dismissed it. You can see the pain she has suffered these many years in her eyes and the relief of finding us. Have you not determined the same yourself?”
He hugged her and pressed his cheek to hers. “We think alike and reach the same conclusions. We make a good match.”
“It took you long enough to realize that.”
“It took me?” he asked with an incredulous laugh.
“Aye, but I forgive you your stubbornness.”
“My stubbornness?” His laughter continued.
“In time you will learn patience.”
Tarr laughed, sputtered words that made no sense, then laughed again.
“It takes a strong man to admit his weaknesses.”
When his laughter finally subsided, he whispered in her ear. “I have but one weakness—you.”
She turned in his arms and took his face in her hands. “I love you, and do you know why?”
“Tell me.”
She kissed him first, tenderly as if in gratitude. “Because you love me for who I am: stubborn, impatient, sometimes impossibly willful, but all of me—Fiona—and you often do it with a smile. That smile tells me how much you care.” She pushed up at the corners of his mouth. “Even when it’s barely a smile, I see it there and it fills my heart with joy.”
Her fingers fell away as his smile grew freely.
“You make me happy; I cannot help but smile.”
“And you make me happy, more happy than I ever thought possible.”
“I have been told love does that to you, now I know it is true,” he said, and kissed her.
She responded as always and they were soon laughing between kisses as they stumbled together to the bed.
A knock interrupted them.
“What do you want?” Fiona snapped irritated.
“Sorry to disturb,” Raynor said with a chuckle from the other side of the door. “Aliss wakes and wishes to talk with you.”
“She is well?” Fiona asked anxiously.
“Aye, but she is eager to see you,” Raynor said.
“Tell her I will be right there.”
Raynor acknowledged with, “I’ll go to talk with my men. I will see you later.”
Tarr dropped the blanket that held them together. “Go, your sister needs you.”
“You will make a very good husband. I am glad I picked you.”
He shook his head and dressed along with her.
“Come with me?” she invited as they left the bedchamber.
“Aliss asked for you.”
Fiona took his hand. “We are one now; her summons would be for both of us.”
“You are so sure?”
“It is how I would feel if Aliss were wed and since we are twins and think alike.” She tugged at his hand. “Come. She is eager to see us.”
Aliss was sitting up in bed, a white cloth wrapped around her head and not a speck of blood soaking through. Her cheeks were rosy, her eyes alert, and she was smiling.
“Fiona,” Aliss cried out happily, “Mother is spoiling me.”
“And happy I am that I can do it,” Anya said and moved out of the chair beside the bed, leaving it for Fiona.
Fiona hurried to hug her sister. “You heal well?”
“Mother has done a good job tending me. She keeps the wound covered and clean, bathes my face with cool water to keep the fever away, and makes certain I drink the brew I instructed you to make. I feel good, though I still must be watchful and not do more than I should.”
“Which is why she will remain abed a few more days,” Anya said firmly.
“Who can tell me what happened?” Aliss asked. “No one has spoken of the incident to me.”
Fiona had no intention of keeping anything from her sister. Ignorance of the situation would only prove dangerous.
Obviously Tarr felt the same way since he answered, “We believe the arrow was meant to kill you. We have also learned that someone cut the straps to Fiona’s saddle, and if not found it would surely have meant her death.”
“Fiona and I thought this might happen.”
Anya did not look surprised. “We all worried over it.”
“Has any progress been made in finding the culprit?” Aliss asked.
“It is like chasing a ghost,” Anya answered.
“I do not believe in ghosts,” Tarr said.
“They are real, I tell you,” Anya insisted, and sat on the edge of the bed. “I saw one.”
Fiona squatted down beside her mother. “What did you see?”
“Months after you girls disappeared, I woke one night to see Shona standing beside my bed. She told me the twins were safe and I should not worry. Then she was gone.”
“She said nothing else?” Fiona asked.
Anya scrunched her eyes as if trying hard to remember, then all of a sudden her eyes rounded. “She made a sign in