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“Hey, buddy.”
His warm brown eyes flickered open and still he didn’t growl at me. Maybe we’d turned a corner, finally.
“I’m going to the pub. And I think you should come with me. What do you say? Fancy a pint?” As though he understood me, Sir Buster stood and stretched on his little legs before trotting to the side of the bed and waiting for me to pick him up. Perhaps it was a miracle. And I was glad for it. I’m sure in a day or two he’d be back to sniping at me in his usually gloriously grumpy self, but for today I’d welcome his cuddles.
I spoke softly to him the whole walk to the pub, soothing him when he began to tremble as we walked past Loch Mirren, promising him I’d always be there for him. By the time I’d reached the door of Tipsy Thistle, I had to take a moment to blink the tears from my eyes. I guess I wasn’t the only one still reeling from a near-brush with death. Taking a deep breath, I released it, and then opened the door, the voices and the warmth reaching out to me like a hug.
“Sir Buster!” Hilda squealed, yes,squealed, as I moved into the main part of the pub and the dog was snatched from my arms by a distraught Hilda. Sir Buster, equally excited, licked Hilda’s face like crazy, and I caught Archie dashing the back of his palm across his face before reaching out to scratch Sir Buster’s fur.
“I’m safe too,” I grumbled, and Hilda just nodded before continuing her adulation of the dog.
“Lachlan!” Agnes squealed, a perfect imitation of Hilda, and threw her arms around me, pretending to lick my face in excitement.
“Och, I get no recognition around here. That’s the truth of it,” I complained.
“I’ll get ye a pint, if that’ll do you?” Graham asked with a smile, and I sighed, defeated. The dog would always win where the women were concerned. Speaking of women, I looked around the room, searching for Sophie.
“Have you seen Sophie?” I asked Agnes as she settled onto the stool next to me.
“Aye,” Agnes said, tucking one of her wayward curls behind her ears.
“Annnnd?” I raised both eyebrows at her, waiting for her to elaborate. Agnes just shrugged and Graham shook his head.
“See, Lachlan? This is why you shouldn’t get involved with women. They either talk back or spin nonsense your way.”
“Unlike your hand, right, Graham?” Agnes shot back and everyone in the pub laughed, used to their banter.
Graham opened his mouth to retort, but I raised my hand to stop him. Sophie had entered from a back room, her eyes wide and uncertain, two spots of bright pink on her pale cheeks. I stood and moved to stand in front of her as the entire pub went silent. Someone even killed the music.
“Lachlan—”
“Sophie. Before you say anything…just listen—”
“Och, just like a man,” Agnes grumbled in the background.
“We have to cut women off or we’d never get a word in edgewise,” Graham complained.
“Maybe if you listened once in a while, we wouldn’t have to repeat ourselves twenty times,” Agnes shot back.
“Guys!” I shouted, snapping my fingers. “Do you mind if I declare my love here?”
Sophie’s mouth rounded into a perfectO.
“Fine, fine. Get on with it then,” Graham said. I made a note to kill him later.
“Sophie, I’m sorry for what you saw…and for the way it made you feel. I didn’t know about it, I promise you that. I’m not a liar, and I never would have used you in such a manner. But I understand that others have been careless with your heart. I understand why you left. You were scared. Just like I was scared. I was too scared to love you and lose you, so it was easier to keep you at arm’s length. Even when we took a chance on each other, I was still waiting for you to leave. Convinced that one day you would. And now I realize that’s no way to live. My mother…” My voice cracked, and Sophie reached for me, but I stepped back, needing to finish this. “My mother would not have wanted me to live this way. To live in fear. Of love. Of the Kelpies. Of what the Order of Caledonia means for protecting our town. I won’t always know how to protect you, Sophie. And I hate that. But I’m telling you here, in front of everyone, that I will love you until my last breath, I will spend my life protecting you any way that I can, and hell, I’ll even let you continue to save me if needed.”
A laugh rose at that.
“I’m not too proud to admit that I need some help sometimes. And I do need your help. Not your money, Sophie.You. I love the castle. I love Loren Brae. And I love you. Will you stay and help me?”
The only sound that filled the room was Sir Buster’s tiny snores from where he’d nestled into the crook of Hilda’s arms and instantly fallen asleep. I waited, my future on hold, as Sophie studied me with those wide all-seeing eyes.
“I learned something about myself today too,” Sophie said, and the room seemed to collectively hold its breath, myself included. “I learned that I have a voice. One that matters. And that love is worth fighting for. And that I love this town. I love grumpy Sir Buster, and Clyde with his coo jokes, and how kind everyone is here. I love the wildness of this land and the beauty to be found around every corner. And, Lachlan, I loveme. And I love themethat you see me as. I don’t want to stop being that woman. If you’ll accept me, after I made awful judgments about you today, I promise to love you unreservedly for all of my days. I want to stay.”
My lips were already on hers before her last words were out, and I was lost in her kiss as the pub erupted in cheers.
“Stay and fight!” Agnes crowed, and the pub took up the chant.
