Page 86 of A Lady's Touch of Sin

Chapter 34

“Now who is the handmaid?” Marta asked Laura. She was on her knees, stitching up the last of Laura’s buttons on her gorgeous dark green wedding dress, one that highlighted the bright ferocity of her blonde hair. When Laura turned to look down at Marta, Marta saw just the slightest hint of a baby bulge, a sight that made her seem all the more feminine.

“You do it quite well. If things don’t work out with Baldwin, I think I can get you some sort of job,” Laura said with a smile.

“Ha.” Marta drew up and blinked a final time at her dear friend, a woman on the brink of becoming Ewan Thompson’s young wife. “I feel I could fall over. I’m overwhelmed with emotion.”

“You cannot fall. I need you there with me. Every step of the way,” Laura said.

Marta stood in the cathedral alongside Baldwin while Laura and Ewan affirmed their love to one another at the early-morning ceremony. Fat tears rolled down Marta’s cheeks. She clutched Baldwin’s hand and eyed Aunt Margaret, who seemed similarly overwhelmed. She kept a handkerchief at her cheek throughout, seemingly on the verge of drenching herself. Uncle Everett beamed at his son and his beautiful wife. When the ceremony finished, and Ewan and Laura strutted down the aisle together, Uncle Everett cried out, “Vielspass!” which was German for, “Have fun!” Marta wondered how on earth he’d learned the words.

Outside, Marta and Baldwin and the other guests boarded their carriages once more. Marta faced Aunt Margaret on the way back to the estate. Her eyes were glazed over, her teeth pressed hard into her lower lip. When she finally turned her eyes to Marta’s, she whispered, “I’ve never seen a more beautiful bride.”

“I know,” Marta returned. “She really was the most beautiful.”

“I don’t know where my hesitation ever came from,” Aunt Margaret returned. She furrowed her brow. “But now, she’s my daughter-in-law. Nothing of her past affects that. And you know what she told me last evening? She told me that she could even teach me a bit of her language and a few of her traditions if I wanted it. She’s entirely welcoming. She keeps no record of my past horrors…” Her bottom lip quaked. “I have never known a kinder soul.”

Back at the estate, they feasted on a post-wedding breakfast inside the ballroom, seated at a very long dining table, such was the custom in England. Marta marvelled that she’d never been to an English wedding. “Funny that the first one features an Austrian I brought over myself,” she said to Baldwin, making him quake with laughter.

“Funny that your second one will be yours,” Baldwin whispered back.

They’d decided on a date: the day directly after Baldwin’s birthday, his twenty-sixth, to ensure that they wouldn’t have to rely on the Regent’s decision at all. Although the Regent and Lord Remington had completely lost touch already, Baldwin didn’t want to ask anyone’s permission to marry “the love of his life.” This stubbornness was something Marta adored about him.

For Laura and Ewan’s wedding, Laura’s mother had been brought over from Austria. Marta spotted her at the far end of the dining room and gave her a sturdy wave, then beckoned her over. The woman was clearly terrified, wearing a dress that Laura had picked for her that suited the English style, rather than the Austrian one. When she appeared before Marta, she immediately tore into a frantic German speech. “I don’t know quite what to do with myself! Laura has told me that I can stay on in England here if I want to, that there would be no need for me to work as a servant any longer. But imagine it! Never seeing the Austrian mountains again! Can I possibly handle it?”

Marta hugged her close. She felt the frantic pounding of the woman’s heart and knew it to be directly related to her own fears of heartache, of sadness. When she drew back, she said, “I will return to Austria to visit at least once a year for the rest of my life. You will come with me. You and Laura. And we will walk through the mountains and eat schnitzel and dance and sing. When we return to England, we will live like proper English ladies, drinking our tea and sitting in our gardens. We will never worry about anything ever again. And you will be allowed to help Laura raise her beautiful baby. Don’t you want that? Don’t you want to ensure that he or she speaks German just as well as you do?”

Laura’s mother nodded. “I will remain here. Laura is my life, my love. Her father is long-gone.” She gave a sad smile. “And I’m so pleased that Laura is allowed this sort of future. This time with a man she loves so dearly. I’ve never seen her so happy.”

Uncle Everett rose and clinked his fork against his champagne glass. The crowd across the long dinner table stopped their frantic conversation.

“Good afternoon!” Uncle Everett said, clearing his throat.

Suddenly, Walter lunged back from his little chair and scampered across the ballroom. Malcolm followed, his fists over his chest as he hollered. Laura stood, a tiny grin stitching up on her cheeks. Uncle Everett looked at the scene, incredulous, and then cast his eyes towards Tatiana. Tatiana shrugged.

“Can’t you control them?” Uncle Everett asked her.

“I believe the bride is the only one who can,” Tatiana returned.

Seconds later, Malcolm and Walter appeared back in the ballroom. Walter held a massive bouquet of flowers, which the boys seemed to have created themselves, such was the state of its messiness. Laura flowed out from her seat of honour and then dropped down so that her eyes were on-level with the boys’.

“Are those for me?” she asked them in German.

At this, Laura’s mother grabbed Marta’s elbow and whispered, “What on earth? Do those boys know German?”

“She taught them,” Marta returned.

Walter brought the bouquet forward. His chin bunched up and then bounced around. He looked on the verge of tears. Laura accepted the bouquet and closed her eyes and inhaled. “I love them,” she whispered, in English this time.

The boys answered in German. “You’ve been our greatest friend,” Malcolm began.

“I hope we won’t lose you now that you’re married and a proper lady,” Walter said.

“We still want you to play with us in the garden,” Malcolm said.

“But Uncle Ewan isn’t allowed,” Walter returned.

Laura’s smile was enormous. She glanced back towards her new husband, who shrugged.

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