Twenty
“Your bride!” Maddie said in a near shout.
Connor leaned in closely to her and whispered. “Aye, and everyone is waiting for their laird to marry his bride.”
She looked up to him confused, and turned to Miriam and Malcolm. They had amused faces. She looked to Iain, Kiel, and Katie. They were outright laughing. She half turned around and looked at the guests. They were all staring back expectantly.
Maddie’s gaze flew up to Connor’s and it all sunk in. Connor knew the moment it happened. Her face changed from one of annoyance and anger, to one of hope, and then to one of confusion.
“I am the bride?” she asked in surprise.
He faced her and nodded. “Aye, and the most beautiful bride that I have ever seen,” he said, leaning down to kiss her. Father Dircan cleared his throat. Connor looked up sheepishly.
“That is done after the vows, Connor. I thought we discussed this,” Malcolm said, biting back a laugh.
Connor straightened.
“C-Connor…umm…don’t you think you should think about this?” Maddie whispered, winded all of a sudden.
“It seems like an eternity already, Maddie. I was going to ask ye to be my wife on the evening ye were abducted. Then ye were resting and so the preparations were made,” Connor murmured, still facing Father Dircan.
“You assumed that I would agree to marry you?” she whispered hurriedly back, looking to her side where Connor stood while facing Father Dircan.
Father Dircan looked from one to the other in confusion.
“Am I to understand, lass, that ye do not come here voluntarily?”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Maddie and Connor spoke at the same time.
“Laird, ye are aware of the laws of our Church. She must come willingly,” Father Dircan said to Connor.
“She has.”
“I have not! Think about what you’re doing, Connor. You don’t want to marry me!” she said in a fierce whisper, facing Connor now.
Father Dircan wiped sweat from his brow.
“Aye, I do!” Connor whispered back and turned towards her.
Miriam and Malcolm didn’t bother hiding their amusement. Nay, their laughter was ringing around them.
“I won’t let you do this. You’re marrying me out of pity!”
“Pity! For God’s sake woman! What do ye take me for, a tender-heart?” Connor rasped out and looked at Father Dircan for his reaction. He had taken the Lord’s name in vain.
Father Dircan gave Connor a stern look. He was at a loss for words watching the exchange between the two. Madeleine was a brave one, she was. She was so tiny next to the laird and yet she had more courage than most of the men he knew. He couldn’t believe the way she was speaking to the laird.
“Lady Madeleine has to come here of her own free will or the wedding canna proceed,” Father Dircan interrupted. It even took him great courage to deny the laird’s request and he had known him since he was a small bairn.
“I won’t let you,” she said through clenched teeth, her gilded eyes glittering.
“Ye doona have a choice,” he said through clenched teeth as well.
“I have said that she does, Laird. Ye know the only exception to that,” Father Dircan said with a stern nod of his head.
Connor’s blue eyes lit up and Maddie wondered what he was thinking about now.
“I’ve compromised ye, Maddie,” Connor said, feigning shame. “We spoke of marriage, and ye agreed. I induced ye to give yerself to me. We consummated our vows even if we didna speak them before a priest.”
“We most certainly have not!” Maddie retorted indignantly, bristling.
Father Dircan rolled his eyes.
“The banns of marriage have already been proclaimed. I’m sorry milady, but if ye spoke of marriage and consummated your informal union, ye’ve already given yer consent. The laird has said that ye’ve been compromised and is prepared to remedy that, my dear,” Father Dircan said.
Maddie shook her head. “But he hasn’t! I haven’t!” she stammered.
“This isna England. We do things differently here in the Highlands, Maddie,” Connor told her, unabashedly smiling. Amusement danced in his eyes much like a fool entertaining his king did. “‘Tis no shame. Father Dircan willna say a word.” Father Dircan nodded discreetly as if to add extra emphasis. “If ye go on denying it, the guests will soon hear and then they’ll know the truth ye and I have been trying to hide for a long time now.”
