“Ah well.” The vicar sighed. “Who am I, of all people, to disbelieve in miracles?”

Chapter 18

The vicar’s words stayed with Laura long after he’d gone. She thought of them all through dinner, even as Alex bantered with Teddy, and Aunt Charlotte commented on Laura’s impending nuptials. She had to force herself to eat and drink at regular intervals, lest anyone notice.

Several times Alex caught her eye across the table. His gaze was questioning. Laura always returned it with a smile. There was nothing to worry about. Nothing to fear.

She didn’t have a tiger by the tail, nor a wolf. Alex Archer might still be a mystery—an enigmatic figure with no family, no friends, and no fixed address—but when it came down to it, he was just a man.

A man she fully intended to marry.

When she arrived at the church in the morning, she found it decorated with fresh flowers and greenery, and filled with the familiar faces of friends and acquaintances from the village.

Word traveled fast in Lower Hawley.

It was Henrietta’s doing. Not only had she sent the squire’s carriage to Bramble Cottage to collect Laura and her family for the ceremony, she’d seen to the decoration of the church, too. She sat in the front row between her father and George—the latter of whom appeared to be there on sufferance. Aunt Charlotte and Teddy sat in the front, as well.

As Laura walked down the aisle in her white muslin day dress, sprigs of lavender woven through her hair, she felt a distinct pang of sadness. For the first time in a very long while, she wished that her parents were alive. Her father to walk her down the aisle, and her mother to send her off.

But such sadness didn’t last.

How could it when Alex was waiting at the front of the church, looking at her so intently? He took her hand in his as he repeated the vicar’s words in a deep, strong voice, giving every indication that he meant them.

Laura almost believed he did. And yet…

She couldn’t escape the feeling that it was all for show. The way he looked at her. The way he recited his vows. It was for the benefit of those in attendance. The friends and neighbors she’d be left with if he departed for France—or wherever it was he proposed to disappear to.

He wasn’t pledging his life to hers. He was saving her reputation. Quelling the gossip for good and all. He didn’t mean any of it.

Laura wished she could say the same.

To her the vows were a sacred contract. She knew she would honor them, that she’d remain faithful to Alex Archer for the whole of her life.

A melancholy thought.