He nodded and turned to go.
"I can ride a horse," she said."If it would make the journey faster."
He paused and looked back at her."'Tis four days to Edinburgh.Given yer discomfort ye're better off in the cart than astride a horse."
Their eyes met.A beat of silence.Una felt the color rise in her cheeks when she realized what he meant and looked away first.She nodded and said nothing more.
He went to his horse.
She settled the Stewart arisaidh around her legs, tucked the sewing kit into her lap, and threaded a needle before they had cleared the inn yard.
***
THE MEN MOVED OUT ANDUna noticed it immediately.
Or rather, she noticed their absence.There had been fifteen of them in the yard, she had counted out of habit, and now there were four visible on the road: Cormac riding on her left, Seumas a length behind, Ros on the right, and Donal at the rear with the pack horse.The others were simply gone.No sound, no signal.
She looked at the tree line on both sides of the road.Nothing moved.
"Where are the rest of yer men?"she asked.
"About," Cormac said.
"About where?"
He glanced at her."Ahead.Behind.In the woods.Ye'll not see them unless something requires it."
Una looked at the empty road and the still tree line and felt the hair on her arms rise slightly.She had traveled with these men for days and thought she understood how they operated.She understood now that she had seen only what they chose to show her.
"They've been doing this the whole journey, haven't they," she said.
"Aye," Cormac replied.
She absorbed that.Then she picked up her needle and went back to her stitching.
"I see," she said.
Seumas, riding behind, caught Cormac's eye and said nothing.But he was smiling.
***
THE ROAD SOUTH WASquiet, the morning cool, the cart moving at an easy pace.Cormac rode alongside her close enough to talk but he continued to scan their surroundings.
Una sewed as they talked.
"Cormac, what matters must ye see to in Edinburgh?"
"I'm just going to visit an old friend.He often has work for me and my men."
"And how long will we remain there?Will we need to camp in the woods?"
Cormac chuckled.He was going to have to tell her soon that he was not just a nomadic raider and that her life had changed irrevocably by marrying him.But for now he enjoyed the peace of knowing he had found a woman who accepted him as he was."I have accommodation in the city.I'm sure ye'll find it comfortable.We'll not need to camp in the woods, love."
Una nodded and got back to her sewing.She had decided on a coin purse for Cormac: flat and wide-mouthed, one he could wear on his belt, sturdy enough for hard use.Dark linen from material she had found in Bella's boist, buttonhole stitch along the edges.She intended to embroider his initials in gold thread on one face when it was complete.
Cormac could not keep his gaze from Una.She sat in the cart with the Stewart arisaidh pinned at her shoulder now and her needle moving and her head bent in concentration, and he thought: I do not regret a single moment of any of it.Not the road, not the inn, not the wedding.He knew, with the same certainty he gave to every decision that mattered, that he had fallen in love with his wife.
He looked at the road ahead and felt only contentment.
