He glowered at her, causing her to chuckle.
“Ye’re grumpy in the mornin’,” she teased. “See! I’m learnin’ more about ye already.”
His mouth twitched, and she decided it was because he was fighting a smile as she turned to face her family.
Michael and Cody had joined her sisters, the four of them standing in a line and watching her with varying expressions that ranged from happiness to worry.
She hadn’t yet hugged Cody, so she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around his broad frame.
“Willnae be the same without ye here,” he murmured in her ear as he squeezed her tightly.
“I ken,” Marissa answered. “Now, ye’re goin’ to have to use yer own imagination when ye want a story.”
He pulled back, stepping out of her hug and giving her a wry smile. “I’ll never survive it.”
She chuckled before turning to Michael. He was holding his arms out to her, and she gladly stepped into them.
“Ye are goin’ to make a bonnie bride,” he said, giving her a squeeze.
When she’d first met her brother-in-law, Marissa would have described him as a gruff man of very few words. But, over the years, the more she’d gotten to know him, the more she saw the kindness inside him.
She was certain there were still those who would call him gruff or even a brute. But she knew the truth, and that brutishness was all to protect the people he loved.
It was that kindness and protection that radiated from him now.
“Ye’ll have to see it for yerself,” she murmured back to him, giving him one final squeeze before stepping back.
Her eyes flicked to her sisters. Freya and Abigail were standing side by side, their eyes shimmering with tears. She didn’t think she could withstand another embrace from them, not without falling apart. Already the tears were stinging the back of her throat.
But Marissa knew that she couldn’t leave without hugging them again. One last time.
They seemed to think the same because the sisters had not spoken a word before all three of them were running at one another with outstretched arms. They collided in a group embrace, their heads bowed as their shoulders shook.
“Ye take care, baby sister,” Freya said.
The three of them pressed their foreheads together in a triangle. Tears rolled down her cheeks, trickling down Marissa’s nose and falling to the dirt between them. They mingled with her sisters’ tears.
“And ye take care of our baby sister,” Marissa said pointedly.
Abigail laughed, and Marissa felt more than saw Freya nod her head.
“Alright, I cannae delay this any longer,” Marissa spoke. “Me betrothed is anxious to get home, and I’m excited to see it.”
The trio gave each other one final squeeze, and then they stepped back.
This was it. The moment Marissa would leave behind her home and venture into the unknown.
With a final smile, she turned toward the carriage and away from the castle she had called home for so long.
She had expected Arthur to be in the carriage with her. But, surprisingly, he sat high and proud in the driver’s seat.
“Did ye nae want a driver?” she asked as she walked toward the door.
A servant lingered by, pulling the door open for her as she approached.
Arthur looked back. “Yer braither-in-law has done enough by providin’ the carriage,” he answered. “I can drive meself and me wife home.”
Marissa felt like she wanted to argue. It would be nice to ride with him, to use the time to get to know him. Then again, she supposed she would have the rest of her life to do that.Andhe had promised her five outings before their wedding.
