"I am no fool, Kieran, as you know, but see how auspiciously fate has dealt with us. Until we came to Mary's Land each of us was besieged in our own passage through life, and yet we kept moving forward. That was what Comfort Rogers was trying to do. Move forward. Be loved. But, alas, she did not know how. I have been loved my whole life, and you, despite your mother's death knew that your father and siblings loved you, even if your stepmother did not. What kind of a life did that poor creature have, I wonder, that caused her to become so wicked? Babies are born innocent. It takes terrible deeds to turn them into evil people. Aye, she tried to kill me, and to steal my husband, but tonight I am safe at Fortune's Fancy with you by my side, while she is on her way back to England to be hanged. God help her, Kieran. God help her!"
He looked at her with his dark green eyes filled with love and admiration for this woman he had found to be his wife. Lady Fortune Mary Lindley Devers was truly amazing. "I love you," he said. "I loved you yesterday. I love you today, and I will love you forever though time itself ceases to exist. We are home, Fortune. Home in our Mary's Land. Home, and besieged no more!" He stood, drawing her up, and took her into his arms. Then he kissed her with all the passion in his Celtic soul, and Fortune knew he was right. They were home. Home, and besieged no more. It was a good feeling!
Author's Note
Mary's Land is, of course, the state we know today as Maryland, and its founder, George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, was a man so far in advance of his time that we haven't yet caught up with him. He dreamed of a world where all people could worship as they chose to worship. Freely, and without being constantly besieged by intolerance. Human nature being what it is, we aren't there yet, but like George Calvert, I have hope, because I believe that with God, or the Creator, Yahweh, Allah, or whatever you choose to call the Celestial Actuary, all things are possible.
Bertrice Small
