Two years ago...

Alex did not mind the stolen stares by the village folks.

She was used to them.

And perhaps they were used to her.

It seemed too long ago when she first learned that she was different—that her world did not belong in Blucksley.

That Meriwether was quite different.

Over time, when she embraced the life of a bandit and her father taught her how to not mind the folks in the village, she learned that they feared them—and respected them?

Meriwether, after all, provided Blucksley aide during troublesome moments throughout the years. And although they would not admit it, the bandits were a part of their community in more ways than one.

The reason why Alex could freely roam around Blucksley was that the villagers had never been harmed by any bandit. And in return, they would dare not irk Meriwether.

She was on her way to post a letter to Ysabella and Emma when she almost ran into someone unexpected.

He did not see her for she was fast to disappear behind a large carpenter fixing a shop door.

"Shh!" she told the carpenter when he opened his mouth to shoo her away. She craned her neck to find Ralph Everard climb on his horse. "What's that Guard doin' here?" she asked.

"Lookin' fer a bandit," the carpenter said. "Now, get off me, bandit."

"Aye!" she said with a smile and turned away.

She looked over her shoulder.

She realized her heart was still hammering hard against her chest.

*****

Alex simply stared at him.

Ralph could not see any hint of anything in her grey eyes.

In fact, they were too blank he knew she was thinking of merely one thing: escape.

"You have done enough escaping, Alex," Ralph said, leaning against his seat, his arms crossed over his chest. He was confident. Why would he not be? His brothers were outside guarding the door. Her cousins were at the moment cooperative.

He did not wish to think of what would follow should Alex say yes. He had not yet planned far after this.

"How did'ye make me cousins agree te this?" was her question which surprised Ralph. Why did she want to know about that?

He answered her nonetheless. "They like Max. And Nick, I believe." She raised her eyes to him. "And they believe you wish to marry me." When she scowled, he held up his hands in defense. "They said so in their letters! And by the by, they do write better than we expected. Have they gotten the lessons from the caveman's wife, perhaps?" When Alex found no humor in his statement, Ralph shifted in his seat. He cleared his throat. "And I believe they also wish to beat me to death."

That caused her lips to twitch.

Clearing his throat once again, Ralph straightened in his seat. "After you say yes, of course," he added to his last statement. "So now, if you please, Alex, do say yes so your cousins can beat the bloody hell out of me and I can proceed to present my bleeding self in front of your father to beg him to let me claim you."

Her face went blank yet again.

What did she want to hear from him? What was there more to say?

"I love you," he blurted out without blinking an eye. The expression on her face told him she already knew that fact. "I am in love with you and it is driving me insane that you are here while I am there."

He heard her draw in a breath. Still, no response.

"Alex, please, will you not say anything?" he asked in desperation. "I ought to get an answer from you now. I cannot possibly enter Meriwether alone without being murdered. This carriage is the safest place for a proposal. And if you just say yes, we can proceed to this famous 'rite of passage' everyone keeps talking about. And then I can face your father. And after that, I can whisk you away from here and marry you in a church." He paused and sighed when she simply kept looking at him.

"I wish to have children with you who will be as wonderful as my nieces and nephews. I can already see them growing up in Beechworth and wearing my uniform which will be too large for them. I sense they will be expert swordsmen. Learning horseback shall never be a challenge. And I have already imagined them causing havoc around Meriwether, climbing on those stone trees, dancing around the fire with the villagers. I picture them as masters of trickery. I see them with your hair and eyes; with your humor and wit; your compassion and bravery; and—"

"Aye."

"—and I see them not as children of a Guard and a bandit, but of two people perfectly matched—" Ralph halted in his desperate speech, Alex's word finally having found a spot to squeeze in between his thoughts.

He took the courage to look into her eyes and realized her grey globes were swimming in tears. "Aye," she whispered.

"Aye?" Ralph repeated. "Aye?"

Her smile widened as she nodded her head. "Aye."

An overwhelming sense of joy washed over him, but so did the curiosity. "Before I grab you and kiss you to seal the deal," he said, frowning at her, "please do tell me which part of my speech made you say yes."

Alex shrugged. "Ye said ye can see our children in Meriwether."

He blinked. "That is all?"

Her expression turned serious. "It's everythin', Ralph."

Ralph then started to realize what she meant. "You stayed away because you believed we are from different worlds?"

