Page 92 of Her Highland Prophecy
“I like it,” Joan said quietly and Diana smiled at the quiet girl.
“Will it be ready in time for the wedding, do you think?” she asked the seamstress who was taking note of the changes that needed to be made before Diana could wear it. With a final note she allowed Diana to remove the dress and replace it with one of her regular gowns.
“Aye, Lass, dinna fash,” Gordain’s mother said, patting her hand. “Now tell me, how is me Son? He scarce talks to me anymore and these last few weeks have changed much.”
Diana nodded in acknowledgement as she started tying the laces on her bodice. “He is as well as he can. Bhaltair’s betrayal was so unexpected that he was still struggling to understand what had happened when he killed the man. I think he feels guilty, even though Bhaltair tried to have us both killed more than once.”
“He and Bhaltair were as close as brothers since they were wee bairns. Bhaltair’s Mither would send him to us because he and Gordain would not abide being separated,” Lady Ealasaid explained, brushing Diana’s hands away from her laces and doing them up herself as she continued. “If I ken me Son, he is also mourning the brother he thought he had.”
“It was unforgivable. And to think that I fancied him!” Mabel exclaimed, almost as if she had been bursting to share that bit of information.
Diana exchanged looks with Lady Ealasaid and they both bit their lips and looked away quickly. Despite her relative maturity in so many things Mabel remained, at heart, a fourteen-year-old girl. If she did not already love both her and her twin to bits, that last moment would have sealed it.
Gordain’s mother placed her hands on Diana’s shoulders and turned the younger woman to face her.
“It will take time.”
Diana could only nod in response.
“I know. It’s just that between that and the Laird’s responsibilities, he scarcely has any time to breathe lately. Thankfully, the money from selling the whisky helped with the finances, or I’m sure it would be even worse.”
Lady Ealasaid raised an eyebrow at her.
“And why do ye not make him take the time?” she asked, sparking an idea inside Diana.
“I think I might,” she said and then darted out of the room, the laughs of the three women echoing around her.
Gordain was still looking bewildered when, an hour later she pulled him to the stables where she had requested the stable hands prepare Taranis for a ride. He had insisted they go by his room so he could retrieve his things and by the time they reached the stables, the horse was pawing the ground impatiently.
Diana let go of his hand and mounted the horse, before turning and waving at the rest of the women that she could see standing by the doors of the Castle, laughing. Gordain climbed up behind her and then led them out of the Castle and into the woods.
They were riding double on Taranis again. Although she had returned with her pretty bay horse when she had come back from Ballachulish she always preferred to ride double with him. It reminded her of their beginning and she relished every opportunity to keep him as close as she could.
“Now will ye tell me why ye stole me away?” he asked when they had been riding for a few minutes. They hadn’t talked about their destination, but she was willing to bet that he was heading to their loch.
“I was trying on my dress earlier,” she said, looking up at him lovingly. “It was suggested to me that I should steal you away from your work.”
“Suggested?”
“Implied heavily, by your own Mother. So really, you can blame her if you want. She basically pushed me out of the door,” Diana said, her voice teasingly fake by the end of it.
“Is me Mither torturing ye, Princess?” he asked, his voice light mocking. She was thrilled that she could pull him away from the gloom that seemed to surround him these days.
“Never,” she answered with a smile. “Your mother is lovely, Gordain.”
“Och, ye are only saying that because she hasnae blistered yer backside.”
Diana smiled. His mother was so small that she could scarcely imagine that. Gordain must have outstripped her in height when he was very young, making the imagined visual even funnier.
“I’ll just make sure not to do anything to warrant such a thing,” she said in a haughty voice and then dissolved into giggles at Gordain’s incredulous look.
It felt good to see him laugh. He had taken his duties as Laird so seriously that she had barely seen him smile, let alone laugh in several days. She was grateful that he sought her out for her advice. They had spent many hours debating how best to use her knowledge of the future to improve their crops finances.
They arrived at the loch and released Taranis to graze nearby as they settled onto their favorite piece of grass.
The days were growing steadily chillier as the summer turned to autumn, but the sun was still shining, and the couple soaked up as much of it as they could as they sat there wrapped in each other’s arms, sharing the occasional kiss.
“I have something for ye,” Gordain said, nearly an hour after they arrived.
