The Highlander's Forbidden Bride (22 page)

“A
re you sure of this wedding gift?” Zia asked.

“I couldn’t be more confident,” Ronan said.

“But mother has offered you the emerald necklace she wore on her wedding day to give to Carissa,” Zia said.

“I will not do what Mordrac did to her. Dress her in fancy jewels for all to admire,” Ronan said. “I know this gift will bring great pleasure to Carissa.”

“All right,” Zia agreed with a smile. “You obviously know what pleases your future wife, and I will have it ready.”

Ronan leaned down and kissed her cheek.

“Hey, what are you doing with my wife?” Artair teased as he joined them in Zia’s healing cottage.

“Thanking her for the perfect wedding gift to give to my wife,” Ronan said.

Artair slapped his brother on the back. “A few more hours, and the last of the Sinclare brothers marries.”

“I can’t wait,” Ronan said with a broad smile.

“It will be here too soon,” Zia said, hurrying to grab her cloak off the peg. “There is much to do. I will see you later.” She gave her husband a quick kiss, then stopped, grinned at him, and gave him a kiss he wouldn’t soon forget. She left the cottage with a grin.

Artair turned on his brother. “Damn, why did you have to be here?”

Ronan laughed. “If I have to wait until tonight, so do you.”

“Let’s go find Cavan and Lachlan and make sure that they’re suffering too,” Artair suggested, and Ronan agreed.

Carissa hugged Addie as the woman tried to help get her into her wedding dress. “I cannot thank you enough for all you have done for me, but I am particularly grateful for having my aunt and her family here to share this very special day.”

“They are very nice people,” Addie said, finally getting Carissa’s arms into the long sleeves of the dark green velvet gown.

“I am sure Aunt Kate is just like my mother, and Uncle James is delightfully funny and then there is Cowan, so intelligent for ten years old and Wallace, who is an excellent bowman at fifteen, and oh, sixteen-year-old Colleen has her mother’s skill with yarn and twelve-year-old Aggie chatters all day! I love them all.”

“As I’m sure they love you.”

A knock sounded at the door of Ronan’s bed
chamber, and it was Addie who cried out, “If it is a man, go away.”

The door opened, and Kate peered in. “May I enter?”

“Of course,” Addie said, waving her into the room. “It was men I looked to chase away. They have no business here now.”

Kate agreed, though her smile faded. “You have a gown. I thought since it has only been two months since the wedding was decided that there would not be time to stitch a gown.”

“Addie had this fitted for me from one of her older gowns,” Carissa said, realizing yet again how much she resembled her aunt and, therefore, her mother. The thought filled her with loving warmth.

Kate stepped forward. “I took the liberty of bringing your mother’s wedding dress with me. Shona stitched it herself, she was so talented with needle and thread. You are your mother’s size, and I thought you might like to wear it.”

Carissa reached out and took the folded white wool she had thought a shawl at first glance. When she lifted it, the garment fell to reveal the most gorgeous gown she had ever seen.

Even Addie gasped. “That is stunning.”

Kate lifted one of the long sleeves and gently touched the handsome embroidery along the edge. “Your mother worked on this dress day and night, and when her wedding was done, she washed it with gentle hands, and after it dried by the fire,
she wrapped it away with plans to give it to her daughter.”

The wool was so soft Carissa could not stop touching it.

“Your mother was wed in the winter, just like you are about to be,” Kate said.

“You must wear your mother’s dress,” Addie said, already pulling the green gown off Carissa.

“You don’t mind?” Carissa asked.

Tears clouded Addie’s eyes. “I would want the same from my daughter. We will give your mother what she wished.”

Carissa hugged the woman again. “Thank you.”

“Let’s get you done,” Addie said. “Kate, you help her dress.”

Kate gave Addie a thankful nod for allowing her the privilege and joy of helping her niece on this very special day, while Addie continued to wipe tears from her eyes.

Knock followed knock until Honora, Zia, Alyce, and Kate’s daughters filled the room. They laughed and teased, and when they were done dressing Carissa, there was not a dry eye among them, except for Carissa.