Alex lifted one finger in a shrug.

"It's absurd, Alex, to believe it would matter to me."

"It mattered te me. And it might matter te yer family."

Ralph scoffed and his chest rumbled in laughter. "My family!"

Alex narrowed her eyes and kicked his shin. "Oi, don't laugh at me. I know yer family's wickedly odd, but I'm not the usual kind they'll accept."

"Because you are a bandit."

"Aye! And me father's a bandit and he'll never leave that life behind. Me cousins are bandits—me whole village is!"

"My eldest brother married the twins' governess. She also happened to be a condemned witch from Kaylock." The look in her eyes told him she already knew of it. "And she was publicly humiliated."

"Ysa and Emma told me the stories, guv. Lady Agatha had the support of the Haverstons. I don't know such powerful people."

"Levi, whom you have met, made a big scandal when he stole someone else's bride and took her to Tiny Town."

"Aye, I know 'em—Levi and Tori. She's gentry."

"And Max here," Ralph continued as though he did not hear her, pointing outside the door where Maxwell still stood with Nicholas, "married a Theobald bastard. It was as scandalous as can be."

"Aye, but her family stood by her."

Ralph gritted his teeth. "Nick married a woman of color."

"Who can be seen as a victim of bad fate, aye, considerin' what she's been through. And she has a powerful man as her half-brother." She shrugged.

"What I am trying to say, Alex," Ralph interjected calmly, "is that in each of the people I have mentioned, they did not simply have families and friends to support them, they also had us, the Everards." When she frowned, Ralph sighed. "They are now known not as what they were in their past, but as Everards and we all revel on it because we chose to choose them despite the scandals."

"But what of my bandit origins? Stories will come out. The Guards know me name."

Ralph grinned at her. "I already knew this shall come up." He knocked on the carriage door. "Nick, what did the League say about Alexandria Griggs, the bandit?"

"Meg said all charges are nonexistent!" Nicholas replied from outside. "As gratitude for Miss Grigg's part in saving the slaves!"

"And as a reminder that they can reverse it anytime should she start talking," Maxwell added.

Ralph turned to Alex. "You are a free woman, bandit."

"Unless she starts another heist," they heard Maxwell comment.

"We will have to force Ralph to arrest her then," Nicholas replied.

"Not the proper time to talk nonsense, brothers," Ralph said, eyes on Alex. "She just bloody said yes."

"We can proceed then?" Maxwell asked.

Ralph reached for Alex, pulling her toward him. "Not yet," he murmured, his lips barely touching hers. He looked into her eyes. "Aye?"

Her lips twitched and her hands clasped behind his neck. Her tears rolled down her face and Ralph quickly wiped them away. "Did yer Ma knew yer doin' this?"

Ralph nodded. "She may not have said so, but I believe she has the inkling."

"Will she like a bandit fer a daughter-in-law?"

Maxwell and Nicholas chuckled from behind the carriage door. So did Ralph. "She will be immensely thrilled."

"Then, aye, guv," Alex murmured against his lips. "I'll wed ye." Just as Ralph opened his mouth to receive her kiss, she leaned away to clarify, "Just so ye know, Guard, I was try'na convince meself te rob ye away from Beechworth te Tiny Town. Yer not the first te think of proposin'."

Ralph tightened his arms around Alex. "Aye. It's no surprise you would think that."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You truly did consider it?" he asked.

She nodded her head.

He chuckled against her lips. His laughter died down as Alex deepened the kiss.

"Are they done?" he heard Maxwell's impatient question.

Ralph blindly reached for the door handle to keep it closed. He just bloody got his bride. Whatever may come after would have to be delayed a little while.

*****

"Now, ye must know, Guard, that this was highly requested by many," Ned informed Ralph, kicking Ralph's behind to urge him to walk faster.

Ralph looked over his shoulder to glare at Maxwell and Nicholas. "And who, may I ask?"

"Quite a handful," Barto replied, pulling the rope to keep Ralph on the path. "Wakefield fer one."

Ralph bared his teeth. "Of course."

"He said yer brothers will not interfere in this rite 'o passage if we help."

"We requested the rite of passage, Ralph," said Nicholas, chuckling behind Barto. "Ye quite deserve it."

"And Alex is well-informed of this arrangement?" Ralph asked.

