Ian was just starting to doze off when he felt something move in his hair and he jumped in surprise, his hand automatically going to his damp hair to brush whatever it was away. His fingers found mine and when they moved slightly under his, his head shot up and his eyes met mine and his heart launched itself so high up into his throat he could hardly swallow.
“Kailani?” he whispered as he slowly rose out of his chair to lean over me, unsure if he was really seeing my eyes open or if he was dreaming and I slowly nodded and blinked a few times. My fingers twitched again and he clutched my hand and brought it to his cheek. “You’re awake?”
“You smell really good.” My voice was nothing more than a faint croak thanks to days of lack of use and the breathing tube but it was music to his ears, and with a crooked smile and a wink, he bent down to whisper in my ear.
“You like it?”
“It reminds me of how you smelled on our date. And then later that night.” That made him chuckle as he remembered all but barging into my cottage and kissing me and he had to clear his throat to help stop his mind before his memories went any further. He of course hadn’t meant for things to get so intimate between us so quickly but as soon as he’d kissed me, everything had fallen into place and there had been no turning back. But this was not the time, nor the place to reminisce about it.
“I guess I had cologne on that night too, didn’t I? I am so glad to see your eyes open. I thought your dragon eyes were beautiful, but those grey-green ones of yours just take my breath away.” He held my hand against his heart while his other hand brushed the side of my face tenderly, smoothing my hair back from my forehead and I slowly raised my other hand to feel my eyes.
“My eyes are back to normal?” I whispered and he nodded and pressed a finger to my lips.
“Shh, don’t talk, just rest your voice. Yes your eyes are back to normal, your broken bones have been tended to and your burn is almost non-existent.” He assured me and I gazed up at him searchingly for a long moment. I didn’t know if I should tell him that I’d heard most of the conversations he’d had after I was put in this room even though I hadn’t been able to respond in any way. I knew what the story was that he had told the doctors about my ‘accident’, I had heard him all of the times he had assured me that he was there beside me and had no intention of leaving. I wasn’t sure what he would say or how he would feel if he knew I’d been a silent witness to his last conversation with Emma - were those things he would want me to know?
“I’ll go get Dr. Michael’s, and let him know you’re awake.“ He was cut off by me clutching his hand tightly and I shook my head.
“Stay. With me.” I whispered and his knees melted and he sank down onto the bed beside me.
“For as long as you like, lass.” He did reach into his bag though for his cell phone and called Edan, letting him know that I was awake. I was still tired and needed rest so he convinced everyone that it would be better to come visit tomorrow and when he hung up I patted the mattress on the other side of me - the side that didn’t have a gleaming white cast - and he rounded the side of the bed, climbed up on it and wrapped me in his arms. And for the first night since I’d battled the Fae, he finally slept soundly.
Chapter 19
Four days later I was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, trying to pull the grey sweater-dress that Rachel had bought me on over my head and I wasn’t having much luck.
“Some help here please?” I asked Rachel with a breathless laugh and she giggled as she came over to help me.
“I guess you have some work to do to get your flexibility back.” She helped me get my arms into the proper holes and then she held my arm while I carefully stood up so I could pull the dress down over my hips and legs. It was a dark grey, like the color of a wet stone, turtleneck sweater that hugged my lean frame with little cap sleeves and my dragon-necklace was still around my neck. The charm was still as shiny and reflective as it had been when I’d first found it, but the warmth I’d felt when I used to hold it was gone. Now it just felt like any other charm.
Ciara had offered me the services of her sister who was a hair stylist, a woman who I had never met before but was as warm and friendly as the Laird’s wife, and she had stopped by earlier that morning to do something about my hair and I kept reaching up to touch the shorter strands. Not all of my hair had been scorched, just the bottom few inches from about my bra strap down to the ends near my waist. So, to make sure she got all of the damaged hair, she had cut it well above that. Now my hair skimmed the bottom of my jaw, with the front being a tiny bit longer than the back. She had given me kind of a jagged, layered look and while it was a lot shorter than I was used to, I loved it. I just hoped everyone else did too.
