“My lord, where are ye’ taking me?” she laughed lightly, waddling forward. Alec kept a firm hand on her back with the other one twined with one of hers. “You know, I’m a mite too big for this.”
“Hush, my beautiful wife. Ye’ll never be too big.”
“You still didn’t answer my question,” she reminded him. He helped her over a fallen tree and on they went. If anyone had asked her what they were doing, she would say with all honesty, she had not a clue.
Alec had woken her from slumber in the dark hours of night, escorted her from the keep, and then promptly tied a cloth around her eyes in such a way that there was no chance of peeking through. How they had made it past her mother, she was not sure.
Since the arrival of the babe could come any day now, her mother had taken it upon herself to stay at the McGregors until the time came. Her father, even after several moons, was still sour towards Alec—but that was to be expected.
At least he had behaved for their wedding, which had been held only a week after that last fight between her husband and her father. Though it had been hard for him to give them his blessing, he had—but mostly on the account that her mother had threatened him with sleeping in the stables for the next year.
Kane Shaw did not give up what was his without a fight, and he was surely giving Alec one, but at least Saeran was on their side.
“My lord,” she admonished. “It’s quite rude to ignore your wife. Please, give me just a tiny hint?”
“Hmm, let me think about that for a moment,” he said, pressing a brief kiss to the back of her head. “Alas, after much consideration, I simply cannot tell you.”
“We seem to be quite a way from the keep.” She couldn’t help the worry in her voice. The midwife had warned her that any day now, she would be bursting at the seam with a bairn—and Alec had decided that on this night he had to take her through the forest on a secret adventure?
Her husband might be one of the smartest men in the Highlands, but he was not always the brightest.
She sighed.
“You’re quite vexing,” she muttered, glaring through the cloth—even though there was no point, since she had no clue what she was glaring at.
“Not anymore than you, my lady,” he said from behind her, chuckling. “Now, hush, we are almost there.”
“But where is there?”
His hand left her back to smack her lightly on the ass, and she gasped. “Alec!”
“What? I donna ken what yer talking about, lass.”
“Oh, you listen here, you darn brute—“
He stopped walking, and the hand left her back.
“Wait, wait,” she said, laughing, holding up a hand before he could remove the cloth. She put her nose in the air, cleared her throat, lowered her voice to mimic his, and started off with, “Now, just from the sounds of the wildlife around us, I would gather we are in the forest. There are familiar sounds that would suggest there is a body of water around, most likely a stream—“
“Ye’, my lady,” he said, as he quickly took the cloth off her face, “are ridiculous and rude.”
She gave him an impish smile. “I’m no more rude than you are vexing,” she pointed out with a nose to his finger. “Now, where did you take… Oh, Alec.” She trailed off when she finally saw where he’d taken her.
He grinned, stepping out of her way. “I’ve been wanting to take ye’ here for a while, lass. That night that ye’ started the fight and ran away, this…was where I wanted to take you.”
“It’s… It’s as if fairies could live here,” she whispered, wonder filling her at the sight before her.
The pool, buried deep in the forest, was the end of the same stream that she had sat by for days on end. The light of the full moon reflected off of the still, crystal clear water, giving it a mystical illumination. All around, fire flies flickered on and off. Tall trees surrounded them, giving the enclosure a private fence with just enough space for a small clearing.
Alec wrapped his arms around her from behind, tucking her firmly against his chest.
“My mother used to tell me they did, before she fell sick. Late summer nights, we spent most of our time here, catching the fire flies and telling tales. I’ve not brought another soul here since she passed. Clan members know this is a restricted area now, but… I figured it was time I showed ye’, so that when our child is old enough to come, ye’ know where to bring him.”
She had never known what happened to his mother, and had never wanted to press him. That he had divulged this much to her…that he was so willing to share this with her…tears of gratitude stung her eyes.
“You know,” she said, turning in his arms. Though her belly put quite a distance between them, she still felt as close as ever to him. “I’m glad I set that forest on fire all those moons ago. Without that, you probably never would have found me, and where would we be?”
“Lonely,” he said solemnly. “We would be lonely with a reason as to why.”
She smiled softly. “And why do you say that, my dear husband?”
“Before ye’… I believed everything was calculative and predictable. I believed that science and common sense ruled above all. Due to that, I never believed in ‘soul mates.’ Every time I asked my father why he didn’t remarry, he would say, ‘She was my soulmate,’ and I would shake my head at him.
“Now, though… I ken what he meant. I ken how important someone can be to ye’ in such a way that the idea of craving someone else is simply impossible. I ken all of that, because of ye’, lass.”
“Alec…” Emotion choked her, rendering words near impossible.
“Aye, lass,” he murmured, staring down at her.
“I love you, my husband.”
“And I love you as well, my raven-haired beauty.”
She reached up as much as she could and took his jaw in her hands. When he leaned down to meet her half-way, her highlander’s kiss solidified everything she had come to learn about him—he was meant for her, and she was meant for him, and nothing was going to change that.
THE END