“I love you too! Try to stay out of trouble till I get there!”
They went back to the city shortly after that, and eight days after the storm, the Munich Pact was signed, giving everyone in Europe the delusion that any threat from Hitler was over. Neville Chamberlain called it “peace with honor” when he returned from Munich But William wrote and told her that he still didn’t trust the little bastard in Berlin.
William was planning to come in early November, and Sarah was busy with plans for the wedding, while her parents tried to organize both that and the extensive repairs to the house on Long Island.
William arrived on November fourth, on the Aquitania, with full fanfare. Sarah was waiting for him at the pier, with her parents, her sister, her brother-in-law, and their children. And the next day her parents gave a huge dinner party for him, and it seemed as though everyone she’d ever known in New York wanted to send them invitations to parties. It was a social whirl without end.
Six days later, they were having breakfast together in the dining room, as Sarah frowned and looked up at him from the morning paper
“What does all this mean?” She looked at him accusingly, it seemed, and he looked blank. He had only just arrived from his hotel and hadn’t yet read the paper.
“What does what mean?” He came to read the paper over her shoulder, and frowned as he read the accounts of Kristallnacht, while trying to assess the implications. “Sounds like an ugly business, that.”
“But why? Why would they do that?” The Nazis had smashed the windows of every Jewish shop and home, looted, killed, and destroyed synagogues, and generally terrorized people. And it said that some thirty thousand Jews had been taken off to labor camps. “My God, William, how can they do that?”
“The Nazis don’t like Jews. That’s no secret, Sarah.”
“But this? This?” There were tears in her eyes as she read it, and finally handed the paper to him so he could read it too. When Sarah’s father came in to breakfast, they told him everything and spent an hour discussing the continuing dangers in Europe, and then her father thought of something as he looked at them both. “I want you both to promise me, if war breaks out over there, that you’ll come back to the States until it’s over.”
“I can’t promise that for myself,” William told him honestly, “but I promise you, I’ll send you Sarah.”
“You’ll do no such thing.” She looked angrily at her fiancé for the first time. “You can’t just dispose of me like a suitcase, or mail me home like a letter.”
William smiled at her. “I’m sorry, Sarah. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. But I think your father’s right. If something happens there, I think you should come home. I remember the last war, when I was a boy, and it’s not pleasant living with the threat of invasion.”
“And you? Where would you go?”
“I’d probably have to go back to active duty. I don’t think it looks quite right if the peers all disappear and take a long vacation abroad.”
“Aren’t you too old to go?” She suddenly looked frankly worried.
“Not really. And darling, I’d really have to.”
The three of them earnestly hoped there wouldn’t be a war, but none of them were hopeful as they finished their breakfast.
The following week, Sarah went to court with her father and was given her final papers. Her divorce decree was handed to her, and in spite of everything, in spite of the future waiting for her, she felt a crushing wave of humiliation. She had been such a fool to marry Freddie, and he had turned out to be such a louse. He was still engaged to marry Emily Astor in Palm Beach at Christmas. And she didn’t really care now, but Sarah was sorry she had ever married him at all.
It was only two weeks until their wedding by then, and all William cared about was being near her. They went out constantly, and it was a relief when they settled down to a quiet family meal on Thanksgiving at the apartment in New York. It was a new experience for William and he liked it, and found it very touching to be there with them all.
“I hope you’ll do that for us every year,” he told Sarah afterwards, as they sat in the living room, and her sister played the piano. The children had already been taken upstairs, and it was a nice quiet time among them. Peter and William seemed to get on well, and Jane was enormously impressed with William. She had told literally everyone she knew that Sarah was going to be a duchess But it wasn’t that which impressed Sarah about him, it was William’s gentleness she loved, his wit, his sharp mind, his kindness. Oddly enough, the title seemed to mean nothing to her.
The last week was exhausting for her. There were last-minute details to attend to for the wedding, as well as packing the small things. Her trunks with her clothes had been sent ahead. And she wanted to see a few old friends, but the truth was that she was ready to leave now. She spent the day before die wedding with him, and they went for a long quiet walk on Sutton Place, next to the East River.
“Will you be sad to leave, my love?” He liked her family a lot, and imagined it would be hard for her to leave them, but her answer surprised him.
“Not really. In a way, I left all this last year, even before that In my heart of hearts, I never planned to come back here once I settled on Long Island.”
“I know,” he smiled. “Your farmhouse …” But now, even that was gone. All of its buildings and its land had vanished in the storm that hit Long Island in September. She would have lost everything, maybe even her life, as Charles had. And William was deeply glad she had not.
She smiled up at him then. “I’m anxious for our life now.” She wanted a life with him, wanted to know him better, his heart, his life, his friends, his likes and dislikes, his soul … his body. She wanted to have children with him, to have a home with him, to be his, to be always there to help him.
“So am I,” he confessed. “It has seemed a long wait, hasn’t it?” And there had been so many people around them to distract them. But that was almost over. Tomorrow, at this same time, they’d be husband and wife, the Duke and Duchess of Whitfield.
They stood looking at the river for a moment then, and he pulled her close to him with a serious air. “May our life always run smoothly … and when it doesn’t, may we be brave, for each other and ourselves.” He turned to look at her then with immeasurable love, which was more important to her than any title. “May I never disappoint you.”
“Or I you,” she whispered softly, as they watched the river drift by.
Chapter 10
After the ceremony, where William discreetly kissed the bride and she beamed up at him, knowing that her life had just changed forever, the guests were seated for dinner at tables in the drawing room, and the dining room became a ballroom. It was a perfect evening for all of them, subtle, discreet, beautiful, and everyone thought it was a lovely wedding, especially the bride and groom. They danced almost until the end, and then Sarah had a last dance with her father, while William danced with his new mother-in-law, and told her how much he had enjoyed the wedding.