“You would lie like this, Connor?” her whisper was scathing.
“I tell no lie, Maddie. I simply repeat what is in my heart.”
Maddie looked all around her and saw that everyone was watching her intently. She looked up at Connor with furled eyebrows and troubled eyes. She nodded solemnly in acquiescence.
Connor leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Is the thought of marrying me so loathsome, Maddie? It will be alright. I promised to protect ye and I shall.”
Maddie looked down but not before he saw the pain in her eyes. Had he been wrong to think that she loved him?
Maddie was furious and sad and heartbroken and irritated, and a million other emotions. He was marrying her out of duty, not because he loved her. Wasn’t that enough? a selfish whisper asked her. She was getting everything she’d ever wanted- a family, a husband, and a beautiful home. These were things she’d always desired but had been too afraid to hope or dream. Good things like this didn’t happen to ladies like her.
One thing remained true, though- she wasn’t getting his love.
“What is it, Maddie?” he asked, turning her face to him.
Tears were perched in her eyes and threatening to fall down.
“I don’t want you to marry me only to protect me, or only out of duty, Connor. I haven’t been exposed to any other marriage but your mother and father’s, and it is apparent that love is the most important component. Without that, ‘tis nothing more than empty vows and lonely hearts.”
His eyes studied her face closely and he knew what she said was true. He hated to admit it, but he had to.
“Ye’re right, Maddie. A marriage requires love,” Connor said quietly, tensely.
Father Dircan wiped more sweat from his brow. He looked back and forth, from one to the other again.
“Aye, I am,” Maddie said sadly. She never thought she’d see the day when Connor would admit that she was right about anything, and of all times, he did it now. Lord, he was intolerable!
“Aye, so we should stop this farce,” Maddie whispered.
“So why doona ye love me, Maddie?” Connor asked immediately after, ignoring her statement.
She looked up to him shocked. “I wasn’t talking about me, Connor.”
“Ye werena? Then who were ye talking about?”
“You!” she whispered.
“Nay,” Connor denied, shaking his head. “‘Tis not I.”
“Why do ye say that?” she asked infuriated, tired of the games.
“Because I know that I love ye, so it must be ye who is uncertain of yer love for me,” he said, waiting for her reaction. His eyes were intense.
Maddie’s face was frozen in shock. Her golden eyes were dancing with the candlelight.
“I’m not talking about me, Connor,” she said slowly.
“Aye ye are, Maddie, for I doona doubt my love for ye.”
“Don’t jest with me like this. I couldn’t bare it,” she whispered. “It is cruel.”
His hand touched her face.
“I am not jesting. I love ye,” he murmured.
She looked at him for a moment, considering his declaration. She looked for any signs of untruth on his face and found none.
“Connor.”
She threw herself up in his arms and he held her. She laughed and he smiled. “‘Tis too good to be true!” she whispered.
“Aye, I never thought I’d find a woman like ye. I am the fortunate one, Maddie.”
Connor gently placed her back down on the floor. His head was dipping down and Father Dircan again cleared his throat. The guests, who had been silent during the interlude, were now laughing.
“Connor, Father already told ye that ye have the order wrong. The vows come before the kiss,” Iain said laughing.
Connor shot him an annoyed look.
“Let’s proceed. I’m not certain how much longer I can keep from kissing my beautiful bride,” Connor boomed, causing the crowd to cheer in excitement. Maddie blushed.
Or from bedding her, Connor thought to himself.
Laughter resonated as he looked down at Maddie, who was all but hiding her crimson face. He’d done it again, he realized, as he looked to his brothers doubling over with laughter. He’d said out loud what he was thinking. The priest cleared his throat again, his cheeks also red.
“Verra well, let us continue,” Father Dircan said.
Father Dircan began his speech.
“Marriage is a sacred union…not to be entered into lightly...”
