slip that formed a small train behind her. The colors offset her complexion perfectly and the Duke had gifted her a glittery, waterfall diamond necklace that was currently nestled into her cleavage.

After that, they rushed through arranging her hair, dusting her face with powder and applying a stain to her lips.

And then she was ready.

Late, but ready.

Lord Hartfield was waiting for her outside the doors of the chapel and she placed her hand on his sleeve with a teary smile. "You are beautiful, my dear child."

When the double doors were pulled open a second later, there were new tears in the bride's eye, but her groom couldn't take his eyes off her. Not even once throughout the ceremony.

Everyone who was in attendance at the Duke of Wyld and his new Duchess's wedding testified that the two only had eyes for each other. Besotted was the word that flew about the room.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the priest declared.

Everything that had led them to this moment had seemed like a fever dream to Lavinia, but the priest's words finally sealed the fact that this was reality. She really was Victor's wife now, his duchess.

"Regrets?" He leaned forward to whisper to her.

She shook her head with a face splitting smile, "None whatsoever."

"I want to kiss you."

She laughed. "You will get the tongues wagging and then we will be exiled from polite society."

"And finally left alone? Well then, Your Grace, let us give them a show."

And she laughed some more.

As soon as the door to the Duke's carriage shut behind them, they were on each other, hands grasping, mouths needing.

"I feel like I have not seen you in years," Victor grumbled, pressing hot kisses to her skin.

She wrapped her arms around his neck to keep from tumbling to the floor of the vehicle as it rode through uneven cobblestone streets. She was in her husband's lap and his arms and scent surrounded her.

Lavinia was tempted to order the driver to ride them straight to the Wyld country seat where they could disappear from the curious eyes of the ton and straight to their bed till whenever they saw fit to resurface.

"You are exquisite, Lavinia," he kissed her again, like he couldn't quite get enough of her and it was the same for her. She wondered if this urgency she had to be in her husband's arms would fade with time.

The cruelest thought suddenly occurred to her, and she immediately blurted it out.

"What about when you no longer love me?"

He stared at her wordlessly and then he chuckled, "I will never cease to love you. I do not know how I know this, so please do not ask me. What I do know is that you will forever be in my heart."

Victor took her hand and guided it to his chest and against his beating heart through layers of clothing. "You are inside of me like the blood that flows in my veins, Lavinia. Do you understand?"

When she stared at him, all she could see in her eyes was an honesty that rocked her to her core, and she nodded.

"I will love and cherish you forever." She cupped his jaw and then brushed her mouth over his. His fingers dug into the back of her hair and he began to pull her close.

A sharp rap on the door stilled them and then Lord Hartfield's voice following the knock on the door caused them to spring apart like debutantes about to cause a scandal. When they realized what they had done, they stared at each other silently and then burst into laughter.

Lavinia stared at him at that moment and she had never loved him more. He was so gorgeous and so perfect, and the very best part was that he was all hers.

She still recalled how she had stormed into his house the previous work, full of righteous indignation.

"Do you plan on setting up a mistress somewhere in the city?" she roared. "Because if that is your plan, you can go ahead and call the entire affair off because I will not sit back and watch you humiliate and hurt and break my heart in such a fashion."

The Duke had stared up at her from his large oak desk and then he had frowned, "What is going on with you?"

"Do you already have one then?"

"It will be impossible to have a mistress without having a wife, don't you agree, Lavinia?"

"Victor," she hissed furious on the outside but on the inside, she had been trembling with fright, terrified that he would agree to the horror she had heard her cousin and his friends discussing.

She had never thought of herself as a particularly possessive person but when it came to the Duke, she knew that she would go feral if she ever discovered that he was keeping a woman on the side.

He had smiled at her, "you are more than enough for me to handle Lavinia and not only that, I am far too taken with you to bother with anyone else, and also, no other woman could hold a candle to you, so there really is no use of me searching or bothering myself with the complications of keeping a second London home to house a mistress."

Victor had then cocked his head, his expression turning heated, "that dress is very fetching on you."

"What are you thinking about?" the Duke's voice pulled her out of her reverie and she smiled.

"Nothing. We are going to be late to our own wedding breakfast."

He opened the carriage door and stepped out of the vehicle then held out his hand for her. "Are you coming?"

She allowed him to help her out and then together, they proceeded into the hall where their guests were already waiting. For the wedding breakfast, they had invited only a few family friends, including the Forsythes.

"Congratulations, Your Grace," someone said. Lavinia's gaze remained straight ahead for a second before she realized that she was the one being addressed.

