later time. It will give Warenton and me time to plan the greatest event in the north.”
Tor could see there was no stopping Gilbert’s excitement. “I am agreeable to that if Isalyn is,” he said. “My father will want to invite every ally, you know.”
Gilbert threw up his hands. “Let him,” he said. “I will invite everyone I can think of. I’ll invite the bloody pope. My daughter’s wedding is reason enough to celebrate because she is older than most brides and a reckless woman at times, and I never thought she would get married.”
When he realized what he’d said in the heat of the moment, he looked at Isalyn in horror, but she started laughing. Tor burst into laughter and, soon, all of them were infected with it.
“Have no fear,” Tor said. “We shall have the wedding before the week is out, but I must inform my father so that my immediate family can attend. He would never forgive me if I did not.”
“Where will we be married?” Isalyn asked.
Tor looked at her, hardly believing he was discussing this very subject with such joy. After Jane, he never imagined he’d look at a remarriage with anything other than duty and sorrow, but now… now, that wasn’t the case. He was as elated as he could possibly be. Looking at Isalyn’s lovely face, he was more excited about something than he had been in a very long time.
Perhaps even ever.
“We can summon a priest from Kelso Abbey,” he said. “My grandparents were patrons. We can marry in the great hall and have a family feast afterwards. Is that acceptable?”
Isalyn nodded, looking at him with an expression he’d never seen on her before. It was like… hope.
It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“Most acceptable, Tor,” she said quietly. “It will give me time to retrieve my good dress. I left it behind at Featherstone.”
“I should like to buy you your wedding dress, if I may.”
It was a sweet offer, but she looked at him curiously. “Why? I have a perfectly serviceable one back at Featherstone.”
Tor was hesitant to say anything more in front of Gilbert because he was about to say something personal, meant only for Isalyn’s ears. Truth be told, he was something of a romantic at heart and he’d been very romantic with Jane those years ago – bringing her flowers, a tame bird in a cage, buying her little things, engaging in little gestures that made her happy. Much like his ability to feel emotion again, he thought his romantic soul had died out long ago.
But it was pulsing with life again.
He threw caution to the wind.
“Because I want you to wear something I have given you as a token of my happiness for our marriage,” he said. “It will be a dress that you will look at in the years to come and know that the first time you wore it was when we were married. It will mean something to us both. Mayhap I am not explaining it well enough, but that is why I would like to purchase your dress – because it will be new and beautiful, like our marriage. And I would also like to purchase a wedding ring for you.”
Isalyn smiled faintly. “I would be happy to wear a dress you gave me for our wedding,” she said. “Truly, Tor, I would be honored. It is very thoughtful of you.”
“You need not buy her anything,” Gilbert said, spoiling the sweet moment. “My stall is in Carlisle. We shall go there and you can pick anything you wish, and it will not cost you a pence. I have several dresses for sale, made by seamstresses to sell to women who like to do the final sewing on them. They are very popular because most of the work is already done. They just need to be finished to the size of the woman who wears them.”
Tor looked at him. “Let me be plain,” he said. “Whatever I select, I shall pay for. To take it from you without cost defeats the purpose. I must buy it.”
Gilbert didn’t really understand the need, but he didn’t argue with him. “As you wish.”
“Do you have rings also?”
“Many.”
That made up Tor’s mind. “Then it is decided,” he said. “We shall go on the morrow.”
Gilbert was so happy that he was nearly bursting with it. “Excellent,” he said. “Let us celebrate with some of your good wine. We must send word to your father immediately. I am