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Eventually, though, he rolled her onto her back. Her heavy breaths were making her chest swell and fall rapidly, and there was pleading in her eyes as he hovered just above her face.
And then slowly, slowly, he entered her, and they were joined together physically as well as in spirit. It was more delicate than anything they’d done before. Unhurried. Loving. They had the rest of eternity together, and they’d spend as much of it as they could in each other’s arms.
As the heat built, her every sigh and moan were like a testament from the heavens, alerting him to his new covenant. His responding grunts and mild oaths were prayers offered at her altar as he gave himself, all of himself, to her.
When they reached the peak together, she cried out so loudly that it was like music in Alexander’s ears, the most beautiful church choir or perhaps even a chorus of angels. He released immediately after and fell forward.
“Cicilia,” he mumbled.
“Shh,” she said, stroking his hair.
And like that, still entangled, as one body, they drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 32
Iuncta Iuvant
I Am Not Who I Once Was
The Gallagher Fair was attended from those near and far within the clan. It was a week of joy such as they had not seen in many years. It was a bustling event, filled with traders and creators, artists and sculptors, jousters and puppet-masters.
Each had their favorites. Cicilia and Nathair spent much time at the horseracing events, cheering for their preferred winners and placing bets of pennies and sweet cakes. Jeanie, with the help of young Alice, ran a knitting class, where she helped teach some of the village children the ways of the needles.
Me friend’s wife is gonnae have us all kitted out for winter before we ken it, whether we like it or nae!
Alexander’s personal favorite part was the music competition, with a grand prize of a pin of pure silver in the shape of a lute. It had been a tradition from his grandfather’s time, and he had abandoned it after the death of his father. But now he sent the call far and wide, summoning bards and performers from all around the Highlands to the clan.
Many came. The prize was too tempting to miss. The pin was not only valuable in terms of money. The winner was free to sell it if they so chose, but it would mark the bard as under the patronage of the Laird of Gallagher. Essentially, he would be guaranteed jobs and financial support for the space of a full year.
“It’s a fine prize,” Catherine told her brother. She would return home soon, but she had simply insisted that she and the children must stay for the fair. “An’ yet, I’m surprised by the attention it’s drawn.”
“Are ye?” Cicilia asked. She’d left the side of the horses to approach as the set-up for the music competition began. “I’m certain that people all over the Highlands wanted to see the elusive Laird o’ Gallagher, out o’ his shell at last.”
Alexander chuckled and put an arm around her, kissing her hair. “Ye make me sound like such a miser,” he laughed.
“Och, well, ye were a wee bit serious before I came along,” Cicilia teased.
Catherine smiled fondly at the pair of them. “Where are the twins? An’ me Matthew as well, for that matter?”
Cicilia pointed over to the other side of the large field, where a small crowd was gathered. “They’re doin’ a best in show over there,” she told her sister-in-law. “An’ o’ course, Annys an’ Jamie had to enter Salann. Ye ken that me sister doesn’ae let yer Matthew out o’ her sight, so…”
Alexander grinned. Salann, salt, was the name of the twins’ replacement piglet, who was settling into life at the castle quite happily.
“Like salted pork,” Jamie had declared, sounding very proud of himself. Alexander had to admit, it was a clever way to honor the late Bacon.
Salann was still very young, but Alexander could already tell he was going to grow huge. They’d have to send him back to the farm at some point, but they had a good two or three years until he reached his maximum size.
An’ even when he does return, I imagine the twins will be spendin’ a lot o’ time at the farm, especially Jamie. It’ll be his in a few short years, after all.
The musical performances started then, distracting Alexander from thoughts of the children and the pigs. It started slow, with a simple singer, but soon lively tunes were filling the air. The jaunty pipes, the plucking of lute strings, deep percussive beats—all of it was creating an energy in the air that was bringing Clan Gallagher back to life.
To Alexander’s extreme surprise, it wasn’t even just those from the surrounding clans who joined them. The weird and wonderful variety baffled him and added to the crackling spark in the air.
He danced with his sister, with Jeanie, with Annys and Alice, with Susan, the baker’s wife, letting himself feel human at last. The bard on the platform now was the strangest yet. He was a Scandinavian settler, tall and wiry and wild, his hair streaked through with indigo dye. Annys, in particular, found this exciting, unable to stop pointing at the strange man with blue hair.
“I cannae believe people are comin’ all the way here from up North an’ choosin’ our wee clan,” Jeanie said with a wide smile. “It’s inspirin’.”
“That one’s been learnin’ the story o’ what happened here over the last while,” Cicilia informed her. “He was talkin’ to me earlier, an’ he’s been tourin’ the village. Says he wants to make a story-song called the Ballad o’ Gallagher, in Alexander’s honor.”
