“My, look at ye two,” Agnes of Hemkirk sighed. “A more suited couple I dinna think I’ve ever seen.” Her eyes almost disappeared into their nests of wrinkles as she smiled. “Let’s begin.”
She raised her arms above her head and called in a voice louder than anyone would expect from so diminutive a woman, “Ye all know why we are here, aye? We are here to handfast the laird and the spellweaver, aye?”
“Aye!” came the roar from the guests, followed by a loud bout of cheering.
Agnes stepped forward, a length of red and green tartan, the colors of Clan MacNeil, in her hands.
“Ye come before us in love, in trust, and in hope for the days ahead,” she said. “Do ye offer yourselves freely, without fear or force?”
Cailean looked at Rose, his thumb brushing across her knuckles. “Aye,” he said. “With all that I am.”
Rose smiled, heart fluttering. “Yes,” she whispered. “With all that I have.”
Agnes nodded, eyes bright, and began to wrap the tartan around their joined hands, binding left to left, heart to heart.
“By this cord, yer lives are bound. As the fabric weaves together threads, may yer days be woven with patience, with laughter, with strength. May the storm pass over ye, and the sun return, again and again.”
“I love ye,” Cailean murmured, low so only Rose could hear. “And I’ll stand beside ye, now and always.”
Rose’s breath hitched, her free hand rising to touch his cheek. “And I love you. Even through time itself.”
Agnes gave a quiet smile and then called loudly, “So be it! What is tied in love, let none undo.”
It was done. As the final words echoed around the great hall, thecrowd broke into a chorus of clapping and cheering loud enough to lift the rafters.
Cailean bent his head and kissed her, sure and steady—and with a passion that gave a hint of what would come later—which only made the guests cheer all the harder.
Rose leaned into him, into the kiss, forgetting the guests, forgetting the hall, forgetting the entire world. There was only the two of them and this timeless moment.
That is until Catriona said quite clearly, and in a perfect imitation of Elise’s diction, “Ugh. That isgross!”
Rose couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing. “Oh, come here! I’ll show you gross!”
Pulling Catriona close, she threw her arms around her and planted the wettest, noisiest kiss she could manage right on her stepdaughter’s cheek.
*
Rose didn’t remembermuch of the celebration after that. Everything became a whirlwind of eating, drinking, dancing, chatting, and generally having more fun than she could ever remember having. One thing she realized was that her adopted peoplereallyknew how to party. Sure, they worked hard to scrape a living from Barra’s harsh landscape, but they made up for it whenever there was a celebration to be had. What was the term? Work hard, play hard?
But as she sat at Cailean’s side at the high table, watching the banter and the dancing, the drinking contests, and the friendly arguments, she knew the people of Barra had something to celebrate that went far beyond a mere wedding. They were finally closing the door on a dark chapter in their lives and opening a page on a new one. It was clear that her marriage to Cailean meant a lot to them. All day people had been coming up to her to give her their blessing and to give Caileandire warnings of what they would do to him if he didn’t take good care of her.
Cailean had borne this with good grace. It seemed that teasing the groom was also a part of Scottish wedding tradition.
Rose sat back, letting forth a long, contented sigh as she looked out over the throng of people enjoying themselves. Catriona was dancing with Jenna while Patch bobbed around their feet. Maggie was waxing lyrical about something to Beatrice while her sister sat there with her arms folded and a scowl on her face. Rose definitely didn’t want to know whatthatconversation was about. Elise had gradually shifted along the seats at the high table and now she sat next to Jamie Donald. The Lord of the Isles certainly didn’t look very lordly right now. In fact, he looked a little terrified as a clearly drunken Elise waved her goblet around as she tried to explain the rules of ice hockey.
“Do you think we should rescue him?” Rose said to Cailean, nodding in their direction.
Her husband glanced over at his liege-lord and then raised an eyebrow. “Rescue him? He looks to be having the time of his life. I’m sure he can handle yer sister.”
“Hmm. You don’t know Elise,” Rose muttered. She snuggled back against Cailean and heaved another sigh.
“That was a big sigh, love,” Cailean observed.
She shrugged. “I’m just happy, that’s all.”
“I’m glad. So, no regrets then?”
They were handfasted rather than married, and in Scottish tradition that meant they stayed together for a year and a day. After that, if they found they’d made a mistake, they were free to go their separate ways or formalize it into a permanent union.
