Chapter 40
Forty
FYFE
Eilidh bit her lip, stifling her moans and gasps, as I moved inside her in deep thrusts.
I’d woken up this morning, after just a few hours of sleep, to Eilidh stroking my cock and kissing my chest. It was an hour before my alarm was due to go off, but I didn’t care.
Millie did not sleep all the way through the night, and Eils and I had to take advantage of any time we could be together.
Watching Eilidh turn her cheek into the pillows, her knuckles in her mouth, teeth biting down, her breasts trembling with every drive into her body, I could feel my balls drawing up tight.
“Come, baby,” I growled.
My phone rang on the bedside cabinet.
“Ignore it,” I demanded as her eyes flew open.
I braced a hand at her side and slid the other between our legs to rub her clit. A few seconds later, Eilidh stuffed her fist back in her mouth to stifle her cries as she came. Her pussy muscles rippled with the climax, fisting around my dick. Fuck, she felt amazing.
“Eilidh.” I groaned, pleasure rolling through my limbs as I emptied into the condom. One day, I was going to come inside this woman with nothing between us, and I couldn’t fucking wait.
My phone rang again as we tried to catch our breaths.
Agitation thrummed through me as I reluctantly pulled out of Eilidh and rolled over to pick up the phone. “Whoever this is, it better be important.”
“Eh … Fyfe?”
“Speak.”
“It’s Adam.”
Instantly alert, I pushed to sitting. Adam was an employee, and he was also someone I paid extra to do bonus work for me. Like keeping tabs on people of interest. “What’s up?”
“An ambulance was sent to your mum’s house last night. Her wife’s daughter overdosed. Spoke to someone at the local hospital down there. Girl was DOA. Thought you’d want to know.”
Despite everything, compassion for my mother and her wife swarmed through me. “Thanks for letting me know, Adam.”
“Sorry it wasn’t better news.”
“Aye, speak soon.” We hung up.
Eilidh rested her chin on my shoulder, her hand smoothing over my chest. “What’s wrong?”
I told her the information Adam relayed.
“That’s awful.” Eilidh kissed my shoulder. “I’m sorry for your mum and her partner.”
“Me too.”
“Do … do you want to do anything about it?”
I turned into her, wrapping my arms around her as I rested against the headboard. “Is it terrible if I say no?”
“Of course not.”
“I just … I think all that resentment I felt toward my mother came hurtling back when Millie entered my life. Knowing that at some point I have to explain to her that Pamela gave her up. And as much as I hate that anyone is going through what my mum and her wife are going through, I don’t want my mother around.
I don’t want to invite that resentment back into my life.
Especially now that I have you and Millie to protect too.
I can forgive her, but only to free myself.
And I don’t think I can follow through on that forgiveness if I let her back in.
Not that she wants anything to do with me, anyway. ”
Eilidh’s eyes were full of compassion. “I get it. The forgiveness stuff.”
“Aye?”
She stroked my cheek tenderly, her fingernails scratching through my beard.
“I think forgiveness is earned and when it hasn’t been earned, we don’t owe that person anything.
We only owe ourselves the grace of forgiveness.
And I think there are some people who we can only ever forgive if we never have to see them again. ”
I slid my hand around her nape to pull her in for a kiss. It felt too much, what Eilidh meant to me. Too much for words. I poured all that feeling into our kiss until she was breathless and dazed and everything else but the love between us ceased to exist.
With Theo back from his travels, Eilidh left a few hours later to be in on a meeting Theo had procured with the streaming giant who’d also aired Young Adult.
Eilidh was feeling optimistic but trying not to get her hopes up too high. Usually these kinds of things didn’t move as quickly as they currently were, and I think she thought it was all a bit too good to be true. I hope Theo proved her wrong.
After dropping Millie at daycare with Regan, I’d returned home, telling Eilidh I could work from home today. The truth was, I was awaiting a delivery.
I sat on the couch with my laptop, feet up on the table, working while I waited.
My home was slowly being transformed. Every time I walked in, there was something new.
A lamp, a rug, a throw, cushions. Everything Eilidh had promised.
There were photographs of us and Millie in frames on a gallery wall in the living room.
Framed artwork started appearing too. It was amazing how all those things that made the place more homely also made the place less echoey.
Eilidh had even ordered storage for Millie’s toys and she had a dedicated play area beside the living room. The only time I’d gotten a wee bit concerned was when the artwork started going up because I had something in mind for the expanse of wall at the entrance of the house.
Thankfully, Eilidh hadn’t gotten to that area yet.
