Edwina (38 page)

Pulling on her oldest blue jeans and the pink
T-shirt, she slipped into her flats and clip-clopped down the
hallway. He would hear her coming. Good enough, for this was going
to end right here, right now. She was going home. He would have to
find another wife—one he loved, not one he needed as a mother for
his daughter.

She wanted to cry at the
thought of leaving Paige, but once she’d made up her mind, she was
as stubborn as the Scot.
When had she
become so stubborn?

Edwina took a huge breath and pulled in her
courage. She knocked.

“Enter, lass.”

See, he’s already back to
calling me lass... just as it should be
.

Edwina stepped inside the man’s office and
was met face-to-face. Before she had time to say her piece, she
found herself being pulled by the elbow. “Where are we going?”

“Out.”

He grabbed her umbrella from the stand as he
opened the door. “Here.”

“But it’s raining. We can’t walk.”

He pulled another umbrella out and once
outdoors, opened it. She could do nothing but open hers and follow
him.

He started down the hills toward the
outbuildings, sloshing through the water. She followed, but his
long legs outpaced her.

“Keep up.” His voice brooked no
arguments.

“Where are we going?” She cringed as
lightning snapped across the way.

He didn’t answer. Besides, she was too busy
sidestepping the puddles.

They arrived at the little barn where the
rusty red truck was parked. He pulled a key out of his pocket and
opened the door for her. “Get in.”

She did.

He installed his umbrella in the truck bed,
and Edwina almost laughed. The thing would probably fall through
the holes at the first bump.

The Scot looked so big in the small truck,
but he bent down and turned the key in the ignition. It puffed and
struggled, then fired to life. It backfired once, and Edwina
clamped her hand over her mouth.

The gears squawked like a mad goose, and the
rusty red bucket jerked forward. He leaned down to see out of the
dirty window.

She didn’t dare speak. They bumped over the
yard until they reached the main road, and he put the accelerator
to the floor. She could see the road passing beneath them through a
small hole. They were moving along.

After a silent ten minutes, he started to
talk.

“Ye know this truck belonged to my
grandfather. He drove me in this thing when I was but a lad. And he
never once treated me the way ye did the other day.”

Edwina swallowed, opened her mouth to justify
her meaning, and shut it again.

“We used to go fishing, and he taught me to
drive when I was but ten. Aye, we spent many a day at the market
pulling boxes of strawberries off the back of this auld truck.”

Edwina began to relax a little as he told her
about his boyhood. “I had an older brother. He would have been the
keeper of the castle, had he not been killed. He drank like my own
father and between the two o’ em, they made my mother miserable and
me as well.

“
I, the second son, was
never intended to inherit my grandfather’s land, but when my
foolish brother was killed in a drunk driving accident, he left my
parents to mourn their lives away to their deaths. I swore I’d
never drink, and I never have. I married the woman I loved, and
Paige came along. Then I lost my wife . . .”

Edwina felt her throat tighten.

“And I never thought to marry again. After a
time I began to see Paige needed a mother. Someone who could teach
her womanly things—to dance like her mother, to have tea parties,
and enjoy life. I began to look aboot and made a fool of myself
many times over women who seemed interested when all they wanted
was the title, the money, or the castle. I never knew which.”

Edwina swallowed past the lump in her throat.
“But I have never had a lass laugh at my proposal.”

Her voice croaked. “I’m so sorry. I was
foolish.... I never meant to have it sound like it did.”

“Are ye sure, lass? Ye think I make a mistake
in asking ye? I heard ye say it.” This time she thought carefully
before answering.

“Yes, I do.”

“Why, lass?” He turned his eyes to her for a
moment and then back to the road again. How could she explain? What
was her reason anyway?

She’d totally forgotten. Thoughts flew from
every direction, but not a word came out of her mouth.

“Have ye lost ye’re tongue? I won’t be
stopping until ye answer.”

“You might run out of gas.” She tried to be
funny.

“Aye, and that’s fine w’ me, lass. We’ll be
out in the hills, you and me, with no way to get home. Then what
will ye say?”

Edwina stiffened. She didn’t like the sound
of that.

“
Look, I can’t even give
you an answer. Isn’t it enough to tell you I’m the wrong person for
you?”

“What? State yer reason, woman. Ye are
confusing me.”

“You need a mother for Paige... and I
appreciate being thought of... but I’m not... not the woman for
you.”

“Ah, so ye know what I’m needin’ in a woman
then?”

“Well, no. Yes. I... oh I don’t know what I’m
trying to say. I just know it’s not me.”

With that Edwina felt the truck slow down. He
pulled off the road under a clump of trees and turned off the
ignition. He sat staring out through the windshield.

Edwina thought she would die if he didn’t say
something. The quiet rain washed countryside lay before them like a
treasure, yet her heart was heavy, afraid of something. It was the
inaudible gulf between them.

