Surrender to the Highlander(Terri Brisbin)(43)

He spoke of the future to no one and did not burden Margriet with  questions or declarations, but he knew what he had to do. After a month  had passed and the documents for his marriage contract arrived to be  signed, he went to see his father.



"I wondered when this would happen."

"It has crossed my mind as well, Father."

He walked to the window and looked across to the harbor. Fewer boats and  ships now as autumn was preparing to give way to winter. Soon, the sea  would be completely inhospitable to travelers. His father approached  holding out a cup of wine.

"I would accept your good wishes, Rurik."

"And I would give them, if I knew why." He waited for his father to  reveal the cause, but his father paused and met his gaze for a minute  before speaking of the cause for celebration.

"Agnes will bear a child in the spring."

Rurik smiled and held the cup up in a salute.

"I was not certain how you would take the news."

How far they'd come in the last seven months, for now his father worried  over his reactions instead of the other way round. How far they still  had to go, he thought.

"I am pleased for both of you. Agnes must be happy?"

"Aye. This is her first child and she is worrying already over the smallest things."

"There are many months to go and many more things to worry on," he added. Now, with this news, mayhap his would not be so bad.

His father got the pitcher of wine and poured them both more. Sitting down again, Erengisl spoke first. "So, when do you leave?"

"How did you know?"

"I did not know, Rurik, I only suspected." His father drank deeply and  then put the cup down. "You have dragged your feet on approving each one  of the provisions for your marriage contract. You have not built the  house you talked about in Birsay. You have not set up your own council  yet. All signs of someone not yet convinced of his place here."

"I do not belong here, Father. In spite of your welcome and your offer, this is not my life."

"Has she agreed to marry you?"

He paused, surprised by his father's ability to discern what it had  taken him months to realize. He'd done nothing in these months except  mourn the missed opportunity to claim the woman he loved. It did not  take him long to realize his mistake, but it was only recently that a  solution was possible.

"I have not asked her yet. She will not see me."

"Do you blame her?" His father watched him closely as he asked that question and even more closely as he waited for an answer.

"Nay. 'Twas my mistake that drove her into his grasp. But, I will not give up until she has forgiven me my stupidity."

"So you will learn from your father's mistakes then?"

Rurik looked at the man he never thought to call father again and  remembered the question he'd challenged him with on his arrival. A  question about the things Erengisl had done in the past and the question  of whether he'd made the correct decision. "Do you admit it was a  mistake?"

His father laughed as he met question with question. He smiled then and  nodded. "You asked if losing her was worth all I gained. My answer to  you is that love lost or given up is never worth what you gain in its  stead."

"Are you angry that I will upset all you put into place now?"

"Nay, Rurik. I am not that old yet and have many years yet to make  arrangements. And with an heir on the way, there will be other sons to  give my lands and wealth to." His father then grew serious. "So, when do  you leave?"                       
       
           



       

"I have some arrangements to work out and a bride to ask and then I hope  to be back in Lairig Dubh before the winter sets in." He could think of  nothing he'd like more than spending the long, cold winter nights in  his cottage, wrapped around Margriet. "If she'll have me."

His father stood and offered his hand. Rurik took hold of it and then pulled his father close.

"There will always be a place for you here, Rurik, if you decide you want to return."

His throat tightened with unshed tears so he simply nodded and walked  away. Just as he reached the door, his father added a comment.

"I would appreciate it, man to man, if you did not tell your mother I admitted that she was right."

"Mother? Is she here?"

"Nay. But Margriet left for Scotland two weeks ago. Gunnar said she returned to the convent in Caithness."

"And Mother?" he asked, dreading the answer he knew would come. "Please  tell me it is not so. Tell me she is not the person who has been raising  Margriet for all these years."

His father cleared his throat and nodded. "She is known now to those at the convent as Reverend Mother Ingrid."





Chapter Twenty-Two





Convent of the Blessed Virgin

Caithness, Scotland


"If she does not come out in one hour, I will burn this convent to the ground and take her by force."

The sound of his threat rang hollow, but what else was he to do?

He'd arrived here three days ago and neither Margriet or his mother  would speak to him. He pleaded, he begged, he promised, he bribed and  still she would not speak to him about his offer of marriage. He was  running out of time and options.

Sven snorted from behind him, reminding him that Elspeth had also taken  refuge within the convent's walls with Margriet. And Sven was not happy.  Rurik placed himself squarely in front of the gates and screamed her  name out again.

Finally, the sound of whispering from above gained his attention. He moved back so he could see who stood there.

"Margriet," he said through clenched teeth. "I am trying to respect the  sanctity of this convent, but you are making it difficult."

"I need more time," she said.

"The betrothal agreements have been signed by my father and yours, Margriet."

"But I have not given my consent, Rurik."

"Open the gates, so that we might discuss this privately."

"Do you swear not to force me from the convent?"

"Rurik!" Sven yelled. "Swear to anything, just get those damned gates open and get my wife!"

In spite of the hurried marriage after a nonexistent courtship, Sven had  taken to married life like a pig in s … mud. Now, separated from Elspeth  for these last three weeks, he was not in good humor. Surrendering to  defeat, Rurik leaned his head against the gate and gave her the words  she wanted.

"Yes, Margriet, I swear it. Now, please open the gates!"

He heard the bar lifted from the gates and stepped away as they swung  open. He waited for Margriet to climb down from the tower and arrive  there. Once there, he walked up to her and kissed her, as he'd been  itching to do for all the months he could or dared not. And then he  kissed her again. After the third time, Sven swept past him to claim his  wife for the same kind of passionate reunion    .

"Rurik?"

Another voice intruded into his wooing but he really did not want to stop for this one.

"Rurik?"

He lifted his mouth from hers only long enough to let her breathe and  then he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her breathless again.

"Rurik!"

He stopped for a moment and answered the call now. If he knew his  mother, and he did even though several years had passed since their last  meeting, she would continue until she had his attention.

"'Tis the custom to gain the bride's consent before the next steps are taken."

"Yes, Mother," he answered, knowing it would do no good to argue at this point.

Rurik released Margriet, being careful not to let her fall. He looked at  the woman he loved, the woman who was worth giving up everything he'd  ever wanted in his life, for he'd gained more than he lost in loving  her. Now, if she would only consent to marrying him, they could proceed  with all the good parts.                       
       
           



       

"Margriet, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Although most of the trouble she'd put him through by fleeing back to  the convent and using his mother as a guard were not really trouble at  all, he did not want her to think this was not the most serious thing  he'd done in his life.

"I know that I did not live up to your trust. And that I should have  protected you against … " He hesitated to even speak the name. "But I  promise that I will never … "

She reached up and covered his mouth with her hand then, stopping him from rattling on about his mistakes.

"Will you love me, Rurik?" she asked in a soft voice.

"I do love you."

"Will you trust me?"

"I do trust you, Margriet."

"Will you do all the things that Elspeth has told me about when we spend our long winter nights together?"