Eamon pushed Oliver into the carriage roughly. “Take your time. Enjoy your adventure, Ollie.”
Eamon shut the door, stowed the step away, and then called out, “Take ’em away.”
“Oh, no,” Elizabeth called out. “I have an idea. Wait here.”
She scrambled from the carriage without waiting for the step to be lowered again and flew into the abbey, disappearing from sight very quickly. Eamon followed, but when five minutes had passed, Oliver began to be alarmed. As he and George stepped from the carriage again to determine whether they would go or not, Elizabeth emerged, passing a note to Eamon as she came. “Have Leopold send this to the Times and any paper he considers a possibility.”
Oliver assisted her into the carriage, puzzled by her smug expression.
Her brow rose. “I realized exactly what we needed to say to bring Rosemary home. I’ve asked for Leopold to place an announcement of our marriage into the papers. She won’t be able to resist returning to discover the truth. It was her fondest wish.”
Oliver caught her hand in his. “And mine.”
The carriage lurched and George’s questions began. They talked and planned and discussed and exclaimed over the sights moving past their window. As he’d predicted, this journey was a lot livelier than his previous trip to Portsmouth with Eamon. Elizabeth joined in on occasion and after a time, he detected her interest in the adventure was growing. He would make sure she was comfortable every step of the way.
A smile pulled at his lips as he held Elizabeth’s hand. He and George had agreed that they would behave as a family from the moment they left Romsey. At every stop on the way to Scotland, Oliver planned to introduce Elizabeth as his wife so she would be spared the discomfort of speculation and potential embarrassment at their elopement.
He made himself comfortable for the jo
urney and listened to his new family talk of the wedding that had just occurred and the adventure they were on now. For all his impatience for adventure beyond England’s shores, he treasured this moment, a gift he’d waited his whole life to experience. It was good to be traveling in the right direction with the two people he needed most in his life. The spoils of love and friendship seated before him were beyond precious and were his to guard till his dying breath.
THE END