Lachlan woke, his mouth dry and his head throbbing. A soft weight rested on his ribs. He moved and felt a feminine body slumped over his chest. He blinked, clearing his vision, and saw Daphne sitting beside him on a chair in the drawing room.

What had happened?

The last thing he remembered was standing on the side of the road, holding her in his arms, after she agreed to return home. He reached for his temple and touched bandages. The drawing room door opened a crack and his mother peered inside. She looked between him and Daphne.

He carefully slipped off of the chaise, then eased Daphne back in her chair. He touched his head again gingerly, fighting off a wave of dizziness.

“You need to stay down,” his mother admonished, trying to force him back to the chaise.

“I will, in a moment. I wish to speak with you outside first.” He pointed to the hall. They both exited the room and he leaned against the corridor wall to preserve his strength while his head pounded.

“Lachlan, you scared me.” His mother embraced him with a gentle, careful hug, reminding him of when he was a wee lad and he’d come to her afraid of shadows. She’d held him just like this and whispered the words only mothers knew that could put a child’s fears to rest.

“I’m all right, Mother.” He kissed her forehead and then gently lifted her arms away so she would step back. He needed to see her face and he couldn’t do that while she hugged him.

“I was so afraid,” Moira’s voice trembled. “I couldn’t lose you too.”

“You didn’t. I’m right here.” He looked back through the doorway, where he could still see Daphne’s blood covered, sleeping form.

“She’s a sweet, brave lass and I want her to stay,” Moira said. “She loves you, despite the terrible reason you brought her here.”

“I love her more than I ever thought I could love a woman. I thought, at first, fate was being cruel by letting me fall in love with the daughter of the man who drove William to his death, but she’s suffered too. Greatly. And when I’m with her, my heart doesn’t feel so broken.”

Moira hugged him again. “Maybe we can finally heal.”

“Aye.”

“My lord?”

Lachlan turned. Mary stood behind them. She held a small rosewood box on her palm. “I collected each pearl. What should I do with them?”

Lachlan glanced at his mother. “I have an idea. Assuming you don’t mind, Mother.” He winked when she raised her brows.

“What are you up to, Lachlan?” she asked.

“Something wonderful.”

***

A week later, Daphne sat curled in a library chair, reading by the fire. Beside her, in his own chair, Lachlan pretended to read. His head wound was nearly healed after she’d spent every day looking after him. This was the first day in which he’d insisted she take a few hours to do something she enjoyed and not fuss over him. When she’d suggested reading in the library, he’d agreed. Yet from the moment they’d sat down with their books, his focus remained on her. Every so often, she looked up and he hastily returned his attention to his book.

“You’re watching me,” she said. “Why?”

He smiled, set his book aside, and waved her over. She put her own book down, crawled onto his lap, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“I’ve been waiting for the right time to give you this.” He reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a small, velvet pouch. He offered it on his palm. She took it, loosened the drawstrings, opened the velvet. She paused and looked at Lachlan in puzzlement before she tilted the bag upside down. Pearls tumbled into her hand. This necklace held two strands of pearls.

“My pearls… But… they can’t be. Mother’s necklace had only a single strand of pearls.”

“The others are a gift from my mother. She would have given them to you at some point.”

“But, I cannot take hers, not when…”

“Hush, lass. She wanted you to have them. To let you know that you’re as dear to her as you are to me.”

Daphne peered closely at the double-strand necklace, her lips trembling.

She pressed the back of her fingers against her mouth. “I thought I’d lost them forever when I left that day. I’d thought I’d lost you too,” she admitted.

“I’m not that easy to be rid of, you know.” His tone was teasing and mischief lit his eyes.

“I know. You almost died and…” she choked, the terror of that day still fresh in her mind. She could have lost him forever.

“But I didn’t, now dry those eyes. I don’t ever want to see you crying on my account.” He wiped at a tear that trailed down her face.

She sniffled and raised the necklace to her cheek, brushing the smooth round orbs against her skin before she kissed them.

A piece of her past had been restored through Lachlan’s thoughtfulness. Her heart had shattered violently from Lachlan’s betrayal and she’d run fast and far from the dream world Lachlan had let her glimpse. When she’d broken the strand and the pearls had scattered across the floor, she hadn’t stopped to retrieve them. She’d tried hard to forget the pearls over the last few days, not knowing what had happened when they’d fallen. They’d represented the life she’d had before her mother died, and she’d had to face the truth. That part of her life was over, had been over for years. She was living her new life, with man she loved with all of her heart. Yet he’d given her back this last bit of her mother and Moira had given her a set of pearls too. The unity of those two strands together was beautiful not because the pearls were lovely but because of what they represented. Time was healing old wounds. Willian’s death and her father’s imprisonment were the past. She and Lachlan were the future.

Lachlan took the pearls from her and fastened the clasp around her neck. Their gentle weight against her collarbones was comforting.

“I love you lass, never doubt it.” Lachlan’s winter-blue eyes held no frost, only the heat of a winter fire.

She brushed her fingers through his hair, careful not to touch his barely healed wound. “I love you too.”

“Prove it,” he said.

She brushed her nose against his. “You’re quite commanding, aren’t you?”

“Only when I expect to be kissed.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and she laughed, but her heart was so full that she could scarcely breathe. She very slowly leaned her head into his, biting her lip as she paused an inch from his mouth.

“Do you know what I keep thinking about?” she asked.

“What?” His eyes fixed on her mouth.

“About our wedding, and the moment we entered the church together.”

Lachlan’s eyes met hers and held. “That is a day I will never forget. I could breathe again when I took you in my arms and pledged myself to you. You gave me my life back.” He brushed a finger over the pearls. “My lady in pearls.”

“You did the same for me.” She closed the last inch between them. Their lips met and time froze, like an errant beam of sunlight that strikes a chandelier’s crystal and fractures into a rainbow that illuminates the world around it.

We are two broken hearts made whole, two lost souls made one.

 

###