Epilogue
Three years later, Scotland
F inn squeezed his son’s hand as they stepped up to the familiar stone. Willie had wanted to carry the flowers. He was headstrong like his mother, something that would do him well later in life, if not for a three-year old.
“Here, Papa?” he asked, pointing to the stone.
“Aye. They are for Auntie June.”
Willie’s blond brows pulled together before he pointed. “Junie.”
Finn turned to see Lily carrying their daughter, Juniper.
“This is your sister, June,” Finn explained while taking his daughter who would be two in May. She instantly squirmed to be put down. “This was my sister, June. She was my very best friend. Just as I’m sure Junie will be for you.”
Willie ran off to climb on the lower stone of one of the ancestors he’d never met.
“I’m certain they will be best friends at some point, but now he only thinks she’s loud and takes his toys while he’s trying to play with them,” Lily said.
“I remember my sister doing the same.” He kissed his daughter who had not given up on getting down to go play with her brother.
“I don’t know if I ever told you, but that night when I passed you on the steps, I thought I heard her voice telling me to help you.”
She tilted her head before shaking it. “No. You never told me. I didn’t realize I had her to thank.”
He chuckled. “Since I don’t believe in specters, I knew it was my own conscience, seeing that I did the right thing.”
“I know how much you dislike it when I thank you, but I am thankful for your noble conscience. Things could have been so different for me and Willie if you hadn’t stopped.”
“Do you know why I dislike it when you thank me?” He finally gave up and put June down to toddle off with Willie.
Lily shook her head.
“Because I don’t need to be thanked for doing the thing that led to a life of happiness. I had been just as lost and alone as you were.”
“You’re saying we saved each other?” She tilted her head.
After taking a glance to see the children were safe, he leaned in and kissed her with all the promise for their happy future. He rested his hand on her stomach where their third child grew.
“Aye, lass. You have given me the greatest gift of all. A family.”