Tomorrow.

Tomorrow, she will be mine. Mine and no one else’s. No Davidoff, Ashford, Westwood, not even Leibowitz. She will be a MacCraig. He breathed in the fresh air and looked around.

The amorphous chaos by the loch had taken the shape of a tall pavilion that ended in an incredible chapel, which looked like it was made of crystal. The Santo family had a creative vein he never could have imagined from Sophia’s line of work. Everything they created was different, classy, and dashing. From the stationary to the dresses. He was sure the guests would be surprised tomorrow.

Alistair shook his head, amused, as he sat in one of the acrylic chairs and watched Jeff Leatham, with a white rose between his teeth, dance and laugh with Valentina and Victoria.

He turned his head as he heard Sophia’s musical laughter. She was still wearing the riding gear she had ordered for the tournament that his father had held at Craigdale Castle in their honor. Her daring redingote was made in the MacCraig’s tartan colors: red and yellow thin lines crossed with the brightest-green and midnight-blue large lines. She was happily showing the world she was to be his.

Still, he was unsure. Still, he couldn’t believe it.

Tavish and Sophia, arm in arm, walked down the stairs and made their way onto the catwalk covered with Persian rugs over a wide white carpet, which started at the last step and ended at the entrance of the chapel.

Jealousy elbowed its way into Alistair’s heart and he squinted at the handsome couple his brother and his fiancée made. Tavish had been around Sophia more and more since her stabbing. He would fit her better; he doesn’t have my past; he could give her children. Perhaps it’s another MacCraig she wants. And perhaps…another MacCraig wants her too.

He looked away, reasoning with himself. Stop this, Alistair Connor. You should be grateful that Sophia is adored by your family and that she’s not another Heather.

A soft hand on his shoulder made him raise his head, lines still creasing his forehead. He could see the joy shining inside those light-brown eyes he loved so much and he prayed the joy was because of him.

“I was looking for you,” she said, straddling the chair in front of him.

“Here I am.” He smiled at her and scooted to the edge of his chair to kiss her. From the corner of his eye, he saw that Tavish had walked to where the twins were.

“I have a proposal,” she said, after he broke the kiss. “We—I want us to sleep separately tonight.”

What? He looked at her speechless. Why?

“It—It may sound strange but…it’s just that—Oh! Dammit! I want to surprise you tomorrow. I want you—”

“Nae.”

“No?” she looked at him quizzically. “Why not?”

Because I’m unsure and I want you near me. I need you. “Nobody has ever told you nae?” He raised an eyebrow and his poker-face mask descended over him.

Oh, yeah. You, included. “But it’s such an innocent request. It won’t hurt—”

He stood up and held out his hand for her. “Come. Let’s take a walk.”

* * *

She watched his face as they walked away from the hubbub in silence and entered the maze by the Sequoia Alley.

They came to a bench and sat down.

Sophia could hear the delightful squeals of Gabriela, Ariadne, and the other children who had come with their parents to her wedding. “Gabriela is loving all this activity.”

“Aye,” he answered curtly.

Sophia looked at him. There it is again. That unnerving unreadable mask. She rolled her eyes heavenward. Sophia, don’t you think it’s time to stop this? She stood up and moved in front of him. That’s enough. She bent down, put her hands on his knees, and looking deep into his eyes, scolded, “Stop. Stop that right now. We are getting married tomorrow for better and for worse. Wipe that mask off your face and tell me what you are feeling.” She stood up straight and put her hands on her hips, tapping her foot on the ground, “Right now, Alistair Connor.”

He didn’t know if he should laugh or scowl back at her. On impulse, he snaked his arms around her waist and brought her flush against him, burrowing his nose in her breasts. White roses, orange blossoms and vanilla. This is my apple a day.

“Hey,” she whispered, dipping her fingers in his long hair, combing it. “What is it?”

Alistair raised his head to look at her, and for a shimmering moment, Sophia thought she saw fear in those forest-green eyes.

She caressed his cheekbones with her thumbs and traced his lips. “Talk to me.”

Do you love me? Will I be able to make you happy? But his fears seemed too ridiculous to be voiced and he just shook his head, incapable of understanding himself.

But she knew him already. “I love you, you know? I know I don’t say it much. It’s so overwhelming that I don’t want to trivialize what I’m feeling. Sometimes, silence says more than words.”

