She wasn’t sure what happened when their eyes locked during such an intimate moment, only that it felt like coming home. Like she’d found where she was supposed to be. Who she was supposed to be with.
“Is this love?” she whispered, swept up in more emotions than she could make sense of. Vaguely aware of a tear slipping down her cheek.
“Aye.” He brushed his lips against hers. “I would say so.”
He kissed her again and again, murmuring against her lips that he’d never felt this way before. That this had to be love. That she meant everything to him.
She lost track of how many murmured endearments he whispered in her ear as the night wore on, and they lost themselves in one another. Sometimes they made love slowly, other times more intensely. Sometimes so passionately she wept, other times so playfully she laughed.
By the time they drifted off, she knew what she felt was most certainly love. They stood at the threshold of a wonderful new life. Everything was going to be different now.
“Och, but look at ye,” Ada mused when she gave Greer a hug hello the next morning. They had arrived around the time she and Teagan finally found their way downstairs. Her friend’s knowing gaze went from Teagan to Greer. “Ye’re a whole new lass, ye are.”
“I am.” She smiled at Teagan because she couldn’t help herself. “A whole new lass, to be sure.”
“We missed ye, Mistress Greer.” Besse flung her arms around Greer’s waist. “Though ’twas great fun with Edmund the Defender.”
“Ye mean Edmund the Protector,” Duncan corrected, embracing her as well. “For he snuck us away from the evil sorcerer.”
“Then defended us,” Greer pointed out.
“More like Edmund the Scoundrel,” Ada muttered under her breath. There was no missing the pinkening of her cheeks when she eyed the Englishman, though. Nor the small smile she shot his way when she thought no one was looking.
Rather than linger at the tavern, introductions were made, and everyone set out straight away.
“’Tis a beautiful day for riding,” Teagan whispered in her ear. “A beautiful day to take ye home.”
It was, too.
In fact, it was as beautiful out as that fretful day years ago.
“And ’twill stay beautiful this time,” Margery would say. “’Twill stay beautiful always.”
The sky did stay blue. To top it all off, a vibrant colored sunset blazed on the horizon when they finally crested the hill, and she saw MacLauchlin Castle for the first time. Though Teagan had spoken at length about it, his words didn’t do it justice.
Cozied between verdant pines with a sparkling ocean backdrop, it felt like home.
She looked over her shoulder at him. “’Tis truly lovely, husband.”
“Aye.” His gaze lingered on her face. “As are ye, wife.”
By the time they made it over the drawbridge and into the courtyard, a host of people waited, but she only had eyes for one.
“Dear God, is that her?” she murmured, taking in the beautiful young girl looking from her to her parents. Greer blinked back tears. “Is that Julianna?”
The last time she’d seen her, she was a little girl, crying that she didn’t want to leave her sister and father. As soon as Teagan helped her down, she headed Julianna’s way, only for her sister to meet her halfway in an embrace.
“How I missed you, little sister.” She held on tight, cupping the back of Julianna’s head. “More than you can possibly imagine.”
“I missed you, too,” Julianna replied, sniffling.
Moments later, their parents wrapped their arms around them, as well, and held on just as tight. In all the wild tales she’d spun to keep going over the years, she had never imagined coming together with her family again like this. Holding them in her arms, knowing they were safe.
“I’m so glad you all returned safely,” Julianna said when the embrace ended. She wiped away tears and looked at their father. “I thought you were dead.” She sniffled some more. “I thought…”
“No, dear daughter.” Father embraced her again. “Not dead but very much alive.”
“A story we are eager to hear,” Keenan said, introducing himself and his wife, Fionna.
A story, as it happened, that commenced with an even happier ending than any foresaw.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“’Tis truly a gracious offer,” Keenan said later that evening as everyone enjoyed a dram of whisky in front of the fire. He shook Phillip’s hand. “’Tis more than expected.”
“’Tis the least I can do for a clan who has done so very much for my family.” His sentimental gaze went to his wife and daughters. “If not for you MacLauchlins, I dread to think where they would be now.” He nodded at Keenan, Malcolm, and Teagan. “You have my undying gratitude.”
They nodded in return, and Keenan raised a mug in toast. “Here’s to new friends and alliances.”
Phillip raised his as well. “Indeed!”
Everyone raised theirs in turn, celebrating a bright new beginning. How could they not when Phillip was giving the MacLauchlins not just Greer’s substantial dowry, but an alliance with a noble English family and, most of all, the gem that tied them to King Edward III himself. It put them in a unique position and, if need be, would see their clan protected.
While Phillip made it clear they could use the gem for whatever they liked, Teagan knew Keenan would hold on to it for him. That it was, in its way, a means to protect Greer if anything went awry. As it were, her dowry alone brought substantial wealth to their clan.
Wealth that he would trade in a heartbeat to keep her in his arms and safe. Protected and cherished. Free to think and say what she would.
“How did yer conversation with Isabella go?” he murmured in Greer’s ear, glad to have her on his lap, in his arms. “Is she all right?”
Greer had sat down with Isabella earlier and spoken of her sister’s passing when she caught an illness a few years back. How peaceful it had been in the end. How much she loved Isabella.
“She’s all right,” Greer confirmed. “Though ’twas hard, I think it gave her closure.”
“Aye.” He squeezed her hand. “No doubt it did.”
While mayhap a bit subdued, Isabella seemed at peace on Malcolm’s lap, her hand resting over his on her swollen belly. He nuzzled her neck often, his love for her so recognizable to Teagan now, he couldn't imagine how he’d ever wondered at it. His gaze went to Keenan and Fionna, who barely took their eyes off each other, then to Greer’s parents, who did the same.
Love was all around him.
Right next to him.
He brushed his lips across Greer’s temple, remembering the eve before. How sweet it had been making love to her. How much he longed to do it time and time again until her belly swelled. Then plenty more as the years went on.
“Très bien alors les petits,” Fulbert exclaimed, shooing Duncan and Besse along. He had come here with Isabella from France and loved cooking almost as much as her. “All right, little ones, let’s go get what we made.” He cocked a brow at Julianna and Dougal in passing. “Come along then. You are never too old for this.”