A Convenient Wedding

‘Hold me,’ he said suddenly. ‘I don’t feel safe without you.’

She lay down beside him on the bed, clasping him to her heart. ‘Do you feel safe now?’ she whispered.

‘Always, as long as I’m in your heart. You came just in time to save me.’

‘Yes, a few more minutes-’ She shuddered.

‘I don’t mean the sea. I mean what I would have turned into if you hadn’t come here that night.’

‘Or what I might have turned into,’ she said, trying to prevent his mood growing too dark. That too would be her task in years ahead. ‘When I arrived here I was almost as bad as you thought I was. You saved me, too.’

But he wouldn’t allow that. For his fierce, uncompromising nature there was no middle way. As he had been hard in his resistance, he would be firm in his love and fidelity. He’d seen her as an enemy. Now, in his eyes, she was perfect. And that was how it would always be.

Out of the storm, across the water,
Came one night a rich man’s daughter,
Heart undaunted and spirit bold,
To marry the lord and save his soul.

Lucy Gordon

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