Epilogue
Dunscaith Castle was filled to the brim with people and bustling with activity. Of course, it wasn’t every day a wedding took place. Especially not one that had taken decades to finally happen.
Drake guided Greer inside the keep while Mac and Bean secured the horses in the stable and ran off some energy before having to sit on the hardback pews for the ceremony.
Kinsey rushed by and thrust something into Drake’s hands. “Bring this to Mum.” Without so much as a greeting, she waddled off toward the kitchens, cradling the bump of her burgeoning belly.
He looked down at the small rose brooch in his hand, the one that had been the symbol of the love between his mother and Duncan for so long.
“We knew it would be madness.” Greer grinned at Drake and propped their son, Malcolm, onto her hip. The lad squirmed about, eager to run about but not yet skilled enough to do so effectively without eventually getting hurt.
“Down,” he pleaded.
“Greer?” Faye called out from somewhere unseen. “I need ye in here.”
Greer lifted her brows in amusement.
“I’ll take him to see his grandmum.” Drake pulled their son from Greer’s arms, where he proceeded to wriggle with ceaseless energy in Drake’s firm grasp.
“Best of luck to ye.” Greer kissed Malcolm’s chubby cheek, then looked to Drake. Her green eyes searched his for a brief moment in that soul-catching way she had. “I love ye, Drake Fletcher. I’ll see ye at the chapel.”
He kissed her, still relishing the softness of her sweet lips on his after two years of being wed, and off she went toward a fresh cry of panic from Faye.
Laughing, Drake set Malcolm to his feet and held the lad’s chubby hand as the bairn toddled at a snail’s pace toward Mum’s chamber.
When they arrived, she answered the door in a blue silk gown that made her eyes look as blue as the deepest ocean.
She gave a giddy laugh when she saw Malcolm and lifted him into her arms, much to the lad’s delight, for he gave a great squeal and clapped his hands.
“Kinsey thought ye might need this.” Drake handed her the brooch.
She propped Malcolm on her hip and took the brooch. “Ach, how could I have forgotten?”
“’Tis a bit mad here today.” Drake made a face, and his mother laughed.
She studied him with a peculiar smile on her face. “Ye’re no’ as tense as ye always used to be, do ye know that?”
He tilted his head.
His mother smiled. “Yer Greer is good for ye. Ye’ve spent too long being so serious, walking through life in a rigid line. She’s shown ye how to venture off the path, and ye’re a better man for it.”
Malcolm reached for the brooch, but she pulled it away. “And ye make fine babies.” She laughed and handed the bairn back to Drake.
It was true what she said. Drake still upheld his intention to be an honorable knight, but he did not fall back on the same pedantic stoicism as he had before.
Life was more enjoyable, lighthearted, and fun.
And he knew Greer and her antics had everything to do with it.
That and Malcolm’s endless energy and the kind, playful way Mac always handled the wee lad.
“I thought there was to be a wedding?” boomed a voice from below.
Mum chuckled. “It would appear yer grandda has arrived.”
In the last two years, much had changed as Faye continued to visit with Ewan and their son, Callum, and Clara and Reid’s daughter, Elspeth, was born.
The Chieftain of the Ross clan came to Dunscaith more often, with gifts and smiles that became less rare as his great-grandchildren warmed the chill of his icy heart.
And in that time, so too did Drake’s mother soften toward her father, seeing that he truly had meant to protect her in the best way he knew how.
Especially when she realized that in trying to protect her own children from him, she had made their life harder than was necessary.
It was an understanding that left her bereft for some time but eventually helped facilitate the renewed love for her once-estranged father.
“I think that means we are late.” Drake shifted Malcolm into his arms to kiss his dark, glossy hair. “Let’s go find yer mum, aye?”
“Mum,” his son exclaimed, his eyes alight with eager anticipation.
As suspected, the chaos of the castle had gone still as everyone piled into the small chapel. It was crowded within, the pews filled with families that were healthy, happy, and safe.
Clara and Reid were in one row with Elspeth settled between them. The lass’s hair was auburn like her da’s, and the lass had the same gentle, patient spirit as her mum.
Faye and Ewan were in another row, his arm around her shoulders as wee Callum kicked his feet out from the bench repeatedly until Ewan put a hand to the lad’s head, stilling the motion.
In yet another pew were Kinsey and William, their hands together resting on the bump of her belly where their first child grew.
Greer sat on another bench with Bean and Mac beside her, both lads grinning in anticipation of the day Bean’s da would wed Mac’s adopted grandmum, strange though it might sound when the couple was nearly the same age.
Drake approached his family’s pew, and Greer reached up for Malcolm, who nestled into her arms and rubbed at his eyes.
Drake sank onto the seat beside his wife and put his arm around her so she could lean against him as she cradled the weight of their groggy son. She smiled up at him, love shining in her eyes.
“Ye make me so verra happy,” he whispered to her.
“We are so verra happy,” she said in agreement and nuzzled closer so he could smell the sweet perfume of her hair.
The doors to the chapel opened, and Mum appeared, her eyes alight with excitement as Duncan turned where he stood at the altar and broke into a wide smile. Finally, their love would result in the union that should have been nearly three decades ago.
Drake’s da was a good man who had cared for them all, and truly Mum had loved him. She’d told Drake she was grateful to have met and wed her first husband, to have the children she had. Their family was one Mum wouldn’t change for the world.
Aye, it was a struggle sometimes, but in the end, it had all worked out with Mum and Duncan rediscovering their love, with all of Drake’s sisters married to men who treated them with respect and adoration, with a knighthood Drake had never thought attainable.
And with a beautiful wife that kept his life interesting in the best possible ways.
Indeed, their lives had flourished in these years, and it warmed his heart to know that all were so content. For truly, life had a fascinating way of working out. And there was nothing better in life than finding happiness in love.