She sighed despite herself. “I’m a bundle of nerves, Mother,” she confessed. “I daenae ken how I’ll stand before them all.”
Eilidh fetched a small glass and poured sherry from a decanter, handing it to her.
“This will calm ye,” she said gently. “And listen to me, Arianna, fear is natural, but it doesnae mean ye’re weak.”
Arianna sipped the sherry, warmth blooming in her chest.
I must be brave,even if me hands tremble, even if me heart does strange things at the thought of him.
Her mother sat beside the tub, watching her with steady eyes. “Ye are a McDonald,” Eilidh said softly. “Ye bend, but ye do nae break.”
Arianna met her gaze and felt some of the tightness ease from her shoulders. For the first time that morning, she believed she might endure what was coming.
Arianna leaned back in the bath, steam curling around her as she looked at her mother.
“Were ye afraid on yer weddin’ day?” she asked softly.
Eilidh’s lips curved into a wistful smile as she folded her hands in her lap. “Aye, terrified,” she admitted, “though I tried nae to let it show.”
Her mother’s gaze drifted to the fire as if it held the past within its flames. “I barely kent yer father at all,” Eilidh said, her voice gentle. “He was kind enough, but he was a stranger to me, and I feared I’d never feel at ease by his side.”
Arianna listened closely, surprised, for she had always thought her parents’ love had been effortless. “I stood where ye stand now, wonderin’ if I’d made a terrible mistake,” her mother added.
Arianna swallowed and hugged her arms beneath the water. “But ye loved him,” she said, half question, half hope.
Eilidh chuckled softly. “Nay at first, lass,” she said honestly. “Love came later, slow and quiet, built from small kindnesses and shared days.”
Arianna let that settle in her chest, the words warming her more than the bath.
“I mind how me hands shook when I walked to him,” Eilidh continued. “I thought everyone could see how frightened I was.” She looked back at Arianna with a knowing expression. “But yer father leaned close and whispered that he was just as nervous, and it steadied me more than aught else.”
Arianna’s heart ached at the tenderness of it, and she wondered if Ian had ever known such fear.
Eilidh reached out and squeezed Arianna’s hand. “I cannae promise ye happiness will come easy,” she said softly, “but I can promise ye that fear doesnae last forever.”
Arianna nodded, blinking back sudden tears.
I wished that I could have what me parents had, but I ken a good future with the beast is impossible. I will never love him. He will never love me.
CHAPTER FIVE
Melissa returned once the bathwater had cooled and the servants had taken the tub away, her arms laden with folded linen and ribbons. Arianna sat before the small mirror as Melissa warmed scented oil between her palms and smoothed it over her skin.
“Rose and heather,” Melissa said softly, “for calm and strength on a weddin’ day.”
Arianna breathed it in, nodding as her nerves fluttered anew.
Melissa took up the brush and began working through Arianna’s brown hair in slow, steady strokes. “Ye’ve fine hair, me lady,” she said, her tone reverent, “it takes a braid kindly.”
Arianna managed a small smile. “Me mother always braided it when I was a lass,” she replied, watching her reflection.
“Then we’ll do it proper, the old way,” Melissa said, dividing the hair with careful fingers.
As the braids took shape, Melissa spoke of tradition, her voice soothing. “McGuire brides wear their hair bound but nae hidden,” she explained, “to show honesty before God and clan.”
Her mother placed small white flowers, woven through the plaits, their scent light and clean. Arianna’s heart thudded as she realized how real it all felt.
The first layer of her gown was pulled over her head, fine linen cool against her skin. Her mother tied it snug and straightened the seams with practiced hands. “This layer’s for comfort,” she said, “for the day’s long and full of eyes.”
