Page 22 of An Arranged Marriage with a Mad Marquess
“I believe the physician knows what he is doing,” Lady Emma spoke up, quiet but firm. “Don’t overstep yourself, Patrina. Do not try to run before you can barely walk.”
Patrina’s hackles rose. She turned to Lady Emma, entirely ready to start an argument right there in the carriage, but Cynthia intervened. She laid a hand on her mother’s arm, smiling nervously around at everyone.
“Come, come, let’s not talk of changes and overstepping just yet! It’s Neil and Patrina’s wedding day. The weather is awful, but it’s nice and cosy in here, isn’t it? Can’t we just be a nice little family for a while? Just for today?”
Patrina blinked. There was something in that plea which felt as though it wasn’t about her and the wedding day at all, but something deeper, something she was not privy to.
“I’m sorry,” she heard herself say, sinking back into the seat. “I’m a little snappy.”
Lady Emma relaxed a little at this apology. “As am I, I think.”
There was a moment of silence, a little breath, and then the carriage abruptly lurched to a halt. Both Cynthia and Patrina were thrown forward out of their seats. Patrina very nearly collided with Neil, only saved by his hands on her upper arms. Their faces were very close together, as if they were about to share the kiss the rector had never asked them to take.
Clearing her throat, Patrina sat back at once, glad that the gloomy light hid the red of her cheeks.
It was no later than mid-afternoon, but what with the worsening rain and heavy grey skies, it seemed hours later.
“I’ll see what all this is about,” Neil said to no one in particular and climbed out of the carriage.
The three women were left to sit by themselves, glancing around.
“How much further do we have to go?” Patrina asked, breaking the silence.
“Two hours, I should think,” Lady Emma answered. “We haven’t made good time. The roads will be bad with this rain, too.”
“I hate travelling in the dark,” Cynthia muttered, sinking lower in her seat.
Suddenly, Patrina felt as though she had todosomething. Sitting in the carriage and listening to the voices of the men outside was not to her taste. Not at all.
“I think I shall go and see what’s happening,” Patrina said aloud, half to herself.
Lady Emma glanced sharply at her. “I think it would be better if you stayed in the carriage, Patrina.”
“It’s raining so badly. You’ll get wet,” Cynthia objected. “Why not wait? Neil will tell us what is going on. I’m sure he’ll manage it himself.”
I thought he was meant to be mad,Patrina thought, but did not voice the thought. She said nothing and reached towards the carriage door.
“Patrina!” Lady Emma said, voice sharp. “You’ll stay here.”
Patrina paused, glancing over her shoulder at her new mother-in-law. She grinned.
“Will I?”
With that, she opened the carriage door and slipped neatly out into the growing darkness.
Cynthia had been right about the rain. Itwascoming down heavier than ever, and Patrina was quickly soaked, despite holding her shawl above her head. She could see a second carriage behind them, a blocky shape through the curtainsof rain. The lanterns hanging on the sides of both carriages provided enough light for Patrina to pick her way through the rutted tracks of the road, stepping over puddles which soaked her hems no matter how high she stepped.
The two coachmen stood on either side of Neil, arms crossed, staring at an irregular, dark shape stretching across the road. She moved forward, through the curtains of rain, and saw that it was a fallen tree. An old oak, by the looks of it, roots and all.
“Heavy rain and high winds,” one of the coachmen was saying. “Bound to happen sooner or later, it was.”
“It’ll take hours to clear all this away,” Neil said, heaving a sigh. “And then night will be here in earnest. This rain is set in for the night, and probably into tomorrow. The roads will be pitch black, bogged with mire…” he paused, and turned around to see Patrina approaching. “Oh. I thought you were in the carriage.”
“I was,” Patrina responded, holding her shawl above her head to keep off the worst of the rain. “I wanted to see what was happening.”
Neil didn’t seem particularly annoyed that she’d left the carriage, and Patrina was glad about that. A man who thought he could give the most careless of orders and have them obeyed implicitly was not the sort of man she wished to be married to.
He turned back to the fallen tree, gesturing helplessly.
