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And everyone cheered.
Everyone but Kenna.
Chapter Twenty-Four
A DREAM COME TRUE
Standing in Keir’s embrace, Sarah savored the echoing voices around her, the cheers of the people, the smiles upon their faces.Is this a dream?Indeed, it felt surreal. Never had Sarah experienced this kind of approval, this kind of support. She had been so terrified to be faced with rejection that she was utterly unprepared for this moment.
Tears streamed down her face, and she clung to Keir as though he were a lifeboat and she in danger of drowning.
“Are ye all right, little wisp?” Keir murmured, his lips brushing against her temple as he lowered his head. “Ye look quite fetching with that blush.”
Sarah laughed, brushing the tears from her eyes. “I was so afraid, and now…” She shrugged, words failing her.
Keir nodded, the look in his eyes as always one of understanding. “I know, lass. But now ye see, that ’twas unnecessary. Ye’re safe here. I swear it.”
Again, Sarah sank into his arms, savoring the warmth of his embrace, the promise she felt in the way he cradled her in his arms.
And then voices rose once more, growing louder, demanding more stories. Keir chuckled, waving them away; yet people would not allow him. Sarah could already feel him pull away, loath to leave the warmth of his embrace, when his grandmother rose to her feet and the hall instantly quieted.
Her eyes shone warmly as she looked at her grandson, a smile upon her lips. Then she inhaled a deep breath, lifted her chin and met the crowd. “As you all know, decades ago I faced an arranged match,” she began softly, her voice quiet, and a hush fell over the hall as everybody strained to listen. “Though a duke’s son, he was a good man.” She chuckled, and many joined in. “He was titled, rich and kind, and at least among theton, that was considered by many to be a fortunate match.” With expectant eyes, she looked around the crowd. “But is that the true definition of marriage? The absence of suffering?” Slowly, Keir’s grandmother shook her head, her brown eyes warm and yet defiant. “Back then, I was a young girl, and without my friend’s encouragement, I would have agreed to the match because I loved my parents, because I wished to honor them, because I did not believe I had a choice.”
Sarah exhaled a slow breath as Keir’s grandmother met her eyes, understanding shone in them. Indeed, Sarah remembered well how she had felt not too long ago when she had thought it her duty to sacrifice herself in order to protect her family and do what society demanded of her. Yet more than that compelling sense of duty, it had been the deepest hopelessness that had steered Sarah in those days. She had been convinced that there had been but a single path for her to walk. That there was no other choice.
Now, she knew differently.
“But there’s always a choice,” Keir’s grandmother continued, her voice strong and hopeful. “My friend Edie fought to convince me of it. She stood at my side and pushed me to believe in a better tomorrow, to fight for what I wanted.” A wistful smile came to her lips, and her eyes glowed with distant memories. “The moment I saw him, I knew I wanted Cameron MacKinnear.”
The hall cheered loudly, clapping and stomping in approval and excitement.
Sarah laughed along with the others, delighted by this wonderful story. Her eyes swept around the hall, seeing many smiling faces. Even Kate looked hopeful, for even though her own path had led her into an arranged marriage, she had found a way out. A new life stretched out in front of her, and now it was her choice which way to go.
“I knew I wanted him,” his grandmother continued to tell her story, “and yet I knew I could not have him.” Instantly, people’s voices died down, their expressions stilling, something expectant in their eyes. “My match was arranged, after all, and we all met at a house party near the Scottish border so that I might get to know my betrothed.” She sighed, shaking her head as though she still could not believe the situation she had found herself in all those years ago. “I found him to be a kind and decent man, and yet I knew within moments that we were not a good match. Yet what could I do?”
Silence lingered, and Sarah could see upon everyone’s faces they were eager to hear more—even though, undoubtedly, they had all heard this story a hundred times.
Keir’s grandmother chuckled, small creases framing her eyes. “Quite frankly, I did not know what to do, and without my friend, I would have done nothing. I would not have known what to do without breaking my parents’ hearts, without disappointing my fiancé, without breaking all the rules and condemning myself.”
“What did ye do then?” Old Arthur demanded in his raspy voice. “How come ye’ve never told us that part of the story?”
Many chuckled, as did Keir’s grandmother. “Well, you’ve never asked me for more details, have you?”
Now, though, they did. Clapping loudly, people encouraged her to continue, to share the details of how her match had come to be all those decades ago.
“Did she ever tell you?” Sarah murmured to Keir, looking up into his blue eyes. After all, she remembered him speaking to her of this only weeks ago when they had stopped at an inn on their way to her sister’s estate.
He grinned at her. “Aye, I always loved the story. I suppose it felt rather personal, and I never shared it beyond the close circle of my family. I always wondered why she never spoke of it at our gatherings.”
Keir’s grandmother lifted a hand, and immediately the voices in the hall died down again, all eyes expectant. “Well, in retrospect, it was all quite simple. In order to free me from my match without disappointing either my parents or my fiancé, my dear old friend… simply saw to it that he fell in love.”
“With ye?” a raspy, old voice asked from somewhere.
“Of course not, ye old fool!” another responded lightning quick, followed by what sounded like a slap upside the head.
People roared with laughter, and Sarah wished that this evening would never end.
“As fate would have it,” Keir’s grandmother explained, a touch of disbelief upon her face as though even after all these years she could still not believe that everything had played out the way it had. “The woman of his dreams happened to be at that very same house party that year. And so, my dear old friend, who could always tell with a single glance what lived in another’s heart, ensured that their paths would cross, that they would have moments alone together, that they fell in love.” She shrugged, a wide grin upon her wrinkled face. “To her, it was quite simple, quite obvious. To me,” her gaze moved to Keir and then Sarah, “it was nothing short of magic.”
