And she’d not stopped talking since they’d left.
“Charlie makes the meanest chocolate brownies you’ll ever taste. I don’t know what she puts in them—she refuses to tell me—but I’ll get her to make some when we get there. You’ll love them. Although I’m not sure she’ll have chocolate. Do you have chocolate? Never mind, I’m sure she can substitute something else.”
And so it went. Evan didn’t recognize half the things she was talking about—chocolate and brownies for one—but he didn’tinterrupt. He was happy to let her voice wash over him like a cleansing stream. After all, after today he wouldn’t hear it anymore.
His gut clenched at that thought.
They had left the noise of Edinburgh behind them and stone walls gave way to hedgerows and open fields, the land rising and falling in familiar lines that tugged at something deep in his chest.
He knew every inch of this route. Had known it since he’d been a boy. He could have ridden it blindfolded once, could have told you where the ground dipped after rain, where the wind cut sharp in winter, where the view opened suddenly to green and sky.
He hadn’t thought he’d ever see it again.
Ruby looked over her shoulder at him. “You all right?” she asked. “You’ve barely said a word since we left the inn.”
“That’s probably because I couldnae get a word in edgeways.”
Ruby laughed, a bright sound that eased the tension in his shoulders like nothing else could. “Sorry. I babble a bit when I’m excited. Oh, I wish I had my phone so I could take a snap of Charlie’s face when she sees me. It will be priceless!”
There she went again. Phone. What was a phone? There was so much he didn’t know about her. Now he would never get the chance.
The further they went, the heavier his thoughts grew. Ruby was watching the countryside roll by, eyes bright with a kind of wonder that made his chest ache. She didn’t belong here—he knew that in his bones—yet she fitted beside him in a way that had begun to feel dangerous. Wrong in all the ways that mattered.
Finding her cousin had always been the end of the road. He’d known that from the start. And yet, sitting there, with the roadunfolding ahead and her back brushing his chest, he realized something.
He didn’t want to leave her behind.
They traveled all morning and as they grew closer to their destination, the road began to narrow, the hedges growing taller, the trees older, the lie of the land achingly familiar. Evan’s gaze flicked from field to field, taking in what had changed and what hadn’t. A stone wall rebuilt where it had once collapsed. A stand of trees cut back. The old oak still standing, stubborn as ever, its branches reaching wide.
Then finally, the estate’s gate came into view. He drew the horse to a halt a good distance away and stared at it. Once, it had marked the boundary of his world. Now it just looked small.
“This is far enough,” he said.
She glanced over her shoulder, brows knitting. “Far enough for what?”
“For me.”
“What do you mean? Aren’t you coming with me?”
“I canna.”
“Why not?” she demanded.
But he only shook his head. “This is as close as I go.”
She stared at him, color rising in her cheeks. “But...but you can’t just leave me at the gate like some parcel!”
“I said I’d get ye here,” he replied, his voice harsher than intended. “And I have. That’s as far as our bargain goes.”
“Bargain?” she replied, her eyes wide. “Is that all this is to you? I thought...I thought...”
“Ruby?”
They both looked up at the sudden startled shout. Evan saw a woman hurrying through the gate, skirts swirling around her ankles, red hair catching the light. She was flushed and breathless, wide eyes fixed on Ruby.
“Oh my God! Is that really you?”
Ruby’s jaw dropped. “Charlie!”
