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immense gratitude to Aunt Elspeth for having taken her in, for having made her welcome in her castle on a cliff when Serafina had nowhere else to turn until her marriage to Aiden.
    “’Ere, come along now, Miss Serafina,” Tinkerby said from behind her, startling her out of her thoughts. “Times awasting, and your auntie’s loaded up that blasted bird. You know he won’t keep his beak shut for more than two minutes, and I’m not inclined to stand about getting my eardrums broken.”
    Serafina turned and gave him a fond smile. “Coming, Tinkerby. I was just saying my good-byes.”
    “Aye, well good-bye is the best thing I can think of your saying to this drafty old pile of mortar. I daresay it’ll be missing you a good deal more than you’ll be missing it.”
    “Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve grown awfully fond of the place, even though it is falling apart at the seams. It feels strange to be leaving, as much as I can’t wait to be married.”
    “Aye, and your husband-to-be is waiting too.” He winked. “Won’t have him saying that I held up your nuptials, not when he’s so anxious to have you at his side, if you know what I mean.”
    Serafina blushed; she wasn’t exactly sure what Tinkerby meant, but she knew she needed to be better prepared than she was. She hadn’t been able to get another word out of Elspeth on the subject and she was no closer to discovering the mystery. Still, if the prelude in the dream was anything to go by, she expected she’d enjoy the conclusion enormously.
    “You see, Tinkerby?” she said, gently teasing. ‘You thought I was making everything up about my destiny with Aiden and it all happened just as it was supposed to.”
    “I still think that part about destiny is a lot o’ nonsense,” Tinkerby said. “But I’m prepared to admit I was wrong about his lordship. Mind you, I wasn’t to know he was in the Americas all that time. Hard to marry you when he was an ocean away, I’ll give you that.”
    “Thank you,” Serafina said, kissing his cheek.
    It was Tinkerby’s turn to blush. “You save that sort of thing for your husband,” he said gruffly. “We don’t want you coming up empty on your wedding day.”
    “I don’t think there’s a chance of that,” Serafina replied with a little laugh. “Oh, Tinkerby, I don’t think I’ve been so excited in my entire life!”
    She sobered, longing to ask Tinkerby the question that had been uppermost on her mind the last few days, ever since she’d learned that Aiden had summoned her. “Do you think …” she said, hesitating. “Oh, Tinkerby, how do you think he’ll find me? Do you think he’ll find my face displeasing?”
    Tinkerby chuckled. “I’m sure I can’t speak for his lordship, Miss Serafina, but you put me in mind of your mother when she first came to Bowhill, that you do. Why do you ask?”
    “Because everyone said I was such an ugly child,” Serafina blurted out. “I think I’ve improved a little, anyway, but it’s hard to tell.”
    “Aye,” Tinkerby said bluntly. “You were no beauty to be sure, but now that you’ve grown, your face has made better sense of itself.”
    “But my eyes are still a funny color and the bridge of my nose is too wide and my mouth is too full and—and my front tooth is crooked.” She regarded him gravely.
    “I don’t see a thing wrong with your eyes, your nose, your mouth, or that tooth, for that matter. It’s hardly crooked at all to my way of looking, just a little bit off perfect. You should have seen my wife—now there was a mouthful of teeth. Stuck right out they did, but I didn’t love her any less for that.”
    “Oh,” Serafina said with acute disappointment, seeing what Tinkerby was gently trying to tell her. “I suppose he’ll find me too skinny as well. I never have been able to put flesh on my bones.”
    “As for that,” Tinkerby said, standing back and regarding her with an assessing gaze, “I’d say you were a slight thing,