“It would be my honor,” Wallace said, his voice thick with unshed tears.
A blister that was now healing.
Chapter 21
Ravencroft returned with copies of his composition, the song that had brought tears to everyone present when his group performed it at his sister’s home the same evening he’d won the Catch Club competition.It was so good, Vincent barely held a grudge at losing to him.Who knows how many hours Ravencroft’s group had spent rehearsing it to stir such emotion, or how many hours he’d spent working on the composition to get it just right.
Then again, with the way Ravencroft and his wife stared at each other, just as sentimental as Matthew and Mildred, and now probably the way Vincent gazed upon Sophia, perhaps not all that long.He just needed the correct inspiration to pour his feelings into the music.
Xavier had never heard it and would be sight-reading.Matthew and Vincent had heard it twice but never performed it.And now they were going to perform it without any rehearsal.
Just as with the Rossini piece, Vincent hoped their skill in general and the audience’s lack of knowing what it should sound like would work in their favor.
Ravencroft flipped his coattails out of the way and settled at the pianoforte.Vincent, Matthew, and Xavier stood behind him, each holding their copy of the music.Sophia, Mildred, Ashley, and Theo perched on one sofa together, their arms linked, looking at the men expectantly.
Agnes and Gert also looked eager, sitting perfectly still except for Gert petting Henry, who had finally inspected and approved all the newcomers and settled on her lap.
Vincent must be especially emotional today if he got a little choked up looking at the two elderly women who had been loving maternal influences in his life.The aunts had welcomed not just Vincent with open arms but all of his friends when he’d brought them to visit on school holidays, encouraging their musical pursuits with praise, supplies, and excellent instruments, giving them respite from whatever other demands had been placed on them from blood relatives or their birth order.
Ravencroft played the introduction, then launched into the song proper.Xavier and Matthew did their best under the circumstances.Ravencroft and Vincent filled in the gaps where needed, making up for having only one tenor, both of them going from bass to their upper registers as needed.If he’d had more time to warm up, Vincent could have sung tenor for the entire piece and not sounded strained.Instead, Vincent frequently doubled Xavier on the baritone line when his brother faltered, uncertain.
When he and Ravencroft doubled up on the melody line, he felt the power of their combined bass voices.Could see its effect on their audience.His vision even blurred slightly from the vibration on the lowest notes.Ever since he had developed what turned out to be a bass voice, women had practically swooned when they heard him sing, especially since he was still able to access his baritone and tenor ranges.With enough rehearsal and warming up, soprano was still possible though he couldn’t sustain it for more than a measure or two.He enjoyed the attention and had often blatantly used it to get things he wanted, especially from the fairer sex.But now the only person he wanted to impress was his betrothed.
Sophia didn’t look ready to swoon, though he saw the tip of her tongue dart out to lick her lips, her eyes wide and steadfastly focused on him.Early in their acquaintance she had pretended to be unaffected by his voice but he’d seen through her subterfuge.How she’d eyed him like he was a tasty meal and she hadn’t eaten for days.
As Vincent sang the lyrics, about finding balance between adult responsibilities and following one’s heart, opening oneself up to the possibility of love, his throat tightened when he reached the lines that were essentially a declaration of love.Sophia beamed at him, not looking away even when she dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.
When he’d proposed, he had not told her he loved her.She had not said those words to him, either.
It had seemed unnecessary at the time, as it was obvious to him that the depth of their affection was mutual.As deep as Ravencroft’s lyrics.Which sounded weak, now that he heard those words in his head.As soon as they finished the song, he’d steal her away so he could tell her.He wanted no assumptions.Not ever again.Not with his brothers, and certainly not with the woman who would soon become his wife.
* * *
Gulls wheeled overhead and the sun shone down on the small crowd as they assembled on the beach.The spinster Misses Webster were there, along with Miss Burrell’s parents and Aunt Mary.Taking a rare afternoon off, Mr.and Mrs.Renwick from the inn had delivered meat pies that Gert had ordered for the wedding breakfast, on the condition they stay and join the festivities.
With the wedding party’s agreement, Gert had also invited Mr.Thorpe from next door.His coat fluttered strangely until a fluffy little head popped out of one pocket—Zeus.Or Ares; Vincent couldn’t tell them apart.A moment later, Thorpe’s other little dog poked its head out of the pocket on his other side.Quiet other than a little panting, they avidly watched the proceedings from their pocket perches.Gert would probably not have left Henry up at the house if she’d known Mr.Thorpe was bringing his petite pups.
Mr.and Mrs.Ebrington sputtered a protest when Mildred sat on the last bench on the path down to the beach and removed her shoes and stockings, until they saw Sophia do the same, as did Miss Burrell.Vincent kept his jaw shut only by force of will when even Agnes—in a rare occurrence of coming all the way down to the water’s edge—and Gert removed their shoes and stockings as well.They left all five pairs of shoes, stockings stuffed into the toes, under the bench.
Vincent was tempted to go barefoot and could tell Matthew was, too.But he wasn’t ready to shock his father to that extent.Having arrived the night before, the Marquess stood between Aunt Gert and Agnes.He’d offered no objections and only one question about Vincent’s choice of bride, relying on Gert’s opinion that Sophia would be a fine mother for the future heir.
Vincent had almost crushed Gert in a grateful hug.
As the first bridesmaid, Ashley preceded Mr.Ebrington and his daughter down the makeshift aisle to where Vincent and Matthew waited near a tidepool, along with Xavier, who had one finger holding his spot inTheBook of Common Prayer.Ravencroft stood beside Matthew, and Wallace beside Vincent.
Then came Miss Burrell as the second bridesmaid.
Mr.Middlebrook, the vicar, had puffed out his chest at being asked to escort Sophia down the aisle, and now smiled widely at his unusual role in a wedding ceremony.Watching Sophia walk toward Vincent on the arm of a man she’d met only a few weeks ago painfully reminded him how alone in the world his bride had been.
After their night in the cave together, she hadn’t let him speak the words of a marriage proposal that had mostly been prompted at that point from of a sense of honor and—to be brutally honest with himself—lust.He had been slow to recognize his feelings of serious attachment, his affection forher, not just her body.It had also taken him a great deal of reflection to realize his independent Pocket Venus needed options before she could accept him.She wouldn’t take the easy way of solving her problem of how to support herself by snagging a handy viscount in marriage, no more than she would have called for help when finding a strange man in her bedchamber upon their first encounter.She’d handled things then, too, candelabra in hand.
His respect for her grew further when he realized she had created options for herself through her own efforts.Her skill as a teacher and talent as a musician had brought her multiple job offers.His sleepless night of panic at the thought of her accepting one of those offers rather than him had led them here today.
“Your father traveled here much faster than I thought possible,” Sophia whispered when she joined him.
“I wrote to him the same morning I left to fetch the license,” Vincent confessed.
She arched one brow.“Bold of you.”
