Father Stephan said, “The banns must be posted and ye cannot be married during Advent or Lent, child.”
“Aye, but if the banns were this Sunday and for the next two weeks, there would still be a few days before Advent starts.”
Gillian shook her head. “Sweetling, that doesn’t give us enough time to prepare.”
Fingal added, “Nor for our allies to be invited and make plans for the journey.”
“Aye,” said Laird Grant. “I agree. The twenty-sixth day of April is ideal. Besides, if we rushed to have the wedding in a few weeks, people might think a hasty wedding was a necessity. I don’t want anyone thinking ill of Ailsa or Lucas. Lucas will come home to Castle Grant until then. Propriety will be observed and there will be no questions.”
This couldn’t be happening. She didn’t want to be apart from Lucas for so long. A day had been too long. She was on the verge of saying as much when Lucas caught her eye. She could tell he was irritated, but he shook his head ever so slightly.
Clearly, he didn’t want her to complain.
“Nay, we wouldn’t want to fuel gossips,” said Lucas, blandly. “The day after the Feast of St. Mark would be a fine day for a wedding.”
He was just going to accept this? She supposed he was probably worried about upsetting Fingal or his brother and was willing to bide his time to keep them happy. But she didn’t think she could stand it.
The talk moved on to other wedding details. She probably should have paid attention but she couldn’t. She was terribly disappointed at having to wait more than six months to be married. But she could have tolerated it if during that time Lucas stayed here at Brathanead or she returned with them to Castle Grant. The fact that he would leave tomorrow and she wouldn’t see him again until April had her on the verge of tears.
Finally, she could stand it no longer. “Please excuse me, I think I’ll find my bed. I’m exhausted.” Duff, who had been laying near the hearth, stood as well.
As she rose from the table, Lucas rose too. “I’ll see ye to the stairs, my love.”
He looped her hand over his arm and walked towards the tower stairs. Turning to face her, he took both hands in his. “Goodnight, Ailsa. I’ll see ye on the morrow before we leave.” He leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek and whispered, “Meet me in the stable when you can.”
Meet him in the stable? “Uh…aye, I’ll see ye on the morrow. Goodnight.” She turned and practically ran up the stairs, Duff on her heels.
She wasn’t sure what he had planned. She didn’t want to get her hopes up. He might just want the opportunity to talk, alone. Still, she’d make her way to the stable as soon as possible. She extinguished the candles in her chamber so as to appear to have gone to bed. Then she waited, and listened.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait too long before she heard Gillian, Fingal, Fallon, and Quinn in the corridor, on their way to bed for the night. And if they were going to bed, Laird Grant and the few of his men who were staying within the castle had as well. When she heard their chamber doors close, she knelt in front of Duff. “Now, lad, ye must do me this kindness and stay here in my chamber. I won’t be gone long.” She rose, grabbed an extra plaid and slipped out the door. She heard Duff’s soft whine.
She hurried to the stairs and descended to the great hall. Although most of the people who slept in the great hall had bedded down, a few were still awake. But it might take hours if she waited for everyone to be asleep. She reckoned if she strode with purpose to the back door, it was possible no one would question her. And if anyone did, she’d just say she couldn’t sleep and was going to the kitchen for some warm milk with honey.
So she took a deep breath, stepped into the hall, and made her way as quietly as possible to the back door. She was glad she’d thought of an excuse ahead of time because one of the guardsmen did ask where she was going.
He seemed to accept her answer and let her go.
Once out the door, keeping to the shadows of the keep, she hurried around to the side where the stables were. She waited until the sentries on the wall were looking away and ran to the stables. Once inside she called in a loud whisper, “Lucas?”
“Aye, love. Back here.”
She followed his voice to the back of the stable where he had Captain saddled. He wrapped his arms around her. “I’m so glad ye came.”
“How did ye get out of the keep?”
“I told my father I hadn’t seen Captain since I arrived and I wanted to make certain he’d been well tended.”
She smiled. “I’m having trouble sleeping, so I’ve gone to the kitchens for warm milk and honey. So we don’t have much time. If I’m gone too long the guard in the great hall will come looking for me. And if he finds me here, there’ll be hell to pay. But I just can’t bear the thought of ye returning to Castle Grant tomorrow for six months.”
“Neither can I.”
“What happened to not wanting to fuel gossips?”
“The gossips would already have plenty to talk about when they learned about the kidnapping in the first place. I don’t care if ye don’t.”
“I don’t. But ye told them, ‘The day after the Feast of St. Mark would be a fine day for a wedding.’”
“And I’m sure it would be, but that doesn’t mean I want to wait until then to get married. Nay, Ailsa, they had their minds made up. Arguing with them would have been futile. I think a much better choice would be for us to take our own fate in our hands. Come with me tonight. There’s a Dominican abbey a little over a day’s ride northeast of here. I’ll take ye there and we can be married.”
“Really?”
He grinned. “Aye, really. If we ride the rest of the night and all day tomorrow, we can be there by vespers.”
“There’s a Franciscan abbey just a few hours west of here. We could be there by morning.”
“I know that. But I figure that’s where they’d expect us to go. And if they turned up before the deed was done, we’d have fired up all their tempers for naught.”
