Free After the War Is Over by Jennifer Robson

go in.”
    Charlotte handed her bouquet of sweet peas and damask roses, a smaller version of
     Lilly’s, to the waiting footman. “There aren’t any creases to speak of,” she observed
     as she smoothed and adjusted the folds of the bride’s simple handkerchief linen gown.
     Her own pale blue frock was similar, though it lacked the drawn-thread and white-work
     embroidery of the bride’s, and instead had bands of organdy insertion at its middy
     collar and sleeves.
    “How is Robbie?” Lilly asked. “Does he seem nervous?”
    “If he isn’t, he should be,” Edward answered. “Marrying into our lot . . . God help
     him.” For a moment Charlotte wasn’t certain if he was jesting or not, but then he
     smiled and she was reassured.
    “What are you waiting for? Take her arm and go on in,” Charlotte told him. She took
     her bouquet back from the footman, followed them inside, and waited for the music
     to begin.
    First the swelling chords of the organ, and then the voices of the village choir,
     singing a newer anthem that was a favorite of Lilly’s. “I was glad,” they sang. “Glad when they said unto me: we will go unto the house of the Lord.”
    The congregation rose to its feet as Lilly and Edward stepped forward into the modest
     nave, Charlotte a few steps behind. She could just spy Robbie, standing alone at the
     front; once Edward had escorted his sister into the church, he would move to his friend’s
     side as his supporter.
    Robbie looked terribly handsome in his kilt and doublet, smiling broadly as his bride
     approached, and for perhaps the thousandth time Charlotte thanked heaven that both
     he and Lilly, and their love for each other, had survived the war.
    The little church was full of Cumberland relations, although the bride and groom had
     insisted, and in this hadbeen supported by Edward, that their friends be invited as well. Charlotte had met
     most of them the night before, at the prenuptial dinner at Cumbermere Hall, and found
     them an entertaining and friendly group, in particular Lilly’s former colleagues from
     the WAAC.
    By way of family Robbie had only his mother and several cousins present, though at
     least a dozen colleagues from the hospital in London had come north for the occasion,
     as well as friends from his days in the RAMC. Mrs. Fraser, whom Charlotte had found
     very warm and motherly, but also terribly shy, was doing her best to enjoy the occasion,
     though the poor woman likely wouldn’t feel herself again until she was back home in
     Scotland. Cumbermere Hall and its occupants had that effect on most people.
    Charlotte stood at the front as the service began, ready to assist Lilly, and though
     she ought to have been listening to the vicar’s welcoming remarks, she couldn’t help
     but cast her eye over the occupants of the Cumberland family pew. Lilly’s mother,
     predictably, had not deigned to lighten her mourning for the occasion, and was dressed
     head to toe in deadening black, while Lilly’s sisters wore complementary shades of
     mauve. All three bore the same expression of mild disgust, which made them appear
     as if they had smelled something very disagreeable but had no notion of what to do
     about it.
    Sitting at the end of the pew, her pretty face wreathed in smiles, was Lady Helena.
     Charlotte had spoken with her the evening before, though only for a few minutes, and
     had found her pleasant, thoughtful, and surprisingly curious about Charlotte’s work
     in Liverpool. She seemed a timid girl, constantly looking to Edward for reassurance,
     though Charlotte could see no evidence of the venality that so stained the characterof Lilly’s sisters. It would take a sturdy soul indeed to withstand life among the
     Cumberland women, Lilly excepted, and Charlotte rather feared that Lady Helena wouldn’t
     be equal to it. Not, of course, that it was any of her affair.
    The service flew by in what felt like seconds: the exchange of vows, with Lilly’s