For a moment, Rachel felt stuck where she stood. The idea that William was there to whisk her away from all the horrors that would soon descend on her was unbelievable.
“He’s here?” Rachel spluttered. “Truly?”
“Yes,” Jane smiled widely. “Now, get dressed.”
She shot a look to the drawer where her engagement ring lay and felt satisfied that it would stay there forever. Turning to Jane, she began to hurry, grabbing a blue carriage dress and donning it with haste before throwing a cloak over it.
She braided her hair in a thick rope and jammed a hat over her head. By the time she was done there, Jane had a bag packed with dresses and her other essentials.
Before she moved to the door, Rachel asked, “Where are my parents?”
“Asleep in their separate bedrooms. I checked,” Jane said. “We must go.”
With her heart somewhere in her throat, Rachel left the room and crept with tender steps down the servants’ staircase to one of the many doors, that led to the outside. She hurried down a dark path and, at the end of it, saw William’s cloaked form and rushed to him.
He was pulling the cloak from his head just as she flung her arms around his neck. His kiss was what she had dreamed about for days, and the familiar warmth of his body instantly gave her comfort.
“Is it true?” Rachel asked. “Are you here to take me away?”
“Yes,” William said. “It pained me to know that you were going to be a sacrificial lamb for your selfish parent, but I never knew how I could save you. But a few days ago, an uncle of mine left me some property and a house. It not as magnificent as yours but—”
“I don’t care,” Rachel said. “I would live with you in a hut. I love you, William, and being with you is all I care about.”
Wrapping an arm around her, he said, “Gretna awaits us.”
Turning to Jane, Rachel hugged her tightly with tears in her eyes. “Thank you for being on my side for so long. I know my parents will dismiss you after this but come and find me after.”
“I will,” Jane smiled widely, even while pressing a hand to her eye. “Now, go.”
With a last touch to her friend, Rachel turned to William, “Take me away, my love.”
***
“What has gotten you so pensive?” William asked as he fitted his chest to her back and kissed just under her ear.
After two-and-a-half days in a mail coach to get to Gretna, they had just had the ceremony and had retired to an inn a mere mile away from the border.
“I was wondering if mother and father have gotten my note yet,” Rachel said as she turned to lace her arms around his neck. “I hope they will come to see us one day, but if not…” she shrugged.
William smiled, “I understand. Supper is getting cold, and the innkeepers sent up enough to feed a village.”
“Sure,” she nodded.
As she stepped back, Rachel studied him in his simple black dressing robe. His dark hair was falling pell-mell around his collar, and his green eyes were shining like lamps from the dampness of his hair. She herself was in her dressing robe, too as they had both cleaned up after arriving at the inn from the chapel at Gretna.
A half-hour before that, inside a stone kirk—as that was what William had told her the Scots called a church—they had pledged themselves to each other over an anvil in a short but lovely ceremony.
I am now Mrs. William Isaac Smith. No title, no weights tied with silken straps, and no frustration. Just happiness.
While going to the table, she rubbed her thumb over her plain gold wedding band while spotting a similar version on his hand. Seated, she reached for the meat pie and sunk her fork in while William poured out a goblet of mulled wine.
“You’ve been in Scotland before, correct?” Rachel asked, and at his nod, she added, “Then you can show me some places.”
“If we have time,” he said while sitting back in his chair.
He rested the goblet on the table and traced its rim with his index finger. A mundane act that suddenly and irrevocably captured her attention. In her mouth, the spiced beef morsel suddenly tasted bland, and all she could think of was…William.
The pronounced silence in the air drew William’s attention, and a sly smile crossed his face. He pushed his chair back and beckoned to her. “Come here, sweetheart.”
