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Logan extracted a small packet from inside his coat and handed it to him. “Some letters for my son. Give the lad a grand hug for me when you see him, and tell him that Papa will be home in the springtime.”
His words had a remarkable effect, freezing the entire family into an astounded tableau.
“You have a son?” Nick finally asked.
Logan scratched the bristles on his cheek. “Oh, I say, did I forget to mention that I have a little boy?”
“Apparently so,” Victoria said wryly.
“It just slipped your mind, I suppose,” Nick said in a decidedly frosty voice.
“Zeus!” Kade waved his arms. “I have a nephew? What’s his name? How old is he?”
Everyone started gabbing at once, although Nick’s annoyed tones could be heard over the others.
Logan glanced over his shoulder, his eyes twinkling, and gave Royal a little jerk of the head.
With a salute of thanks to his outrageous but wonderful brother for the distraction, Royal turned and boarded the ship. The gangway was quickly pulled back and seamen began scurrying to and fro, pulling lines and shouting instructions. Royal stood by the rail as the vessel began to slowly drift away from the dock. Logan and Nick were still arguing, Braden was trying to intervene, and the twins were clearly enjoying the verbal debate.
Kade, however, had turned and walked to the end of the pier, his earnest gaze fastened on Royal. Victoria joined him and slipped an arm around the lad’s shoulders. As the ship pulled into the channel leading to the firth, they both raised their hands in farewell.
Royal swallowed his tears and waved back.
A brisk click of heels on the deck sounded behind him before Ainsley slipped her hand through the crook of his arm.
“Goodness,” she said, peering back at the docks. “You Kendricks certainly are an emotional lot.”
He smiled down at her. “Highlanders like to do everything with a certain dramatic flair.”
“I’ve noticed. What are your brothers arguing about? I can hear them shouting even out here.”
“As I was getting ready to board, Logan casually mentioned that he had a son. The announcement had the desired effect.”
“Jolly good of him to do that for you. By the way, I just shared the same distraction with your grandfather. He was getting entirely too emotional thinking about Kade and the dogs.”
Royal had told Ainsley about his brother’s secret a few days ago, although he’d sworn her to silence until their departure. “How did he take it?”
“He was too astonished to say a word for a full six minutes. I timed it.”
He laughed. “Perhaps we can come up with other shocking announcements when necessary.”
“It could be the one way to preserve our sanity. The notion of being cooped up with Angus for several weeks is rather daunting.”
He pulled her close as the sails unfurled and the ship moved farther away from shore. “Oh, I’m sure we can think of other ways to entertain ourselves.”
“You shock me, dear sir.”
“I hope so, dear madam.”
She flashed a grin before snuggling into his arms to keep watch with him. The figures on the pier receded into the distance until finally disappearing in the haze of the early morning fog over the water.
Still, Royal couldn’t bring himself to go below deck. He needed this last taste of Scotland. He needed the rugged cliffs where Loch Long, the loch he’d grown up on, emptied into the River Clyde. He needed the early snows that glinted off the high peaks in the distance, the peaks he’d climbed as a youth with his brothers. He needed the gannets and the cormorants wheeling overhead, and the comical puffins burrowing in the cliffs. Even the seals came to bid him farewell, flashing by the ship and heading for the heart of the firth.
Royal needed to engrave those images in his heart for the months or years to come. Ainsley seemed to understand, keeping silent watch with him as his beloved homeland slipped away.
Finally, she stirred. “I know you’ll miss it terribly, and I’m truly sorry about that.”
“We’ll be back someday.”