The rain stopped. “We’ll walk.”

He came around for her and offered his hand.
She accepted, but her traitorous legs felt weak. He took her hand
in his and led her across the hills, pulling her along through the
wet grass, saying nothing.

Where were they going? And
how much did this man think she could take before falling head over
heels for him? She’d guarded her heart, even choosing to write the
story instead of thinking about him. Now they were alone on the
hills... and after he’d kissed her like he did. She was only
human.
Lord, help me to be
strong.

“Slow down, you’re going too fast.” She
caught her breath.

“Aye, it is true.”

“What?”

“I am going too fast.” He dropped her hand
and stood staring over the valley that lay before them. Edwina
turned her eyes to where he looked. Breathtaking beauty lay in
bright green and golden splendor. Had eyes ever seen a more
heavenly place? She gazed smitten with gratitude that God should
allow man to view such grandeur.

“Ah, ye see it too, don’t ye, lass?” She
could not form a word in her throat. “It is my homeland. My place
of birth. See that little cottage there?” He pointed. “The brown
stone one with the little windows?”

She followed his finger. “That’s where my
grandfather was born.”

“It’s beautiful. He woke up every morning and
saw all of this.” Even her whisper seemed intrusive in the tranquil
surroundings.

“Aye. That is the truth. He lived in a
run-down cottage, took water from the stream, had barely enough to
eat, yet was one of the greatest men I knew.”

The Scot paused and so did Edwina’s heart. He
was sharing the deepest part of his life with her.

“He saw the beauty before him. And even
though his family possessed little, they were privy to all of
this.”

Several minutes passed before she heard his
voice again.

“I have before me, lass, another beautiful
creation. The one I speak of thinks she possesses little, but she
has all of this.” He waved his hand to include it all.

Edwina heard the words, and slowly she
realized what he was saying. Afraid to move lest she be wrong in
her assumptions, she stared out across the land, her lips
quivering.

A warm, masculine hand slid along her jaw,
and she broke. Sobbing, she turned into the arms that awaited
her.

“Ah, lass, let it out. Ye have kept yer
dreams inside, wrote them in a story, but never allowed yerself to
possess them. I would have ye be mine, if you would have me.”

Edwina sobbed into his shirt and felt his
gentle hand at the back of her head. He cradled her between strong
shoulders, offering her his love. So it was true then.

God had brought her back. She could let go,
she could accept this man’s love. She pulled back, fearing yet
knowing she must see his eyes.

Green, and full of love, he shared with his
look what she needed to know. It wasn’t her imagination or a
made-up story. Her heart was afire with love for the man she’d
tried not to love, the one she tried to put away from her for his
own good. But he didn’t want to go.

Suddenly her heart sank. Now that she loved
him, she feared already that should she lose that love, she would
die. But there was no turning back. Love required walking on the
water... she knew that now. And if it meant walking on water, she
would have to do it or die trying.

Lord, help me to love him and Paige the way
they need it most.

“Lass, ye are thinking too much. I have asked
ye twice.”

Edwina looked up. “Will ye be my wife,
Edwina?”

He looked down at her from his height, and
Edwina heard herself say, “Aye, Scot, I’ll be your wife.”

“I’ll not ask ye again.” His words softened
as his lips came down to hers. And for the first time, she kissed,
really kissed, the man she loved.

Afterward he reached down, slipped off her
shoes, put them in his pockets, and pulled her alongside him, the
wet spring grasses tickling her bare feet.

Edwina looked at the green, green hills and
knew she was home.

Epilogue

D
ays and nights of blissful happiness passed for three years,
Edwina in her castle, a man in her heart, a mother for Paige, and
another wee one on the way.

And her name on two books. She had loved and
been loved enough to write more romance tales. Alex read them all
and kissed her silly after she finished each one, saying he would
never have known the love of a barefoot woman climbing on the
ladder had she not been researching her first book.

She’d climbed that ladder ten dozen times,
all except for the last nine months. Alex had forbidden her to go
traipsing up and down the thing until the lad was born. He insisted
he would father a son.

Twelve days after the due date, a son was
born. The first of three. Paige was the only girl. She paid dearly,
for as she grew, her brothers made it their life’s work to give her
callers as much misery as she could stand. A bit more, them being
stubborn like their father.

Exactly twenty years after their marriage,
and on the same day as her own wedding day, Edwina did see Paige
become the bride. That had been one dream she never thought to
realize. But Paige’s white gauzy dress blew in the wind as the
knight came for his bride upon a horse... right on these very
hills.

Thank you for reading Edwina. I hope you
enjoy her journey.

Other books by Patricia Strefling.

Cecelia

Beyond Forgiveness

Ireland Rose

And soon Rose's Legacy