The Workhouse Girl (49 page)

For Sarah this was supposed to be a double celebration, as before she left Elbow Lane for the last time she had received confirmation that she had passed her examination with honours, but that did not help when it came to pre-wedding nerves. Her knees were shaking as she left her room followed by Mary, who was resplendent in her finery as bridesmaid and taking very seriously the task of keeping the train and veil from trailing on the floor. Sarah paused halfway down the stairs as she prepared to descend to the entrance hall where she could hear the babble of voices. Pearl and Franz had come down from London, as had Bertram. Mrs Burgess and Betty were now resident at Blackwood House, but Dorcas was in an advanced stage of pregnancy and could not make the journey to Essex. The church would no doubt be packed and everyone in the village had been invited to the wedding breakfast after the ceremony.

There was only one person missing and that was Nettie, who had sent a message to say that she had an important engagement and might not be able to make it. This had hurt Sarah more than she cared to admit, but then Nettie was doing very well for herself on the London stage. She now had a small but quite important part in a pantomime at the Olympic theatre, which was where she had begun her career, and although Sarah knew how much it meant to her, she still wished that her oldest and best friend was here to see her married.

She took a deep breath and rounded the curve in the staircase. She hesitated as the assembled guests gave her an enthusiastic round of applause. This kind of attention was what Nettie craved but Sarah was finding it overwhelming. If only Davey were here to support her, but he would be waiting at the church with Parker, whom he had chosen to be his best man.

‘Sarah, my dear, you look absolutely stunning.' Moorcroft stepped forward, holding out his hand. ‘I know I'm not your father but I feel honoured to be giving you away.'

Sophia rushed forward, smiling through her tears. ‘You are beautiful, my dear girl. Davey is a very lucky young man.'

A thunderous banging on the front door made everyone turn their heads to see who had come so late in the proceedings. Lemuel dashed to open it and on a gust of feathery snowflakes Nettie burst into the hall, looking magnificent in a russet velvet cape edged with fox fur and a pert little hat trimmed with bronze feathers secured by a diamond hatpin to a coronet of curls. She hurried forward waving a fur muff. ‘We made it just in time then. Sarah, you look gorgeous.'

Sarah ran down the last few steps, holding out her arms. ‘I thought you weren't coming.' She hugged Nettie, breathing in the scent of cold winter air mingled with expensive French perfume.

‘I had my reasons.' Nettie drew away, turning her head to cast a brilliant smile at Gaston Fournier who stood in the doorway, brushing snow off his overcoat. ‘And there he is.' She took her hand from her muff, flashing her rings under Sarah's nose. ‘I had a rather important appearance to make at my own wedding. Gaston and I were married by special licence yesterday afternoon.'

There was a stunned silence as everyone waited for Moorcroft to say something. Sarah held her breath, hoping that he was not going to spoil everything by being angry, but to her surprise he smiled and hugged Nettie. ‘You minx. You always get your own way.'

‘I know, Pa. You do forgive me, don't you? My poor understudy had to step in at the last minute so we'll have to return to London tomorrow. Isn't that so, Gaston?'

He approached Moorcroft with an apologetic smile. ‘I'm afraid I didn't have a chance to ask your permission, Martin.'

‘If you make my girl happy I'll forgive you anything, Gaston.' Moorcroft shook his hand. ‘But we're forgetting Sarah. This is her day and we should be heading for the church before the snow makes the road impassable.'

Sarah hugged Nettie. ‘I'm so happy for you, and thank you for coming here today.'

‘I wouldn't miss this for anything, nipper.' Nettie became suddenly businesslike and she clapped her hands. ‘What are you waiting for? The carriages are outside and you should all be in the church, otherwise the poor sod will think she's jilted him at the altar.' She advanced on the surprised guests, shooing them out into the cold.

Gaston shook his head. ‘She is wonderful, is she not?'

 

The church was, as Sarah had anticipated, filled to capacity. The warm bodies of the congregation had taken the chill off the ice-cold air and the smell of hot candle wax took Sarah back to the tiny church in the French village where she had sought help for Grey and Davey. She might have lost them both but for Gaston's help and now he was married to Nettie, who was her sister in all but name.

In a glow of happiness, Sarah walked down the aisle on the arm of the man whom she loved almost as much as her real father. She looked up and saw Davey gazing at her as if she were a miracle that had walked into his life. She knew then that she had come home at last. This was where her future lay and it would be theirs to face together, forever.

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Epub ISBN: 9781446456217

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Published by Arrow Books 2013

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Copyright © Dilly Court 2013

Dilly Court has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author's imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

First published in Great Britain in 2013 by

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ISBN 9780099562597