Wallace turned and looked up in time to see Tanya swinging from the weathervane. “Get down from there,” he called out. “This is a sacred building.”
“Only inside is consecrated,” she replied, sticking her tongue out. “Besides, I wanted to see Mom first. Doesn’t she look beautiful?”
“She’ll look furious if she sees you up there in your new dress.”
Tanya swung out into the open air, catching onto the scaffolding and then lowering herself rung to rung until she was on the grass.
By the time Natalie reached the church, her fiancé and her daughter were standing formally together as if nothing had happened.
“Look at my family,” Natalie said. “Who would have guessed one of you was on the roof a few moments ago?”
“You saw?” Tanya at least had the good grace to sound guilty.
“I saw. I had no idea you were so good at climbing. Though if you could avoid breaking your neck during the ceremony, that would be great.”
“Yes, Mom.”
Natalie turned to face Wallace. “Don’t you look smart. New baldric?”
“Aye. You look beautiful.”
“This old thing?” She swept the dress from side to side. “Looks all right, doesn’t it?”
The other horses gathered behind them, their riders climbing down and milling around the entrance of the church, talking quietly to each other, waiting for the captain to call them over.
“I wanted to thank you,” Natalie said, squeezing Wallace’s hand in her own. “For building it here.”
“I promised you I would.”
“I know but thank you. When we left that dead body here and you said you’d come back and give him proper burial, I…well I never thought you’d build an abbey on the spot.”
“What better way to honor those who died for the highlands? He may have been in league with our enemies but it is a foolish endeavor to take grudges beyond the grave.”
“If you hadn’t, we’d never have met.”
Before Wallace could reply the captain appeared in full regalia, looking every inch the sailor. He nodded toward the couple. “Shall we begin?”
The crowd gathered around the four of them. Wallace stood beside Natalie, the two of them facing the captain. Behind them Tanya clung toher mother, suddenly shyer than her years. Jock and Daisy stood off to one side, both of them beaming.
Wallace looked around him. MacCallisters, MacGregors, even Frazers were here. Not so long ago these people would have rather been dead than breathe the same air as their rival clans. Natalie had done a lot more than she realized, bringing peace with her on her journey to him.
The storm clouds on the horizon were there. War was just around the corner but then wasn’t it always? Had there ever been a long term peace in the highlands? Better to deal with that if it happened and until then, focus on living, and on loving.
“On the seas we have a saying,” the captain began. The crowd fell silent, all turning to face him. “It is not the destination that matters but the journey. Together these two in front of us set out on their own journeys to two very different destinations. Fate brought them together for a journey that they shared. Their journey was like the sea. It had ups and downs, rough patches and smooth sailing. Now they come into shore bonded like barnacles to a hull.”
“Enough with the nautical references,” Scarlettcalled out from somewhere in the crowd. “Get on with it, Colin before I sink your marriage.”
The captain lost his thread for a moment, coughing before continuing. “Wallace, you have the chance today to bond for life with the woman beside you. Will you give her a ring that represents God’s eternal love beside your own?”
“I will,” Wallace said, turning to face Natalie. “Since we met, there has not been a single moment I have regretted. You have shown me many things I never would have seen without you by my side, not least how to be happy.”
As he finished speaking, he slid the silver ring onto her finger. It had been made from melting down the shard of the silver key they had kept.
The captain turned to Natalie. “With your acceptance of this ring, you bind together the two clans, MacCallister and MacGregor. Will you keep the ring on your finger and accept the love of both clans and the Lord above us all?”
“I will,” she said, looking at Wallace and smiling. “Forever.”
“Then I proclaim to all here present that you are man and wife until heaven calls you up many years from now. I ask you two to join me inside and there we will say the marriage mass together.”
