Eventually Alex caught Lucy’s eye and tapped his watch. It was past five. She swept past and kissed him without a syllable, utterly astounded by him; he was a deep and secretive soul at times, despite the fine cambric shirt and cream linen suit, and the sunshine that always seemed to emanate from him. She had noted the paradox often. She smiled to herself and disappeared upstairs with Grace and Siân. One hour later, wearing a simple fitted knee-length dress of oyster-gray silk that Alex would describe as “the color of moonlight,” she joined him in the knot garden, where the sun was almost gone. Her bodice, like the one in the portrait in Longparish, was embroidered with a mulberry tree; her hair was looped up in a braided knot secured by the exceptional Elizabethan jewel; and she carried some gardenias Laura had brought from her mother’s garden. Watched by Venus and a hundred roses in full scent, the civil rite at the mairie between Lucy King and Alexander Stafford was blessed by Henry’s friend from the Deanery in Winchester.

“War subdued!” Henry hugged his son, and kissed the bride.

AFTER AN UNDERSTATED CEREMONY, JUST OVER THIRTY GUESTS GATHERED in the garden in creeping twilight for predinner champagne. Simon, acting as best man for Alex, somehow managed to curb his usual entertaining loquaciousness. He offered instead a few well-chosen words, and the simplest of toasts, to the man who had become such a cherished friend and the extraordinary young woman beside him.

“We all bless the day, Alex, when an angel walked into your life. No hologram, but the real thing.” Simon bowed to Lucy, and she returned him a mock-demure smile which, nevertheless, was full of grace. His raised glass led the chorus of their names. “Alex and Lucy!”

Calvin stepped forward self-consciously with a questioning look at Simon to gauge whether a contribution from him might not be unwelcome. Simon’s nod appeared friendly, so he turned to Alex and Lucy.

“I haven’t known anyone here for long, but I hope to know both of you better in time.” Siân looked pleased; but his words also seemed to please Alex and Lucy. He went on. “Marriage—such a brave step! Such a commitment. But I thought you’d appreciate these words from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas. I know you’re not a believer, Alex, but I think the words will have meaning for you.” He cleared his throat: “‘When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner as the outer…’”