“She’s in her sleeping-through-the-night and napping-twice-a-day phase. So I’m making the most of it, trying to pop in for visits while I can and take lots of walks.”
“Have you been out to the trails behind the old distillery?” Isla asked. “They’re perfect for a walk.”
Smooth, I thought.
Mel frowned, looking pensive. “Goodness, not for years. I didn’t realize there were trails there now.”
“Oh yes, certainly,” Jo cut in. “There’s that nice one that leads to the waterfall.”
“It’s fairly well maintained,” I added. “And quieter than town.”
“Oh, Mel, you’ve met my fiancé, Locke?” Isla said, hugging my arm. “He was at Lena and Weston’s vow-renewal ceremony.”
“Fiancé!” she exclaimed. “I had no idea you were engaged!”
Isla chuckled. “We figured Jo would have passed the news onto everyone already.”
“I’m working on it,” Jo said, checking her watch. “Speaking of, I’m on a deadline. I’ll catch up with everyone later.” She popped back inside.
“Well, congratulations, you two,” Mel said. “That’s very exciting. I remember what those days were like for me and Alex. Life felt so much slower.”
“And now you’ve got Lucy. The primary school. Town council,” Isla said, shaking her head. “I don’t know how you juggle it all.”
“Oh, she’s been coming to the council meetings with me,” Mel said, bouncing as the baby started to stir. “Everyone adores her.”
“Of course they do,” Isla cooed as Lucy’s eyes opened.
“I’d best be off,” Mel said. “I want to get her home and fed before she gets cranky. See you two around. Bye, Aisling.”
“Bye!” Aisling chirped from where she was trying to get Ranger to shake a paw.
“That was very well done,” I said, taking Aisling’s hand as we walked across the road to the green.
“What was?” Isla said, giving me a smug grin. She stopped to take Ranger off his leash. The dog shot off like a rocket. Aisling shot off after him toward a playground.
“You dropping the little hint about the trail and the waterfall,” I said, threading my fingers through hers again. Taking her hand, playing the part of fiancé, was easier and easier every time it happened. Did I want the property? Yes. Was she the mother of my child? Yes. But aside from both those things, I genuinely wanted to give her everything I’d promised. Access to the land and her childhood home, respect for her vision of what the place should be. Most of all, I wanted her to be happy.
“I figure we just have to do some subtle guiding, you know? Make people realize how magical that place really is so they know how important it is to keep it that way. Oh crap,” she muttered.
I turned to see that Aisling had gotten Ranger into the tower of the playground. “Uncle Locke, help!” she called down to me.“Ranger wants to go down the slide but he’s too scared by himself.”
Isla clapped me on the shoulder. “Good luck with that.”
“Why doIhave to get him down?”
“Because I’m indisposed,” she teased, pressing her hand to her belly. She waved me toward the tiny ladder at the side of the playground.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m really about to take a deerhound down the slide, aren’t I?”
“Yes,” she said, lifting her camera. “And I will be getting the entire thing on film. So it can be enjoyed for years to come.”
11
ISLA
“So, you’ve got Locke and Ranger on the slide together?”
“Yes, with the leash tangled around Locke’s legs,” I said to Weston as his shoulders shook. His face was already red from laughing as I recounted the story of how Locke ended up crammed in the playground tower with an exuberant six-year-old and a one-hundred-and-ten-pound dog.
