Page 28 of Forgotten Secrets (Secrets of the Heart 4)

Morag hadn’t planned on telling the woman that but it didn’t matter. Once again, she read Morag’s mind.

“Aye, with Sir Bedivere,” she answered with a sigh. “I’m afraid I am fallin’ in love with the man. Do ye think that’s wrong?”

“Love? Didn’t you tell me that you didn’t think love was important?” Once again, Mazelina answered Morag’s questions with her own questions. Morag wished she would stop that and be more like Imanie.

“I said love wasna important in a marriage. But this is different.”

“How so?”

“It’s different because . . . because we are no’ betrothed to be married.”

“You wish to marry him, don’t you?”

Morag’s eyes snapped up and she sank down atop a chair as the old woman strolled toward her. “I do. I dinna understand it. It all happened so fast. But Sir Bedivere is the perfect man.” Morag smiled and gazed up into the air as she continued. “He is handsome and kind and verra thoughtful. He is chivalric and treats me like a queen. He cares about me and also the people in my life. He is strong and protective of me in every way.”

“And you like that?”

Morag nodded slightly. “Of course, I do. What lassie wouldna?”

“Your head says all these things about a man you barely know. But what does your heart tell you?”

“I dinna ken what ye mean.” Morag wrapped her arms around in herself in a protective hug. “My heart can see that he’s a guid man. I’m sure my faither will see that, too, in time.”

“Do you really think so? What do you know about Bedivere? And will your father honestly accept the fact that you have fallen in love with a Sassenach?”

When Mazelina said the word Sassenach, a shudder ran through Morag. She pictured her father’s face and his warning before she left. It was doubtful he would support a union between Bedivere and her. Mayhap thinking she could marry Sir Bedivere was only a silly dream on her part. Suddenly, Morag wasn’t feeling as confident as she had when she first came here today. “Mazelina, ye sound as if ye ken somethin’ about Bedivere that I dinna ken. What is it?”

“If I told you all I know, wouldn’t that be gossiping? The exact thing you are trying not to do?”

“Nay,” she said, slapping her hands atop the table. “It’s no’ gossip if the story is true. Tell me.”

“My ability to read into people’s minds is a curse as well as a blessing. Just like anything in life, too much of a good thing can turn bad quickly if you misuse it.”

“Mazelina, ye dinna make any sense and are confusin’ me again. Are ye sayin’ Sir Bedivere is a guid man or a bad one?”

“That, my dear, is for you to find out. I’ll ask you again, what do you really know about the man?”

“Well, I ken that . . . I mean he is . . . he comes from . . .” Suddenly, Morag realized that she knew nothing about Bedivere at all. They had spent all their time talking about her and her father and uncles that she never thought to ask about him. The only things she knew of him were the ones that she heard as gossip. “I suppose we spent so much time talkin’ about me that I didna have time to ask much about him.”

“Morag! Lady Morag, are you in here?”

“It’s Bedivere!” exclaimed Morag, jumping up and running to look out the door. Sure enough, in the light of the rising sun, she saw Bedivere leading his horse into the secret garden. “Nay,” mumbled Morag. “He wasna supposed to follow me here. I canna let him see ye, Mazelina.”

“Don’t worry about that,” said the old woman, stepping back into a shadow. “Go to him, Morag.”

“But we didna even have my lesson yet. I dinna want to leave before I’ve learned somethin’ from ye.”

“You have.”

“I have?” Morag looked back over her shoulder at the woman in confusion. “Nay, I havena. What did ye teach me?”

“Think about it,” said Mazelina. “There are some things you have to learn on your own.”

“Morag, where are you?” called out Bedivere, coming closer to the house.

“I’ll distract him and willna let him come into the cottage so he doesna see ye,” Morag told Mazelina. The woman didn’t answer. “Mazelina?” Morag looked back, but didn’t see the woman anywhere. Figuring she was hiding from Bedivere for some reason that Morag didn’t understand, she stepped out onto the porch and waved her hand in the air. “I’m here, Bedivere,” she said, hurrying down the stairs to meet him.

“What is this place?” asked Bedivere, glancing at the surroundings. “And why are you here?”

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