Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41044 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41044 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Outside, the chilled wind stirred the trees. Inside, the warmth only grew.
“You have a way about you,” Raff said. “Steady. Honest. I find myself looking forward to hearing your voice, seeing your face, and spending as much time as is proper with you. I didn’t expect that.”
Her cheeks flushed as she stepped away from him. “Nor did I. You surprised me but worry me as well.”
He didn’t let her go far, his arm reached out and snagged her around the waist to ease her close to him. “I know your worries.”
That surprised her. “You do?”
“Aye, you worry I won’t stay. That you will wake one day, and I will be gone.” The words hurt to say. The thought of never seeing her again ached at his heart.
“Aye, that does concern me,” she admitted, feeling the weight of such a moment.
He brushed his lips over hers. “How could I ever leave the one I cherish so much, who holds my heart, who I love deeply?”
She gasped, never expecting to hear such a declaration from him.
“It’s foolish of me to ignore it or deny it. It overpowers me, torments me, frightens me—”
“Frightens?”
“Aye, that I could care that strongly, that deeply, as if you were a necessary part of me, a part I cannot live without.” He shook his head. “I have been a foolish man, Ingrid, and I will no longer be a fool. I love you and I will not lose you… unless,” —he took a breath— “you don’t feel the same. Then I will—” He stopped abruptly and shook his head. “I won’t leave. I will stay until I win your heart.”
Her smile spread wide. “I believe you did that the very first moment I met you.”
Joy raced through him, and he couldn’t help but tease. “I’m that appealing, am I?” He hugged her tightly. “Be sure for I will never let you go.”
“Nor I you.”
“Then we wed,” he said as if it was already done. “You will be my wife and I your husband.” She hesitated and fear gripped his heart. “What’s wrong?”
She sighed. “You will need to meet my mum first, not that it will matter to me what she thinks of you, but if I wed you without her knowing about it, she will make our lives… difficult.”
“Your mum will love me,” he said confidently.
She laughed. “You do not know my mother. Difficult doesn’t come close to describing her.”
“We’ll manage,” he said. “Will she visit soon. I do not want to wait long to make you my wife.”
“Aye, she always visits just before the harvest celebration.”
A thought came to him, and he eagerly shared it with her, hoping she would agree. “What say we handfast tonight. Pledge our love to each other and seal our vows. This way no one can separate us. It can remain a secret between us. No one ever need know unless we want them to.”
“But if no one sees us handfast then how valid would it be?” she asked.
“Valid enough for us to keep our vows, always, even if it is only you and I who know of it.”
“That’s a big trust.”
“Validated by the love we have for each other. A love neither of us would ever dishonor,” Raff said, solidifying his commitment. “Besides, with you being my wife, Chafton cannot question my wanting to protect you.”
“But it won’t stop him from doing as he pleases,” Ingrid said with concern.
“And it won’t stop me from doing whatever is necessary to protect my wife.” He took a breath to fortify himself. “I feared I’d have a life of wandering from one place to the next with no one caring about me or me caring for no one… until I met you. You changed all that. I fell in love, and it opened a whole new future for me—with you. I won’t lose that. Marry me and I will work hard to make sure we live a good life together.”
She corrected him. “We will work hard to make a good life together.”
They stood before the hearth and Raff wrapped a strip of cloth around their joined hands and with only themselves to hear it, they pledged their undying love to each other.
“I pledge to love you until there is not a breath left in me, then I will love you from beyond,” he said, his heart filled with joy.
Ingrid hesitated. “There is something I should tell you before—”
Raff kissed her, halting her words, then spoke before she could finish what she was going to tell him. “Nothing you can say will change my mind about marrying you. I love you and our love can conquer anything.”
Ingrid felt the truth of his words down in her bones and she smiled. “I pledge my never-ending love to you. Whether near or far my love, my heart, my soul will always be with you.”