“It’s not your fault the bad man got me,” Molly said, completely unperturbed. “I didn’t hide well enough. You saved me, Edith. I ran straight to Gray and told him exactly what you said. I remembered every word, and it worked!”
“Good girl,” Edith praised, her hand rubbing circles on Molly’s back as her eyes found Graham’s again. “I am so proud.”
Graham smiled as well, though the memory of Molly relating the tale was one he would be pleased to forget.
“Will you marry Gray and be my aunt?” Molly asked, pulling back to look at Edith squarely.
Graham could have choked in surprise, or laughed at Edith’s tightened expression.
She averted her eyes from him and took Molly’s hands. “Oh, you sweet lass. I’ve missed you so much.”
“It’s a fair question,” Graham said in a low voice, smiling at the woman he loved.
Her eyes shot to his. “What?” she mouthed, the words inaudible.
He shrugged. “You didn’t answer her.”
Amelia was suddenly in the doorway and cleared her throat. Molly rushed out of the room and took her hand, then stuck her head back in and urged, “Say yes!”
“Shh!” Amelia insisted, giggling herself, leading Molly away from the room.
Graham continued to watch Edith, who hadn’t moved from the floor.
“Graham?” she asked softly, emerald eyes wide.
“I find I want to know your answer very much,” he mused, taking a few steps further into the room. “I have a distinct personal interest in it, in fact.”
“You…” Edith tried, slowly getting to her feet. “You want…”
He took pity on her and smiled. “I was convinced that I would have to give something up if I ever married. There was no possible way I could ever find a woman that would be a good mother figure to Molly and would be someone I needed myself, someone I could love.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Then, you came into my life, setting the whole world ablaze with your fire and your fight, your ability to attract trouble and the way you somehow still find things to smile and laugh about. I’ve been in love with you from the start, Edith. I was never a hero, because my motives were entirely selfish. I wanted you for myself, but I resisted. Until you came to Merrifield. Until I saw you with Molly. She adores you. Then, you sacrificed yourself for her…” His voice broke, and he cleared his throat. “You could have lost your life for her.”
“My life was not in danger,” she said quietly.
He shook his head fiercely once. “You don’t know that. And your life could have been over in so many ways; it chills me to think about it. Yet you did it, the very thing that horrified you, for Molly.”
“I would do it again, and far worse,” she told him. “I love her, Graham.”
His smile was warm and tender. “I know. I know you do. I can see it.” Emotion clogged his throat, and he worked to swallow around it. “She told me what you call her. And what she calls you. When she talks about you, Edith, she lights up. Molly lost her parents, and I have fought for years to find ways to fill her life so she wants for nothing. Now I know what she needs, what she wants, and how to make up for her loss. It’s you.”
“Graham…” she whispered, getting to her feet shakily.
“You love her as much as I do,” Graham went on, “and probably better. How could I not love you for loving her like that? I love you, Edith. I would fight anyone or anything in heaven, earth, or hell to have you as my wife.”
Edith was crying now, the tears giving him as much pain as they did encouragement. “Oh, Graham… my reputation, the rumors…”
He laughed once. “You think, after all we have been through, that I care about anyone or anything else? The truth, or parts of it, will make its way out eventually, and a long line of people with apologies will be at our door, and perhaps we won’t even answer it.”
She barked a laugh at that, which made him smile.
“But I don’t care, Edith. I’ve never cared what anybody said or thought about you, because I knew you. I could see you. When you marry me, we’ll live at Merrifield anyway.” He paused, then tilted his head as he added, “Except for when we live at the Scotland estate, which is sadly in need of a visit.”
“Scotland?” she gasped.
He grinned, loving that he could give her this revelation now. “Did I neglect to mention I have a house there? Shameful. It was my responsibility when Matthew held the title. Estate management at the Scotland estate. I was happier there than I had been anywhere else up to that point. I grew to love Scotland.” He hesitated before finishing, “I learned a fair share of the native language, as well.”
Edith’s already wide eyes went rounder still, and one hand flew to her mouth. “You… Did you…?”
“Edith,” Graham murmured with all the love in the world, slowly coming closer, “did you think I didn’t know? That you called me your heart? That I’d have felt it without knowing the language? Did you think I would not feel the same way? I did, and I do, mo gràidh.”
She gasped and reached for the chair nearest her for balance.
“You are my heart as well, Edith,” he assured her, nearly to her now. “If you still love me, as I believe you once did, will you marry me?” Fairly certain of her answer, he let himself offer her a teasing smile. “And could you bear returning to Scotland for some months while I see to my duties there?”
Edith burst into tears, covering her face for just a moment before flinging herself into his arms. “Yes, Graham,” she sobbed against him. “Oh, please, yes. Yes, I will marry you. Yes, I will go to Scotland with you. And yes, above all else, I love you.”
He chuckled, kissing her hair. “I thought you might. Hoped you might. But you are constantly taking me by surprise, so I thought it best to be sure.”
She pulled back with a broad smile and took his face in her hands. “Then let me make this perfectly clear.” She arched up and touched her brow to his. “I love you,” she whispered before kissing him with the softness of a breeze. “I will always love you.”
Graham pressed his lips to hers, sealing that vow with one of his own. Her hands linked behind his neck, pulling him to her, anchoring them together without question.
“Tha gaol agam oirbh, agus bithidh gu bràth,” he told her as he took her lips again and again.
I love you, I always will.
Edith clamped both hands hard against his head, her kiss turning positively scorching, dismantling every thought and barrier he’d ever had. This was the end of life as he’d known it, and the beginning of a glorious unknown.
“Yer accent needs work,” Edith breathed as she finally released him, her lips grazing his jaw.
Graham chuckled, nuzzling her gently. “All the more reason to marry me. I am sadly losing my Gaelic. And I strongly suspect you are agreeing to marry me just to go back to Scotland.”
Edith dusted her lips just below his ear, and his breath caught at the touch. “Well, there is a particular advantage in going to Scotland that tempts me to accept your hand beyond all reason.”
“And that is?” he asked, curious, his voice more than a bit rough.