"'Cors not!" said Ned as Barto pulled the rope to stop Ralph. "She's now havin' a talk with her 'Pa te minimize yer impendin' doom. We have a few minutes te spare 'efore old Gustav gets his hands on ye, guv."

Ralph swallowed. "A few minutes to spare?" His eyes flew to his brothers. Nicholas and Maxwell turned to Ned and Barto.

It was Nicholas who said, "One blow each, gentlemen."

Ned and Barto cracked their knuckles as they stood before Ralph. "Aye," they chorused. "One blow each."

"Bloody hell," Ralph said through gritted teeth. "Let us get this over with once and—"

The rest of his words were left unspoken as Ned threw his blow against Ralph's stomach.

"Oof!" Nicholas and Maxwell uttered.

Barto was next and he pulled Ralph to his feet. "We can't let Alex see the damage on yer face, guv," he said as he kneed Ralph between his legs.

"Oof!" Nicholas and Maxwell cried once more.

Ralph doubled over to the ground, his mouth open in a silent cry of pain.

"Now, enough, gentlemen," he heard Maxwell say. "You have had your fill."

"He needs a few more minutes before we continue, I gather?" asked Nicholas.

When Ralph remained in painful silence, Ned and Barto nodded with a wince. "Aye. A bit more."

*****

Alex looked very suspicious when she saw that Ralph was walking beside his brothers without a rope tied around him. Yet his steps were done with a hint of difficulty.

"Behave yerself," she murmured to her father when the man grunted in disapproval beside her. "I'mma marry him and I dinna want te see ye try'na kill him."

"He's a bleedin' Guard!" his father hissed beside her. She could almost feel him shaking with rage.

"Aye. Ain't it gonna be wonderful? Ye havin' a Guard fer a son?" She stole her father a look and realized the man was not at all serious about killing Ralph. "Ye made 'Ma a promise, aye?"

He snapped his head at her. "Aye."

"Ye have te let me choose me man, aye?"

Gustav Grigg's beard moved as his jaw tightened. His eyes turned to Ralph and his brothers. "Aye." As they waited in the doorway of their stone cottage, Gustav growled. "He's a bleedin' Guard!"

Alex smiled. "Not a very good one, fer yer information, 'Pa." She chuckled at her father's incredulous look. "I've outwitted him countless times."

Gustav's brows rose in surprise and approval. "Ye did?"

She nodded her head. "Aye."

"Ye'll continue te do so as his wife?"

"'Cors!"

"Bastard Everard thought I can be bought by gifts," Gustav growled under his breath.

Alex stared at the chest and portmanteau the men were carrying. "But ye'll not gonna refuse 'em, are ye?"

"Anyone who refuses gifts from an Everard is a fool," her father snapped. And then he stepped away from the doorway of their stone cottage to go back to his chair. "Tell the man to come in. Alone."

Alex faced her father from the doorway. "If ye promise ye won't hurt him—"

"Yer mother made me promise I won't interfere with the desires o' yer heart, me lovely lass. Now, get that Everard in here and lock the bleedin' door."

*****

"Ye deliberately fooled me," said Gustav to Ralph, sounding genuinely hurt and betrayed.

Ralph shifted in his feet, his head bent. "Aye, I did."

"Ye entered Meriwether without tellin' me yer a bleedin' Guard months ago."

"Aye."

"Why?"

Ralph lifted his head. "Because your daughter said so and I seconded her decision. I did not wish to die before I finished my mission, sir."

Gustav grumbled, dark eyes fixed on Ralph. "I liked yer brothers and brothers-in-law. And the twins."

"Yes, I believe so."

"Yer the first amongst 'em Everards I can't like, boy."

Ralph gulped.

"But I'll stomach yer presence if me daughter wants ye." Gustav stood to his feet. "But the moment she wants te leave ye, ye'll let her, d'ye understand? Ye let her and ye don't attempt te take her back."

Ralph snapped his head. "But your daughter has the propensity to leave whenever she feels it, sir."

"What d'ye mean?"

"She always disappears even for the smallest of reasons."

"Aye, she does."

"So," he said, motioning with his hand as he spoke, "let us say we have a tiny bit of argument... say about how one petal of a rose is different from the rest—and believe me when I say we do fight over such trivial, useless subjects—and she decides to leave me but she truly does not mean it, but she does simply to show me she can, and she goes home to you to prove it, does that mean I cannot go after her to bring her home?"