“You look stunning, stop fidgeting.” Rachel scolded me with a laugh when she caught me playing with my hair again and I giggled.
“I can’t help it! Do you have any idea how light my head feels right now?”
“Now all that hair won’t weigh you down on your surfboard.” Rachel packed the last of my toiletries into a bag and I slid my good leg into a newly purchased, knee-high black suede boot. Rachel came around to take the other boot and put it in my bag and I made a face.
“It’s going to be a long time before I get on a board. Doctor says I’ve got about six weeks before my cast comes off and another six months of intense physio ahead of me to get my knee where it should be.”
“Guess that means you’ve got a desk job for the next few months too.” My friend frowned slightly and I shrugged, unconcerned.
“I’m thinking, if I’m going to be sitting at a desk for the next half a year until the doctor tells me I’m good to go again, I may enroll in the police training program. Use some of the money Mom and Dad left me.” At that news, Rachel stepped back from me and she grinned.
“That is some of the best news I’ve heard come out of your mouth. Good for you.” We left the hospital room and as I passed the nurses’ station I waved goodbye to the group that was standing there.
“I can’t thank you enough for everything you did for me, ladies.” I smiled warmly at them, even at Emma. No one knew that I had heard the last conversation between Ian and Emma, I hadn’t admitted to hearing anything yet, and just thinking about everything that he’d said to her about how he felt about me while she’d clearly been hinting that she still cared for him made me feel good inside. Not that I wanted to be mean to the woman, she had been so sweet and gentle while tending to me, but nothing beat hearing your lover blow off another woman’s interest.
The nurses all waved back and called out farewells as we passed and when we were outside in the brisk early November air, I inhaled deeply. A cab was coming to pick us up at the hospital and take us back to the estate, I had been adamant about not wanting Ian to have to come back to the hospital, nor had I wanted to drag Edan away from his babies or bother Jamie or Hugh. They had all insisted that they didn’t mind but I stuck to my guns and now here Rachel and I were, the shoulder-strap of my duffel bag over Rachel’s shoulder while I leaned against crutches.
“Are you okay? Do you want to sit down?” she asked, spotting a bench nearby but I shook my head.
“I’ve been laying and sitting down enough. Standing feels good.” I assured her and smiled widely when I saw the cab pull up to the curb. The driver jumped out to come help us and he stopped short when he saw me.
“You! Oh miss, I am so deeply sorry for how I behaved! I shouldn’a never left ye the way I did.” He apologized immediately and I vaguely recognized him as the driver who had tried to pick me up at Edan’s and I had started to change in his car. I laughed and patted the man’s shoulder as he hovered near me, unsure if I needed help with my crutches.
“I should be the one apologizing to you for the way I screamed at you. I was way out of line but I had never felt sick like that before and it scared me.”
“Och! No apology needed lass.” He held the rear door open for Rachel to slide in and then he held the crut
ches I handed him as I lowered myself down into the car. Then we were off, heading for the estate and I got suddenly nervous. I had seen just about everyone once I’d woken up, they’d come in twos or threes to say hello and see how I was doing, but to be back on the estate? How would that make me feel after what I had been through? And, biggest question of all was, what would the property line do to me? I had clearly been able to leave the property in the ambulance, but was the dragon in me really dead?
“Only one way to find out.” I thought to myself as I saw the big wall looming ahead of us. The gate was open and the cab turned onto the lane-way and as we neared the house, people started coming outside to greet us. Edan and Ciara stepped outside, their babies in their arms, I saw Hugh round the corner of the house from the direction of the cottages and he raised a hand to greet us as we came to a stop. Alice was hanging out the door of the kitchen, waving frantically and I giggled at her beaming face, even as my gaze kept looking.
“Looking for your beau, I take it?” Rachel teased quietly, seeing me scan all of the faces.
“Am I that obvious?” I shot her a wink as the driver got out and opened her door for her and then he hustled around the back of the car to come open my door, my crutches at the ready. I carefully swung my legs around so my feet were on the ground, held onto the door handle for support and as I took a deep breath, ready to lift myself up, I glanced up and that’s when I saw him.
