June 22, 1380 (A year and a half later)

Tomas had left Cotharach nearly two weeks ago, traveling with Vida, their six-month-old son, Connall, and their adopted son, Will. They would be celebrating St. John’s Eve with the MacIans, and staying for Beitris’s wedding to Liam Sutherland in early July.

They had stopped at Castle Carr and visited for several days. After all, Connall had been named after Tomas’s great-grandfather, who had been married to Laird Carr’s great-aunt, Elasaid.

Then they’d travelled on to Brathanead, where they had visited with the MacLennans for nearly a week. Although not technically related by blood to the MacIans, Tomas considered Laird MacLennan to be his uncle.

At last they were approaching the southern tip of Loch Craos. In mere moments, they’d emerge from the forest and be able to see Duncurra, his parents’ home.

When they passed the tree line, Vida exclaimed, “Oh, my, it certainly is an impressive fortress.”

“It’s built of stone and it’s in the middle of the loch,” said Will, astounded.

Tomas laughed, remembering he’d thought the same thing the first time he’d seen it. “It isn’t actually, but it looks that way from here. Duncurra is built on a crag that juts into the loch. It’s surrounded by water on three sides. You just can’t see the tail of the crag from here. As we ride along the western edge of the loch, ye’ll begin to see it.”

Will cocked his head to one side. “That would make it much easier to defend wouldn’t it?”

Will had turned out to be an extremely bright lad. He was eager to learn and mastered new skills quickly. Normally, the sons of noblemen were sent to train with other clans when they were Will’s age or a little older, but Tomas would break tradition on this. He liked Will and believed he had huge potential and wanted to train Will himself. So the lad would stay at Cotharach.

Tomas smiled. He hadn’t been the only one to see Will’s potential. Captain Lowther and the loyal members of his crew had returned to Scotland about a month after Tomas and Father Owen had arrived. As soon as the captain found out where Will had gone, he showed up at Cotharach. He said he was too old to go through another ordeal like this one, and was retiring from the sea. He had hoped to give the lad a home himself. But Captain Lowther agreed that life as the son of a nobleman would afford Will advantages that a retired sea captain couldn’t.

However, Vida learned that the primary reason Captain Lowther left the sea was that a blow he’d received to his skull when the Mermaid was taken had left him with double vision and he suffered frequent headaches.

“Can’t we adopt the captain too, Tomas?” Vida had asked.

“Vida, he’s an old man. He doesn’t need parents.”

“You know what I mean. I want to offer him a home here with us. We owe it to him for making certain Will was saved from a life of slavery.”

Of course, Tomas had agreed.

“Da, does it make Duncurra easier to defend?” asked Will again, drawing Tomas from his musings.

“Aye, Will, Duncurra is a much more impenetrable fortress than Cotharach. Well spotted. Duncurra and part of its village are surrounded by a wall, but only the front portion of it is manned. The crag provides natural protection. Can ye see the other advantage?”

“The castle is very high up. Like a crow’s nest on a ship. They can probably already see us.”

Tomas grinned. “Aye, that’s right. From Duncurra’s towers, anyone approaching can be seen at least an hour before they reach the castle, even if they are riding hard.”

It took them closer to two hours to reach the castle. They moved a little more slowly because of the baby. A nursemaid, and sometimes Vida, rode with him in a cart.

By the time they reached Duncurra, the entire village had turned out to greet them as they had the first time Tomas had arrived with Lady Katherine so many years ago.

When they reached the castle, his parents and Beitris greeted them in the bailey.

His parents had travelled to Cotharach in November so that his mother, who was a healer and midwife, could attend Vida when she delivered Connall, but other than the Duncurra men who had ridden with them, this was the first time any of the rest of the clan had met Vida, Will, or the new baby.

Tomas had expected Turcuil’s wife, Edna, and the other women who worked in the castle, to cluck and coo over the baby, but he had to chuckle at his father’s men who did the same.

His father nudged him. “Ye know, nothing turns a man feeble-minded so quick as a bairn. If an attacking army arrived with a score or two of wee-ones, they could walk past all defenses.”

Tomas laughed. “Nay, Da, they couldn’t. They’d be just as smitten with the bairns themselves.”

Niall nodded. “Aye, I suppose so. But it’s why we do this, isn’t it?”

“Why we do what?”

“We build fortresses and train guards. It’s to protect that which we hold most dear. Our loved ones. Our wives and our children. If they weren’t so precious, we’d have no need for any of this.”

There was truth in his father’s words. He had loved his family and clan and would have died to protect them. But now with a wife and children of his own, the need to keep them safe was infinitely stronger.

~ * ~

Vida had enjoyed the journey to Duncurra, with its lengthy stops to visit friends and family, but when they had finally arrived she could scarcely contain her excitement. This was the clan that had embraced her cousin as their lady and accepted a young peasant as their laird’s son so many years ago. These people, along with Katherine and Niall had made Tomas into the man he was—the man she loved. Meeting them all and putting faces to the stories she had heard thrilled her.

If she thought they might be reserved or cool towards her, because of who her father was and what he had once done to their lady, she was wrong. She could not have been more warmly welcomed. They told story after story about Tomas as a lad, which had her laughing so hard her sides ached.

When they finally retired to their chamber that night and had tucked Connall into the cradle in which MacIan babies had slept for several generations, she was ready to sleep. She snuggled next to Tomas, his arms holding her securely.

“Are you glad to be home again?” she asked.

“Home?” he asked sleepily.

“Aye, Tomas. Are you glad to be at Duncurra again?”

“Aye, Duncurra is wonderful. It’s good to see old friends again. But sweetling, Duncurra isn’t my home.”

“So, you consider Cotharach your home now?” The thought warmed her heart.

“Nay, my darling, Cotharach isn’t my home either. At least, not always.”

She frowned. “I don’t understand. If you consider neither Cotharach nor Duncurra home, where is yer home?”

He chuckled. “My precious lass, my home is wherever ye are. If I can hold ye in my arms at the end of the day, I’m home.”