My eyes kept moving to the time on the laptop. Eilidh’s meeting would be over soon, and my delivery still hadn’t arrived. Just when I was starting to fret, my phone beeped with the alert.
The camera app opened to reveal the Range Rover pulling into my drive.
Dumping my laptop, I hurried to the door, throwing it open just as Robyn Adair jumped out of the vehicle.
She wore aviator sunglasses, her ponytail blowing in the wind.
Smiling broadly, she rounded the SUV to open the boot. “Did I make it in time?”
“Right on time.” Anticipation moved through me as I bridged the distance between us. She’d flattened the seats to lay out the large item wrapped in brown paper. “This is it?”
“This is it.”
Together we eased it out of the SUV and Robyn followed me, a professional hanging kit in her hands, as we strolled inside.
“Nice. Perfect place.”
“I can’t wait to see it.”
Carefully, Robyn unwrapped the framed photograph, and I inhaled and exhaled slowly, a little taken aback by my reaction to it.
Eilidh was right.
It was a phenomenal photograph of Kylesku Bridge and the surrounding loch and hills. “Robyn … you are a very talented photographer.”
“Thanks.” She patted the frame. “Shall we get it up there?”
Together, we measured the space and attached the hanging kit before carefully placing the photograph onto the wall.
We stepped back, and I stared at it in awe. “I can see why Eilidh loves it so much.” I looked at my girlfriend’s aunt. I knew she could charge a lot of money for her exclusive photography. “Please let me pay you for it.”
“Nope.” Robyn shook her head stubbornly.
“I always told my niece I could never take money for it. What no one knows about me is I’m kind of a secret romantic.
Can’t take money, but I’ll take being part of a grand gesture I know will make my niece very happy.
Not because she’s getting a photograph she’s admired for years.
But because she’s getting a man who would have hounded me until the end of time to get it for her.
After everything she’s been through, Eilidh deserves someone who would do just about anything to make her happy. ”
Emotion constricted my throat as I looked back at the photograph.
I’d approached Robyn almost immediately after our drive out to Kylesku.
She’d refused. At first. I’d offered money.
Offered tutoring for Vivien and Brechin.
And then I’d left her a voicemail explaining why Eilidh loved it so much and how much I loved her and wanted her to have it.
I’d promised to back off if the photograph just held too much sentimental attachment for Robyn to let it go.
The next day, Robyn called me, telling me she was happy to gift it.
Now I knew why.
“You are all a very special family,” I said gruffly. “I hope you know that.”
“I guess … we’ve all been through a lot. It makes you appreciate what’s truly important. And reminds you every day to take care of it.” Robyn squeezed my shoulder. “I need to get back, but it looks good.”
“It does. Thank you.”
“Oh. The photo looks great. But I was talking about you. Being in love looks good on you.” She winked at me and strolled out the door, closing it softly behind her.
I was on absolute tenterhooks waiting for Eilidh to come home.
Wanting a direct line of sight so I could see her reaction without giving anything away, I sat at the island with my laptop.
The little beep on my phone had me tensing on the stool.
My head turned toward the door as it opened and Eilidh stepped inside, her gaze on me.
“I think that went well.” She ran a hand over her hair, kicking her shoes off, and her attention snagged on the photograph for a second before she started walking toward me.
“I mean it—” Eilidh abruptly halted and spun robotically back toward the photograph. Her jaw literally dropped.
“What the … how …” She gestured to it. “That’s … when … how …”
Chuckling, I hopped down and strolled across the room. I embraced Eilidh, huddling her against me. “Do you like it there?”
She gaped up at me. “How … explain?”
I shrugged with more casualness than I felt. “I offered to pay Robyn for it. She said no. So I explained how much I wanted to give it to you, and she presented it to us as a gift.”
“But how?” Eilidh’s fingers curled into my shirt. “I’ve been pleading for years for it.”
“Remember Robyn said she wouldn’t give it up for money?”
“Aye?”
“Well, she didn’t. She gave it up for love.”
Tears brightened Eilidh’s beautiful eyes. “She gave it up because you love me.”
My voice was hoarse as I replied, “So much, Eilidh Adair, I can’t even begin to explain how much.”
“I can’t believe you did this for me.”
“Do you love it?”
She nodded, wrapping her arms around me, her cheek pressed to my chest as she looked up at the landscape. “I love it so much. But I love you more. There will never be anyone for me but you.”
It had taken me too long to believe that was true, but finally I did. I pressed my cheek to the top of her head, cuddling her tightly. “Aye, nor for me, baby. Nor for me.”