Page 110 of The Falcon Laird
Christian looked up at Gavin. “I truly think that you were meant to be with us here at Kilglassie,” she said softly. “You were meant to take care of Michaelmas.”
“And to find you.” He gathered her into his arms. “From the first moment I saw you in that cage, one link after another brought us together—Jehanne, Henry, my mother, and Michaelmas.” He shook his head in wonder.
She tilted her face to him, serene and beautiful. “It is as if an angel has been watching over us, drawing all these threads together,” she said. “Mayhap it is your mother.”
He smiled at the thought. “She would have been well pleased with what has happened here.” He looked over at the tower, where the setting sun now touched fire to the cool surface of the stone. “Months ago, when I first saw this place, I felt somehow that Kilglassie was my home.”
“Even though a ruin.”
“Even then,” he said. “And even though the lady who had ruined it was an ill, angry little wildcat who would not accept help from an English knight.”
“I have learned to accept it now. And to accept him entirely for what he is, who he is. And I would never want that to change,” she said softly, and lifted her face to him.
Gavin bent to kiss her. The warm, giving press of her mouth beneath his stirred a passion inside of him that he could barely resist, even here in the courtyard, with the swirl of the twilight wind around them. “Here in this place, Christian,” he said, “I am no English knight, but a man first, and a husband—”
“And a brother,” she added, smiling.
“Aye, and a father,” he whispered into her hair.
She pulled back. “How did you know?”
“When I touched my hands to your leg today, somehow I knew,” he said. “I knew your body could not spare strength for the wound, because the child nurtured inside you needs it too.”
She laughed softly in delight. “It is so early yet, I was not sure myself.”
He loved her so much in that moment that he thought he would burst with it. Taking her under his arm, he began to walk with her. “Come here. I have something to show you.” He led her toward the great tower. “Look up there.”
She did, and gasped. The amber glow of the setting sun shone upon the new stone that had been set in place high above the doorway of the great tower.
The stone bore the carved design of two entwined letters, GF and CM. Engraved into the stone, a pair of feathered wings encompassed the letters.
“Our marriage stone,” she whispered, reaching for his hand. “When did you have it made?”
“I asked the stonemason to do this a few weeks ago. He set it in place while we were in Ayr. But with all that happened when we returned, I had no chance to show you.”
“Are the wings meant to be falcon wings for Faulkener? Or are they for the Angel Knight, as they called you in England?”
He smiled. “Others will look at this and think of Faulkener and the wings in that crest. But you and I know that the wings represent the angel you first saw when we met. I will always aspire to be as good as the fellow you once thought me to be.”
She leaned in to kiss his cheek. “My angel knight. Those wings will also remind us of the wild doves that are so much a part of Kilglassie. The doves that guarded Kilglassie’s treasure,” she said thoughtfully. “Wild doves and angel’s wings. It is fitting and beautiful up there. Thank you.”
“Let us go inside, Christian,” he said. “Let us go home. Play your harp a little for me. I might want to take a bath.” He grinned.
She smiled. “I would love that. But first I promised the children I would play for them. And then I will play the harp for you later, if you like. I know a weeping song for you.”
He lifted a brow. “I have no desire to weep, my love.”
She smiled. “But the weeping songs are ancient songs of healing. And I owe you some healing, sir.” She frowned then, touched his shoulder. “Gavin, your arm—I saw the wound you took.”
“A scratch and soon gone.” He took her face in his hands gently. “One miracle after another has come into my life since the day I found you in that cage. I have learned a good deal, Christian,” he murmured. “I had lost my faith in miracles long ago. But now—I can believe again.”
“You must believe again,” she whispered. “Your gift brings miracles for others. You will have more of them in your life, too.”
“We both have miracles coming.” He kissed her sweetly, lightly, smiled.
Then he took her hand and opened the door to the tower, and she went through with him.