"Oh- uh- thank you." She was a duchess now. It wasn't just a word, it came with responsibility. She should have felt anxious of her new title, but all she felt was excitement. She had no plans to disappoint Victor, but she also knew that he didn't expect her to be anybody but exactly who she was.

While Victor was speaking to some acquaintances, she spotted the dowager duchess giving instructions to one of the footmen. It was the last thing Lavinia wanted to do, but she knew she had to speak with the woman and clear the air once and for all. The dowager duchess hadn't been notably rude to her, but she had been standoffish, her eyes full of judgement and doubt. She didn't need them to be best of friends, but the woman loved her son and cordiality should not be too hard for them.

"Excuse me," she began to peel away from Victor's side but his hand tightened about her waist.

"Where are you off to?"

"I need to speak to your mother."

"She does not hate you," he whispered.

She shrugged, "she does not like me either. If you will excuse me."

Lavinia took her leave and marched towards the dark haired woman who stood as regally as any queen. As soon as she spotted her approaching, the older woman stiffened and her mouth pressed into a thin, disapproving line.

"It is obvious that you do not like me," she began and the dowager Duchess scoffed.

"I do not make it a habit to like everybody I come across."

Lavinia's eyes widened in disbelief, "I am not anybody, I am your son's wife and the new Duchess. If you are going to insult my intelligence, Your Grace, then I see no need for this conversation and to be frank, I am disappointed that you are taking the easy way out."

Her eyes narrowed and she drew herself even tauter, "what is that supposed to mean?"

"At least have the guts to admit your true feelings about me," she challenged.

"You want to know my true feelings, Your Grace," the title spilled out of her mouth with a grimace and Lavinia flinched, "I do not think you are suitable for my son, or this title. I do not even think you know what being the Duchess of Wyld entails. It is not just throwing parties and running amok when you think no one is watching. Someone will always be watching and you will have people relying on you. They will all want a piece of you and a girl like you will not know how to stop giving until there is nothing left."

Lavinia's mouth curved up into a smile, "anything else?"

The dowager duchess studied her. "My son is a very busy man. He may not show it, but he has been working nonstop for far too many years now and I hate to see him marry someone who would only become another job for him."

Her amusement fled at once. She wanted to get in the woman's face and tell her that she knew exactly how hard Victor had worked in taking care of both his sister and mother. Lavinia had no intention of becoming a job for him like his mother had been after the former Duke passed, but pointing fingers now would not do any of them any good.

"You think you know me, but you do not," she informed the older woman. "You believe that I am a flighty, wild girl with no sense of decorum or responsibility. Perhaps it is true, perhaps it is not. But what is certainly true is that I love your son with all my heart and because of that, I will never, ever allow myself to become another burden to him. I do not intend to change and mold myself into a likeness of you just to fit this position. I am myself first, a wife, someday a mother, a daughter, a niece, a cousin, before I am a duchess. I will not fit myself into a box to please you or the rest of the ton . You can continue to judge me from the sidelines, waiting for me to either fail or change, and believe me, Your Grace, you will be waiting a very long time and will miss out on the lives of your son and future grandchildren."

She paused, allowing those words to sink in, "he married me for me and I plan to continue to be the woman he married. At least trust that your son knows his own mind and is capable of making good decisions," she couldn't help but add, "after all, you trusted a grieving boy all those years ago to make decisions affecting hundreds of lives."

The dowager duchess looked stricken, "I-I mean-"

"I do not want to be your enemy. Do not add the burden of having to choose between us to his plate," Lavinia said softly and then she walked away without another word, straight back to her husband's side.

The older woman watched her walk away and then she smiled.

"What was that about?" the Duke asked, "it appeared rather heated."

She waved her hand breezily, "oh it was really nothing. Your mother has done an excellent job with the meal. Shall we sit now?"

"Of course," he held out his arm for her. "Have I told you how beautiful you look today?"

She giggled, "once or twice, but I would not mind hearing it again."

"I love you, Your Grace," he smiled down at her and she looked up to meet his eyes with an answering smile of her own.

She opened her mouth to say the words back but at that moment, one of the guests let out a horrified screech and they turned to see a white ball of fur dashing through the room and weaving its way through the guest's feet. Trailing the dog was a harried looking footman trying to grab it before it caused more chaos.

Lavinia buried her face in her husband's shoulder and dissolved into a fit of laughter. The Duke let out an exasperated sigh but he was smiling too.

The End?