Chapter Thirteen
Guilt and Anxiety
Rosalind sat upon the central divan next to Marlow, with all the eyes of the room upon them. She picked at the luxurious cake and sweetmeats that Felicity’s staff provided but could not stomach much.
As for her mother, it took an entire cup of tea for her to stop crying, and another cup to regain the ability to speak.
“I am sorry,” Rosalind began, before Marlow could say anything or assume blame that wasn’t his. “I’m so sorry for the worry and trouble I’ve caused all of you. It was my idea to run away on the Providence, my planning and subterfuge that got me onto the ship. I posed as a widow. The widow Li—”
“Lintel,” her father finished in clear displeasure. “We worked that much out when we demanded to see the Providence’s ticket register. You misled all of us. Your mother, me, and the servants. Your maid was beside herself.”
“I’m sorry. Even Marlow didn’t know of my plans to steal onboard. I hid from him for some time so he would not be able to send me back. It was terribly dishonest, all of it. I have no excuse except that I was in love.”
Her father’s stern gaze turned upon her husband. “What did you do, Lord Marlow, when you discovered she was aboard?”
“Panicked,” he said frankly. “Scolded her.”
Spanked me, Rosalind thought inwardly, feeling a blush steal across her already heated face.
“He did scold me,” she said aloud. “I shouldn’t have done such a reckless, disobedient thing. I can’t imagine how I found the courage to do it, except that I—”
“Loved him. Yes, you’ve said so already.” Her father’s words were heavy with displeasure.
“You said we would not be a good match.” She turned to her mother, hoping for more sympathy. “But we have been a good match. We’ve gotten along fabulously together.”
“Darling, fabulously? You have not even been in England. You’ve been at sea, in a ship that sank.” She blinked rapidly.
“You could have died,” her father said. “This entire ordeal has taken years off my life.”
“She has apologized for her actions.” Marlow came to her defense, but it only turned her parents’ disapproving attention onto him.
“None of this would have happened if you hadn’t encouraged our daughter’s affections,” her father said. “She’s ten years younger than you, a mere child.”
“Not a child, father. I was set to make my debut!”
“Don’t speak to your father so,” her mother chided. “Remember your manners.”
“Yes, my manners, Mama. That I must be mute and docile, and marry whatever tiresome, titled gentleman you picked out. If you must know, it was not Marlow who encouraged me. I fell in love with him on my own because I admired his humor and free spirit and—” She looked over at him, at his strong body beside hers, and his achingly handsome features. “And other things about him which I found very pleasing.”
“Mama,” said Felicity, quietly entering the conversation. “Rosalind has always been such a good girl. She is the baby of our family. Why not let her marry for love?”
“We haven’t any choice now,” her father said.
“You speak as if Marlow is some disaster.” Rosalind stood, letting go of his hand only to shake a finger at her parents. “You have no notion how respectfully he’s conducted himself through all of this, no notion of his honor and strength. He’s treated me with such kindness, even though I surprised him. He was perfectly willing to marry me at once and intended to bring me back to do it properly, except that our ship broke apart in a storm. And then—”
She took a breath, emotion welling in her voice. She forced herself to speak clearly, to honor his heroism.
“We had to jump into the water, into the sea.” She looked at her mama, then her papa, holding their gazes. “We had to swim, and if he hadn’t stayed beside me, holding me, dragging me, shouting at me when my strength failed, I would not be standing here today in this drawing room. He protected me and brought me to safety. We lost everything, all our money when the boat sank, and he has provided for me by selling his jewelry and his h-hair.”
Her parents looked at the new, short-haired Marlow, her father’s lips in a tight line, her mama’s trembling.
“He has not complained or blamed me or flagged in his responsibilities to me. He’s brought me back here to my family because he felt it was the right thing to do. He’s a good man, an honorable, courageous man, and for you to sit here and glower at us, at him, when he has saved my life and gone to such lengths to protect me, well—I cannot—”
He stood and embraced her, giving her strength when she felt she would fall apart. All this time, she’d been brave. Now she wanted to sob, for him, for herself, for all of it. She needed her family to support him for all he’d done.
“We were married before a priest and witnesses in Santa Maria di Leuca,” he said in the tense silence, as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “He wrote our marriage lines in his parish book.”
“Yes. It was a very nice wedding.” She accepted the linen handkerchief Marlow offered her, which would have been silk, except everything was topsy-turvy and their lives had changed. Couldn’t they change back? Couldn’t they return to England and be a normal couple of the ton? “There were two ladies named Maria Regina who witnessed it. One of them gave me a veil.”