Cathleen twirled around in her new summer gown. "Brookton is very handsome?"
"Sister, you do remember what James taught us, do you not?"
"I remember; I will not go willingly."
"I am happy to hear that. Men can be very tempting, I am learning."
Cathleen caught her breath. "Leesil, I think I hear the music starting."
Sassy put her hand on her chest just the way Abigail always did. She'd been practicing. "Alistair will come for me when…" She heard the knock on the door, watched it open and remembered to breathe. She hugged her sister, took Alistair's arm and walked with him down the hall, down the magnificent marble stone stairs, across the parlor and into the ballroom. Alistair walked her down the aisle and proudly delivered her to a smiling Hannish dressed in his Scottish tradition.
*
Mrs. Leesil MacGreagor would never remember what was said, only that Hannish said, "I do," and so did she. He kissed her and later, even that was a blur. What she thought about was the wonder of it all.
She remembered the day the woman told her to carry Cathleen through the front door of the orphanage. Leesil was five, and when they tried to take her baby from her, she put up quite a fight. After they succeeded, she ran back out of the orphanage, but the woman was gone. Each day she prayed for her to come back and get them, but her prayers were never answered. Even now, Leesil wondered who she was - an aunt, an older sister perhaps. Yet, years later, Leesil went from being a frightened little girl hiding in a broom closet, to a grown woman in love with a man who was in love with her. What were the chances of becoming a member of the best of all families?
Furthermore, she was surrounded by all the people she loved…all except Donnel and James. McKenna, whom she adored from that very first day, was now her sister, and Cathleen, whom she feared would one day starve to death, was with her in a wondrous place she never dreamed existed.
How different their lives might have been, if that woman had come back for them. God was watching over them after all.
*
After the happy couple cut the cake, they waltzed together for the first time as husband and wife, and too soon, it was time to change clothes and catch the afternoon train. Hannish and Leesil wished Cameron and Flora a safe journey home and got off the train in Denver. Later that night, Hannish carried his bride over the threshold of their hotel room and closed the door with his foot.