There Your Heart Will Be Also (30 page)

The keep was abuzz with the news of Wilt's death even before they reached the
gate
.
Sarra's body was tense with nerves.
The time for truth was near.
Charism cornered her as soon as her feet hit the ground.

“Come with me
,
maid Sarra.”

Sarra
knew
better than to argue
. Without a word, she followed Charism,
leaving a staring Cedric behind.
Once the two of them were away from prying eyes, Charism started talking.

“Ye will tell the lad the truth.
I'm not marryin' that boy.
I've done everything for ye from changing ye
r
diapers to pampering ye when
y
e had
the
fever, but this I won't do.
I refuse.”

The old woman stood in front of her
, a
rms crossed in a stance of defiance
.
Sarra couldn't help but smile.
Charism
was
like a mother.
Besides,
she
knew Charism was right.
She needed to tell Cedric the truth
.
B
ut how?

While she struggled with how to reveal her true identity
,
the choice was taken from her.

A man entered the gates of the keep, stood in the open court yard, and shouted, “Mistress Sarra of Greenbriar, I bring an urgent message.”

Sarra forgot all the pretenses she'd built and raced to the messenger.
At her approach, he held out his hand.
In his hand rested a wrinkled and stained piece of parchment.
It was rolled tightly and contained the royal crest.

Sarra opened the missive and skimmed the lines.
The letter was nothing more than a letter from the King inquiring as to her wedding plans. A pent
-
up breath released but w
hen her eyes rose from the paper, she spotted Cedric staring at her.

His look of ang
er
was enough to send a more fragile person running away to hide.

“Thank you.
Please come inside and
accept
my hospitality after you
r
long journey.”

The messenger bowed and headed for the keep doors.

Taking a deep breath, Sarra
searched
for Cedric, but he had
already
disappeared.
On one foot, Sarra
went around in a
complete circle but Cedric was nowhere to be found.
Where had he gone
so quickly
?

Gnawing her lip, Sarra was startled by a horse.
The beast and its rider flew past her and out of the keep's gates.

“Cedric!” yelled Sarra at his retreating form.

There was no time to lose.
Throwing the missive upon the ground and gathering her skirts in her hands, Sarra ran to the stables.
The first horse she came to was Daemon.
This was the one horse no one dared to ride
because of his temperament, but he
was said to be
one of
the fastest horse
s
between London and the Scottish border.

Sarra saddled Daemon, patting him in a soothing motion.
She slid one
foot in one stirrup,
then
hoisted herself up and over.
Daemon
whinnied
but allowed her to
seat herself in the saddle
.
With his hoof pawing the ground, he snorted.
When his head rose, he sniffed the air and took off.
She
struggled to keep a hold o
n
the reins and keep her bottom in
the
saddle as she rode past stunned onlookers.

Once out of the gates, Sarra gave Daemon
his
head
.
The speed of his gallop
threatened to
unseat
her from her precarious perch.
Struggling to maintain control,
she
scanned the hillsides for any sign of Cedric.
Fortunately for her, Cedric's horse had slowed to a cant
e
r and Sarra was quickly catching up.

“Cedric!”
she called out.

He turned to glare
in
her direction.
At first
,
she feared he would urge his horse to go faster but instead he pulled back on the reins
and pulled
his animal to
a halt
.
When the horse came to a complete stop, he threw himself down to the ground and stalked
off, leaving
the animal
free to graze
.

Sarra slowed.
When Daemon came alongside the other
horse
,
he stopped suddenly and
she
came within a hair of being flung
over his head and onto
the
ground
.
Grasping the reins and holding
on,
she
g
ulp
ed.
Once
she
gathered
her wits
, she
slid off the animal
, gathered her skirts
and
rush
ed after Cedric.

“Cedric, please wait.
I can explain.”

She could hear his laugh of derision from where she stood.
“Ye can?”

They had stopped close to the pond.
Cedric plopped down on a rock and stared out across the rippling water.
The hunch in
his
shoulders showed his hurt.
Sarra
r
eached out toward him, but she immediately pulled back.
The last thing he would want right now would be her touch.

H
ands held behind her back,
she
stood and waited.
Should she go ahead and try to explain or wait until he asked?
She no longer knew the right thing to do
.

“Where ye going to just stand by and let me marry Charism?
Who
is
Charism anyway?”