Gustav looked at him with an incredulous look in his eyes. "What are ye children fightin' 'bout all the time?"

"As I have said, trivial, useless things," Ralph replied with a wince.

"Then allow me te be the judge of that," Gustav said. He looked at Ralph, letting the silence last a while longer. "Yer family's gonna love her."

"I believe they will," he replied instantly and confidently.

"But I say when the weddin' shall be. Ye'll have te suffer a lengthy engagement, boy."

Ralph swallowed. "It shall not be too lengthy, I hope?"

"'Tis me little angel we're talkin' 'bout, boy," Gustav roared. The man was too large for Ralph and if he opted for it, he could have snapped the breath out of Ralph in one single motion. So with Gustav roaring like that, Ralph nearly wanted to cower to one corner. "I'll take me bleedin' precious time!"

Gustav turned away from Ralph. Then he paused and looked at Ralph over his shoulder. "Yer not gonna contradict me decision?"

Ralph blinked. Every bone in his body wanted him to kneel and beg Gustav, but instead he nodded. "I am not, sir. I believe a long engagement is a sound idea. It shall provide us all sufficient time to prepare."

Gustav smirked. "Good. Now, get me ale and tell 'em te prepare supper!"

*****

Alex jumped to her feet. "What d'ye mean long engagement?" she demanded.

"No wedding for now until your father says so," Maxwell replied. He lifted his glass of ale at Gustav who returned the gesture.

Alex turned to her father who seemed to enjoy the situation. "What's yer reason fer delayin' the weddin'?"

Gustav shrugged.

"None," Maxwell replied for Gustav.

Alex fumed even further when she realized that everyone around the dining table, save for herself and Ralph, was enjoying this.

"And 'til when is this long engagement?" she asked, arching a brow.

Again, Gustav shrugged.

Alex turned to Maxwell and said, "Don't ye dare," before he could open his mouth and interpret her father's shrug.

"Until he feels it," Ned said through a mouthful of chicken.

Maxwell and Gustav raised their glasses to Ned who also returned the gesture.

"Ye think 'tis funny," Alex growled. She shook her head and squared her shoulders. "I'm givin' ye 'til the fortnight."

"Alex," Ralph said, voice filled with fear and warning.

Alex whirled to look down at him still seated beside her. "What Alex? Don't Alex me." She pointed at her father. "He's bein' difficult. 'Tis his pride, is all."

When she turned and left the table, Ralph jumped to his feet. "Where are you going?"

"Collectin' me things!" she said.

*****

Ralph was at a loss.

Gustav merely chuckled in his seat that he began to wonder if this was a frequent occurrence in the Griggs household. "She's finally takin' that bag, eh?"

Barto leaned over his food with a sneer. "And the drama begins 'gain."

Maxwell and Nicholas swiveled in their seats, waiting in excitement.

"But where—" Ralph started to ask when Alex reappeared with a large bag in her hand.

With a proud look on her face, she said to her father, "Ye can visit me in Beechworth."

Ralph's eyes widened. Ned and Barto guffawed. Maxwell was shaking his head. Nicholas was laughing with her cousins. Gustav rolled his eyes.

Ralph was beginning to panic. "I do not think this is a good idea, Alex."

She raised her brows. "Ye wanna live here, then?"

"Well... I am certain Gustav—"

"I'll wait outside," she interjected and walked out the door.

Ralph looked at Gustav. The man merely chuckled. "She's had that bag packed fer months now."

"Aye," Ned seconded.

"She was ready te go te ye fer so long," Gustav said with a wink. "Ye take her. I'll visit ye in Beechworth."

Ralph hesitated. Was this a trap?

His brothers signaled for him to leave.

Ned and Barto did so too.

Giving Gustav a slight bow, Ralph chased after Alex.

She was already waiting for him outside, strapping her large bag over Siege's back. She had it prepared long beforehand? Would she have gone to him if he did not?

"Me cousins hurt ye, didn't they? Dinna worry, 'twil be the last. And I know me father, Ralph. He will say yes. He's simply playin' with us," she told him when he approached.

Now quite amused, Ralph hid his smile. "He will?"

Alex, on the other hand, was utterly serious. She nodded. "Aye. When I am with babe, he will."

Ralph blinked. "You are not—are you?"

She smiled and climbed on top of her horse. "Not yet, I'm not." She offered her hand to him. "Come on, guv! 'Tis time I rescue ye from here."