**Please read note at bottom** :)

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Chapter Nineteen

A journey was planned for the following week. The McKenzie’s still weren’t too pleased with the fact that Connor did not plan on making his home in Scotland, at least, but he explained to him that his home was with Sabine, and her home was England.

Deirdre was a complete and utter mess when it came time for them to leave. She was blubbering about the fact that she’d only just got her son back, and now he was leaving again. Connor promised to correspond, and that a letter would be sent just as soon as they arrived back at Southerby.

Connor and Mungo exchanged a stiff handshake, with Mungo nodding at him and calling him “Son.” Sabine knew they would get there eventually. The bond between father and son was inexplicable. It was always there, no matter what conflict that may intercede. When Mungo had said goodbye to Sabine, he reiterated his opinions on the English. “Ye know I don’ like ye English. But ye are a good lass, Lady Sabine, I don’ doubt tha’,” he’d said.

Greta and Fergus both kissed Sabine’s cheeks at the same time. They had married the weekend following Connor’s tournament and Sabine found it fascinating to watch the Scottish traditions take part. What she liked most thought, was the sash of McKenzie tartan worn across the white bridal gown. She was sure most women would find it to be an unpleasant addition, but to her it represented centuries of tradition. She wondered, just possibly, if she would be able to wear something similar come her wedding day.

Sabine smiled warmly at Heather when she said goodbye. Their friendship, if one could call it that, wasn’t like a usual friendship. Heather was still hurting, and it would take time for those wounds to heal, but Sabine truly believed that she was happy for them. Heather had a good heart, and like most young women, when it is broken, it can make one do irrational things.

When goodbye had been said to Connor’s brothers, and the many townsfolk that had gathered to see them off, their journey home had begun. She enjoyed the freedom atop Puissant as they galloped through the green, open fields of Scotland. Whenever they stopped, Connor would tell her about a place he used to travel to as a ‘lad’ and made mention that he’d like to take her to someday. He was very fond of the Scottish ‘Lochs’. She knew that they meant ‘lakes’, as she’d seen drawings of them in books as a child. He’d told her a magnificently atrocious tale of how a serpent inhabited Loch Ness and how he and his brother’s had tried to fish for it when they spend their summers by the lakes. He swore that he had seen the serpent once, but Sabine was sure it was his imagination and that's he'’ probably seen a snake in the water. She didn’t tell him this, as she believed in many things as a girl – fairies and elves and magic were popular topics that swam around in her imagination.

Within a week, they had arrived at the border. Merida was very happy to see them, happier that they were reunited and happiest at the fact that she had received an invitation from both her parents to stay at McKenzie Castle with her husband and children.

It made Sabine happy to know that, even if by pure coincidence, her wandering onto McKenzie lands reunited a broken family.

After a short three day stay with Merida and Grant, Connor and Sabine carried on into England. After miles of riding, several landmarks began to become recognisable to Sabine. Tree clusters, boulders and hills all were familiar and she knew she was edging closer to Nottinghamshire.

In the silence, she tried to rehearse what she was to say to her mother and father when she arrived home, but her mind was blank. She knew she should have written in her absence but she never knew what to write. She was foolish and impulsive, but her father was being highly unreasonable. She felt awful for her mother though. She remembered what her father had said to her the day she left and she prayed they had resolved their issues. If she’d caused their marriage to disintegrate then she would never forgive herself.

All too soon, as the sun set on the vast estate that was Southerby, the old, white house that was covered in vines came into view. Surrounded by trees and an iron gate that was never shut, Connor and Sabine rode through cautiously. The two footmen who were standing outside the door of the house spied them instantly.

Sabine thought it strange to have footmen waiting outside unless they were expecting guests. They opened the door immediately and one of the footmen hurried inside. The other walked down the few steps to receive them.

“Lady … Sabine?” he asked, furrowing his brows.

Sabine looked down at herself and wondered if she’d changed at all in the time she was gone. She wasn’t sure of the exact time she had been away, but surely she could not have changed so much. Her hair was a little longer and her skin darker from travelling but those were the only differences she could find.

“Yes,” she replied. Looking upwards at the house, she’d never felt its daunting nature before. Was this how visitors felt when they arrived? “I’ll need you to take the horses down to the stables. Please feed and water them, I’ll rub them down later,” she instructed. “Are my parents here?”

The footman pursed his thin lips as he came up beside Puissant. “Milady, you’ve been away awhile. If I am not speaking out of turn, much has changed between His Lordship and Her Ladyship. Her Ladyship keeps to her bedchamber and His Lordship stays in his study. They don’t converse.”

