Jirvel smiled, noticed the girls were coming and went back to work. "Love…'tis the only thing in life worth the wait."
*
William and Andrina were married the week after, in the village for all to see and Kannak, her new best friend, attended her while Jirvel pleaded a headache so she could avoid Ronan. After the ceremony and the feast, William carried his beloved off on his horse and took her to his cottage.
It was not the only thing worth celebrating and not long after the newlyweds were last seen, Macoran's guard gathered in front of the keep, loaded Mistress Macoran, her sons and her things on horses and escorted them out of the village to begin the two days of travel to the Brodie hold. The clan wanted to shout for joy, but they held their tongues out of respect for their adored laird. Even so, there was a great deal of gladness among them and especially in the happy eyes and voice of the widow Sarah.
A short time later, Macoran mounted his horse and Stefan was certain he had gone to see Jirvel, so he lingered, talking to Blair and Fergus until Kannak started to glare at him. Still, he wanted to give Jirvel time to get a promise from Macoran not to betroth her.
*
Somehow Jirvel suspected Macoran would come and even brushed her auburn hair a second time before she loosely braided it and let it hang down the middle of her back. She put on her new red frock, straightened it and then sat down at the table to wait. There was to be a war between them and she fully intended to win it. But the time passed slowly and he did not come. At length, she decided to go to the river, draw a pail of water and see to her flowers. Never before had she felt like planting flowers - not while she was married to Eogan and it gave her great pleasure to do so now that he was gone.
She was just coming back from the river when she spotted him. This time she would not curtsey and hoped he would take that as a sign of determination. For the past few hours she debated her approach and thought of a range of methods to win her battle from smiling sweetly, to running her sword through him. But just now he looked so handsome seated on his horse, she had to look away to keep from letting her determination dissolve. After all these years, excitement still rushed through her veins at the sight of him.
Macoran watched her carefully pour the water around her flowers and wondered if he dare get down. She did not smile but neither did she glare at him in her normal manner when he came to see her. He decided to take a chance and slowly dismounted, but he kept the reins in his hand instead of tying his horse to a tree branch.