The Werewolf's Pregnant Bride Read Online Free PDF Page A

ruin much of the magic of their love story.
    "We were small children when we first met. Eldon's mother and my mother were cousins. When my mother died I went to live with Eldon's grandparents for a time while my father courted my stepmother.
    Nathaniel and Mercy were babes in arms and his mother worried for them traveling to Manchester where his grandparents had just relocated. It was a growing city and they wanted to take advantage of the opportunities there."
    "I visited Manchester briefly," Sophronia said. It was one of the places her father had gone to make business acquaintances. In fact, it had been in Manchester where she had met Eldon at the party where she had become pregnant with his child.
    "Eldon and his mother were unfortunate enough to visit just when an outbreak of scarlet fever presented."
    "Oh my," Sophronia said. She had heard of epidemics of measles, scarlet fever, and influenza but she had never suffered through one. She could not imagine the horror of it.
    "I had already had scarlet fever as a child so there was no concern for my welfare but Eldon had not. He was not terribly sick but too much to leave when they had planned and their visit was delayed. On the night before they were scheduled to leave Eldon's mother went to see a performance at the opera house. It was a sad twist of fate that on the night she should choose to see a play the opera house caught on fire. It was the gas lighting I was told later but I knew nothing of all that at the time. His mother perished," Claire said.
    "Does it upset you to hear the story?" Sophronia asked Mercy who had just put the last pin in her hair.
    "I suppose that it should but in truth I do not remember her at all. There is a portrait of her in the library but if not for that I would not even know what she looked like."
    "Eldon of course was the oldest and terribly fond of his mother. I had just lost mine so it gave us a certain kinship for the time it took for his father retrieve him from Manchester. Shortly after that my father married and I returned home as well. My father had been married only a year when Vivian was born. My stepmother and I never were close and once Vivian came my step-mother had no affection at all for me which was just as well. I missed my real mother and wanted her back. My father had a bout of influenza right before I turned eleven. He recovered but it left my stepmother nervous about what should happen to me if he was to die. He assured her that I would be removed to family but she wanted a marriage arrangement made. I told my father how fond I was of Eldon and he wrote Marquess Wolstenholme and that was that," Claire said.
    "I am glad you have a husband you are so fond of," Sophronia said though she wondered if Eldon had the same deep affection for his wife that she obviously had for him. Having a marriage where the love was one sided would be torment. It was much better for both partners to be without affection as her union would be.
    "Are you ready?" Mercy asked. Sophronia took one last look in the mirror. She looked beautiful. If her stomach did not stretch the fabric nearly to tearing she could almost imagine she was any bride on her wedding day.
    "As ready as I expect I can be," Sophronia whispered.
     
     
    Nathaniel stood beside the priest waiting for Sophronia to appear. His father and brother stood by his side. The rest of the chapel was vacant which was a small blessing. He was glad that his farcical marriage did not have to be witnessed by anyone else.
    His feet were starting to get a pins and needles feeling and he shuffled them as the chapel door opened.
    Claire and Mercy entered the chapel first. They were both dressed in their best which for Mercy was a pale green velvet dress with puffed sleeves and dark green ribbons spaced from the waist to the feet. Around her middle was a bow.
    Claire's dress was plum purple and made of silk. Her sleeves were also puffed though to a lesser degree than Mercy's. The neckline was cut low