“Aye, I suspect ye’re right. But what if the abbot refuses? What if he insists on posting the banns?”
“Several days ago ye suggested handfasting. If we can’t get a priest to marry us we could do that. Will ye go with me?”
“Need ye ask? Of course I will. But how do ye propose getting us out of Brathanead?”
“The same way we got out of Castle Grant.”
She arched a brow at him. “Ye’re seeking the comfort of a willing lass in the village?”
He chuckled. “Nay, my bonny bride. Yers is the only company I seek. But I’ll ride out with ye under my plaid. I’ll tell them I’m going to sleep with the men who are encamped.”
“What about the promise ye made to Fingal?”
“I promised that I would not risk angering my brother to the point that he would wreak vengeance on Clan MacLennan. While, I’m dead certain he’ll be irate with me over this, he won’t be upset with the MacLennans. Besides, the betrothal is signed. All we’re doing is moving up the wedding a few months. He’ll get over it. But yer family will be equally livid with ye. Ye’re sure ye want to do this?”
She grinned. “Absolutely.”
“Then we’d best be off.”
He mounted Captain then pulled her onto the saddle behind him. Just as when they’d left Castle Grant, she wrapped her legs around his waist and clung as tightly to his back as she could. He wrapped his plaid around his shoulders, covering them both and rode out of the stable.
The guardsmen on the gate stopped him as expected. But when he’d given the answer he’d planned, about joining his men, the guard asked, “On yer horse? Ye could have left him in the stable.”
“I could have, but neither one of us appreciate being locked inside for days on end. I may give him a little exercise first.”
The guard seemed to be satisfied and let them through. Ailsa had to stifle a giggle when she heard the man mutter, “Crazy Grants,” under his breath.
~ * ~
They rode as fast as he could safely go in the moonlight. He knew they might have MacLennans riding hard on their heels. His only hope was that without a clue as to where he and Ailsa had gone, they might go to the Franciscan abbey. There was also an abbey south east of Grant land. It was farther away than the Franciscans, but much closer than the Dominicans. His brother might assume he’d go to that one. Then again, there was at least a small chance that their families might not immediately assume that they were eloping.
After a very long, hard day of riding, they reached the abbey just after vespers. The abbot, a slightly frail, elderly priest, who introduced himself as Father Giles, allowed them to put Captain in their stable, then asked them to join him in office.
Once they were settled, he said, “I’m not in the habit of receiving guests quite so late.”
“I apologize, Father. It’s just that we want to be married.”
“How very nice. Spring is a lovely time of year for a wedding. Perhaps April?”
Lucas smiled. “Aye, Father, I’m sure April would be a good time to have a wedding. But we don’t want to wait until spring. We’d like to be married now.”
He nodded sagely. “Ah, autumn weddings are delightful too. And ye’d like to have the wedding here at the abbey? Let’s see,” he shuffled some papers on his desk. “Well, if we post the banns starting this Sunday, ye’d have a couple of days to choose from before Advent begins.”
Lucas continued to be patient with the old priest. “Father, we would very much like to be married today.”
“Today, ye say? Good heavens, I don’t think that’s possible. Have the banns been posted elsewhere?”
Lucas shook his head. “Nay, Father, they haven’t. We were hoping ye’d waive the posting of the banns.”
“I can’t do that, my son.”
Ailsa spoke for the first time. “Please, Father. We want to be married and we’ll handfast if we have to, but I would like to start married life with the blessings of the Church.”
“Then why must it be today, child?”
Ailsa sighed. “It’s our families…”
“I see, they don’t want ye to marry and ye’ve run away?”
Ailsa shook her head. “Actually, they do want us to get married. We have a signed betrothal. Our wedding will end a feud between our clans that has gone on for over a hundred years.”
“Then what is the problem?”
Ailsa sighed. “The problem is that they also think April would be a lovely time for a wedding.”
“And ye don’t want to wait that long? Ye’ll have a lifetime together.”
“Nay, I don’t want to wait. I realize that sounds selfish, but hear me out. We, Lucas and I, are the youngest in our respective families. And both his brother and my sister became clan chiefs at an early age.”
“Ah…ye’ve had yer lives planned out for ye by siblings and that yoke chafes.”
Ailsa canted her head. “Aye. Very well said. That yoke chafes. Not always, mind ye. I try to do what is expected of me.”
Lucas covered his chuckle with a cough, winning him a glare from Ailsa.
“Well, I try most of the time,” said Ailsa. “And this time, it isn’t even that we don’t want to do what they’ve asked of us. We want to be married. They want a big wedding, with all of our allies invited and they say there isn’t time to do that before Advent.”
“But after Christmas…”
“It’s January and too cold for our visitors to travel. And February is too cold. And then Lent starts. And Easter is late this year. And the list goes on. My sister was married in February, during Lent, only a few hours after she had met her husband and there were no allies present. I didn’t think a quick, modest wedding was too much to ask.” Tears welled in her eyes and she blinked them back. “I just want to marry Lucas and be with him. We love each other.”
