Epilogue
Four Months Later…
“Inever thought you would get me to come back here,” Octavia laughed, her cold hand warmed by Malcolm’s.
Malcolm smiled down at her as they walked together through the grounds of Highcastle, taking the path that bordered the woods.
Simon was ahead of them, pretending he was a fearsome warrior hunting for brigands who might be hiding in the trees.
The boy carried a long stick that he had found, and was intent on using as a spear.
“Especially not in winter,” she added, pretending to shiver.
“Are ye missing England already?” he asked.
They had only been in Scotland for a few days.
Malcolm had some estate business to attend to, as well as a birthday party for Quinn and his brothers.
They did not know when their actual birthdays were, but Octavia had put forward the idea of having a party for all three of them while they were there.
After all, she had a lot to thank Quinn for. Without him, she might never have got her husband back.
Octavia shook her head. “Strangely, no. Although, I had forgotten how cold it could be here. Next time, perhaps we should visit in the summer.”
“It’s nae much warmer,” Malcolm joked, laughing. A sound she had come to adore so very much. “In truth, I assumed I’d be coming here alone. I figured ye’d want to spend as much time with Evelyn and the baby as possible.”
Pulling a face, Octavia replied, “I would have done, but she said I had to come with you. I think I was being a little too aggressive in my affection and care, but she was too polite to say so.”
Evelyn and Hugo had finally become parents to the most precious little girl, whom they had named Primrose. Octavia had been there for the birth a few weeks ago and had essentially not left Ravenvale afterward, making herself useful: helping Evelyn to recover, helping with the baby.
But when she had mentioned that Malcolm had plans to come to Scotland again, Evelyn had been rather too insistent that Octavia should accompany her husband.
“I expect they want time to adjust to being a family,” Malcolm said with a smirk. “It’s probably hard to do when yer sister keeps popping in and stealing the baby for cuddles.”
“It is impossible not to want to hold them all the time!” Octavia protested. “They smell divine. I do not know what it is, but when you sniff their little heads… it is the most wonderful smell in the world. But you are probably right; I just love too much, that is my problem.”
Malcolm slipped his arm around her and pulled her to him. “I don’t mind that one bit.”
She beamed up at him. “I love you, my darling.”
“As I love ye,” he said, dipping his head to kiss her.
She kissed him back, melting into the warmth of him, tucking her hands into the heat of his coat so she could steal as much of that warming air and body as possible. He smiled against her mouth as he wrapped his coat tighter around her… just as something cold landed on her cheek.
Surprised, she pulled back and looked up.
“It is snowing,” she gasped, as a fat flake landed on the tip of her nose.
Malcolm kissed the cold spot away. “Aye, I thought it might. We might be stuck here longer than ye think if it falls heavily.”
“Stuck in a castle with roaring fires, good food, and the people I love most in the world while beautiful snow falls all around. Oh no, however shall I cope?” she teased, a little squeal of happiness leaving her throat as more flakes began to tumble down.
“It has not properly snowed at Huntfield in all the years I have lived there. Here, Simon might actually get to build a real snowman!”
Malcolm smiled. “I love nothing more than to see ye so giddy, love.”
“Mama, what’s this?” Simon shouted, as he held out his hands to catch the flakes.
“It is snow, my darling,” she replied, feeling as if she were truly the luckiest woman in the all the world.
“Snow?” Simon squealed and began to dance in the falling snowflakes.
“Must be the Scot in him,” Malcolm said, chuckling. “The laddie doesn’t feel the cold. Nae like his delicate English mother.”
Octavia laughed. “The housekeeper likes me. That means I cannot be so very English.”
“Aye, that is a mystery to me,” he agreed, as he brushed a few flecks of snow from her cheeks.
“Ye should see what she’s like when Anthony and his friends are here.
Ye’d think they’d invaded instead of being invited.
I was almost tempted to have a house party here for yer friends, but I daresay her head would have exploded. ”
Octavia chewed her lip in thought. “Maybe next summer? If I ask her very nicely, she might not put anything offensive in their tea.” She hesitated. “Although, it might be difficult to achieve next summer, considering…”
“Considering what?” he asked, as he swayed a little with her in the snowfall.
With a shy grin, she hugged him tighter. “Because I will not long have given birth to our second child. It might be too much to organize.”
“What?” His eyebrows rose. “What did ye say?”
“It is one of the reasons I wanted to come with you,” she admitted. “I wanted Doctor Stanforth’s opinion. He confirmed it. My love, I am with-child again.”
The doctor had answered her summons a couple of days ago, not long after they had arrived at Highcastle. She had, of course, sworn him to secrecy, and he had promptly taken himself back to Edinburgh so he would not be embroiled in another deception. But the news had been so very, very welcome.
For a moment, Malcolm seemed to be frozen.
“Are you not happy?” she asked, suddenly anxious.
