Forbidden Heart (Hearts of the Highlands #6) - Paula Quinn Page 0,73
Galeren.
He was surrounded by men, but his face was turned toward hers, his eyes, watching. His mouth, smiling.
“It can get a wee bit overwhelmin’ when they are all together,” the priest told her while they left the manor house and walked toward a beautiful stone church. Its face and left side were covered in bare vines. All around the church were pale green bushes and a few evergreens.
Silene imagined what it looked like in the beauty of spring.
“Come.” Father Timothy opened the heavy, wooden door and ushered her inside.
When she stepped into the foyer, the smell of candlewax wafted through her nostrils. She followed him into the inner sanctuary where hundreds of tiny lights lit the altar. They both knelt at the cross before slipping into one of the stone benches.
“’Tis beautiful here,” she told him when he sat next to her.
“Ye are welcome here whenever ye want to be here. The doors are never locked. Ye can also go to the main church in the village square,” he paused to chuckle, “but ye willna be alone.”
She smiled. He made her feel at ease.
“Galeren has told me much about you, Father.”
“All good, I dare hope.” He didn’t look worried.
She nodded. “All good. He loves you very much.”
“Aye. He is a good lad. And he is in love with ye, lass.”
Silene shifted on the bench. He certainly didn’t waste time. Nor had his mother. “But ye know this already.”
Her mouth fell open. What should she say? The truth, of course. This was the man she had wanted to speak to since she began to question her life.
“Aye. I know he loves me.”
“How do ye feel aboot it?” His eyes were large and filled with compassion.
“I…I love him, as well,” she answered quietly, afraid that her admission would be heard.
“Is he the reason ye didna say yer vows before the church?”
She wanted to tell him about all of it—about not wanting to further aid her uncle and more. But at the center of it all was Galeren.
“Aye. He is the reason. Every time I think I have made my decision, I doubt it is the right one. As I was heading for the church where they waited for me, I could not—my feet did not want to take me inside. They wanted me to run to Galeren.”
He smiled. His skin wrinkled and he winked his eye. “Ye know what to do, lass.”
She shook her head and began to cry.
“Silene,” his soft voice covered her. “God doesna think as we do. If ye love Galeren, marry him and have his babes. Ye can bring them here to pray with ye.”
She stopped crying and looked at him. She hadn’t considered that. Oh! She would like to do that!
“So, you do not think He is angry with me or with Galeren?”
“No, child. He isna angry with ye. Remember, He is good.”
She smiled, feeling the weight lift off her. Galeren trusted this priest’s opinions on God, and since it did match with what the priests at Paisley Abbey had told her, she wasn’t beyond forgiveness, she chose to believe Father Timothy, too.
They spoke of spiritual things until Galeren came looking for her. “’Tis gettin’ late,” he told her. “My mother is eager to show ye to yer room and bid ye good eve.”
“She will be angry with me fer keepin’ ye,” Father Timothy told them with a forced worried look.
“I enjoyed our time together, Father. Perhaps another day.”
He grinned. “How aboot tomorrow?”
She laughed softly and agreed to breaking fast with him after her morning prayers.
“Did ye speak to him aboot us?” Galeren asked her while they walked back in the moonlight.
“He brought us up to me.”
Galeren smiled but said nothing.
“He told me you were in love with me.”
Now he laughed, but it was more to himself than out loud. “I told him but I didna think he would tell ye.”
Aye, she knew it, but to have him admit it…well, it made her swallow back hot tears. It snatched her breath just enough to make her want to cough. Her heart pounded so rapidly it made her want to fall into his arms, the only place she was safe.
“He reminded me that God is good.” She smiled at him when he turned to her.
She took his hand, weaving her slender fingers through his bigger, callused ones. “I am free to marry.”
She felt his fingers tighten around hers the slightest bit.
“Are ye now?” he asked with mirth dancing across the lilt of his voice and addling her brains.