I changed into some silk pants, a roomy T-shirt, and a sweatshirt, and Magnus and I walked out onto the back deck. The sound of the crashing waves filled the air. Our interior had been so quiet. The breeze was stiff, but the wind wasn’t too cold. We walked down the boardwalk with our hair dancing on the wind.

We passed Quentin at the end of the boardwalk and Magnus directed him to remain there, watchful, while we walked. Then we stepped out on our beach.

The waves were big, crashing, the tide coming in. I led Magnus to the edge of the water and we put our feet in, just at the edge. The water was warm, the breeze cooler, and I huddled my shoulders against the breeze. Magnus put his arms around me, warmth and protection.

I looked up at the sky, my hair flinging. “Whoa, look at the stars.”

Magnus looked up at the sky. “Och aye, tis sublime. Wondrous. Tis god’s work tae create this majesty. I am lucky tae praise him in two different lifetimes.”

I nestled into his shoulder. “Shall we walk or sit?”

“Let’s walk for a bit.” With his arm around my shoulders, we walked.

I used to do this with friends and boyfriends when I was younger. Now with my husband; walking on the beach in the dark. It had a wonderful quality, nighttime beach walks. I could do it for hours. Best part, there was no chance of becoming lost. A few times I walked past my sand dune, but mostly, once I memorized the shape of the roofline of my house, darker against the moonlit sky, I could find it again. “Tell me three things I don’t know about you.”

He looked down at me. Then back at the far horizon. “I have a sister and a brother.”

“You do?”

“I do. They are older than me. Their father, Lady Mairead’s first husband, died when they were verra young. They took care of me when I was a wee bairn before I was sent tae London tae live. When I returned to the Highlands, a few years ago, I spent most of the time with them. My sister, Lizabeth, is kind and funny. She has a baby and a terrible husband. My brother, Sean, is a troublemaker and a ruffian. Do ye know that word?”

“I do.”

“He likes to create mischief and fight daily if he can. Tis verra useful tae have him around if ye daena want tae fight. He will take it on for ye.” He smiled. “He is good protection for Lizabeth, except was hard for her tae make a match with Sean acting as her guardian.”

“This is why you said you could understand a man like James, because you have Sean?”

“And all the other men of my clan. Tis a place full of hotheaded fools and the best of men. Ofttimes within the same body. James would fit in well. Perhaps better than well, he is stupid in the ways of love, but in business I hear he is quite wise. That means something in any time.”

“I suppose it does.” I kissed the end of his fingers, where they rested on my shoulder. “Tell me two more things.”

“I had a girl, in London.”

“What?”

“I liked her a bit. I would have married her had someone made me.”

“Oh, I never asked, that’s…”

“This would have all been different, but instead I was called back to the Highlands, and I left her without a thought.”

“Really? That’s so callous, so you’re kind of a bad boy, huh?”

He looked down at my face and laughed. “What if I had married a girl such as that and had then met ye? It would have been a hard thing tae break a vow.”

I laughed this time. “I was thinking you would have honored those vows, that I would have been left out.”

“Nae, I would have moved heaven and earth tae make it happen with ye.”

“Like Henry the eighth, you would have started a new religion?”

“Is that how the story goes then? Interesting…”

“I wonder if you could ask for a three hundred year divorce in court?”

He chuckled. “Would the pope have tae decide it? Tis how it happens in my day.”

“Not here, here the courts decide it.”

“Tis easy tae divorce here?”

“Yes, the number is as high as fifty percent.”

He hugged me tighter, “I owe ye one more bit of information about myself. Let’s see… you will like the humor of this one, I think. The first time I met the Royal Highnesses, the King and Queen of England.”

“Which ones?”

He turned to me, “Ah, tis King William the third and Queen Mary.”

“Ah, I really only know the Elizabeths if pressed.”

