“I am going to raise bairns to know Him even more than I do.” She smiled at him and bit into a fig. She demanded her hand not to shake.
Father Timothy and Galeren were smiling at her. They all were.
“Lionell, I pray that you are in their lives, in good spirit and health.”
“Alas,” he pouted. “Ye ask fer too much, lass.”
“You are a MacPherson, son of the clever warrior who infiltrated enemy armies and brought down more castles than anyone else. Remember the stock from which you come. No one ever gave up.”
She caught Torin MacPherson’s soulful gaze on her. He smiled. She felt a little lightheaded.
The feeling didn’t change throughout the day when she was busy meeting the rest of Galeren’s family. She strolled outside with Galeren and Daffodil beneath the wooden walkways high above the ground.
His uncles were the kind of handsome that makes a woman go warm. Especially Cain. He was still rugged and fit from, she guessed, practicing his swordplay every day—and playing with his grandchildren.
Galeren shared a brief, private word with them about her uncle and then took her to meet Cain’s son, Tristan, and his new wife, Rose. They had arrived last eve just before Galeren had brought her home. She and Rose got along right away and promised to find each other later.
Galeren had Lionell sent for and she watched Galeren practice with him. Lionell swung his sword wildly, as if he were off balance. Galeren pointed it out and had him start with the very basic of swings. Galeren was patient, as he’d been with her. It made her heart swell with pride over him.
She spoke with him between meeting up with everyone.
“What d’ye think of everythin’ so far?”
She looked up and around at the people coming from or going to the market.
“’Tis like nothing I have ever seen before. No one is begging for food. No one is hungry or alone.” Her gaze settled on his and he nodded.
“As long as we are blessed with enough, we share what we have.”
“I feel happy here,” she told him. “Like this could be our home.”
“D’ye know,” he asked, coming closer while they walked, “sometimes when ye smile, yer nose bunches up just a wee bit and yer tongue parts yer lips. The sight of ye and yer fiery hair fallin’ over yer brow drives me mad.”
She pressed her side against him. She wanted to be even closer—inside him.
She coiled her fingers through his. “Sometimes when you look at me, I can see myself there, happy and adored in your eyes.”
“Aye.”
“You are everything I have ever wanted,” she told him. “God heard my prayers and prepared us for this day.”
He kissed the top of her head. “There is somethin’ I wish to show ye,” he said and pulled her away by the hand.
“Where are we going?” she asked on a melody of laughter.
“Ye shall see.” He hurried with her back to the middle manor house and pulled her to the stairs.
She let him lead her forward. Her feet felt as if they weren’t touching the ground. If she had wings, she would have taken off.
They ran up the stairs and through a small hall to a door. Galeren opened it, letting sunlight spill into the hall in golden rays. Some of them fell over him.
The bright doorway led outside to the wooden walkways high above the ground.
“Come.” He held out his hand and Silene thought he looked like an angel, ethereal and beautiful, illuminated in the shafts of light.
She took his hand and stepped out into the full sunlight.
They were about twenty feet up, above the world. She looked to her left and saw the forest colored in greens and golds and oranges.