In no time, it became apparent to all that Maddie was paying the most attention to what the clergyman had to say. She analyzed everything the priest said.
“Marriage is a sacred institution, yes,” Maddie nodded, as if mentally taking notes.
“Aye, lass, and ye both must work equally as hard to please one another,” he continued.
“Aye, to please one another,” she repeated.
She would practically repeat everything Father Dircan said until Connor squeezed her hand. She looked up and saw his eyes gleaming. She decided that he wanted to get on with the ceremony.
Maddie repeated the vows after Father Dircan. They were different vows than the ones she had always imagined herself saying. She was also saying them to a different man.
She faced Connor and looked up into his eyes. They glittered blue waves of love. Her voice was distant to her own ears as she repeated her vows. This was certainly a fantasy. She couldn’t really be marrying the man of her dreams, could she?
“I, Madeleine, take you Connor as my husband. I will be there in illness and in health, for as long as we both shall live. I will love and cherish you always,” she finished, and tears fell from her eyes. She raised a shaky hand to his cheek and her thumb lovingly stroked him. Then she added, “My life, my heart, my body, and my love are yours alone…forever.”
Those added words were like a hug to his heart. He found it difficult to breathe. Connor followed with his own vows, as he looked down into her beautiful golden eyes.
“I, Connor, take ye Madeleine, as my wife. I will be there for ye in illness and in health, for as long as we both shall live. I shall love, cherish, and protect ye always,” he said in a strong voice. He waited a second and brought his right hand up to her cheek. He took a moment to look fixedly into her eyes as his breathing became shallow. He continued thickly, “and my life, my heart, my body, and my love are yers alone, forever.”
Maddie’s heart skipped beats as the man she loved said the most beautiful words that had ever been spoken to her. The way he looked at her robbed her of breath. Her insides were mush and she couldn’t hold onto a thought.
Connor took out a ring and Maddie was breathless. It was a golden, braided ring with beautiful, gleaming gems encrusted within each braided length. She wasn’t aware that rings were exchanged, which only added to Connor’s long list of thoughtful considerations he had executed while planning the wedding.
“That’s beautiful, Connor,” she breathed.
He smiled down at her as he placed the ring on her finger. “It has been passed down from son to son, to give to his wife. Now, it belongs to ye. It is not only a Scottish tradition, but a family custom,” he said. His blues eyes focused on hers as he recited more beautiful words. “This ring has no beginning and no end. It is like our love, everlasting in its unity, beauty, and eternity.”
It looked stunning on her finger. Happiness was soon replaced embarrassment.
“What’s the matter?”
She looked up at him. “I don’t have a ring for you.”
Connor smiled gently. He took a second ring out and gave it to her.
“It is the Ramsay ring. Lairds can only wear it when they are wed.”
Maddie closed her eyes in brief relief, and smiled. She took the ring and placed it on his finger. It was marvelous. It was a thick piece of gold with a few inlaid gems. The center of the ring held an insignia with a replica of the Ramsay shield. The ring was very intricate and unusual. Maddie had a hard time placing it on his finger and laughed as Connor helped. Tears fell down Maddie’s cheeks at the beauty of this day.
“With the exchange of vows and rings, I present before all, Laird and Lady Ramsay. Laird, ye may now kiss…well,” Father Dircan’s voice tapered off as he saw that Connor had already taken the liberty to kiss Maddie even before he announced them to their guests.
The guests all cheered as their laird possessively kissed his bride. Their tongues met and began a game that Connor was excited to finish later in their chamber. Maddie met his passion with equal ferocity. This time it was Malcolm who cleared his throat.
“Connor, must we discuss the order of events again? First comes the celebration and then the, ah, chamber activities,” Malcolm said chuckling.
Connor stopped kissing Maddie and looked down at her. She was blushing so deeply he thought she would combust from sheer pressure. He pulled her close in an embrace, cradling her head against his chest as he laughed.