“Elizabeths? I see there is much I need tae hear of. Tis an unsettling thing tae have a history I daena know.” He picked up a stick and threw it end over end into the waves. “Tis distressing that the royal succession I and my family have cared so much about is of little consequence three hundred years on.”

“Puts things in perspective, huh?”

“It must. I have often believed, as a Londoner living in the Highlands, and as a Highlander living in London, that I must choose a side. My thought was I would either need tae become an Englishman or take arms against them. Lady Mairead interrupted my decision when she brought me here, and now, the decision seems at times unnecessary.”

“You live here now, you have no side in that fight.”

He kissed the top of my head, near my hairline. “The fight rages on without me, and here I walk with my wife, far away — tis true. But my family is taking up arms. I am distant, but I have a bond. I canna hide from it. I have always wanted tae be someone my family can depend on. My brother Sean is trusted and proven, but our fathers are different. I have tae prove my worth despite my lineage.”

I said, “Still?”

“Still.” A wave lapped over our bare feet, rose to our ankles and then higher to our calves, wetting the bottom of my pajama pants. We laughed and scurried a bit up the slope away from the rising tide. “I am sorry you feel so torn, between homes and times and families.”

He dropped to the ground and put out his arm for me to curl under. We sat and looked out on the dark sea, under the black night sky. The wind kept the sky clear of clouds and stars were flung from horizon to horizon. It was beautiful.

“I am nae torn so much. There is only ye, Kaitlyn, but I have a duty tae my family as well.”

“Oh.” I cuddled into his side, an arm on his knee. “So you met the king and queen?”

“I was livin’ near London with my uncle and his five children. I was the eldest and if you pressed them, they would describe me much the way I have described Sean. I was always getting the lot in trouble. Except Mary May, a bonny wee bairn, now twelve, I would guess. She could get away with anythin’ because of her sweet smile and cheerful laugh, But all the rest followed me on any misdeed and adventure, and then Uncle John would be furious. He always knew the true culprit though. I would receive my whipping and after that the cousins were always quite kind for a bit. Until they forgot tae be cautious, and I led them awry again.

“I was often at court after, but this time was my first audience with the king and queen, twas verra important and we had tae be well dressed. The fussing over our attire was relentless and lasted for weeks.”

“Did you wear a kilt?”

“Nae, breeches and a shirt, with a tight coat. I wore a jaunty bow in my hair. Tiny shoes. Ye would have thought me quite pretty and perhaps nae the suitable marrying type.” He wordlessly stood and held down a hand to help me up. I wondered how I could ever not marry him. His wide shoulders would have definitely offset the feminine bow. We began the walk home while he continued, “We all went downstairs to the carriages tae drive tae Kensington Palace and was all good when we arrived, except—“

“Except? Uh oh.” I wrapped my arm in his elbow.

“Och aye, there were tiny gravel pebbles underfoot. I deftly scooped up a bit and secretly tossed them at my cousins. A pebble hit Henry in the back of the head and he turned cursing to see where it had come from. A pebble hit the ear of Mabel and rolled down into the front of her dress. I hit cousin Theodore next, then Archibald, and lastly I aimed tae lightly pelt little May. It was fun tae see their outage. But then my cousins ganged against me and as my uncle was on the other side of the carriage helping my aunt step out, they grabbed me about both arms and held me still while Henry dumped a fistful of pebbles down the back of my shirt.”

He chuckled. “Then there was nothing tae do but enter the palace for our audience with the king and queen. The entire time I was shifting and writhing as pebbles crawled down the inside of my shirt. A few were in the back of my breeches, some down my legs, and as I bowed in front of King William and Queen Mary, three small pebbles rolled from the bottom of my breeches tae the floor.”

“Oh my god, were you mortified?”

“I was, but the queen merely laughed. She asked me what other gifts I had brought. I had nae answer, and had been warned nae tae say a word, so instead I went red-faced and my uncle had tae apologize for my state.”

“Oh, that must have been awful!”

