She was his constant. His compass. His north.
‘I was half-empty without you,’ he admitted.
She cupped his jaw. ‘Struan—’
He cut her off, desperate to say everything he needed to before she questioned him. Before she tried to pull away again. ‘I know it won’t be easy. Martha will need time to get used to us, and you’ll be busy with the farm and your career, but I’d follow you anywhere, Rae. Anywhere in the world. Whatever you want, wherever you go, whatever you do, we’ll make it work.’ He pressed her hand against his chest so that she could feel the truth in every thump of his heart. ‘I get this feeling when I’m in the mountains, right here.’ He lowered her down to his stomach. ‘Like I’m where I belong. Like the world is big enough to work things out,and I can finally believe everything is going to turn out okay. I get that with you. Every time I look at you, I’m on a mountain peak. I love you. So much. I think I was always supposed to love you.’
She blinked away tears. He hadn’t realised his own cheeks were damp until she gently swiped them. ‘That was very romantic.’
‘Not too cheesy?’
‘Maybe, but I like cheesy.’ She stood on her tiptoes to cup his jaw. ‘You don’t need to follow me,’ she promised. ‘My home is here. I don’t need to be anywhere else. Just with you.’
It was the response he hadn’t dared hope for, and his knees turned weak in the face of it. He pulled her close, hitching her thighs around his waist so she didn’t have to crane to reach him. The dimples in her cheeks ignited a new fire in him, and he wanted so badly to savour this moment that he couldn’t bear to lean in and taste her just yet.
‘I plan to worship you every fucking day, Rae Docharty,’ he whispered against her nose.
Her throat bobbed, fingers running through his hair. ‘I’ll hold you to that, Struan Macgibbon.’
Unable to resist her sweetness a moment longer, he leaned her against the trunk of the oak tree, pressed his lips to her mouth, and made a start on fulfilling his promise.
The gradual ebb of the farm’s bustle was Struan’s favourite part of the day so far, because it meant that he got to watch the tension in Rae’s shoulders dissolve,little by little. He’d been so proud to step onto the fields earlier and see her dreams come to fruition. There wasn’t a visitor who had left Sweetbriar without a smile on their face – or paint, thanks to the bubbly face painter and her inescapable brush. Struan had gotten away with only a few whiskers on his cheek, but Martha and Vik had been tinged with turquoise glitter to resemble mermaid scales.
As the stalls were dismantled and the bouncy castles deflated, Struan helped his sister set up the picnic tables for the volunteers’ banquet, unable to school his Chesire cat grin. She clucked her tongue as she adjusted a centrepiece of fragrant lavender and delicate carnations arranged in a mason jar.
‘Gross,’ was all she said, readjusting a strand of his hair that had escaped to the wrong side of his head. He scraped it all back, biting back a laugh as memories of that reunion played through his mind. He hadn’t been bold enough to touch Rae just metres away from the fair, but fuck, he’d wanted to, especially when she’d dragged her red nails over his scalp the way she did.
He knew none of it would have happened without Martha. ‘Thank you. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this happy before.’
‘I don’t think I’ve everseenyou this happy before,’ she agreed, scales shimmering in the lowering sun as she tilted her head. ‘My best friend hooking up with my brother was not on this year’s bingo card, I’ll give you that.’
‘Can’t say I expected it myself, either.’ He caught sight of Mum talking to Myra by the farm shop. It prompted him to ask, ‘How are things with Mum?’
He hadn’t seen her so animated in years, and it settled that last shred of discomfort in his gut. She’d said hurtful things, things he’d spent a long time trying not to internalise, but she was here, trying, and it was enough.
Besides, he didn’t care if she found him lacking anymore. He looked forward to being an uncle, but he didn’t need children of his own, nor a mortgage or a nine-to-five.
He already had everything he needed.
Martha shrugged. ‘She said all the right things. I just hope she means them.’
‘Well, you’ve got me, whatever happens. I can’t wait for the day I become an uncle.’ He draped an arm over her shoulder and pressed a kiss to her temple. She wrinkled her nose when he disrupted her fringe with his stubble.
‘It might not take as long as we thought…’
He lifted his brows, eager for her to explain.
‘We got a call from the adoption agency last night. We’re officially on the waiting list.’
‘That’s…’ Emotion stole his words, and it took him moments to find them again. ‘That’s the best news, M.’
‘God, you really have turned into a sap,’ she said, though she was welling up, too.
‘I always was. Just better at hiding it before.’ Like always, his gaze sought out his true north, finding Rae helping Warren to put the stall tables back in storage. Though she walked with a spring in her step, he saw the sunburn on her shoulders, her gentle frown, and decided she’d done more than enough today. She didn’t need to cook for a dozen volunteers – and selfishly, he wanted the banquet to end quicker so he could have her all to himself.
‘What if I took care of the food tonight?’ he decided.
She snorted.‘Yeah, right. What are you going to make? Rice Crispies?’
