Chapter 20
“Be still, child, and stand straight,” the seamstress, Moina, scolded. I’ve only a little more to hem. Ye are near as tall as Aileanna, but I willna have ye trip on yer way to yer wedding. Ach, ye’ll be a beautiful bride for our Wee Jamie.”
Hearing that name made her grin and straighten up.
Though he was named for his father’s best friend, someone she’d yet to meet, she could not picture the man she loved ever being “wee” or answering to “Wee Jamie” past being sent to fostering.
There was nothing “wee” about him, from his broad shoulders to the parts she’d spied in his bath, parts she would become more intimately acquainted with tonight.
Her grin fled and nervous anticipation took its place.
“Do ye ken I nursed him when he was a bairn? Three were a bit much for their mother, and I with a newborn of me own could suckle one of hers as well.”
But of course, a nurse would use whatever name pleased her.
As would a wife, and to Aftyn, he was Jamie, her love.
The man soon to become her lover. She knew what happened in the marriage bed.
She’d overheard other lasses talking about their experiences, some good, some…
not. She hoped tonight would become a cherished memory for both of them.
She’d do everything she could to please Jamie.
If only she could have more success than she’d had as a healer.
The thought made her shoulders slump just as the dressmaker sighed and snipped the last thread.
In the three days she’d been here, she’d been welcomed and provided with all that a lass could need. Aftyn smoothed a hand over the deep green kirtle Jamie’s mother had given her to be married in this afternoon.
A healer’s color, she called it. “And ye are a healer.” she said, giving Aftyn her serene smile.
That recognition, coming from a healer of Aileanna’s stature, had brought Aftyn to tears. She could not claim to be a healer like her or her son, but she tried her best and was eager to learn.
“’Tis done,” Moina announced. “Ye are ready.”
Was she? She took a breath. Aye, she was.
“Thank ye,” she said as she helped the older woman up from the low stool she’d perched on to take up the length of the dress.
Fortunately, the rest fit her well enough, and the lacing of ties in the back made it snug.
She wished she could see herself in it. But soon, she would see herself in Jamie’s eyes, and that would be enough.
As Moina left, Aileanna entered with her two daughters. Lianna was one of the triplets with Jamie and the heir, Drummond. Eilidh, two years younger, who had a twin brother, Tavish, followed.
“Ach, ye look lovely,” Aileanna told her. “And just in time. The priest is with Toran at the kirk.”
“And Jamie is there, too, pacing at the doorway and looking impatient,” Lianna said with a smile. “If ye are ready, we’ll walk with ye.”
Aftyn started to nod, then noticed Eilidh’s expression. Her brow furrowed and she kept her gaze on the floor. “What’s amiss, Eilidh?”
“I’m happy, no’ sad. I just realized that now we’ll have as many sisters as we have brothers. They’d best have a care.”
“They picked on ye two, did they?”
“Aye. Tavish is the worst. Jamie’s no’ so bad, though. Ye are lucky to have won the nicest brother.”
Aftyn thought back to the night Jamie arrived at Keith and what she’d overheard through the door to Niall’s chamber. “Nicest?”
“Most of the time,” Lianna said. “I’m sure ye’ve seen his temper a time or two.”
“Och, aye.”
“Lasses,” Aileanna interrupted, her tone firm. “We’re expected at the kirk. Now is no’ the time to frighten Aftyn away with all yer stories about yer brother.”
Aftyn’s body went cold, then hot. It was time. She was getting married today. She couldn’t help the smile that she was certain shone in her eyes. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
The wee kirk was outside the main keep, around the bailey. Aftyn didn’t see it until the last moment, but even then it barely caught her notice. Instead, her gaze went to Jamie, pacing in front of the doorway, his kilt swinging around his legs as he strode, first in one direction, then back again.
He must have noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He stopped suddenly and turned to face the group of women. His sisters snickered, but a glance from their mother put a stop to that.
“We’ll see ye inside,” Aileanna said and hurried her daughters forward, past her son, though she paused to bestow a kiss on his cheek, and into the kirk. Jamie squeezed her hand, but didn’t move. He hadn’t since he saw them, his gaze remained fastened on Aftyn.
“My God, ye are beautiful,” he told her, once the women of his family went past. He came down the steps to Aftyn and took her hands. “I’m the luckiest man in the Highlands.”
Aftyn freed one hand to stroke the side of his face. “I hope ye remember that in the future.” Then she grinned. “’Tis a lovely day for a wedding. I’m ready. Are ye?”