Ian came out of the house behind Edan and jogged out to the lane-way to meet us as I rose up out of the car to my full height. He stopped short when he saw me, his gaze taking in the new hairstyle, the new clothes, the makeup and I got suddenly very shy. Did he like what he saw?
“You’re beautiful.” He murmured, cupping my face in his hands and brushing my cheekbones with his thumbs. We gazed into each other’s eyes for a long moment until Rachel cleared her throat jokingly and I laughed as I stepped back and accepted the crutches. Ian led us towards the Laird and his wife and as we got closer Ciara stepped forward and extended an arm out to me to give me a careful hug.
“You look so lovely. Welcome home.”
“Thank you. It’s good to be back.” I turned to give Edan a gentle hug so that we didn’t crush little Alex and I turned with a laugh when Hugh spoke behind me.
“There’s my dragon! It’s so good to see ye up and moving around, lass! Ye look like a new woman with that hair!”
“I feel like a new woman believe me. It’s good to see you again Hugh.” I opened my arms to him and he gave me a powerful hug before turning and giving Rachel one as well.
“Do you want to go back to your cottage for a bit and relax? Or would you like to come inside?” Ciara asked as Edan dealt with the cab-fare and Rachel looked at me questioningly.
“If you all don’t mind, I think I’d like a few moments to myself.” I looked around at all of the beaming faces and they gradually turned into ones of understanding and a bit of concern.
“Aye, take your time lass. We’re here if you need anything.” Hugh squeezed my elbow and I smiled at everyone before I turned and started to make my way across the grass. I started heading towards my cottage but then veered off into the trees and then out into the clearing that I had come to know so well. I stood for a long time staring out at the water and eventually I got up the nerve to look straight down into the bay, unsure of what, if anything, I would see down there.
Boulders the size of small cars were now further out into the bay than they had been before and I swallowed the lump in my throat, remembering how they’d crashed down on me. And I could see something glittering all over the wet sand. Before I could wonder what it was, a voice spoke behind me.
“William and Alexandria will be scavenging for smoothed out pieces of glass down there for years as they get older.” I turned slightly to see Ian joining me, his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he slowly walked over and I turned back to look down into the bay.
“The glass is from me?” I asked in faint surprise. I’d been aware of it during the fight with the Fae but I had never really grasped what it was and beside me, Ian nodded.
“Aye, it’s most definitely from you. Of course, if anyone outside this estate ever asks, it’s from a lightning strike. We went down there and salvaged some of the bigger pieces to keep to remind us of what happened that day.” He admitted quietly and I turned to him.
“Did you mean what you said to me that night?” I asked suddenly and Ian turned to face me and his brow furrowed in concentration.
“I don’t recall telling any fibs recently, but perhaps you can give me a hint, try to narrow down my words and I’ll give ye a yes or no.” He teased and I laughed lightly as I blushed and looked down at my feet.
“About you wanting to change your answer to my ten-year question. I heard what you said to that nurse Emma about leaving here and coming with me but I wasn’t sure...” I said to my feet, suddenly too embarrassed to look at him and for a long moment, Ian was silent. He looked at the top of my head and how my new haircut allowed the strands to fall forward to shield my eyes and he felt his heart tighten in his chest. Was I asking because I didn’t want him to follow me? Or did I? Now that I was back up on my feet and I had Rachel around to support me, maybe I didn’t need or want him like I had. Only one way to find out.
“Let me make my new answer crystal clear for ye, lass. I will follow you absolutely anywhere, every single day for the rest of my life. If you’ll have me, of course.” The uncertainty in his voice at the end of his comment brought my eyes up to his face and my heart skipped a beat at the look in his eyes. “I love you, Kailani. Wherever you go, I want to go too.” He cupped his large hands around my chin and held my head up so he could keep looking into my eyes and when they started to fill with tears, he gently kissed each eye and then leaned his forehead against mine.
