The Dying Duke's One-Year Wife Is a Nurse novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Real Wedding
The chapel at Ardmoor Hall held sixty people, and every one of them had come.
The old family priest stood at the altar in a clean surplice, blinking, with the book open in his hands.
The pews were full of stable boys and tenant farmers.
Cook sat with her grandmother's recipe cards in her bag, beside a row of footmen who had learned to stand up straight.
Bett sat in the front, crying into a handkerchief the size of a flag.
Rosalind's father walked her down the aisle with his hand trembling on her arm.
At the end of it, Lysander stood in black velvet with his hair tied back, and he did not take his eyes off her.
He had not used a cane in a month.
He did not need one to stand there.
"Who gives this woman?" said the priest.
"Her father does," said the Baron, in a cracked voice. "And she gives herself."
The priest read the rite.
When he reached the vows, Lysander took her two hands in his.
"I had four lines," he said. "I will use them all."
His voice was low and dry, and perfectly steady.
"One. I was rude to you on the first day, and you wrote down my pulse anyway. Two. I will sit up straight at every table you ever put me at. Three. I will count your pulse for as long as you let me, and when you tell me to stop, I will argue. Four."
He stopped.
His grey eyes shone.
"Four, I take you, Rosalind, as my wife, to love and to keep, not for a year but for every year there is. I do not mean to lose a single one."
The chapel was utterly silent.
Rosalind found that she was weeping again and did not mind.
"My turn," she said. "I'm a nurse. I don't do speeches, I do orders."
A ripple of laughter ran through the pews.
"Lysander Ardmoor. Eat your breakfast. Take your walks. Sit down when I tell you. Listen when I'm frightened, and tell me when you are. I take you as my husband, and I will keep you alive out of pure stubbornness, and you will do the same for me."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Dying Duke's One-Year Wife Is a Nurse are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend