They set off together through the city streets. Evan turned his head constantly, taking everything in with wide-eyed amazement—glass shop windows, flashing traffic lights, crowds of people walking briskly past with phones in their hands.
“This is...incredible,” he breathed.
They crossed the road and made their way toward Princes Street Gardens. The day was warm and bright, spring sunlight filtering through the hazy cloud. When they reached the grassy slope near the Scott Monument, Ruby slowed and her heart fluttered with excitement.
Waiting there beneath the trees was a small group of familiar faces. Her parents. Friends she hadn’t seen in months. A simple ribbon arch had been tied between two trees, flowers woven through it.
Ruby’s mother pressed a hand to her mouth when she spotted them. “Oh my goodness! They’re here!”
Ruby laughed and ran forward. The reunion was warm and joyful—hugs, laughter, curious glances toward Evan as Ruby introduced him to everyone. He handled it all with quiet charm, though Ruby could see the wonder still flickering in his eyes. The story was that he was from the Shetland Isles and that she’d moved up there to be with him. She didn’t like the lie but it was better than trying to explain the truth.
Soon everyone gathered around the small arch and Ruby’s heart began thumping against her ribs. This was it. The day she’d been dreaming of. It wasn’t an official wedding—they would visit the register office later to make it legal—but this ceremony mattered to Ruby because it was here—in these gardens—that everything had begun.
She and Evan stepped up to the arch and faced each other. Ruby looked into Evan’s eyes, her heart feeling impossibly full. After Daniel she’d never thought to be here again, willing to bindherself to another for life. But Evan had changed that. Hewasher life. Now. Always.
Niall cleared his throat and stepped forward, looking between Ruby and Evan, a faintly amused expression crossing his face.
“Well,” he said, “this isnae something I ever expected to be doing in the middle of a garden in our fair capital. But here we are.”
A ripple of laughter passed through the small gathering.
He held up the ribbon that would bind their hands. “In the Highlands, a handfasting is a promise. A joining of two lives, freely given and freely accepted. It isnae about ownership, nor obligation, but about the choice two people make to walk through life side by side.”
He looked first at Evan. “Evan Campbell, do ye promise to stand beside Ruby, in whatever world ye may find yerselves? To face the future with her, to share her burdens and her joys, and to hold fast to the life ye are building together?”
“I do,” Evan said quietly.
Niall nodded and turned to Ruby.
“Ruby Douglas, do ye promise to stand beside Evan? To walk with him through the years ahead, wherever the road may lead, and to keep faith with the man ye have chosen?”
Ruby smiled. “Always.”
Niall gently wrapped the ribbon around their joined hands. “Then before the people who love ye, and beneath the open sky, I bind these hands as a symbol of the promise ye have made.” He tied the ribbon loosely. “May yer days be long, yer laughter frequent, and yer troubles few. May ye face whatever comes not alone, but together.”
He stepped back with a smile. “And now, I believe the custom is that ye kiss.”
Evan cupped her face, his eyes shining. “I love ye, Ruby Campbell.”
Ruby Campbell. She liked the sound of that.
“Right back at you,” she whispered.
He dipped his head, pressed his lips to hers, and Ruby felt the world fall into alignment around her.
Later, as the celebration continued, she slipped quietly away and wandered across the grass and sat down on a familiar bench. The very one where she had first met Irene MacAskill.
She pulled the small book from her pocket. Her fingers brushed its worn cover thoughtfully. It had all started with finding this tiny book in a second-hand shop in the Old Town. Funny how so small a thing can lead to such huge results.
“So,” a familiar voice said suddenly. “How did it all turn out?”
Ruby jumped, and found Irene MacAskill standing beside the bench, looking exactly as she had the first time Ruby met her—dark-eyed, wise, and slightly mischievous.
Ruby pressed a hand to her racing heart. “Irene,” she muttered. “You made me jump. You move as silently as a cat, do you know that?”
“It’s been mentioned,” Irene said with a wink. She lowered herself onto the bench beside Ruby. “So. Here we are. Back where it all started. Are ye happy where yer daft little ritual led ye?”
Ruby looked across the gardens. Evan was standing with her father now, trying to explain something about Highland cattle while her mother listened with fascination. Charlie and Niall were nearby, laughing about something.