The gown her mother had stitched for her own wedding appeared made for Carissa as well, for it fit her to perfection. The thought made her realize that she was truly her mother’s daughter. The white wool fell over her body, accenting every curve and mound down to her hips. And then it fell in a swirl
of wool to her feet. The square neckline was embroidered with the same gold thread as the sleeves, Kate explaining that her sister had traded a traveling merchant several of her fine wool pieces for the gold thread. She had wanted something extra special for her dress, and she had gotten it, for it was the talk of the village for months following the wedding.

Carissa wore it proudly, as she did the lovely crown of winter greenery Honora had fashioned for her head.

She couldn’t have been more joyful and, when the time came for her to descend the steps and join in marriage with Ronan, she did so with a wide smile and a happy heart.

The ceremony was performed by a family friend, Bishop Edmond Aleatus. People had come from far and wide, just as Ronan had said they would, to join in the celebration.

Bethane had arrived a week before the wedding so that she could spend time with Zia and her great-granddaughter, Blythe. Septimus and Dykar and several more of her men were also in attendance.

It was wonderful having so many true friends there to share in their joy.

“Have I told you how beautiful you look?” Ronan asked when they had a moment alone.

“Five or six times,” she said with a smile. “But that’s all right, for I do not grow tired of hearing it.”

“Good,” he said, “for I do not grow tired of tell
ing you.” And he lowered his lips to steal a kiss.

“Aunt Carissa, Aunt Carissa,” Aggie shouted, running up to the couple and grabbing Carissa’s hand. “You must come and see the trick Father is about to do. You must.”

Carissa shrugged as if to say there’s nothing I can do to prevent this and sent Ronan a smile as Aggie carted her away.

“I am glad to see that you finally opened your heart,” Bethane said, joining him.

Ronan gave the woman a kiss on the cheek. “I didn’t open it, Carissa did.”

Bethane laughed. “You opened it, and she stole it.”

“That I agree with,” Ronan said.

The celebration went long into the night, though the happy couple slipped away well before it ended. They went to the small cottage where they could be alone and where they planned to start their married life together, though plans for building a larger cottage were set for the spring.

Ronan kissed Carissa, his arms wrapped around her waist. “You feel well.”

“I keep telling you that I am fine. There is no need to worry,” Carissa said. “Besides, I have Zia when the time comes for the babe to be born, late summer or early fall from what she tells me.”

Ronan rested his hand to her stomach. “I wonder what it will be.”

“Bethane says a girl,” Carissa said. “And from what I hear, she is never wrong.”

“A daughter?”

“It disappoints you?”

“No,” he was quick to say. “It’s just that I’ll forever worry about her.”

“Have no fear, I will teach her to protect herself.” Carissa laughed. “Though she will have enough male cousins to do that, as Bethane predicts another boy for Honora and Cavan.”

“My brother must be bursting with joy. Three sons he’ll have.”

“I’ll give you as many sons as you want,” Carissa said, slipping her arms around his neck.

“Sons or daughters it matters not, for I will love them all as I love you.”

They kissed, and he eased away from her.

“I have a wedding gift for you,” he said, going to retrieve a basket partially covered with a cloth near the hearth.

“A gift for me?” Carissa said joyfully.

“A very special gift for you and you alone,” Ronan said, and holding the basket in front of her, he slipped off the cloth.

Carissa peered in and gasped. She stared for several moments, then her eyes filled with tears, and she looked to Ronan.

“Joyful tears, my love?” he asked, and scooped the tiny sleeping puppy out of the basket and handed him to his wife.

Carissa hesitantly reached for him, then drew her hands away.

“No one will
ever
hurt him or you, I promise you that,” Ronan said. “Now take him, he’s yours to love.”

Tears fell freely from her eyes as she reached out and took the tiny pup into her hands. He barely filled them and, when the little fellow opened his eyes, Carissa brought him to her chest, and he yawned, licked her chin, nestled against her, and went back to sleep.

“I never thought that I could love you more than I did,” she said through tears, “but I was wrong. I love you, Highlander, so much more than I ever thought possible.”

She kissed him then, the first of many kisses throughout the night and the many years to follow.