Nikolaus’ old eyes were glimmering with emotion. “Aye,” he said. “’Tis me. I… I’m sorry I dunna look as ye remember. I used tae be quite comely, so I was told.”
That voice. Clova knew that voice. Blinking back the tears, she reached out for him and he grasped her hand. They clutched each other tightly.
“It doesna matter what the years have done,” she whispered. “Ye will always be my fine, strong lad. I see ye in my dreams every night.”
Nikolaus held her hands against his chest, gazing down at the woman who used to have the flaming red hair. She was completely white now, and clearly blind in one eye, but no less beautiful to him than she’d always been.
“I always wondered what I would say tae ye if I ever saw ye again,” he said, lump in his throat. “Now that the moment is upon me, I can hardly think of a word tae say. But I suppose… I suppose if I would say something, it would be that although I married a fine woman, I never forgot ye, Clova. Ye were my first love.”
Clova reached up, touching his bearded face. “If the fates are kind tae us, mayhap I’ll be yer last.”
“I could only be so fortunate.”
“As would I.”
“Will ye give me time tae win ye again?”
“Ye won me the moment I saw ye.”
There was nothing more to say, at least nothing more out here, for all to hear. But in private, there would be much to say as old flames were once again kindled, born from the embers of a love that never died.
Together, they entered Clova’s old cottage and closed the door. Neither paid the slightest notice to Cam and Isadora as they stood several feet away, watching the touching reunion with tears in their eyes.
Finally, the love story of Nikolaus and Clova would know a happy ending.
PART FOUR
A PRINCIPIO NOVAE (A NEW BEGINNING)
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Year of Our Lord 1485
September
“My father isdying.”
Cam looked up from the leather satchel he was packing as his wife made the announcement. Standing in the doorway of their cottage, she had just come from her father. With a grin, he turned back to his task.
“Clova said the same thing,” he said. “She’s been trying tae prove it for days. She lies abed and demands I sit with her. When I leave, she tells me she needs the priest for last rites. She thinks that if she’s dying, we willna leave.”
“What does her husband say?”
“My grandfather tells her that she is being foolish.”
“And she doesna listen?”
“Not really. But what about Niall? What is his affliction?”
“His heart, he says. He says he hears my mother calling tae him.”
“Should we plan for their joint funerals, then?”
Isadora snorted as she entered their cottage, shutting the door behind her. “Between those two, we’ve got enough tae deal with,” she said. “Who needs a bairn when we already have two of them? He’s behaving worse than he did when I told him how wefirst met in theGathan Gadainn.Do ye remember how angry he was? He told me it gave him a faint heart tae know he raised such a daughter and he’s saying the same thing now.”
Cam laughed softly, reaching out to put a big hand on Isadora’s gently swollen midsection. “This one will be easier than that pair, I’m sure,” he said. Then he paused as he set his satchel aside, sobering dramatically. “Are ye sure ye want tae go, Issie? With the bairn coming in a few months…”
She waved him off as she moved to her satchel, half packed, as it sat upon their bed. “We’ve discussed this,” she said evenly. “Where ye go, I go. The only thing I’m sad about is leaving my new birdhouse behind. We’ll not see the chicks come in the spring.”