The words stuck in her throat.
Struggling to regain her composure,
she
said, “Charism is my friend.”

“Aye, a friend.
And are ye a friend to her?
If so I would hate to see
ye
r
enemies.”

She
winced.
This wasn't going well.
“Charism is like family to me.
I
f I had to give her an actual title it would be
the
village doctor
or healer
.
She takes care of the village's sick and afflicted.”

“Aye.
Like ye were sick and afflicted with unwanted pursuers?”

Throwing her hands in the air with exasperation,
she
allowed her
own anger
to surface
.
She
tried again.
“Cedric
,
I realize you
'
re angry.
And part of me can understand.
But you have to understand my point of view as well.
This is my land.
My home.
The
King
is sen
ding people to wed me
who
care
nothing for me or my people.
In my effort to protect myself
,
I admit I
may
have gone a tad
too far
.
You see you are the only man to ever stay after discovering Charism was the mistress.
Imagine my surprise when you asked her hand in marriage
!
I think I was more shocked than anyone.
You were supposed to run
away in disgust
.
But you didn't.
And well
,
by
then
I already sort of liked you.”

A sudden feeling of shyness overcame her, and
she
glanced
away from
Cedric
.
“
In the beginning,
I found myself hoping you weren't from the King.
Maybe, just maybe, you were a stranger
h
ere to find your way.
Perhaps
seeking
a treasure, the treasure of love.
But I was wrong.
You were the same as all the rest.
You were ready to sacrifice any amount of personal happiness to
gain
my family land.”

“Nay, that's not true—
”

“Isn't it?
When you thought Charism was the mistress you didn't hesitate to ask her hand in marriage.
You only came
to rescue
me because you thought it would make Charism like you
more
.
Tell me I'm wrong.”

Cedric's downcast expression told her she'd hit upon the truth.

“It's all right, Cedric.
I understand.
It was what happened to you with your own family that caused this.
Land has always been important to you.”

Cedric's head jerked up and around.
He stared at her with a burning curiosity.
He must have thought
the
night in the cave when he told about his mother and father she wasn't paying attention.
At first
she
had
thought
the long story told in the cave was
a dream
.
B
ut after much thought she'd realized it was about Cedric all along.
It hadn't taken much to realize the story was his history
.

Instead of mentioning
the
night
in question
, he
asked
,
“Is land not important to ye?”

“Of course.
But
in
sofar as all the people liv
ing
upon it are protected.
I care about them much more than the actual ground.”

Cedric shrugged his shoulders
before looking
back across the water.
The boat was tied to the shore, bobbing in the water.
His
forlorn
expression
tore at her heart.

Turning back to
her,
Cedric
asked,
“Where do we go from here?”

She
didn't know what to say.
Where did they go from here?
Their relationship was based on nothing but falsehoods.
She had a faith she wasn't sure he carried.
With a prayer upon her heart, she said, “
We start a
t the beginning.”

“Hurry, he's coming
,
”
said Sarra.

“Lady Sarra, ye need not worry.
Ye look beautiful.”

“Oh
,
Ella, thank you.
But I want to make a good impression.
This is our official courtship
.
”
Sarra stared at herself one last time, placing a stray hair back in place.

“Aye.
I know.
Ye have talked of nothing else for days
,
mistress.”

“Have I been talking about it
so
much?”

“Aye.
Ye have,” said a smiling Charism as she walked through Sarra's bedroom door.

“How do I look?” Sarra asked as she did a full spin in the middle of the room.

Charism eyed her as the gown of yellow flared out around her.
“Ye look like a spring chick.”

“What?”

“A cute animal to be sure.”

“I look like a baby chicken?
I don't know how I'm supposed to take
such a comment
.”

Charism and Ella shook their heads and giggled together.
Sarra was ready to throw something at them when she heard a knock on her door.

“Mistress.
He has arrived.”

“Oh!”

“Now don't y
e
run to the door and look overly anxious—“

Sarra heard Charism's voice as she raced to the front door of the keep.
Happiness
gave
her
a feeling of
float
ing
on air.
When she reached the door and flung it backwards to look outside,
heat rushed to
her cheeks
and her palms started to sweat
.

“Cedric?” she asked breathlessly.

“Sorry to disappoint ye lass, but Cedric sent me to ye instead.”

