Epilogue
Three months later
Summer
Eilidh had all of the shutters open in the cottage, allowing the wildflower-scented breeze to filter through each room.
Since they had returned from Hartsmoor, amazingly, with the blessing of both Laird Hart and Laird MacGregor, they had been making their home welcoming and warm.
Not that it wasn’t that way when only Torquil lived here alone.
But it had been missing a woman’s touch.
With the help of her mother’s and sisters’ needlework skills, there were splashes of soft-colored fabric throughout the house, calming the space.
Soft, fluffy, pillows that Morven had stitched padded wooden chairs that Torquil had built.
A gorgeous quilt that had taken her mother weeks to finish covered their bed.
The colors matched the gown Eilidh wore the night that everything had finally been settled—deep blues and greens.
Moira had gifted them with a beautiful needlepoint that they hung over their hearth.
Her brothers, along with Errol, and Torquil’s brothers, joined forces to help Torquil expand the cottage, adding two additional rooms to give them more living space and a proper kitchen that Eilidh could prepare meals in. The extra room would serve as their nursery.
It was not long after they left Hartsmoor that she found herself with child.
Torquil was thrilled with the news and began planning the expansion right away.
She was both nervous and excited. Unsure of how she would handle a bairn of her own.
But with her family’s support and Torquil by her side, she felt like she could do aught.
The door opened and Torquil ducked inside. His face splitting with a huge smile as his gaze fell on her.
“Is the food ready?”
“Aye,” she stood up and pointed to the basket on the table. He grabbed that, along with the blanket she had folded beside it, and offered Eilidh his arm.
Accepting it, she let him lead her outside. The day was warm, the sun bright. She kenned exactly where they were headed. Back to the spot where Torquil had first made her his. She smiled when they stopped at the glen and Torquil laid out the blanket, the same way he had done all those months ago.
“I had a feeling this was yer plan,” she said happily, settling onto the blanket, and leaning into Torquil when he dropped down beside her.
“I have fond memories in this place.”
“As do I.” She brought his face to hers, and kissed him, sliding her tongue into his mouth. His hands were everywhere all at once as he eased her back on the blanket. The warmth of his body covering hers.
“This is how I want to spend all of my days,” he whispered betwixt kisses. “Lost in yer softness.” He splayed his hand across her belly that was now beginning to round. He placed a gentle kiss there. “I cannae wait to meet ye, our wee one,” he said softly.
He took his time loving her, with slow, drawn-out movements that soon had her crying out his name, the sound echoing through the trees. Until his cries of her name joined hers. She could not think of a more perfect way to spend the day.
Later, as she sat in the cradle of his legs, leaning her back against his chest, she said, “I ne’er kenned I could e’er find such happiness. Thank ye for showing me what it feels like to be loved.”
She felt him kiss the top of her head. She loved when he did that.
“Och, my little firebrand. I believe we showed each other what it feels like.” He brought his hands around to her growing belly.
“Ye are blessing me with a bairn. Ye have made me a verra happy man. Something that I did no’ believe aught I would find.
At least, no’ until I saw yer beautiful blue eyes meet mine for the first time.
And then I heard ye play and I kenned ye were special. ”
“And we managed to not start a war betwixt our clans,” she chuckled.
“’Tis true. And now they are in an alliance that will carry through in the future. Who could have kenned ye would change the world?”
She shifted so she could meet his eyes. “Nay, we changed the world together.”
The wind picked up, moving puffy gray clouds in that blocked the sun, threatening a storm.
Torquil pushed her up to standing. “Let us get back to the cottage afore we get caught in the rain. We ken how bad the storms can be.”
She nodded. “Och, do we. The last storm we got caught in ended up in our marriage.”
His face grew serious. “I am still irritated that I didnae get the chance to ask for yer hand properly, on our own time. I would have always chosen ye, Firebrand. No matter the day, the month, the year. Ye were always going to be mine.”
She smiled, wrapping her arms around Torquil’s waist. She kenned that was how he felt, but it was the first time he had voiced it. “Thank ye,” she whispered.
“For what?” Torquil asked, confused.
“For choosing me.”
“Och, Firebrand. I would choose ye over and over again. Through eternity.”
The look in his eyes sincere, she believed he would, and she finally realized, just because their vows were forced, didn’t mean that they weren’t wanted.
The rain began to fall, and Torquil grasped her hand. “Let’s get back,” he called, pulling her towards their cottage, abandoning their blanket and basket to retrieve later.
With a happy heart, she giggled behind him, kenning that she would follow him anywhere.
The End