Page 43 of Scotlander

He shot one back that said, Fine. Happy wife, happy life.

She grinned at him, clearly pleased that she’d ‘won’ that round.

Oblivious, Ranald took hold of his right hand, then Willa’s left, and pressed them together. He asked them to hold their wrists just so, then began a rather impressive swirling motion that swiftly became several rounds of soft cord fastening their wrists together.

‘This cord,’ continued Ranald in his sonorous voice, ‘holds not only the man-made fibres you see before you, but the fibres of hope and love. The fibres of promise for your new life together that these people, your friends and family, have brought here today, giving their gifts openly as they witness this, the joining of your two lives in marriage.’

Finn heard one of the women sniff and the tugging of tissues from a packet.

Willa glanced up at him, her lips pressed together as if she was stifling a giggle. They shared a look that, stupidly, made him feel closer to her. As if they were sharing a secret no one else knew.

‘This cord now binds you to one another.’ Ranald tied a single knot in the rope. ‘Thus bound . . . may the knot remain untroubled for as long as your love shall last.’

Willa’s hands were properly shaking now. She wasn’t falling under the cosplay spell, was she?

‘May it be granted,’ Ranald crowed, ‘that what’s done in the presence of the heavens, may not be undone by man.’

Willa gave a nervous laugh. ‘Sounds ominous.’

‘Hold tight to one another,’ Ranald shouted in response, ‘in good times and in bad . . . and watch,’ he lowered his voice for effect, ‘as the thistle endures the seasons, so too will your love strengthen and grow.’

‘Got it,’ said Willa, her tone on a par with the spinning finger indicating it was time to move past the flowery stuff and skip to the end.

‘Is this the kiss-the-bride part?’ Finn asked when Ranald just stood there, staring at them.

Ranald’s face lit up as if Finn had just reminded him of his forgotten cue. ‘Indeed it is.’

He’d been kidding, but . . . oh god. Dilemma time. Should he actually kiss her?

Maybe a peck on the cheek would do.

Willa eyes shot to his lips.

Christ on a bike. Was he actually meant to kiss her? She was still stinging from a very public rejection. He didn’t know the ins and outs of it, but he knew hurt when he saw it and he didn’t want to add to her pain.

‘Blood of thy blood, bone of thy bone.’ Ranald shot a meaningful glance at Finn. ‘You may now kiss the bride.’

Chapter Sixteen

‘Why do they call this a wedding breakfast when it’s actually a wedding lunch?’

‘Is it traditional to have sausage rolls?’

‘It is if you’re taking it as a wink and a nudge for what’s going to happen later, lassie!’

‘Trevor! You big hunk of spunk! I thought this was strictly “look don’t touch”.’

‘What’s brown sauce? Is it like barbecue sauce?’

Willa half-listened as the new couples excitedly exchanged questions and answers, proposing toast after toast even though their pewter flagons were charged with tea or instant coffee. ChiChi was giggling like a madwoman as her new husband crooked his arm into a strongman flex, then asked her to hang from it. Which she did. Jules and her new wife were dissecting the wedding bough and having a very deep discussion about one of the plants which had bright red, fairy-tale coloured berries on it.

Jennifer was pawing through her wicker arm basket and unearthing a needle and thread, insisting her strapping young husband take off his jacket so she could stitch on a button that had gone flying when he’d scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the chapel after they’d been pronounced man and wife.

Jeff and Rosa were staring dreamily into one another’s eyes, as were Gabe and Lachlan. If you could catch diabetes from watching couples so sweet on one another they practically oozed sugar, now was her chance.

But Willa was too busy figuring out how to solve a teensy tiny problem.

Her lips were trapped back in time. About forty minutes ago, if anyone wanted to know when the clock stopped. She couldn’t stop touching them, as if needing constant affirmation that they were still there.