“More than ye’d probably like,” Malcolm replied. “Enough for a good battle on the morn.” He winked at Duncan. “But not nearly enough to defeat us.”
After Edmund bid farewell to his men, Adlin and Tiernan pulled out ahead, and Edmund fell in beside Ada. Malcolm fell back with the rest of them for privacy, so they didn't worry the children.
“Randolph is amassing quite a few fighting men,” Malcolm revealed. “From what I could tell, so many that ’twill leave little protection behind at his holding.”
“Damn him,” her mother cursed before apologizing for her language. “Never was there a more selfish, prideful, greedy man than my brother.”
“What of Bartholomew?” Teagan asked Malcolm. “Ye were given a description of him too, aye?”
“Aye, he is coming.” He gave Teagan a look. “He sent a man off, as well. A messenger, I would say.”
“So he rallies more men from his estate,” Teagan surmised.
Malcolm nodded. “That would be my guess.”
Greer heard the concern in Teagan’s voice. “What of Keenan? Tell me he isnae here but back protecting our people just in case.” He sighed. “’Twould not be all that hard for Randolph to learn the location of our clan.”
“No,” her mother agreed, equally concerned. “Yet, as you know, I’m hoping he assumes I kept the remainder of the jewels on my person rather than risk leaving them at the castle. Hence, he will pursue me. Not just that, but I’m sure he wants to retrieve Greer, Ada, and the children as he considers them his property.”
“Bloody bastard.” Malcolm glanced Teagan’s way. “Aye, though he wasnae happy about it, Keenan stayed behind, as did half our fighting men.”
“Good,” Teagan replied. “Hopefully, ’twill matter naught in the end, and all will go as planned anyway.”
After that, little was said until they were safely over the border and the risk of being overheard lessened.
“Welcome to Scotland,” Teagan murmured in her ear. “May ye someday love it as I do.”
Though the woodland had changed little, in some strange way, it felt like everything transformed regardless. That the real adventure had only just begun.
“That’s because it has,” Margery would exclaim. “Oh, but the times we would have had here! Times you will still have to tell me all about.”
Greer blinked back tears when emotion overwhelmed her. “As if you will not be with me every step of the way.”
“Perhaps,” Margery replied softly, seeming closer yet further away, all at once. “But mayhap not always. Not now that you have made a friend of Teagan and will make many more friends to keep you company.”
“Are you all right, lass?” Teagan said softly, wrapping his arm a bit more firmly around her waist in comfort.
“I am,” she whispered. “Or at least I will be.”
“Ye will,” he reassured her, almost as if he understood what she meant. That her words had nothing to do with the men pursuing them.
“I think he does understand on some level,” Margery would say. “He’s a good man, my friend. He deserves you as much as you deserve him. You realize that, yes?”
“Yes,” she would reply because she did realize such. She felt it soul-deep.
“Then why not let him know?” Margery would say. “Why not give him the new beginning he gives you? Why not give him what you know he longs for? Because his were not hollow, meaningless words earlier. They were said from a heart as damaged as yours.” Her friend would likely pause, giving her a moment to think about it. “Unless, of course, you do not feel the same way about him that he feels about you?”
“You know full well how I feel,” she murmured, frowning when she realized she’d spoken aloud.
“Aye, it has not been easy for ye,” Teagan said softly. “But hopefully, things will get better.”
Yet again, she sensed he knew she’d been talking to herself but didn’t call her out.
This time, however, more needed to be said because Margery was right.
“Things will get better,” she agreed, convinced of it. “But only if we begin this as we should.”
That in mind, coming to a swift decision, she looked over her shoulder and said the last thing he probably expected.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Will you marry me, Teagan MacLauchlin?”
Teagan was positive he would remember that moment for the rest of his days. The nervousness and hope in Greer’s beautiful gaze when she looked him dead in the eye and asked him to marry her. Though yes, she’d done it as a kindness, he could see clearly that she genuinely wanted to as well.
She was choosing him.
Naturally, he’d said ‘aye’ without hesitation, truly never so happy.
Or mayhap that wasn’t true.
Because when she came down the tavern stairs later that eve with Cecille and Ada, he was happier still. Despite having two Englishwomen among them, the townsfolk were welcoming, even providing barrels of cold water in their rooms for bathing. More than that, their holy man was willing to marry “a Scot and a Sassenach?” as he’d put it with wide-eyes.
But agree he did, now here Greer was, easily the most beautiful lass in the room. Likely the whole of Scotland. She wore a simple blue woolen dress that highlighted her shimmering eyes and a ring of flowers around her head. Her cheeks were rosy, and her hair soft and flowing.
“Ye look verra bonnie, lass,” he complimented her hoarsely, his voice not working quite right.
“Yes, she does,” Cecille murmured, tears in her eyes as she looked at her daughter.
“Aye, she has a special shine about her tonight, to be sure.” Ada fiddled with Greer’s headpiece, trying to hide her own damp eyes.
“Ye’re a lucky man,” Adlin said to Teagan before telling Greer how beautiful she looked, as did everyone else.
“Thank you.” She smiled softly at them. “You are too kind.”
“But truthful,” Teagan replied, eager to make her his wife. “Though the chapel isnae much to look at, the holy man awaits us there.”
“A chapel is a chapel no matter its state,” she murmured.
As it turned out, and much to his chagrin, they had just made it to the old building before the skies opened up and rain poured down.
“’Tis good luck,” Ada assured, eyeing the rainfall. “Most definitely good luck.”
Greer didn’t respond, but then it seemed she was tongue-tied.
“This was your future husband’s idea,” Cecille informed her daughter as Greer admired the torch-lit chapel strewn with wildflowers. She glanced at him and smiled. “I believe he called it wooing.”
“’Tis beautiful.” Greer blinked back tears when she looked at him. “Thank you.”
“’Twas my pleasure.” He winked at Duncan and Besse, who had helped him and Edmund collect the flowers. “’Twas a bit o’ a group effort but, as all agreed, every warrior-hero should give his damsel in distress flowers.”
“They should.” Edmund pulled a flower from beneath his cloak and held it out to Ada. “For there is more than one damsel in distress in the room, aye? And I dare say, more than one warrior-hero?”