His face cracked into the widest grin and, startling a yelp out of her, he picked her up and swung her around. And when he set her back down on her feet, he embraced her fiercely, kissing all over her face, her hair, her neck, before grazing a long, slow kiss to her lips.
“Och, love,” he murmured. “There was a time when I’d be afraid to feel this happy, but now I say give me all the happiness. Give it to me in abundance. Give me every bit of joy.”
Her heart soared. “So, you are happy?”
“Couldn’t be happier, my love,” he replied, cradling her face in his hands.
“Och, I kenned there was something different about ye but I couldn’t figure out what.
Ye’re just… more radiant. Ye’re always radiant, aye, but there was something even more ethereal about ye. I can’t wait, love. Truly, I can’t.”
It was a world away from the moment she had found out she was pregnant with Simon. News that she had received by herself in this very castle, though the housekeeper and the staff had been there to celebrate with her, and to take care of her before she made the trip back to England.
This was what she had always wanted, she just had not realized it at the time.
She had wanted the husband who was obsessed with her, the husband who would not let anyone remove him from the room when she gave birth, the husband who was so invested in his family, the husband who loved her and their children more than anything in the world.
She had thought it was not her dream, but now she was glad that fate had made her see sense.
“What are ye talking about?” Simon asked, with a faint lilt of his father’s accent.
Malcolm scooped their son into his arm, sandwiching him between them. “Ye’re going to be a big brother, laddie,” he said, kissing the boy’s hair. “Ye’re going to have a wee sister or brother to play with ye.”
“Where?” Simon asked, confused.
“Growing in yer mama’s belly,” Malcolm explained, laughing.
Simon stared at his mother in horror. “You ate them?”
“No, my darling,” Octavia said, joining in with the laughter. “It is where babies grow. And, in a few months, you will be able to meet your brother or sister. It is… like bread; they have to bake first until they are ready to come out.”
The explanation seemed to confuse the boy even more.
“The baby is like the caterpillar,” Malcolm jumped in. “It has to be in a chrysalis, which in this case is yer mama’s belly, until it can become a butterfly.”
Simon frowned… and then slowly nodded. “I will be a good big brother.”
“I’m sure ye will,” Malcolm agreed, as he held his wife and son, and they held him in return, all three of them hugging as the snow came down. Their hearts so warmed that they could not even feel the cold anymore.
Nestled into her husband as a lovely fire crackled in the grate of the drawing room, Octavia looked up as the door opened and Quinn stepped inside.
“Did you manage to get him to go to sleep?” she asked, smiling at the boy.
Simon had been obsessed with Quinn and his brothers since arriving at Highcastle, pestering them to play with him, which they did not seem to mind at all.
Who would refuse a distraction from their daily tasks?
But, as it turned out, Quinn was an exceptionally good nanny.
A result of raising his two brothers, no doubt.
Quinn nodded. “Aye. He wanted three of me made-up stories, but I finally got him to doze off.” He paused, a little shy. “He said he’s goin’ to be a big brother.”
“He is,” Malcolm replied.
Quinn smiled. “Congratulations to ye. In fact, I thought we could… celebrate it at the party.”
“The party is for ye and yer brothers,” Malcolm insisted. “We’ll have another celebration for our happy news, but ye and yer brothers have earned some celebration of yer own. The housekeeper tells me that the castle has never run more smoothly, thanks to the three of ye.”
A blush colored the boy’s cheeks. “Thank ye, Yer Grace. We do our best. I told ye that we’d work hard.”
“And ye have.” Malcolm nodded his head. “Ye’re a good lad, Quinn. And ye’ll be a good man too, far better than yer father ever was.”
Quinn cleared his throat. “Thank ye. That’s all I want.” He bobbed his head. “I’ll leave ye to yer evenin’. I just wanted to offer me congratulations and tell ye that I look forward to meetin’ the wee one when they arrive.”
“That is very kind of you,” Octavia said. “And whenever we are here at Highcastle, I am sure they will be as eager to distract you as Simon is.”
The boy laughed. “I hope so.”
With that, Quinn left the room, and Octavia turned her attention back to her beloved husband.
“You have changed their lives,” she said softly. “Do you realize you have a habit of doing that?”
Malcolm chuckled. “Why, who else’s life have I changed?”
“Mine,” she replied, lightly brushing the pleasing shadow of his stubble. “Simon’s. Indeed, I dread to think what life would be like if you had not knocked your head in the river. It is strange, but I am grateful for whatever rock was hiding beneath the water.”
“As am I,” Malcolm said, pulling her closer. “After all, something needed to knock some sense into me.”
She smiled, and as he leaned in, she welcomed his tender kiss.
Indeed, she doubted that being able to kiss her husband whenever she pleased, for as long as she pleased, would ever lose its novelty.
And, right now, so safe in his arms, kissing him with all of the love in her heart, she knew without doubt that she was the luckiest woman in all the world.
The End?