I love answering questions, so don't apologize.

I actually did a poll once about "When did you decide Finn was for Gwynn?" (since everyone now seems to be backing that relationship) The answer I personally gave was "ever since Gwynn had her kitten-chasing dream". I deliberately wrote that dream so that it was at least possible to interpret it to mean that she would marry Finn. (It also had the fun side-effect of making her believe she is supposed to marry Egelric, which has led to some... interesting chapters...)

I am sure I must have had the idea a little before that dream chapter, of course, or I couldn't have written that chapter. I no longer recall my initial reasons for wanting them together. I didn't really know Finn's personality yet, so it wasn't that. (More likely, Finn's character has developed "towards" being compatible with Gwynn.)

I guess it was a case of poetic rightness... Egelric and Alred are best friends, and Egelric and Matilda always had an intriguing relationship...

I think Matilda would have been tickled at the idea. As much as she respected social class and titles, and as much as she would have expected her children to maintain the quality of their noble blood, she always knew that Egelric had a nobility of a different sort. She understood why a woman could fall in love with him. You haven't seen the nobility in Finn yet, but you will soon. I think Matilda would have given them her blessing.

Of course that assumes there will come a day when neither of them is angry at the other...

(Now that I think about it, I would have LOVED to see Matilda interacting with Finn! Poor flustered Finnie!)

As for Connie, she came to Lothere because Eithne is her best and dearest friend, and she couldn't live another day without her. She was heartbroken when Eithne left without a word for her, and terrified she had been kidnapped or worse.

But Comgeall was actually coming to take Eithne back to Scotland with him, and of course Connie too. I don't know whether he meant to take them home with him, personally (he is married to their eldest sister Aibinn), or whether he meant to send them to their sister Gorman, who got the two youngest girls. But either way, he gave them to Egelric and washed his hands of them, and that's how Connie ended up staying in the valley.

The question of Cat & Flann's "bad influence" on Connie will actually come up at the end of December, 1085, but you still have a lot of reading to do before you get there.

But to answer your specific question, her family does (or at least did at this time) accept Paul. Paul may have made himself a few Scottish enemies in the most recent chapters (early January, 1086).

I can think of two chapters that might fall under that description: "Egelric and Alred dine with an elf", and "Dunstan meets a stranger". In the latter Egelric gives us this gem of a commentary:

“Do you see how it is, Dunstan?” he asked. “The only fun for me is in watching to see how long it will take them to turn the conversation to poetry. And they can turn any conversation into one about poetry.”