Johanna helped Roald write a declaration. He took a long time, but his handwriting was beautiful and he signed it with a loopy signature. Master Deim put the parchment up on the wall of the boat shed that was fast becoming the equivalent of the mayor’s house. The wedding ceremony would be held on the first of the month of October. Johanna hoped that she would show the signs of being with child by then.
She went to see the Shepherd Carolus, who announced that he’d be “most delighted” to conduct the ceremony and then looked at her with misty eyes. He had a youthful face, with freckles on his cheeks and playful blond curls of hair that, no matter how much he smoothed them down, always found a way to stand up.
“Shepherd Romulus would have loved to do this,” he said in a voice filled with emo