“I love you too. I was so scared when that Fae sent that bolt of lightning straight at you and Edan. I thought, if that hit you, I’d lose you. And then when we were in the clearing afterwards, waiting for midnight, I just kept thinking that I’d finally found someone who accepted me for who I really am and I didn’t want to go. I wanted to spend my nights in your arms, my days looking into your eyes. I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving you.”
“And you didn’t. As Ciara very wisely said to me, your human heart was clearly stronger than the dragon’s heart and you stayed. And I know there are going to be some hurdles we’ll have to face as we try to sort out how to handle the fact that we live on different continents, halfway around the world from each other but you’re worth every single second of that aggravation, I promise ye..”
“Let’s start with a vacation. Come to Hawaii with me and Rachel.” I suggested eagerly and he grinned with a slight nod.
“I thought you’d never ask.” He tipped his head down to kiss me and I let go of the crutches I was holding, hearing them clatter to the ground at my feet, as I cupped my hands around the back of his neck, hanging on to him with everything I had. Our kiss deepened and I felt our hunger for each other waking up as his teeth start to nip at my bottom lip and his arms slid around my waist, anchoring me against the length of him and I chuckled breathlessly against his mouth.
“My highlander.”
“My dragon.”
We would have stayed out on the cliff’s edge forever, kissing and cuddling but we were interrupted by a slightly embarrassed clearing of the throat. Ian and I parted and turned towards the sound and saw the police officer - Peter - standing a few feet away, his notepad and pen in his hands and a clearly uncomfortable look on his face.
“Good evening officer.” Ian greeted him as though we hadn’t just been caught making out and out of habit, I reached behind me to tighten my ponytail, only to remember it wasn’t there. I also realized that Ian was more or less holding me up since my crutches were still laying at our feet and I blushed slightly, feeling very much like a teenager whose parents had just caught her with a boyfriend on the living room couch.
&
nbsp; “Good evening Doctor.” Peter nodded respectfully at Ian and then he turned to me and I smiled slightly.
“Officer.” I nodded my head to him in greeting and he cleared his throat again.
“You are looking very well Miss Williams, for a woman who has spent the better part of a week in the hospital. You must be glad to be free of that place.”
“Yes, I am. Although everyone at the hospital was simply wonderful and I can’t thank them enough for everything they’ve done for me. I guess you’re here for my official statement?” I asked, holding onto Ian’s arm as he bent down to pick up my crutches and hand them to me. But he didn’t leave me, instead he kept his hand, warm and solid, on the small of my back as the officer nodded.
“Aye. When a tourist winds up in the hospital from an apparent ‘accident’ it is my job to get statements and make sure everything is as it should be. I felt bad asking you for one while you were still laid up in that hospital bed. Mr. Cameron called me this morning to let me know you were being discharged and I could stop by this afternoon.”
“Well sir, I don’t know what I can tell you.” I began and felt Ian’s hand stiffen on my back a little. We hadn’t had a chance to corroborate stories and I hadn’t owned up yet to having heard most of the conversations that had taken place in my hospital room.
“Perhaps you just tell me what you remember of that day.” The constable urged and I licked my lips and glanced at Ian who just nodded slightly as though in encouragement. I saw the tightness around his eyes though and I squeezed his arm reassuringly.
“Well, I remember that I had wanted to go down and explore the inlet while the tide was out. Hugh had told me once that legend was that there were caves full of treasure down there somewhere and I wanted to see if I could find them.” We all sort of chuckled at the idea of stumbling across lost treasure and then I shrugged a bit helplessly. “I knew a storm was coming, we had been watching the clouds for a few days and when the wind started to pick up and thunder started to rumble I knew I had to get back up here onto higher ground and get inside so I started up the path. I saw a bright flash of light in front of me, I felt this - rush - of heat and like static electricity hit me and that was it. I woke up in a hospital room three days later.” I pulled a face and the officer nodded slowly as he jotted down notes, chewing on his bottom lip as he did so. I felt Ian rub his hand up and down my back soothingly and I glanced at him again to read his expression. He held my gaze for a long minute and then stepped behind me, wrapping his arms around me in what looked like a bear hug, but it brought his mouth to my ear, and he murmured,
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