“Ach, lass, I’ve never been more ready. I ken I’m supposed to wait for ye at the front, but I see no reason no’ to walk ye in, do ye?”
“Now that we are together, nay. None at all.”
Inside, kneeling before the priest, Jamie consumed Aftyn’s awareness.
His sleeve brushed hers, lending her support without actually touching her until the priest had him take her hand.
She smiled up at him as he slipped a gold ring on her finger, barely feeling the metal warmed by his hand.
His flesh, his heat, consumed her. She struggled to comprehend anything the priest said until she heard the words, “Now and forever, ye are man and wife.”
Jamie helped her stand, then bent to kiss her. Aftyn inhaled his scent and his taste, determined to recall everything about this moment for the rest of her life. Jamie was hers, and she his.
“I love ye, Aftyn,” he told her after he lifted his lips from hers. “I’ll love ye forever.”
“Forever willna be long enough, my husband.”
He smiled and turned her to face his family and their guests. She hadn’t noticed on the way in, but people she’d never seen before filled the kirk. She leaned toward Jamie and whispered, “I have a lot of names to learn, aye?”
Jamie laughed at that, earning smiles from the gathered crowd. “Ye do, but I’ll help ye.”
“Ye have been helping me since we met. When do I get to help ye?”
“Freeing me from yer da’s dungeon wasna enough?”
“That was too easy. And Braden helped.”
“Well, then, wife, if ye want more of a challenge, I’ll give all ye want. Tonight, love. Tonight.”
Aftyn sat in bed, dressed in a beautifully embroidered, borrowed silk night rail, thinking back over the wedding celebration while waiting for Jamie to arrive.
She could still hear a low rumbling of voices echoing from the great hall.
With food and drink aplenty, the celebration continued without her.
Where was Jamie? She fingered the silk of her gown, hoping Jamie liked it, and liked her in it.
Since she’d left Keith with only the clothes on her back, his clan had been generous with the gifts of clothing and sundries.
Her wedding dress and this night rail were the prettiest she’d ever seen.
Moina had promised dresses more suitable for every day on the morrow. Not too early, she’d added with a wink.
Aftyn had met Jamie’s namesake and his wife, a Fletcher, at the celebration, as well as a host of other Lathan relatives, friends, and allies.
She’d gone from having hardly any family to the largest she’d ever seen.
They’d all been lovely to her, but she didn’t think she’d recall all the names she’d heard.
Many of them would leave on the morrow, so perhaps those left behind would be a more manageable, memorable number.
She was doing her best to distract herself. Jamie would be here soon, and then the wedding night would begin. He would make her truly and completely his. Part of her couldn’t wait, and part of her was terrified. Not of him, but of what they must do, and of how her life would change forever.
And yes, that made her very happy, but very nervous, too.
The door handle rattled. “Aftyn?”
Jamie’s voice warmed her and she called out, “Come in,” suddenly eager to see him.
The door opened and Jamie stepped inside, closed and locked it, then turned to regard her. “Ye were a lovely bride, but seeing ye in my bed, ye take my breath away.”
She felt her skin heat and knew she blushed. “Where did ye think I would be?”
“I hoped for right where ye are, awake and waiting for me.”
She pushed the covers aside, slipped her legs off the bed and stood, then went to Jamie, who wrapped her in his arms. “I’ll always wait for ye. I dinna want ye to leave me, ever, but if ye must, ye’ll ken where I’ll be.”
“I never want to leave ye, either, but ye ken there will be times I must fight for my clan.”
“Then ye must keep safe and return to me.”
Jamie bent his head and kissed her. “Always. I love ye, Aftyn.”
Aftyn lifted her arms and tunneled her fingers into his hair. “Then take me, husband. Make me yers forever.”
Aftyn slid the pin from his tartan sash on his broad shoulder and set it aside, then unbuckled his belt and let it drop to the floor. Yards of plaid wool followed it, puddling around him and between them, leaving Jamie in his saffron léine and boots.
Jamie untied the ribbon binding her braid and loosened her hair with gentle fingers.
He released her and stepped back out of the fabric at his feet, then removed his boots and hose.
Left only in his léine, he took her hand and led her to the side of the bed.
“I’ve waited forever to do this,” he told her, as he untied the ribbon holding her chemise together.
Then he spread it from her shoulders and let it slide down her arms.