Chapter 5 The Wedding

Jason had built the cabin, a two-room cabin with a small alcove off the bedroom. He and his father and brothers, built and furnished the entire cabin. Mother gave me some of her dishes and cookware to use. She and I also made my dress, actually, it was a blouse and a skirt that had a jacket to go with it. It would serve as my Sunday outfit as well as my wedding dress. The skirt was a rose color, and the blouse was white. The Jacket was the same as the skirt and had white trim around the sleeves, color, and buttons.

The church was decorated for Christmas, but their wedding was held two days before. All was ready for the ceremony. Both Fathers were in place. Matilda had her sister Mary and a cousin from the town of Everett as a bridesmaid. Jonathon Bolt and his sons, Jason, Joshua, and Jeremy were gathered at the front of the church. Joshua and Jeremy were the groomsmen. Jonathan sat in the front pew on the right and Matilda's mother and brothers sat in the front pew on the left. The Reverend Johnson's wife played the wedding march on the church organ and Mr. McConnell walked his daughter up the aisle. When they reached the front, he handed his daughter to Jason and sat down next to his wife.

The reverend went through the traditional wedding vows and when he came to the part of '…does anyone know why these two should not be married?" Nothing was said for a few minutes, then a person in the back stood up and said:
"I do!" He came forward with a look of determination. Mr. McConnell was aghast, and Mrs. McConnell gasped. James John and Mary all ran to their mother and hid behind her skirts.

"I do not want this union to happen!' The man said.

"Who might you be?" Asked the reverend.

"He is Sir James Stewart of Dunure, Scotland and he is the man to whom Matilda was promised when she was a wee bairn in Scotland. He is the current owner of the castle and also runs the fishing export business. When she was a baby, my parents signed a contract for her to be married to James Stewart when she was old enough to marry." Father said and then looked at Margaret and bowed his head. I was furious! Here we were in the United States, and I still was obligated to fulfill a contract made when I was just a baby! Mother looked at me and took me aside

"Matilda, we were hoping that He had forgotten this but apparently he has not! We can do nothing about it!" I was ready to cry when Jason and his father stood up and Jason's father spoke.

"Sir James, is it true that the grandparents signed the contract? And does either family have a copy of that contract in their possession?" Jonathan asked the family of Matilda and Sir James. Sir James was able to produce a contract, but Father had no such contract in his possession.

"I am sorry to say I do not have such a contract, in fact, I thought that my parents had declared it illegal since we were allowed to leave Scotland and them behind!" He said to everyone. Sir James smiled at the problem and said:

"Since it seems that I have the only legal contract, I may step in and accept the hand of Matilda McConnell!" Sir James stepped up looked at Jason and with an imperceptible brush to push him aside he then stood in front of Matilda and said:
"I DO!" Then without hesitation grabbed her by her wrist and whisked her out of the church and onto a horse. It was snowing that night and the tracks that the horse made disappeared as soon as they were made. Mother and father were furious, but not as furious as Jonathan Bolt and Jason Bolt. Jason flew out of the church found his horse and rode after them doing his best to follow the tracks.

Father and Mr. Bolt, went to the saloon to make plans.

"Jonathan, I am so sorry, I thought that the contract was null and void, at least that is what my father had said when we left Scotland for America!" He put his head in his hands and was visibly shaken. Mother had taken the other children home. James was the same age as Jason and had gone after him on his horse as well.

"Mr. McConnell, where can he get to? We are in Seattle, he will get lost in the snow, won't he?" Father looked up and understood. Sir James had no knowledge of the topography of Bridal Veil Mountain so Jason and his friend James would find him faster than he expected! When Father realized that, he smiled at Jonathon.

"then I suppose we had better saddle up and get supplies and start out in the morning?" Jonathan nodded in agreement and they both set to preparing the travel equipment and horses.

Meanwhile, I was being held securely in front of Sir James on the horse. I did not know where we were going, it was dark and cold. The snow started to drift and slide. It seemed that we were on a steep hill or maybe a cliff! But Sir James kept going, he had seen some caves nearby and wanted to take refuge in them. He finally saw the caves and we headed toward them. Once we were close, we got off the horse and let him go, he had not been Sir James' horse, but he did not want that animal around when he took me to a cave. He had grabbed my hair and held it tightly, he would not let go like some primitive animal carrying his mate back to his lair. I did not struggle partly because of the snow and partly because I did not want to get hurt. We entered the cave; he pushed me to the ground and put his foot on my back. Then he lit the torch, pulled me up, and pushed me towards the darkness. I could do nothing else but walk forward. Finally, we came to the back of the cave. It had a natural roomlike feel, and I saw there was an entryway at the top of a stair. The room looked like it could hold quite a few people and or animals. In fact, he had a couple of horses and some cattle, I wondered how he got them in there.

"Now, Matilda, I know this is all very scary to you so I will not insist on my conjugal rights tonight, but I will be having them soon! I have a bed made for you. It will be our wedding bed, in a couple of days. So, I have also some clothing for you to wear tomorrow. Hereafter you will be known as Lady Matilda Stewart. When we leave, we will go back to Scotland, and if you wish we can have a proper ceremony in Scotland!" I looked at him and did not act or say anything untoward. I kept thinking about how I would be able to escape this madman! He left me by the bed and placed a screen in front of the bed to give me some sense of privacy. And walked away, towards a small fire he had started to heat some coffee. I sat on the bed trying to think of how I would escape.