Epilogue #3
My eyes flick to my wash bag resting on the side of the sink. The end of a pregnancy test is sticking out of the unzipped corner. I flip up the loo seat.
Forty minutes later, I step out onto the decking in my Percy Pig pyjamas. The sun has dipped lower, shooting red and gold sunbeams across the hills. Alec and Fraser are both setting up the outdoor furniture, but they stop when they see me.
Fraser straightens. “You took the test.” It’s not a question.
I nod, nerves squirming in my stomach. “You guys were right. It was positive.”
I haven’t even finished the word before he’s spinning me around.
“Oh my God, baby! I can’t believe it! Alec’s gonna be a real dad, not just a sheep dad!
I’ll be the cool dad. Shit, Cameron’s going to be the cutest dad ever, I bet he’ll make the kid packed lunches for school and put wee notes in their lunchbox and insist on slicing all their grapes in half and—” He sets me down, cupping my face.
His voice gets choked. “Oh, baby, you’re gonna be a mum. ”
“Yes. Oh God.” I hope I’m a good one. I’m still barely on speaking terms with my own mother.
Last Christmas was the first time we’ve spoken in forever, and we were both nervous, tiptoeing around each other.
She texts me sometimes, and she sent me flowers for my birthday.
I think she wants to reconnect again, but I don’t trust her.
She’ll have to work hard to convince me she’s changed.
Over the years, I’ve come to realise that she never meant to hurt me when she was so harsh on me. She genuinely thought I’d do best in life if I completely smothered parts of myself. But I’m still angry. I want so much better for my baby.
“Fraser, let me,” Alec orders. Fraser reluctantly passes me over, and Alec pulls me into his arms. He’s breathing hard. “You feel okay?” he asks me gently.
“I feel great.”
He closes his eyes. When he reopens them, they’re shimmering. “I can’t believe—” He swallows thickly. “I never thought I’d have a family. I always thought Lochview was it for me. I thought…” He clears his throat. “Thank you. I’ll be better than my father. I promise.”
I snuggle into him. “You’ll be an amazing dad,” I tell him. I know he will.
Alec has changed a lot in the last six years.
He’s no longer the same man that stayed up until dawn every day, triple-checking locks and blaming himself for everything.
Therapy helped him a lot. After the Lochview social media accounts blew up, I helped connect him with some sustainable fashion brands that pay an exorbitant amount for authentic Scottish wool.
He expanded the farm, and with that, he’s learned to delegate.
Lochview now has a seasonal team of farmhands that work the land and take care of the animals.
Alec also runs apprenticeships with local teenagers who want to get into agriculture, and the village school does regular trips to Lochview to learn how farms work.
If you ask anyone in Dalbrae, they’ll say he’s the best employer for miles around.
He’s kind and fair. He takes care of his workers, just like he takes care of me. And he’ll take care of this baby too.
Alec takes a shuddering breath in and presses his forehead to mine. “Thank you,” he says again. “You’ve changed…everything.”
I bask in his embrace for a few moments and then look around. “Where’s Cameron?”
Fraser wipes his eyes. “Ah, down by the sea, I think. Reckon his leg must be hurting him, he’s barely said a word all day.”
Alec nods, but his face stays clear. Years ago, any mention of Cameron’s leg would have filled him with guilt, but things are much easier between him and Cameron now. I squeeze his hand. “I’m going to tell him.”
Alec reluctantly lets me go. “Ah. I’m going to— Can I book you in with a local doctor to get checked out?”
“Yep!”
“I’m going to eat an entire pack of shortbread to emotionally process,” Fraser decides. As I head down the paved path towards the shore, I hear him crow, “We’re going to be dads, Alec!” A muffled crash follows. I think Alec just got tackled.
I smile to myself. Tufts of tall grass tug at my pyjamas as I pick my way across the smooth rocks towards the water. When the beach comes into view, I immediately spot Cameron. He’s sitting hunched on a boulder, looking out over the sea.
And he’s having a panic attack.
At least, I’m pretty sure that’s what it is. His face is in his hands, and his chest is rising and falling rapidly like he can’t get enough air in.
“Cameron.” I hurry over to him.
He flinches as I approach, dropping his hands. “Did you take the test,” he rasps. His shirt is clinging to him with sweat.
I ignore him. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“Did you take the test?” he repeats, rubbing his throat.
“So, I’m not sure you’re in the right emotional space to hear this information—”
“Summer,” he says urgently. I let him tug me onto his lap.
“Yes, yes. It’s positive.” I pull the stick out of my pocket and show him.
He looks at it blankly but makes no move to touch it.
“Are you okay? Is something wrong? It’s not…
” I trail off as an old fear rises up inside me.
One which used to feel as natural as breathing, but which has worn away over the last few years.
I gulp in a breath. “You’ve not…changed your mind about me, have you? Because, um, it may be a bit too late—”
Cameron groans, letting his head fall onto my chest. “No,” he mutters. “No. No. No. I’m messing this up.” I can feel his hands shaking where he’s holding me.
