The St Nicholas' Day Wager by Em Taylor

Edna’s belly. You know, my mother is friends with her mother so I used to know her reasonably well. She’s not a bad sort. But you treat her badly. Give up the courtesans and the mistresses and give her a chance to be a proper wife.”
    “What about this?” Joseph held up the pin. “Are you going to get the magistrate involved?”
    “I have no evidence.” Nick raked his fingers through his hair. “Look, tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Come to the wedding with Edna, walk your sister down the aisle and give her away into what I can only hope will be a happy marriage. Let us all start again. The money and the help are yours. We shall be brothers by marriage. It is the least I can do.”
    “I don’t deserve it,” said Joseph quietly.
    “Perhaps not. But then I don’t deserve to be marrying someone as special and kind-hearted as your sister. I’m lucky. I didn’t lose my parents at sixteen. You may have turned out differently but for that carriage accident. I’ve done enough things in my life that I’m not proud of.”
    “I don’t know, Eastden. It’s a very generous offer.”
    “Don’t be a damned fool, Thornwich. We all know farming is hard these days. If your land becomes worthless, Chetfern land loses value too.” He turned to Gabriella who knew she was doing a poor job of hiding her emotions. He scowled. “Stop looking at me like that. This is business, nothing more. And Thornwich, put that damned marriage licence back in the drawer where you found it.” With that Nick stomped out of the room, leaving brother and sister alone in the study together.
    Joseph turned shining eyes on Gabriella and she choked back tears.
    “I’m so sorry, Gabs.”
    She nodded as a big tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek. “I know,” she managed.
    “Do you want me to walk you down the aisle? I would understand if you sent me to the devil.”
    “You are the only thing I have left of father and mother. All I ever wanted was for you to care, Joseph.”
    He moved slowly then wrapped her in a hug, his large frame enveloping her, his tears dripping onto her hair.
    ****
    Nick paced across the drawing room again. What was taking them so long? Was that brother of hers trying to talk her out of marrying him? He should not have left her alone with him but, at the same point, she needed to mend the relationship she had with her brother in her own way. And besides, he could not take that look she was giving him as if he was some kind of Christmas angel.
    Had it not been for Nick, Gabriella’s life may have been very different. His own mother would probably have sponsored her come out. Thornwich would probably not have been such a prize ass and possibly neither would he have been. His own father would have taught Gabby’s brother to manage his estate and how to enjoy life but enjoy it responsibly just as he did.
    He heard the front door slam and hurried to the window to see Thornwich swing himself easily up onto his horse, the snow already settling on top of his hat.
    The fast padding of her slippers over the parquet flooring alerted him to her presence, then her arms were around his waist as she too watched her brother ride down the private road.
    “I hope he shall be all right in all this snow.”
    “He’s safer on horseback than in a carriage,” Nick said. “Is everything all right between you two?”
    “Well, we have some way to go but I think we made a start towards some kind of brother-sister relationship. He is returning to Thornwich then he and Edna are coming straight here so that he will not miss the wedding. Will that be all right?”
    “Yes. I’ll let the servants know. And what about the marriage licence?”
    “Back in the drawer as you asked. Nick, he plans to follow your lead and start again. He wants to make a go of Thornwich estate. He says he will pay you back as soon as the estate starts making money.”
    “There really is no need, but he and I can sort that out sometime in the