Epilogue
A Most Happy Day
Stewart and Rhona lived among the crofters for several weeks before their marriage. Stewart asked Duncan’s permission, to which he gladly assented.
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“Naw better man than ye could be thought of,” Duncan said, “it is ye who rescued dear Rhona from the murderous designs of your brother, it is ye who have shown her such love and loyalty these past months, I can see that ye love her and that she loves ye.”
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“And do ye think your brother would approve?” Stewart asked nervously.
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“Approve of a Mackintosh marrying a Cameron?” Duncan replied, laughing as he chopped through a piece of wood, “I think he would find it a most bizarre occurrence, make naw mistake, but times change, and circumstances are different now. It would not be a Mackintosh he saw standing before him but an honorable man who saved the woman he loved. My brother assents of that I have naw doubt, laddie.”
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The two men shook hands, Stewart once again assuring Duncan that his intentions towards Rhona were entirely honorable and that his only desire was to see her safe and to raise the bairn correctly.
* * *
“Let us prepare for a wedding,” Duncan smiled at the man who was soon to become almost a brother to him.
* * *
It was as they walked across the heather that Stewart proposed marriage to Rhona. She had the bairn wrapped tightly to her, for the day was cold, and a heavy frost lay across the moorland. They had walked to collect berries in the forest and were standing at the head of the glen, looking down far away to the castle of the Camerons.
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“Such a beautiful sight and one so tainted,” Rhona said, her hand in Stewart’s as she held the bairn to her.
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“Aye, but a prize to be won again,” Stewart turned to kiss her.
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“Rhona,” he began, “ye know how much I love ye, and I have asked Duncan if I might ask ye tae become my wife. I have nothing but myself tae offer ye, but if ye will only agree, then I will be complete.”
* * *
He looked nervously at her, he hardly planned things but the moment had taken him standing there with Rhona above the glen, looking down across the forest he had wanted nothing else but for her to be his wife.
* * *
She smiled at him and kissed his cheek.
* * *
“Of course, I shall marry ye, Stewart, of course, I shall,” the two had stood silently together, all the world laid out before them.
* * *
Marriage was the natural course in their relationship and one which she now looked forward to with all her heart. They would be married at Bencor Abbey in Glen Coraig, many miles away from Murdoch and his spies. She and Stewart presented themselves at the Abbey gates, accompanied by Duncan and the bairn.
* * *
The Abbey of Bencor sat high in the mountains of the Highlands, a lonely spot where the monks make their daily oblations, living a life of servitude and solitude amongst the beauty of the glen. The kindly Abbot was only too happy to receive them, and as they stood together in the great church beneath the frescoes and paintings, Rhona and Stewart knew that it was here that they would make their union. The Abbot had heard the tale from the priest who had returned from the Cameron’s castle and knew of Murdoch’s wicked designs upon Rhona and how he had murdered Iain Cameron on the battlefield.
* * *
“It is beautiful Stewart,” Rhona clasped the bairn close to her, as they prepared to make their vows.
* * *
It was winter now, and snow lay across the cloisters and roofs of the Abbey, a bright, crisp day having dawned. The sun was flooding through the stain glass windows, casting patches of brilliant color upon the ground; the chant of the monks echoing across the church.
* * *
Duncan would act as witness and stood dutifully as the Abbot came forward to begin the ceremony. No one knew the meaning of the Latin words, but they expressed the sentiment which they felt towards each other. Rhona knew she loved Stewart, but she also realized that there was room in her heart to hold the memory of Iain too. Love could show itself in so many ways. The love she felt for the bairn, the love she had held for Duncan since they were bairns: a friendship that ran deep and true, the love she held in her memory for Iain and now the love she proclaimed for Stewart before the altar of God.
* * *
As the priest pronounced them man and wife Stewart turned to Rhona and kissed her, holding her in his arms in a gentle embrace.
* * *
“I love ye, Rhona, and as God is my witness, I shall love ye until death us do part,” he stroked the bairn’s head, smiling at her with a look that expressed nothing but deep and endless love.
* * *
“And I love ye too, Stewart. Ye have captured my heart, and I will love ye too until death us do part, and I thank you for all ye have done for us,” Rhona held him close as Duncan looked on and smiled.
* * *
It is there that we will leave Rhona and Stewart, in the beautiful church of the Abbey at Bencor on the day of their wedding. The story is not over for their love continues still, and the bairn goes strong and true. The banner of the Mackintosh clan still flutters over the castle of the Camerons and Murdoch Mackintosh is Laird of all that he surveys. But there is hope in the future, and that hope lies in a baby, the noble son of Iain Cameron and true Laird of the Glen, little Andrew who will one day ensure that his father’s memory is preserved.
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The End
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Also by Kenna Kendrick
Fighting for a Highland Rose
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Capturing the Highlander's Heart
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Stealing the Highland Bride Page 11
