It’d been nearly three, insufferably long months, with only a couple of visits from the sheriff, who told her that Alasdair was fine. He told her that he was sheltering in an old keep on the edge of a moor close to the border of the Highlands. He was tired of hiding and waiting, the sheriff told her, but it was almost over. Over the past month, fewer bounty hunters and fewer Englishmen had been found roaming through the counties. It seemed like she and Alasdair were not the only ones tired of the hunting. Increasing numbers of Scots refuse to cooperate with English authorities, even under threat or torture. Men on both sides had grown tired of the constant fighting, wanting to get on with their lives, to sow and gather their crops, or to go home, to live peacefully in an era of uncertain times. The sheriff told Beitris that Alasdair missed her, that he needed and wanted to be with her.

“But is it safe? Is it safe for him to come home now?”

The sheriff had taken her hand and squeezed it. “Maybe within a week he’ll be home again. And how is Elspeth doing?”

Beitris sobered. “She gets confused easily, has trouble expressing her words at times, and she has not yet regained the use of her left arm, although we are working on it.”

Beitris shook her head, appalled at the severity of injuries that Elspeth had been dealt by those brigands. The healer had done her best and saved Elspeth’s life, but she would never, ever be the same. Beitris cared for her as best she could, and although Elspeth could still be her eyes, Beitris had become her support. Maybe in time, she would regain her strength, her balance, and her mental abilities, but if she didn’t, Beitris was more than willing to be her friend’s support, her confidence.

“It is good that ye two are such close friends,” Colin said, mounting his horse. “Ye have done well by her.”

“How could I have done anything else?” Beitris asked, lifting her face into the sunshine, seeing the vague outline of the sheriff sitting atop his horse. “Since we were children, Elspeth has been my eyes. Now, it is my turn to be whatever she needs me to be. We will get along just fine. And when Alasdair comes back, things will be even better.”

The sheriff chuckled. “I believe ye, Beitris. Alasdair is indeed a lucky man to have not one, but two such strong women in his home.”

The sheriff bid her goodbye and then spurred his horse forward, cantering out of the yard and down along the path that would take him back to the village. Beitris followed him with her senses, enjoying the warmth of spring’s sunshine on her face as she sat on the stump in the yard typically used for chopping wood. Much had happened during the past few months, events that could turn all their lives upside down. But now, with the English gone, the bounty hunters having lost their enthusiasm, she knew that things would settle down.

She loved Alasdair and knew that he loved her. They had proclaimed their love for one another, along with their physical joining, the night they had returned from the hills, both still recovering from their injuries. Now that the sheriff had deemed the region safe, Alasdair could come home.

She stood, one hand brushing against the stones of the house, the other gently stroking her belly as she made her way around to the far side where her garden was growing nicely. Elspeth was in the house, sleeping. After Alasdair left for the second time, Beitris had moved Elspeth into her old room, and she had moved her belongings into Alasdair’s. That’s the way it would stay. Elspeth couldn’t handle the stairs, at least not yet, and worries about her losing her balance and falling had prompted Beitris to make the change. She didn’t think that Alasdair would mind.

She carefully navigated her garden, kneeling into the dirt once in a while to feel the growth of her carrots, onions, and root vegetables, pleased with the irrigation system Alasdair had devised. She had been patient for so long, and she knew a few more days wouldn’t matter, but still, she yearned for Alasdair, yearned to be with him again, not be afraid…

She heard the distant sound of a horse and thought the sheriff had returned, having forgotten something. She stood, brushed the dirt from her kirtle, and made her way back to the front of the house by the time the horse entered the yard.

“Did ye forget something, Sheriff?”

She heard the creak of leather, reins dropping to the ground, then footsteps approaching. She waited for the sheriff to reply, but the voice she heard wasn’t that of the sheriff.

“Beitris.”

Her heart skipped a beat, and for several moments she stood speechless, eyes wide, mouth dropped open in surprise. Then, with a gleeful laugh, she flung herself forward, knowing that Alasdair would catch her, that he would wrap his arms around her and hold her close.

“Alasdair! Ye’re home!”

They held on to one another, both reveling in the sensations, the solid feel of their arms around each other. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse with emotion.

“Yes, Beitris, I’m home, and I’m here to stay.”

“I can’t believe it, yer finally home!” She smiled, placed her hands on his arms, slid them upward, against the side of his neck, then once again cradling his cheeks in her hands. She smiled, her heart feeling lighter than it had been for months. “And just in time too.”

“What do ye mean, just in time?”

Both his big, warm hands now on her shoulders, she couldn’t stop grinning. “While I can do plenty of things by myself, there’s one thing I can’t do.”

“And what’s that?”

“I can’t build onto the house. Ye’ll have to do that.” She paused. “Elspeth cannot live in the loft anymore. She is still healing, and so I have given her my bedroom. I moved my things into yers.”

“As it should be,” he said. “But why do we need to build onto the house? Do ye want to make a larger room for Elspeth? Or for us?”

Her grin widened, and she shook her head. “Nay, Alasdair, not for Elspeth, and not for us. For our baby.”

Alasdair said nothing for several moments. Then, Beitris heard a strange sound erupt from his throat and his arms were around her again, lifting her from the ground, twirling her in a circle as he began to laugh, overjoyed.

“Ye are with child! We’re going to have a child!”

She had never heard Alasdair laugh before.

It was a sound that thrilled her, filled her with such joy there were no words to express it.

It was a sound that she never wanted to stop, and she promised that she would do anything and everything in her power to make it so.