He watched her intently. Now she had fallen silent, and she was the one who was trying to decide what she thought. “It’s something in your face,” she finally said. “It just doesn’t look like you are trying to decide what to say.” She looked up quite suddenly, and the contemplative expression left her face. “I’m sorry, that was quite personal.”

“No apology is needed,” he said quietly. “Our world is filled with meaningless conversations. It is an honor to participate in one that is not.”

Her cheeks took on a faint blush of pride, and she looked away almost shyly. He realized in that moment that he, too, knew her well enough to know that this was not a frequent expression on her face.

“Well,” she said, folding her hands in her lap. She cleared her throat, then cleared it again. “Perhaps we should— Frances!”

The last of this was said with great fervor and, he thought he detected, some relief.

“I’m sorry that took so long,” Frances said as she came into the room. “Honoria tossed her bouquet, and I didn’t want to miss it.”

Sarah straightened like a shot. “Honoria tossed the bouquet when I wasn’t there?”

Frances blinked a few times. “I suppose she did. But I shouldn’t worry about it. You’d never have outrun Iris.”

“Iris ran?” Sarah’s mouth fell open, and Hugh could only describe the expression on her face as a mix of horror and glee.

“She leapt,” Frances confirmed. “Harriet was knocked to the floor.”

Hugh covered his mouth.

“Do not stifle your laughter on my account,” Sarah said.

“I didn’t realize Iris had set her cap for someone,” Frances said, looking down at the cake. “May I have a bite of yours, Sarah?”

Sarah motioned with her hand to go ahead and answered, “I don’t think she has.”

Frances licked a bit of icing off the end of her fork. “Perhaps she thinks the bridal bouquet will hasten her discovery of her true love.”

“If that were the case,” Sarah said wryly, “I might have leapt in front of Iris.”

“Do you know how the tradition of the bridal bouquet toss was formed?” Hugh asked.

Sarah shook her head. “Are you asking me because you know, or are you asking me because you want to know?”

He ignored her slight sarcasm and said, “Brides are considered to be good luck, and many centuries ago young women who wanted a piece of that luck tried quite literally to get a piece of it by tearing off bits of her gown.”

“That’s barbaric!” Frances exclaimed.

He smiled at her outburst. “I can only deduce that some clever soul realized that if the bride could offer a different token of her romantic success, it might prove beneficial to her health and well-being.”

“I should say so,” Frances said. “Think of all the brides who must have been trampled.”