Anna looked horrified.
“I know what you are thinking,” Rose said sadly. But it seemed she didn’t.
“How on earth are we going to get you ready in just one day,” Anna exclaimed. “We have to start now.”
She began ripping into the bags and boxes to see what was inside. The first thing she pulled out was the most beautiful long white dress, with a low-cut scalloped bodice that would show far more cleavage than Rose ever had before and was shaped from the ribs down to the waist rather than billowing out immediately below the bust.
“Oh my days, look at this.” Anna spun it around, so Rose could see it better. “I have never seen anything like this outside of a magazine.”
Rose stared at it sadly.
“Ernest does have exquisite taste in clothes,” she said.
Inside the other boxes were new undergarments, stockings, shoes, and gloves, all in white. There was even a floor-length white veil.
Anna suddenly squealed as she unearthed a diamond necklace, drop diamond earrings, and a dainty tiara. Rose was open-mouthed.
“He can’t expect me to get married wearing all that. I will look like a member of royalty.”
“He can’t have sent it for any other reason. What on earth are we going to do with your hair?”
Rose submitted. She had no alternative. The wedding she had hoped would never happen was only a day away, and she couldn't avoidit now. Will had given up on her, possibly because he saw Ernest had softened and she was no longer in danger. Perhaps because he hopedthey could have an affair while the Duke was away. If that was his plan, he was quite mistaken. Perhaps it was because he had fallen in love with someone else while he was away. It didn’t matter which. She had to be done with Will Browning now.
She let Anna do whatever she wanted to her skin and hair. She didn’t leave her bedchamber all day. She didn’t want to see anyone, least of all Will. She asked for all her meals to be brought up. By the end of the day, she was steamed, scoured, and softened from top to toe. The ceremony was to be at two o’clock in the afternoon, and the weather was set to be fair.
She sent Anna away at ten o’clock in the evening, realizing the girl would never stop if she didn’t. Rose crawled into bed knowing she would have to go through it all again in the morning. She didn’t lie awake waiting for Will to come because she knew he wouldn’t. He had effectively delivered her straight into his rival’s arms.
The next morning dawned sunny and warm.
Anna could not be kept at bay. She drew her mistress a deep bath, using the Lily of the Valley bath salts which had come in the bags, and then toweled her down and helped her into the cream satin bodice and satin drawers. The new shift was of the finest soft white silk and flowed to the ground. The stockings were the sheerest Rose had ever seen, held up with proper garters and not just ribbons. She tried not to think of Ernest peeling them off her after the ceremony. She tried not to think of anything to do with her wedding night. She had to endure the ceremony first. She would cross each bridge as it came.
Anna finally brought her the white wedding dress and slipped it over Rose’s head as she stood with her arms raised. When they had pulled it down together and settled it in place, both women were speechless. It looked like it had been tailored for her. Her breasts fit perfectly into the scalloped bodice, but at least half of them were on show. The dress hugged her slim figure from her ribs to her waist before flaring softly out at the hips and falling to the floor. When Rose turned, the dress swirled around her legs while the top half stayed tight to her body.
“It is almost indecent,” Rose exclaimed.
“It is gorgeous,” Anna breathed.
Anna bade her mistress sit down, and she began with her hair. She manipulated Rose’s locks into an elegant chignon twist. A little powder and lip pomade followed, and she used some coal to darken her lashes.
“No need for the blush,” Rose told her. “I will be blushing quite enough in this dress.”
Anna placed the veil over her head and then set the tiara in place before helping her with her necklace and earrings. To put on the diamond necklace, Rose had to remove Will’s gold and aquamarine locket. She did so reluctantly, placing it on her dressing table, feeling like she was finally severing the connection with him. She wanted to cry, but couldn’t, after the time Anna had spent on her make-up.
Jennings came to tell her the carriage was ready. He stopped on the threshold of her bedchamber and looked like he was struggling to breathe. “Oh, Your Grace,” he said. He seemed to have tears in his eyes. Perhaps he had forgotten who she was marrying.
Rose bustled past him, carrying her new clutch bag, not standing on any ceremony. She supposed she could have asked Jennings to walk her down the aisle, but it was too late now, and she didn’t need any more of a pageant.
Anna and the maids helped her into the carriage.
“Where are we going?” she asked the driver, as no one had yet told her where she was to be married.
“It is a surprise, Your Grace,” he said, and Rose’s middle tightened involuntarily, remembering what had happened the last time someone had said that. As the carriage pulled away towards the main gate, she deliberately did not look at the keep.
When the horses reached the end of the castle driveway and turned right rather than left, Rose knew her worst nightmare was going to be realized. She was not getting married in the town church. So many thoughts went through her mind. She could get out and run, tight dress notwithstanding. She could tell the driver to just keep going, down to the port at Littlehampton, where perhaps she could get on a boat to the continent and go as far away from Ernest, and Will, as was possible. Or she could walk down the aisle and then protest against her own wedding! Deep down, Rose knew she would do none of these things. She had done this before, and she could do it again. Everything she was about to do was simply a repeat performance.
The carriage halted in a field a little way back from the river. Standing right where it stopped was Mary, in a crushed velvet navy dress disguising her growing bump. She pulled open the carriage door.
“Oh my God, Mary,” Rose just stared at her sister as the younger girl leaned in the door with a huge grin. “You said you would never come.”