Duncan
stood
upon
the
door
step
,
a
bouquet of wilted
flowers
in his hand.
Sarra
frowned in confusion
.
Why was Duncan upon
the
doorstep and not Cedric?
Had he changed his mind about their courtship
already
?

Straightening her spine and pushing
the
hair back from her face, Sarra asked, “Where is Cedric?”

Duncan
appeared
embarrassed and scratched his head.

“Well?”

“Well, I ain't supposed to tell ye.
I'm just supposed to deliver ye.”

“Very well,” Sarra said, as she stepped over her threshold and closed the door behind her.
“I do hope this won't take long.”

“Impatient are ye?” Duncan said with a mischievous glint.

“Humph.”

Duncan laughed heartily and took Sarra's hand.
He led her to
the
garden.
The flowers were in full bloom
,
dott
ing
the landscape
and
bring
ing
the area alive with color.
S
ummer
was truly here.
The promise of a new year lay ahead.
The smile
on
Sarra's face was from genuine pleasure at the blessings of life.

When she
glanced back
up, shock
registered on her face.
Duncan was gone and she was being studied just as intensely as she'd been studying the plants.

“Hullo.”

“Hullo,” Sarra answered in return.

“It's nice to meet ye.
I'm Cedric MacNeil.
I'm visiting ye
r
village.”

Her
eyes widened.
When she'd said they could start over
,
she hadn't expected Cedric to
literally
take them back to the beginning.
But since he had,
she decided to play along.
“Welcome.
I'm Sarra of Greenbriar.
The mistress of th
is
keep.
Are you enjoying your stay?”

“Aye.
I am.
The people are friendly.
The food is good.
The land is fertile.
And the mistress is fair to look upon.”

Sarra blushed in spite of herself.
Clearing her throat, “And what brings you to Greenbriar, Cedric?”

“Aye, I'm in search of something
,
”
he
said,
study
ing her face.

“And what might
it
be?”

“I'm in search of a treasure.”
His hand rose, taking a strand of her hair and lifting it
to
his face.

“A treasure?
Like gold or silver?”
she
said, holding her breath.

“Nay.
It is a different kind of treasure.
It's not something ye can touch.
Ye can't even see it.
This treasure is in one spot.”

“What spot?”

As they spoke, they moved closer to one another.
The distance separating them now spanned
mere
inches.
Their breath mingled as Cedric answered, “
The
heart.”

Looking down into
her
eyes,
his
grin was broad.
S
he
couldn't help it.
With a wicked look she said, “My heart?
It sounds kind of revolting.”

Cedric's head tipped back and he roared with laughter.
When he
peered
back down he placed his hands upon her upper arms, pulled her in close to him, and bent down to kiss her.

She didn't move.
To move might break the spell.
His lips grazed across her
s,
sending tingles down
her
spine.
He
pulled back and
she
shivered within his
embrace
.
Without further thought
,
she
put her arms around his neck and pulled
him
back down to her, urging him to kiss her more thoroughly.

When they stopped to breath
e,
he
said, “Ye are mighty forward
for our first meetin'
.
I hope ye don't greet all ye
r
visitors this way.
”

The sound of Sarra slapping Cedric on the arm sent him into fits of laughter once again.
Ready to pounce on
him
for his comment,
she
spotted Duncan and the others watching
them
.

Shame immediately filled her for the behavior she was exhibiting.
Heat
infused her cheeks and
she
wanted
to run back to the keep and hide herself away, but Cedric stopped her.

“Where are ye goin'?”

“I'm going to hide.”

“Don't mind them,” Cedric said
,
shooting the men a look
which suggested they
flee their position
.
When they left,
he
glanced
back down at
her
.
“See
? T
hey
'
re gone.”

Sarra's
placed her
fingers against
his
chest.
H
is h
eartbeat
thudd
ed
heavily
beneath the thin fabric.
Splaying her hand wide, she
absorbed
the warmth from his body.
Before
there was
time to change her mind, she said, “I love you.”

Cedric's tightened
his hands up
on her arm
.
For a moment, Sarra thought he was going to pull away.
Then
he
relaxed
,
placed
a finger under her chin and raised her eyes to meet his.

With
his
eyes locked on
hers
, Cedric said, “
Aye, and
I love ye as well.”