Epilogue
The next day, Emilie was delighted to see Paisly and Marcus joining them for breakfast. Sitting at the grand table, Emilie listened as Marcus explained to Archer what happened with MacKay, and she felt disgusted that someone could be so cowardly as to tamper with the barrels.
“As ye asked, I warned him that if somethin’ like this happened again, we would nae hesitate to declare war. I think he has been sufficiently terrified, and he willnae tamper with us again.”
“Good. Still, keep an eye on him. We daenae ken…” Whatever Archer was about to say was drowned by the doors opening and two identical voices screaming in delight.
“Emilie!”
The sounds of the twins yelling grabbed Emilie’s attention, and when she turned to face the doorway, she spotted their tiny bodies hurling toward her through the space.
Emilie stood from her chair at the dining table, the idea of breakfast long forgotten as she held out her arms to them. The twins dove into them, hugging her and crying out their excitement at her return.
“Ye’re back,” Louis yelled excitedly.
“Faither said he was goin’ to get ye,” Aurora chimed, squeezing Emilie tightly. “I dinnae believe him. But ye’re here.”
“I’m here,” she murmured, nuzzling her cheek into the tops of their heads.
Archer was seated at the head of the table, and her eyes locked with his over the top of the twins’ hair. She smiled at him.
“I’m here,” Emilie repeated. “And I’ll nae be goin’ anywhere ever again.”
Louis leaned back, his dark eyes shining as he gazed up into her face.
“Ye mean it?” he asked. “Ye’re really goin’ to stay?”
Emilie had just started to nod when Aurora chimed in.
“Ye’re goin’ to be our maither?”
Emilie’s heart squeezed tight.
“I’m goin’ to be yer maither,” Emilie promised. “But only if ye want me to. Me feelings willnae be hurt if ye daenae. I will still stay here, I will still take care of ye and love ye.”
“We want ye to be our maither,” the twins yelled in unison, eliciting a laugh from deep within Emilie’s belly.
A smirk tugged up the corner of her husband’s lips, his eyes dancing as he watched her with the twins.
“For the rest of yer lives,” Emilie promised, turning her gaze down to the children.
Her children.
Maybe not by blood, but that didn’t change anything. Not for her. She loved them just as much as if she had borne them from her own body.
And now, she got to celebrate that. Every day.
For the rest of their lives.
She had promised it to Archer.
Archer had promised it to her.
Now, Emilie had promised it to the twins.
And it was a promise that Emilie had every intention of keeping.
The End?