“The way home my uncle wanted me tae tell him how the pebbles came tae be inside my pants and I refused tae tell him. He did nae trust me much after that, but my cousins would follow me anywhere.”

“That’s a nice story.”

He laughed. “Tis — unless I need my uncle’s help someday.” We both laughed. “Now ye owe me three things.”

“You’ve already seen my biggest thing to tell.”

“Tis the most shameful thing, nae the most important, if ye daena let it be.”

“True, okay, how about this — I used to make movies, whole stories. I would create a script, convince a couple of friends to come over, and pull out a box of dress-up clothes. We would act it out, and I would film it. One of the main reasons I adored Hayley. She would be my lead actress and took it all very seriously.”

“Much like a play.”

“Exactly. I’ll show you one someday. They were very silly.”

“Okay, two more things.”

“I took ballet when I was a little girl.”

“The French fancy dancing?”

“Yep,” I spun away and performed two mediocre leaps and very sandy pirouette, but I ended in a perfect pose.

Magnus dutifully said, “beautiful.”

Then I had to come up with a last thing. I thought for a few moments before I said, “My grandmother has Alzheimer’s.”

He looked quizzical.

“It’s a disease that takes memories away. My grandmother, Barbara, can remember me as a child, my mother as a child, but when I talk to her now, I have to remind her who I am. It’s really hard because until about three years ago she was my favorite person in the world to talk to.”

“Tis a tragedy.”

We came to our boardwalk. I climbed a step and turned to face him. “It is. She used to be such a sparkling, funny person. And so smart. She and my grandfather were university professors. They were always reading and learning something knew. I thought they were the smartest people in the world, and if they gave me advice I followed it, because they were always right. Now she doesn’t even know who I am most of the time. It makes me wonder why our brains would do this? It’s so unfair to keep some memories, but lose others, to have these terrible gaps.” My voice caught in my throat. “What must it be like to suddenly not remember a person, someone you used to love?”

He wrapped his arms around me. “Where does your grandmother live?”

“In Maine.”

“How far away is it?”

“Thousands of miles. I usually fly when I go to see her.” I added, “In an airplane,” because his brow furrowed familiarly as he tried to work out what I really meant.

“Maybe she is nae meant tae be so far away. Her memories might be fainter than before, but if ye were nearby she winna have tae peer so far back tae remember ye.”

“That’s a good point. We thought it was better for her to be in her home, but it might be time for her to move…” I leaned on the railing and looked up into Magnus’s eyes, his were concerned. “I’m sorry I brought the whole mood down.”

“Talk of our family is important. It may as well happen during a walk on the beach than anywhere else. But this story ye have told me is of your grandmother. I still get tae hear one more thing of you.”

“I love to cannonball off my grandma’s dock in Maine. I was the—“

“Cannonball?”

“Yes, you jump, grab your knees, tuck your whole body like this, and plunge into the lake. I would do it over and over and over again, just taking a moment to eat and then doing it again and again.”

“How auld were ye then?”

“Ten.”

“Ah, I can see it.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’ve never seen a cannonball jump, an American lake, a dock, a Maine summer, or a ten-year-old American girl in a bathing suit. I seriously don’t think you have any idea what you’re talking about.”

He chuckled. “I am imaginin' my cousin Mary, jumping into Loch Awe in her full gown, and aye, she has now slipped on the ice, fallen through, and frozen tae death. I suppose I might nae have a clear picture.”

“We’ll go someday, me and you.”

“And then I shall see our children jump off the dock.”

I cocked my head to the side. “Do you do that on purpose?”

“What?”

“Say things about our future and love and our family as if it’s easy for you — to suddenly be married and thinking about forever with me.”

“Tis the easiest thing in the world. Nae for ye?”

“I just spent two months wondering if I’d ever see you again. I’m a moment from saying goodbye. It’s hard to get past how sad I know I’ll be in a few hours when you’re gone.”

In answer he put his arms around me and held me tight to his chest until finally after long moments we turned to walk back to our house.