'Here. You must have these.' Phoebe took the flowers from her hair and gently fitted them on Lee's head. Then she handed her the matching posy. 'Now you look like a bride.'
But it wasn't the flowers that made her look like a bride. It was the glow of happiness in her eyes as she gazed at Daniel, the second man she'd married in Gretna Green. And this time the right one.
He took her hand and they returned to the smithy. The tour guide had just finished with a party who were leaving. He smiled as he saw them, perfectly understanding the situation, and waved them forward.
'Are you sure?' Daniel asked anxiously.
'Quite sure,' Lee said fervently. 'Oh, my darling, I took far too long. But now I'm quite, quite sure.'
The anvil was there, the same anvil over which she'd made a terrible mistake a lifetime ago. But now everything was different. With Mark and Phoebe standing beside them they clasped hands, and Daniel spoke.
'I, Daniel, call on these persons here present to witness that I take Leonie to be my wife eternally.'
In a steady voice, Lee replied, 'I, Leonie, call on these persons here present to witness that I take Daniel to be my husband eternally.'
Then the guide raised his hammer to bring it thundering down onto the anvil, and in a loud voice he cried, 'So be it!'
Lucy Gordon
