They never had enough time alone together during the day. There were always kin around. At night, if they managed to go off to bed at the same time, they stayed up most of the night together. But it didn’t happen often.
That was why Logan was happy to go home to Ben Nevis with his wife. He refused his cousins’ offers for help with this thing or that, ensuring that they stayed away.
Ealar made no promises if he would visit or not. Logan hoped he would.
As they rode away from the castle together on Logan’s horse, Elspeth looked around Logan’s arm to see behind them. It was something Logan had never done when he was leaving.
He did now and saw his mother watching them, perhaps remembering him going off to battle. His father watched with her, his arm around her shoulder, supporting his wife when he looked as if he wanted to call for them to stay. May waved them both off, then swiped her sleeve across her nose.
His cousins weren’t watching. They would have been surprised to see him turn to look back. He had taken for granted that those behind him would always be there. Now, because of the pain his beloved had suffered over the loss of her kin, he understood a little better how fragile ties were.
His gaze fell on his little brother. He thought about what Roderick had done to his brother and his heart grew heavy.
Then, something happened. Watching them with the same emotion on his face as the rest of them, Ealar wiped his eyes and looked away.
Logan smiled as his heart filled to bursting with love and affection for them all. They had helped him heal for the last six years. If not for their faith in him, there would have been no physical body to fix.
He would return to visit his kin. As a matter of fact, they were already returning in a sennight for their marriage celebration. Beyond that, he would bring his wife, and he would bring their bairns. Aye, they would grow up surrounded by the love of their kin.
For now, though, he wanted to bring his bonnie Elspeth home and begin his life as a husband and hopefully one day, a father. He smiled at the thought as he turned again to look at the road.
“Are ye happy, then, husband?” came her twinkling voice like bells near his ears.
His smile turned to soft laughter. “Verra happy, wife.”
Perched in his lap, she angled her head to look up at him when he remained quiet. “Is that it?”
There was so much his head wanted to say, but his heart would not be delayed.
“Every time I look at ye, I see our future. Our bairns. But there is so much I want to do with ye before that. I want to cherish ye the way ye deserve to be cherished. I want to fill yer days with happiness, trust, and peace.”
He thought he might melt when she smiled lovingly at him. Her response to his declaration was to rest her head against his chest and close her eyes. He closed his arms around her a little tighter, drawing her closer while she slept.
“I want to build a life with ye, my love,” he whispered into her short hair. “A life filled with love and laughter, and forgiveness.”
He rested his jaw on her head and closed his eyes, letting the scent of her fill him.
Her dulcet voice rose to his ears. “Dinna ferget passion.”
He opened his eyes and found her staring at him, her lips a wee bit puckered.
He smiled.
She blushed and closed her eyes, waiting for him.
He didn’t make her wait long but bent to her and dipped his face to hers. He touched her with tenderness, as if she were an egg from the last bird of its kind.
“Elspeth, I love ye, lass. I love ye.”
“I love ye, Logan.” She smiled against his lips, and then he did the same against hers.
Before they knew it, Ben Nevis loomed over them. Logan kept his gaze on the mountain before turning to look at his house. The mountain was his beacon. It was the way home, piercing the mists, the clouds, and the heart like an arrow through the sun.
“Let us climb it tomorrow,” Elspeth suggested, looking up at the mountain.
“Aye,” he replied right away. “’Tis verra secluded.”
She slipped out of the saddle and stared at him while he did the same. “How secluded?”