Sabine’s eyes widened. The footman had been speaking out of turn, but only to tell her that she was at fault. “Lord,” she gasped. Sliding off of Puissant quickly, she handed him the reins and charged into the house without looking to see if Connor was following her or not. How could she have been so selfish? She’d always been so sensible! Now her actions had caused her parent’s marriage to fail and her mother to be bedridden. The stairs flew beneath her feet as she ran up them. Her skirts got in the way so she hiked them up in bunches in her hands.

When she came to her parent’s … or rather her mother’s bedchamber, she opened the door roughly and raced in.

Jane jumped at the sudden intrusion and Sabine gasped at her mother’s appearance. Her normally faultless, brown curls were now frizzy and unkempt. Her dark blue eyes were sad and she had deep shadows beneath them. She’d lost weight as her cheekbones were slightly more evident on her face. Her mother didn’t look like her happy self. She looked as if she had melancholia. The worst part of the sight was that the other side of the bed, her father’s side, was completely made and crease free. He hadn’t been sleeping in their bed. It was all her fault.

“Mama?” Sabine gasped.

“Sabine,” Jane breathed. “You’re here. You’re home.” Jane quickly threw back the blankets and went to get out of bed however she stumbled. Sabine acted quickly and supported her weight, helping her back into bed. “I’ve not risen for several weeks,” she admitted. “It will take some getting used to.”

“Mama,” Sabine said again, this time her voice breaking. “What have I done?”

Jane shuffled back into bed and patted her father’s side, inviting her in. Sabine walked around the bed and pulled back the stiff blankets to climb in beside her mother. Jane put her arm around Sabine and kissed her forehead. “We’ve not cuddled like this since you were a little girl,” Jane recalled. “And you haven’t done anything wrong. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s papa’s,” she growled. “Had he not been so indignant you would never have run away.” Jane was clearly angry. “And because of that I missed my daughter’s wedding – though according to him I have no maternal rights anyway.”

Sabine sighed and snuggled into the comfort of her mother’s embrace. “There was no wedding, mama, we decided against it. We came home to confront papa. We are getting married … properly. You are my mother no matter what he says, mama. You loved me when nobody else did.”

She felt her mother kiss her again. “I’m glad I get to see my eldest walk down the aisle,” she sighed. “And papa never stopped loving you, don’t you believe that. Losing your mother was very hard for him, and each person deals with grief differently. He felt that you were better off without him, and so he left you with Gwenny and the rest of the staff. He always loves you, darling.”

“Do you still love him?” she asked sadly. The last thing she wanted for her parents to have a marriage like those miserable couples in London that despised each other.

“Of course I do,” Jane replied immediately, in a tone that suggested that Sabine’s question was ludicrous. “One cannot simply stop loving someone. I’m just infuriated with him.”

“Is papa in his study?”

“I assume so,” she replied. “Is Connor here or is he at the stables?”

“Connor is here,” her father’s voice sounded as he opened the door. Her father marched into the bedchamber angrily dragging Connor by the arm as if he was a child. Daniel’s dark eyes were murderous as he put Connor in front of the bed. Sabine immediately checked her father’s hands for weapons. “Why is he in my house?” he demanded angrily, his eyes on Sabine.

Connor glared at Daniel. “If ye weren’t to be my father – in – law then I would have shown ye what happens when ye manhandle a Scot.”

“Don’t you dare threaten me,” Daniel snapped. “You’re the one who kidnapped my daughter. How disrespectful. You are bloody lucky I haven’t called the police.”

“Papa,” Sabine snapped, grabbing hold of her mother’s hand for support. “Stop it, please,” she ordered. “Connor didn’t kidnap me, it was my idea to leave. Don’t treat him like a criminal when it is you who has behaved so atrociously.”

Daniel’s eyes widened. Sabine had never been so harsh with her father before now. “Sabine,” he sighed, sounding a little calmer. “You’re not married which is perfect, I only want the best for you and he –” he said, looking at Connor poisonously. “– is not it. He is a stable hand!”

“Papa,” Sabine said exasperatedly. “I don’t care if he is a stable hand, he is so talented with horses and he has a dream, one that he will achieve, and I, as his future wife, will help him with it.” She wasn’t going to tell her father about McKenzie Castle, it wasn’t her story to tell.

“I care, Sabine, I care,” he snapped. “You deserve a castle, not a shack!”     

“I have a castle,” Connor spat. “I could be an heir to one of the last surviving clans of Scotland if I wanted to, but I don’ want to be Laird, I want to train horses. I’m sorry if ye don’ think I’m good enough for Sabine, but I would think that ye would want a man for Sabine tha’ loved her unconditionally an’ no’ one tha’ would marry her for her dowry an’ then lay with every woman who moved.”

Daniel looked taken aback and Sabine was just as surprised, however the shock was quickly replaced with proudness.

“You have a castle?” Daniel repeated.