He kept his eyelids lowered, his long black lashes shadowing his cheekbones.

“Alistair Connor. Look at me,” she perched sideways on his thigh when he raised his head again. “You can trust me with your feelings.”

He sighed deeply and his lips curled in a self-deprecating grimace. “Jittery bridal nerves.”

Oh. Cute. She smiled, endeared. “Really?”

“Aye,” he nodded. “Don’t ask me to sleep away from you. No’ tonight. I need you.”

She gazed at his eyes, which could communicate so many emotions when he let them, and agreed, “It will be as you wish, Alistair Connor.”

“Sophia. Forever will be not enough to show you how much I love you,” he whispered before kissing her with fervent passion. He realized that his stomach was tied in knots.

She shifted, looking for a more comfortable position and he made her straddle him without breaking the kiss.

“I knew you were her Prince Charming!”

Gabriela’s voice reached them through a thick fog of lust and they sprang apart.

Alistair’s hands on her waist stopped her from falling on her butt and he guided her onto the bench beside him.

Sophia looked at him, asking for help. However, he seemed on the verge of laughing.

Gabriela threw herself on her mother’s legs. “It’s sooo romantic, Mama.”

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Kids are too advanced for their ages nowadays. Alistair thinned his lips to impede his bubbling amazement.

Oh, God! Struggling with her own laughter, Sophia picked Gabriela up in her arms, setting her on her lap. “Do you think so, Angel?”

“Oh, yes, I do.” The little girl united her hands and entwined her fingers, her blue eyes looking dreamingly at her mother. “Soooo romantic.” Gabriela beamed at Alistair. “Just like in Beauty and the Beast.”

Oh, no. Not that Beast again. Alistair crossed his arms over his chest and growled at the child, “I am. Not. The beast.”

“Yes,” she bobbed her head, the blonde pigtails bouncing around her face, “you are.” She started counting on her little fingers. “You are big. You are handsome. You have long hair. You know how to dance. You have a beautiful and old castle.” Gabriela looked at him from under her lashes, twinkles in her eyes “You shout sometimes, but I’m not afraid of you because I know you are gentle too.”

I don’t shout. “When have you heard me shouting?”

“Oh! When Mama was playing ball with us,” Gabriela affirmed.

Sophia giggled.

“Ah!” was the only thing he could answer. How can this little girl render me speechless so easily?

“Kiss again?”

“Ah-ah,” Sophia shook her head. “Let’s save the kiss for the wedding tomorrow, shall we?”

“Oh! Yes, the wedding.” Gabriela cocked her head to the side and looked from one to another, biting her lip. She furrowed her delicate blonde eyebrows in thought. Clearly, there was something that she wanted to say.

Alistair searched Sophia’s eyes for a clue but she lifted a shoulder, indicating she didn’t know what it was.

“So, Fairy, are you excited about tomorrow?”

Gabriela held out her arms to him and he picked her up from Sophia’s lap.

“I am,” she said as she made a ponytail with the long ends of his hair. “Does it mean that…” She flicked her eyes in Sophia’s direction. “Does it mean that tomorrow I can call you Daddy?”

What? Stillness came over Sophia. She could feel Alistair’s intense gaze on her.

Sophia wished to say no.

Sophia wished to say yes.

She looked at the two people she loved most in the world and didn’t know what she wished anymore.

“Mamãe?” Gabriela was eyeing her with a flicker of doubt in her eyes.

Oh, Gabriel. Help me. She closed her eyes for a moment and she could clearly see Gabriel’s impossibly happy smile the first day Gabriela had said ‘Pa-pa’.

“Gabriela,” Alistair put his warm hand over Sophia’s and squeezed reassuringly, “we can talk about this—”

“No.” Sophia drawing a steadying breath and opened her eyes. “No. Let’s talk about this now.” Be gentle, Sophia. She is a child, not an adult.

Oh, Christ. Please, say yes, Sophia. Without a word, Alistair put his arm over her shoulders and brought her closer to him.

Sophia prayed that the trembling she was feeling inside didn’t show. “My angel.” She is not asking to replace Gabriel. She just wants a living father who she can give her love. Sophia cleared her throat and started again. “My love, your father loved you very much. You were precious to him. His life, his heart. And I’m—” She stopped because the tears were threatening to fall and she didn’t want to cry in front of Gabriela. Sophia, remember: To love is to put your loved one’s happiness above everything else.

