perhaps loving in the end, but not at the start.”
“Mine was much the same, though my father was a good deal older than my mother.” Her smile deepened almost wistfully. “It was his second marriage, though we were never made to feel like it. His other children were frequent visitors, more akin to aunts and uncles than half-siblings.”
It was not an uncommon thing to find such a match and family in England, though Michael had never discussed such a thing so openly with anyone involved in one.
“Did you have siblings of your own age, as well?” he queried, setting his cards face down on the table and folding his hands in his lap. “I hope you had playmates, at least.”
She turned more fully to him, nodding. “I have a brother just a year older than me, and a sister two years younger. And my half-niece is nearly the equal distance in age between us both, so the three of us were always together.”
He smiled at the fond note her voice had taken on. “Was that never strange? A niece older than your sister?”
Miss Palmer shook her head. “No, never. We never knew that all families were not thus until we started making friends outside of our home and family. Millie is almost as much a sister to me as Mariah, and sometimes closer than.”
Michael glanced over at Mrs. Greensley, who had now been joined by her husband, and the couple were still actively engaged in conversation with the Sterlings. They were not likely to continue their game for some time, and it seemed a shame to sit at the table and wait for them to return their attention to the game. Why not give all a chance to converse freely?
He looked back at Miss Palmer, who had done the same. “Will you favor me with a turn about the room, Miss Palmer? I do not think we will commence our game for a time.”
“Please.” Miss Palmer rose and brushed at her gown. “If their topic is to continue on the advantages of the newly married, I would much prefer to sample the punch.”
“Happy to oblige you there.” Michael gestured toward the table at the other side of the room where the punchbowl sat.
She inclined her head and began that way, though moved toward the edge of the room in what would take them both in a longer, more roundabout way than he’d planned.
He was not about to complain, though. He rather thought it was a brilliant diversion for them both.
“Do you object to matrimony?” Michael asked, stunned by his own boldness, though he did inject as much teasing into the words as possible.
Miss Palmer was not put off. “Is any woman truly opposed to matrimony? I have no doubt I will welcome the thing when it comes, but the idea that it should be my whole focus has never sat well. And I should so much prefer a match of true affection than one of ease and comfort.”
“Cannot ease and comfort come with true affection?” he mused aloud, clasping his hands behind his back. “I agree with you, it is only a thought.”
“I suppose it can,” Miss Palmer allowed, “though I would not think it particularly common. And, I confess, it has always troubled me that the marriage vows in the church are the same for all marriages. How can an arranged marriage uphold a vow to love, honor, comfort, and obey? Does the definition of love change in that regard? And what of honor? Surely not all spouses honor each other.”
Michael could honestly say he had never given the marriage vows a second thought, let alone with such depth, but now it seemed she had an excellent point.
“What would you have the vows say, then?” He allowed himself to smile, glancing about the room. “A marriage of convenience would vow not to kill each other and to ally themselves for the good of their families? A marriage of comfort that they would learn to love and behave with respect?”
She laughed quietly beside him, a measured step bringing them closer together. “I don’t know, and I will not pretend to be overly cognizant of what vows to God should entail. But if I were marrying for love, I should like to vow that my love for him would grow day by day, hour by hour. That I should draw closer to God as I serve and give myself to my husband, and he to me. That we vow to walk