“No,” I say. “I love when I announce my pregnancy and you have to breathe into a paper bag.” I stroke the back of his neck as his breath shivers. “Seriously,” I say. “What’s wrong? Is it your leg?”
He shakes his head again. I hear crunching footsteps behind me and turn to see Fraser and Alec pushing through the grasses.
“Ah,” Alec says. “I was worried this might happen.”
“He’s broken,” I say a bit desperately.
“It’s nothing to do with the baby,” Alec assures me. “He’s just worried about something.”
“What? Has something happened?” I feel sick. “Please tell me,” I beg Cameron.
“Oh, just tell her,” Fraser says. “You’re freaking her out, mate.”
Cameron shakes his head. “I wanted to make it special,” he mutters. “Cook dinner—”
“Aye, well, you’re too shaky to hold a pan, so that’s not going to happen, is it? Go on.”
I cup Cameron’s face, making him look at me. “Please,” I say. “Whatever it is, just tell me.”
He takes a deep breath, fumbles in the pocket of his jeans, and pulls something out. He holds it up to me. It’s a velvet ring box the colour of a rose. Everything goes quiet.
“What,” I say.
He flips it open with his thumb. An oval-shaped pink stone glitters up at me, scattering flecks of light. It’s set in a silver ring band and nestled between two smaller diamonds.
“What?” I repeat.
Cameron clears his throat. “’S a pink sapphire,” he tells me. “Told the jeweller you needed three stones. As sparkly as they could get. Took ages to get the design right.”
“What?” I cry.
Alec and Fraser both take a knee. Suddenly, I’m the one hyperventilating.
“We know it’s not…conventional,” Alec says softly. “We know the government won’t accept it, and no officiant alive would actually marry us. But it’s a promise.”
“A promise,” I whisper.
He nods. “We love you, Summer. No matter what happens, we’ll stay with you. We’re a family now.”
Fraser nods. “We don’t need a bit of paper to call you our wife, baby. We don’t need a wedding.” His eyes crinkle. “But, you being you, we did figure we needed the accessory.”
I don’t know what to say. My mind has gone blank. Cameron carefully takes out the ring. “Aye?” he asks.
“Aye!” I burst out. “I mean, yes! Yes, yes, yes. Oh my God, yes.”
His shoulders slump like he’s relieved. Like he thought I might say no. I hold out my hand, and he gently slides the ring onto my finger. All four of us stare at it shimmering against my skin, pink and sparkly and a tiny bit ridiculous. It’s so me I could cry.
“It matches my nails,” I murmur, turning my hand.
“S’why I made you get them,” Cameron says gruffly. “Seems like the kind of thing that would be important to you.”
“That is so romantic,” I whisper.
He lifts my hand and presses a kiss to the ring on my finger. My heart flutters like a bird.
“Why are you still on one knee?” I hear Alec say.
I turn to see Fraser fumbling around in his pocket.
“’Cause I’m not done proposing yet,” he says cheerfully, pulling out a dark-green ring box.
“Mate. I’ve known you since we were both kids.
Will you be my husband-in-law?” He snaps the lid open.
Alec rolls his eyes, and Fraser looks hurt.
“Baby, tell him to stop jilting me, this is so embarrassing.”
I stare at the three gold bands inside the box. “You guys got rings too?”
Fraser nods. “Cameron’s idea. We’re all together now, weird wee family that we are.”
“You’re not just ours,” Cameron says into my hair.
Oh. “You’re mine too,” I say, and the thought trembles inside me. “Give them here then.”
Fraser passes over the box, and I look at the three golden rings gleaming against the silk. My throat tightens. How did I get this lucky?
“Come here,” I say softly. Alec and Fraser kneel in front of me, and I carefully slide the rings onto their fingers. Each time I do, it feels like something slides into place inside me. Mine, my heart sings. Mine.
I look up at Cameron. “Give me your hand.” He does, and I gently slide the last ring on his calloused finger. “Mine,” I tell him.
He rolls his eyes. “Wee princess,” he mutters, but he can’t hide the flush creeping up his neck. I fist a hand in his shirt and kiss him hard. When we pull apart, we’re both gasping. He rests his forehead against mine. “Love you,” he tells me like it’s a secret.
“I love you,” Fraser says, winding an arm around me and nuzzling my cheek. “And I love you too, wee sunshine.” He pats my stomach.
Alec sits down on my other side. “Love you,” he tells me simply, taking my hand. “More than anything.”
My eyes fill with tears, and I tug him closer.
The four of us sit together for a long time, wrapped in each other. The sun finally sets, and the waves wash closer, fizzing over the rocks. None of us wants to move. Eventually, as the stars begin to rise and glow over our heads, I reach for my phone.
I take a picture. The men all have their arms around me, their rings glinting in the low light. Cameron is pressing his face into my hair. Fraser is grinning at the camera. Alec is looking at me with a soft expression, like I’m the most important thing in the universe.
I don’t post the picture. I keep it for myself.
Then I lean back to watch the night fold in around us, safe in the arms of my family.
THE END
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