Gabriela’s eyes rounded and she nodded. Beneath Alistair’s hair, she crossed her fingers and waited for Sophia to finish answering her question, not knowing if the answer would be yes or no.

I see. Alistair’s heart broke in two. There will never be a child calling me Daddy. “What your mother wants to say, Gabriela, is that Gabriel was your father and—”

Sophia put her finger on Alistair’s lips. Love cannot be imprisoned, Sophia. Almost choking on her restrained tears, she whispered huskily, “Angel, your father and I, we’ll be very happy if you call Alistair Connor, Daddy.” By letting you love him openly, Gabriela, I’m keeping your love for Gabriel alive.

With a piercing happy scream, Gabriela hugged Alistair’s neck and then flung herself onto her mother’s lap, embracing her. “Obrigada, Mamãe. Thank you!”

Gabriela’s joy was so great that she couldn’t contain it. She jumped down from Sophia’s lap and ran away to meet Ariadne, screaming the news out loud.

Alistair’s arm over Sophia’s shoulder tightened and he rested his forehead on hers. “Thank—” His throat locked and he closed his eyes as the inevitable tears flooded them. Oh, Christ!

Sophia felt the tremor that went through Alistair’s big body and she knew that he was as moved as her.

You can’t see how much you deserved to be loved, can you? She wrapped her arms around him and whispered, “Alistair Connor, you don’t have to thank me. What I did…it was so simple.”

Simple? He drew a deep breath and cleared his throat, struggling to steady his raging emotions. He raised his head and opened his eyes to look at her, rasping, “Simple?”

Her thumbs dried the tears that rimmed his eyes and wetted his long lashes.

“You know, Alistair Connor…” She smiled at him softly. “My first thought was to say no, that the honor of being called Daddy belonged to Gabriel. Then, my heart said much louder that I would be denying you—and my daughter—so much happiness. I’d be tying up all this happiness and love in empty cages. So really, it was simple: all I did was say yes to a freely given love that could not be kept selfishly imprisoned.”

As he watched her, a strange feeling unfurled. It was a sense of privilege and mute wonder, as though he’d witnessed one of those miracles of nature. Alistair had to close his eyes. It was such a bright light that it could only be felt.

Love is not about oneself, but about the other.

It’s not about receiving, but about giving. It is not about keeping, but about freeing.

Love is not love if not shared.

When he spoke, there was reverence in his voice. “Sometimes, Sophia, when I look at you…when I hear your words…I feel like I’ve discovered a shining sun, so dazzling that it can’t be true, but then I know it’s real because incessantly it warms and lights my soul with gentleness and love, and I wonder,” he opened his eyes and framed her face in his hands, “I wonder what I’ve done to deserve you.”

Simpler answer. You are you. Melting under the most soft and loving kiss Alistair had ever given her, Sophia vowed she would convince him that he was deserving.

* * *

As they followed the kids back to the house, Alistair noticed that Alexander and two of his friends had joined the group around Sophia’s twin sisters. “Seems they have gathered a court of fans.”

She turned her head to see the scene. “It’s always like that. They are young, beautiful, carefree. They have something magical.” Something I lost along the way.

When she looked back at his face, he was eyeing her intently.

You have no idea, do you? He shook his head.

He wished she knew her own beauty. Not the outer one. That she could see, even though a little distorted. He wished she could know how beautiful she was inside.

He wanted to scream to the world what a special gift she had given him and Gabriela just a few minutes ago. He promised he would spend the rest of his days—their days—showing her how much he treasured her. He framed her face in his large hands. “No one, Sophia, no one is more magical than you.”

She mimicked his gesture, cupping his face in her hands, and said, “Maybe it’s you who brings out the magic in me.”

He smiled a self-deprecating smile, but before he could say anything, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him firmly on the lips. “Come on. Let’s save your friends from those crazy girls. Dinner will be served early today. I don’t want to look sleepy and tired tomorrow.”

“You are always perfect, Beauty. Especially in the mornings.” He put his arm on the shoulders of the most gentle and giving woman he had known in his whole life, wondering what would he do without her.