“I’m suddenly interesting now tha’ ye know I come from money?” Connor said angrily. “So ye know, I’m no’ taking any of it. I’m making something of myself, an’ I love Sabine, and we came back to do things right.” He pulled his arm from Daniel’s grasp roughly.

Sabine looked up at her mother’s face and she looked rather upset. “Papa, I’m sorry,” Sabine said sincerely. “I should not have run away, it was a foolish decision, but I won’t change my mind about Connor. We love each other, just like you and mama love each other – you still love mama, don’t you?” she asked hopefully. She felt her mother’s hand tighten on hers ever so slightly – did her mother not know the answer to this question?

Daniel’s brown eyes softened as his eyes went from Sabine to Jane. “That is a preposterous question, Sabine. Janey, do you believe that?”

Jane tensed. “I don’t know, Daniel. You’ve turned into an arrogant brute overnight. Suddenly the man you’ve been raving about is not good enough for Sabine, Sabine’s not old enough to make her own decisions and I’m not her mother,” she said angrily. She sat in the bed properly and crossed her legs.

“Jane,” Daniel sighed. “I didn’t mean that, I was just angry and I said things I didn’t mean. You are Sabine’s mother, there is no disputing that, I promise you. I do love you – both of you – even though I don’t show it that well at times,” he said to Sabine as well.

Sabine smiled slightly. If anything came from this confrontation, she wanted it to be her parents reuniting. She and Connor would still marry no matter what happened.

Connor folded his arms across his chest as Daniel cleared his throat and murmured “Mr McKenzie.”

“Aye, Lord Southerby?” he replied.

“I love my family more than anything else in the world. You won’t understand it until you are a husband and father yourself. I’m not happy about this, I want you to know that. The way a man should go about courting a man’s daughter is to ask her father. You did neither – you did not ask permission, nor did you court. If you want my permission to marry her, then you will court her for the traditional three months. Then you will come to me and ask permission to ask for her hand in marriage. In the meantime, you will no longer work at Southerby, I will find you employment in the village as you will not be alone with Sabine like that again. You will also dine with us three times a week and you will be required to wear more than a button down shirt. You will have a chaperone at all times … those are my conditions,” Daniel proposed. Her father’s shoulders were rigid as he spoke, and Sabine could tell that he was forcing himself to compromise for the harmony of the family.

Connor looked to Sabine for guidance. She nodded at him, silently telling him that there was no way her father would agree. He’d managed to fix things with his family, now she needed to do the same with hers, and if courting for three months was how she was to do it, then it seemed like a small price to pay.

“Alright,” he agreed. “Lord Southerby, may I have ye permission to court Lady Sabine?” he asked formally.

“You may,” Daniel nodded stiffly. They shook hands whilst looking at the other cautiously. Like Mungo, Daniel would take a little time to warm up to Connor. Perhaps it was a way of him showing his over – protective love for Sabine. Some fathers welcomed suitors, others threatened them with rifles. “Now, can you please go downstairs,” he asked them both. “Mama and I need to talk.” It didn’t sound daunting in the way he spoke, as if the conversation was to be bad, he sounded like he did just before he kissed her mother and Sabine did not want to be present for that.

Climbing out of bed, she walked around to where her father and Connor was standing. Planting a kiss on Daniel’s cheek, she took Connor’s hand and pulled him from the room, closing the door behind them. Once they were clear of the corridor, Connor wrapped his arm around Sabine’s waist and kissed her temple.

“Was tha’ successful?” he asked her. “I’m no’ sure of exactly what happened,” he chuckled.

“That was very successful,” she promised. “Neither of us have been shot and he’s allowing us to marry after a courtship. This is good,” she smiled. As they came to the staircase, she spotted a maid coming out of the servant’s stairway. “Oh, excuse me!” she called out.

The maid froze, shocked to see Sabine standing there. “Milady?” she questioned.

“Yes, it is me. Could you please tell me the date?”

“It is the second of June, milady,” she replied timidly.

“June?” Sabine raised her eyebrows. “I would usually be in London for my season right now … I wonder how much else I’ve missed.” The maid curtseyed before scurrying away quickly. Sabine was sure she would shock a few more people with her return.

“September is a nice time of year to get married,” Connor commented. “All the deciduous trees will make a nice setting.”

“Let us go down to the stables to rub down the horses. It will be our last time alone before papa insists on chaperones,” she said comically, leading him down the stairs.

Connor pulled her to a stop midway down. “It’s all goin’ to work out now, isn’t it?”

She beamed and nodded reassuringly. “It’s going to work out, Connor.”

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Hope you liked it :)

Thanks to everyone who wished me luck - just so you know, I passed! I got my license :D

Vote and comment :) There is only two more chapters to go before Becoming Jane starts - how many of you have guesses as to what her secret is? I will dedicate to the person who guesses correctly (and Kassie, you're not allowed to guess as you already know :P) Good luck!