The old anger rose fast and hot, as though it had been waiting just beneath the surface. Memories flashed through his mind— days of legal wrangling, documents spread across polished tables, Bryce’s jaw set in that infuriating line that said he had already decided the outcome. All five of them shouting and flinging accusations.
“I willnae sit across a table from him and pretend none of it happened.”
“I’m not asking ye to pretend,” Niall replied calmly. “I’m asking ye totalk.”
Evan shook his head. “I canna forgive him.” The words tasted like iron on his tongue, rusted and sharp.
“Ye dinna have to forgive him today—or any of us for that matter,” Niall said. “We all played our part in what happened. But carrying this—” he gestured vaguely at Evan’s chest “—it’s heavy.”
Evan thought of Ruby. Of the way she had looked at him last night when she spoke of her former betrothed, Daniel. Of betrayal. Of running rather than facing the wreckage of her life. It was the same instinct that drove him. To run. To escape. But like her, he was tired of running.
“Ye think this could really work?” he said quietly.
“I think,” Niall replied carefully, “that ye didnae come back here by accident. I think, perhaps ye weremeantto return.”
Evan’s mouth twitched. “Yer wife told ye about my meeting with Irene MacAskill?”
Niall nodded. “She did. And she’s right: Irene does naught without a reason. And I should know.”
Evan studied his younger brother. “If ye know about Irene MacAskill then ye know what she is? And ye know the truth about where Ruby and yer wife are from?”
Niall laughed lightly. “Oh, ye mean the future?”
“Aye, I mean the future.” He shook his head. “Bloody hell, ye seem remarkably relaxed about it, brother. Ruby told me last night, and I still feel like I’ve been kicked by a plow horse.”
“I’ve had time to get used to the idea,” Niall replied. “But believe me, when I first found out, I felt like I’d been kicked in the head too. And turned upside down and inside out besides. And yet, I wouldnae change any of it. Not when it brought me the love of my life.” He fixed Evan with a knowing look. “That’s worth any upheaval.”
Evan looked away, suddenly unable to meet his brother’s gaze. This was all so new and confusing. How was he supposed to begin making sense of the turmoil churning inside him?
He had told Ruby he might stay. He had meant it in the moment, buoyed by the warmth of her kiss and the promise of what was building between them. But standing here now, confronted with the weight of his past, the idea felt heavier.
Staying meant facing Bryce. Staying meant acknowledging what he had abandoned. Staying meant risking his heart and leaving himself vulnerable in a way he’d tried his whole life to avoid.
“I dinna know if I’m capable of what ye are suggesting,” he admitted.
Niall’s voice was steady. “Ye are more capable than ye think. Ye were always the strongest of us, Evan, even though ye didnae see it yerself.”
A breeze swept across the hill, tugging at Evan’s hair, carrying with it the faint sound of laughter drifting up from the direction of the house.Herlaughter. She was probably out walking with Charlie, probably asking questions about everything and everyone with that relentless curiosity of hers.
She had come here to escape her old life. To begin again.
Perhaps he had too.
Evan let out a slow breath. He had told Ruby that it would take something close to magic to mend his broken family.
But magic, it seemed, had already found him once.
THE MORNING LIGHT INCHEDslowly across the courtyard as Charlie showed Ruby around. It was one thing to hear about Charlie’s new life over tea and scones. Another to experience it—and Ruby wanted to experienceeverything.
As they walked, she kept turning in small circles, taking everything in—the low stone outbuildings, the neat kitchen gardens, the sound of chickens protesting somewhere over by the fence. Beyond the main house, the estate stretched into a landscape of fields and cottages, with a windmill presiding over it all.
“So this is all yours?” Ruby said.
Charlie laughed. “Ours. Mine and Niall’s and all the people who call this place home. It’s like one big extended family. Nice at times. Damned infuriating at others.”
Ruby glanced at her cousin. There was something about Charlie’s posture now, an ease that hadn’t been there before. Back home, she had always been slightly restless, as though part of her was always looking for something.
It seemed she’d found it.