“I see,” he said. He looked thoughtful. “My predecessor here, Brother Christy, God rest his soul, had the habit of refusing a couple three times before he’d even consider an impromptu wedding. Since I’ve been the Abbot, I have been even less lenient. I’m not a rule breaker and this flies in the face of more than one. Tell me this. If yer lairds were to ask me why I broke the rules this time, what would ye have me tell them?
Lucas took Ailsa’s hand in his. “I’d have ye tell them that love is all too rare in our world. And when ye find it, ye don’t want to waste a moment. None of us are promised tomorrow. My parents both died of the plague. Two days before my mother died, she was hale and hearty. Ye said Ailsa and I will have a lifetime together, and that’s true. Still, a lifetime can be tragically short. I pray I die a wizened old man, only moments before Ailsa does. But that doesn’t happen very often. So, I want her by my side for as long as the Lord sees fit to give us.”
Father Giles nodded. “Well stated, young man. And as it happens, I have known tragic losses in my life.” He smiled. “Not to mention that I was a youngest son too. I understand how ye feel.”
Lucas feared that a “but” hovered at the end of that sentence and that they would have to find another way. Just when he was prepared to thank Father Giles for his time and leave, the old priest spoke again.
“This situation forces me to remember sometimes one must ask forgiveness instead of seeking permission. I will marry ye.”
Lucas sighed as relief flooded him. “Thank ye, Father.”
Within half an hour, they were standing at the doors of the chapel making their vows before Father Giles, with several of the other friars standing witness.
“What are yer given names?” he asked.
“I am Lucas Grant and my bride is Ailsa MacLennan.”
The priest looked shocked. “Ye’ve come a long way. I assumed ye were Munros or MacBains.”
“Aye, we have travelled far today,” said Lucas. “But it seemed the prudent thing to do.”
“Well then, ye’ll need a place to lodge tonight. We have a visitor’s cottage on the grounds. Ye can stay there.”
“Thank ye, Father. That’s very kind.” Not that Lucas minded sleeping on the ground if Ailsa was in his arms, but that wasn’t an ideal place to spend one’s wedding night.
“Ye’re most welcome. Now, shall we start?”
“Aye, Father,” both Lucas and Ailsa asked in unison.
“Lucas Grant, will ye have this woman to thy wedded wife, will ye love, cherish, and honor her, keep her and guard her, in health and in sickness, as a husband should a wife, and forsaking all others on account of her, keep ye only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?”
“I will,” Lucas answered solemnly.
“And Ailsa MacLennan, will ye have this man to thy wedded husband, will ye obey him, and serve him, love, honor, and keep him in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other on account of him, keep ye only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?”
Ailsa frowned. “Obey? Father, when was that added to the marriage vows?”
The gentle, old priest, looked as if he were trying not to laugh. He cleared his throat before answering, “Ailsa, my child, obedience has always been a part of the vows a woman takes when she marries.”
“But Lucas doesn’t have to obey me?”
“Nay, child.”
Her frown deepened. “I’m not sure that’s fair.”
Father Giles nodded his head, again appearing to stifle his amusement. “I see what ye mean. But then, to be fair, lass, he promises to cherish and guard ye. I suppose that evens it out a bit.”
Ailsa sighed and looked into Lucas’s eyes. “Aye, there is that.”
Father did chuckle at this. “So, I’ll just repeat the vow, shall I? Ailsa MacLennan, will ye have this man to thy wedded husband, will ye obey
him, and serve him, love, honor, and keep him in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others on account of him, keep ye only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?”
“I will.”
“Do ye have a ring?”
Damn. He didn’t have a ring. He knew he didn’t have to have one for the marriage to be valid but he wanted her to have a ring. “Nay, Father. We left rather suddenly.”
The priest nodded. “I thought ye might not. But as it happens, I have two rings that I’ve worn for years on a leather cord around my neck. I think it is time that they be used.”
Lucas was astonished. “Thank ye, Father. I…I…well, thank ye. This means the world to me.”
Father Giles removed the rings from the cord and blessed them both. He gave the smaller of the two to Lucas. “Place this on the third finger of her left hand and say. I marry ye, Ailsa, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
As Lucas did this, he looked into Ailsa’s eyes. They were filled with such warmth and love he was almost undone.
When it was Ailsa’s turn, she put the ring Father Giles gave her on the third finger of Lucas’s left hand. “I marry ye, Lucas, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
Father blessed them, pronounced them married and said, “Lucas, ye may kiss yer bride.”
Lucas put one arm around her waist, pulling her close. With his other hand behind her head, he leaned down and kissed her. It wasn’t as long or as sensual a kiss as he wanted to give her, but that would all come. For now, it was enough to know that the irrepressible, unpredictable, wee lass he discovered on the road from Edinburgh was finally his.
Chapter 22
Ailsa felt profound relief at finally being married to Lucas, knowing nothing could change that. And the way he had kissed her after Father pronounced them married left her hungry for more.
So she was relieved when Father Giles showed them to the abbey’s guest cottage “I suspect the two of ye have had little to eat on yer hurried trip up here, so I’ve had some victuals and a jug of our mead put in the cottage for ye.”
A Wee Highland Predicament Page 18