Jamie pulled back only enough to beam up at him once more, then looked down at the dress in her hands as though the gift had only just become real.
“Can I wear it now?” she asked, already bouncing on the balls of her feet.
Frederick’s mouth shifted. “I suspect ye mean to whether I answer or no.”
Jamie nodded solemnly. “Aye.”
That nearly made Iona laugh.
“Then go on,” Frederick said. “Let us see it properly once ye have won the battle with the sleeves.”
Jamie gasped in delight at the thought of battle rather than buttons and darted past him toward the smaller adjoining chamber that had been set aside for her things. The dress was gathered to her chest with both hands, her steps quick and uneven with excitement.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then his gaze dropped to the remaining parcel in his hand.
“I brought another thing,” he said.
Iona’s smile deepened, gentler now. “Did ye?”
“Aye.” He stepped closer and held it out to her. “Forye.”
It was much smaller than the bundle he had brought for Jamie, wrapped more neatly too, as though he had taken greater care to keep whatever lay inside from being jostled or bent. Iona took it slowly, more aware than she wished to be of how close he stood while she undid the fold of cloth.
The bracelet caught the light at once.
It was delicate without being frail, silver worked in a graceful line, with a pale green stone set at its center that made her think,oddly enough, of morning light through shallow water. It was finer than anything anyone had ever bought for her. Finer than anything she would have imagined for herself.
She looked up. “Frederick.”
His expression remained steady.
“What is this for?” she asked softly.
He did not answer at once. One corner of his mouth moved as though he considered giving some evasive reply and then thought better of it.
“It is a courting gift,” he said.
Her fingers curled around the bracelet lightly, as if holding it too tightly might somehow break the moment. A courting gift. Chosen specifically for her. For this exact moment. Intentionally.
“A— A courting gift… does this mean ye still want to marry me?” She nearly tripped over each word.
She had not meant for the question to sound as soft as it did. Nor had she meant for it to carry so much beneath it. Yet there it was all the same, and once spoken, it could not be taken back.
Frederick looked at her for a long beat. The answer, when it came, was quiet and steady.
“Aye, lass,” he said. “It is our duty to do so.”
The words should have struck her differently than they did.
There had been a time, not long ago at all, when duty had been exactly what she needed from him. Something that asked for no great faith in feeling and no dangerous hope beyond what could be plainly offered and plainly kept.
But now, hearing it again, she understood that the words had not changed when she had.
And yet, somehow, they still moved her. Because there was duty in his voice, yes, but there was something else beneath it now, something no less steady for not being named. She could hear it. She could see it in the way he watched her, as though the answer mattered more than he would ever say.
Her smile came before she could stop it, and she set the bracelet gently on the coverlet beside them and stepped forward.