Page 78 of Highland Slayer
“A man,” she finally said. “He grabbed you. Did he hurt you?”
Mabel couldn’t believe the woman was thinking of someone other than herself after what she’d been through. “I am perfectly well, dearest,” she said. “Thanks to you, I am unharmed. But you have some recovery ahead of you. Do you recall what happened after the man grabbed me?”
“A little,” Anaxandra said. “I tried to help.”
Mabel wasn’t sure how much she truly remembered, so she wasn’t going to remind her about the stabbing or the brutality. She didn’t see the need. “You did splendidly,” she assured her. “The threat is over. You needn’t worry about anything other than getting well now, I promise. All will be well.”
Estevan kissed Anaxandra’s hand again. “I’ll be with ye the entire time,” he said. “I’ll not leave yer side, not for a moment.”
Anaxandra squeezed his hand. “You will be the best medicine for me,” she said. “But how is everyone else? The men injured in the battle? Did the Ormsfolk return?”
“Nay,” Estevan said. He didn’t want to delve into what had ultimately happened to the Ormsfolk, at least not now. “No more battles. There is no more threat.”
“But what of Leonore?” Anaxandra said. “Won’t the Ormsfolk come back for her?”
Estevan shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “Not any longer. In fact, she is feeling much better and I believe Mateo is going tae escort her home. She is a queen, after all, and requires a proper escort. My father believes it is a good idea.”
“Will she be safe with only one knight as protection?”
Estevan’s eyebrows lifted. “Have yeseenMatty?” he said. “The man is an army all by himself. Of course she’ll be safe. He’ll make sure she gets home.”
“That is good,” Anaxandra said. Then she moved her head a little, looking around. “Where is Mother Michael?”
Estevan shook his head, looking to his mother, who answered. “In her chapel,” Mabel replied. “I just left her there. She and Lares are discussing the possibility of the Earls of Torridon becoming patrons of St. Margaret’s. We would make donations to help repair your portcullis and supply new equipment. We would help feed the foundlings. St. Margaret’s does important work, you know. The Templar nuns’ reputation has clouded their true purpose, but I have spent time withMother Michael. I have seen the good work that goes on here. It is to be commended.”
Anaxandra smiled weakly. “I am glad you have noticed,” she said. “I had always hoped someone would. We need a patron badly. I had always hoped the man I married would donate money to the abbey to provide things that we need.”
Mabel patted her on the shoulder, very gently. “Not only will the man you marry donate money, but so will his family,” she said. Then she looked at her son. “Well? Youaregoing to marry her, aren’t you? The woman risked her life to save me, Estevan. The least you can do is marry her for her efforts.”
She was beginning to bully him, and he started laughing. “Am I tae understand that ye approve?”
Mabel grunted. “I approve of her more than I approve of you,” she said. “Youmay not be good enough for her, but I suppose you’ll do.”
“Thank ye, Mother,” he said, miffed. “How kind of ye.”
With a gracious nod to her son, she bent over and kissed Anaxandra on the forehead. “Hurry and get well, my dear,” she said. “Zora is already planning your wedding, so we must not disappoint her.”
With that, she headed out of the sanctuary, which was nearly void of people except for the few men still recovering from their war wounds. That left Estevan and Anaxandra alone, holding hands, smiling as the rising sun began to stream in through the sanctuary windows.
“Ye heard what she said,” Estevan said. “We must hurry and get married.”
Anaxandra held his hand as tightly as she could. “Is this real?” she murmured. “Are we truly to be married?”
“That is what my mother said. And we dare not disobey her.”
Anaxandra managed a chuckle, weak as she was, but the sunrays streaming in through the windows caught her attention.The had landed just a few feet from Estevan, lighting up the floor of the sanctuary like beams from heaven.
It was a life-changing moment.
It was a life-changing day.
“Everything looks different,” she said softly. “The sanctuary, the world. I said once that I believed God put Leonore on the riverbank for a reason. Had she not been there, you would have never come to St. Margaret’s. She was the catalyst for greater things to come.”
Estevan nodded. “Life is strange sometimes,” he said. “It brings ye things ye never know ye needed.”
“And you needed me?”
Leaning forward, he kissed her gently on the mouth. “It has brought me my destiny,” he whispered. “My destiny is ye.”
