by Diane Darcy
Soni appeared before him.
With a groan, he shut his eyes, but when he opened them again she was still there, smiling at him in the dusk.
“Hello, number 36. Have ye had a good time then?”
“A good time, is it? Was I brought here tae have my guts ripped open once more?”
Soni looked startled. She glanced around. “Are ye alone? Where’s the girl? What happened?”
“What happened is that I’m not to be trusted around females! I was a sad case on the moor, and I’m a sad case now, and that’s the truth of it.”
“Niall, are ye well?”
“Nae, I’m not. I do nothing but leave destruction behind in my wake.”
Soni hesitated and finally raised her brows and shrugged. “All right, if that’s how ye truly feel. Shall we go then before she gets here?”
Niall turned to see Jenny hurrying down the road.
Soni raised her arms and Niall jumped forward to stop her. “Nae, lass. Nae. I’m not quite ready to go yet.”
She smiled. “All right.”
As one, they turned to watch Jenny’s approach.
Chapter 17
Jenny hurried forward, then came to a stop, facing the two of them. “Who’s this?” She gestured toward Soni.
“No one.”
Soni placed her hands upon her hips and laughed. “No one, is it? I’ll have ye know —”
“What is it?” Niall looked worried. “Did ye need me?”
“Yer pressin’ yer luck, laddie.”
Jenny nodded. She glanced at Soni once again, and then held out the phone. “It’s my grandmother, she has news. Shall I put it on speakerphone?”
“Please do.”
“Hi, Grandma,” Jenny said. “Niall is here with me now.”
“Oh, good!” Her grandmother’s voice sounded excited over the phone. “Niall, I have good news for you. I’ve found your Fiona!”
“Ye did?”
“Yes, remember how I told you she probably left Scotland? Well, she did. Right after the Battle of Culloden Moor and in the first wave of the Highland Clearances. She married six months after she left Scotland, and raised five children in Canada. She married a man named Kiernan Campbell.”
“She married a Campbell?” He doubted that went over well with the clan.
“She did.”
“When … that is to say … when was her first child born?”
“Let’s see, it looks like the date is December 1748.”
So, a year and a half after he’d died.
“There’s no mention of any previous children?”
“No, it says here the daughter born in 1748 was her firstborn. I’ve printed off all of the paperwork and you can have it the next time you come by. It looks like she lived to be eighty-two years old and had many grandchildren. By all accounts, she lived a full life.”
“Thank ye.”
“You bet. We’ll talk more later. Bye now!”
Relief swept through Niall. All that guilt, all those years, for nothing. But now it was gone!
He grabbed Jenny up in his arms and whirled her around. He started to laugh and, as if his emotions sparked her own, she joined him.
“Niall!” Jenny giggled. “What are you doing?”
He finally loosened his hold and allowed her to slide down his body until her feet touched the ground.
He knew he was just moments from leaving her forever, and didn’t want any regrets this time, come what may. He cupped her face between his two hands. “Jenny, I love ye, lass. I will always love ye, and I can’t leave without letting ye know that.”
Soni sniffed beside him. “That is the sweetest thing ever. I’m glad ye arrived lass. Before ye got here I thought the laddie here was about to self-destruct.”
Jenny looked between the two of them, and then finally gripped Niall’s wrists. “Where are you going? Because if you’re going somewhere, I want to go with you.”
Niall lowered his forehead to Jenny’s, breathing harshly, his obvious emotion confusing her all the more.
“Now, as to that, laddie, there are rules to follow.” Soni crossed her arms and appraised him.
“Who is this again?” Jenny looked at Soni.
“I’m Soncerae. Has Niall failed to mention me?”
“Soni?”
The young girl smiled broadly. “So he has mentioned me.”
“Yes, but,” Jenny glanced around the dimming forest. “How did you get here? Where did you come from?”
“As to that, from Scotland, same as Niall.”
The young girl’s gaze slid to Niall. “Well, laddie, it looks as if ye may already know of Fiona, but a deal is a deal. Was there anything else ye wish to discover?”
Niall shook his head.
“The woman on the phone had it aright. Fiona was verra happy and well-loved. Do ye want the details?”
Again he shook his head. “I only care about Jenny.” He bowed his head and swallowed. “In truth, I barely remember the girl. I suppose ye think me fickle at heart?”
“Nae, I wasnae thinking that at all.”
“I suppose ye wonder how I can love Jenny, when I’ve had Fiona on my mind all these years? I suppose I’ve no honor in yer eyes,” he looked at the ground, trying to rein in his growing emotions.
“That’s not true,” Jenny protested. She gave him a shake for good measure, and raised his chin. “You have plenty of honor! Buckets of the stuff. You help people at every opportunity; you’re kind, caring, and humble. And even if you’re not a therapist, I think you’re wise! You are everything an honorable man should be!”
“Jenny. Lass.” No one had ever defended him thus and his voice grew thick with emotion. His grip on her tightened and something within him flared to life.
“Niall,” Soni interjected. “I dinnae think a new girlfriend every 271 years makes ye fickle. Are ye wanting to stay with Jenny then?”
“Aye,” he said quickly. He hadn’t known it would be an option, and hope shimmered within him at the question. He looked down into Jenny’s sparkling green eyes. “Though she might not want me.”
Soni laughed. “It looks to me like she likes ye well enough. Regardless, I’ll let ye figure that out on your own. But I have to ask, did ye save each other? Have ye done aught to earn this?”
Niall was suddenly worried he’d not done enough. “I would fight bears for Jenny! Mountain lions! Wolves! Whatever ye would have me do, I’ll do it!”
Jenny hugged him, and he clutched her close in return. “Niall, I don’t need that. You helped Zach and Tina. You helped me feel good about myself. ”
Niall’s grip tightened even more, and he felt slightly frenzied. “And ye …” His voice broke. “Ye helped me learn to feel again.”
Jenny turned a belligerent gaze on Soni. “Look, I’m still not sure what is going on here, but I’m keeping him, alright? I mean, we’ll be glad to drive you to your car, or into town or where ever, but he’s staying here with me, okay?”
“But lass, what have ye done tae earn him?”
“You mean like to win him?”
“Aye, just so.”
“I … I’ll challenge you to a game of pig. Winner keeps Niall.”
Niall sucked in a breath, and he swung Jenny away, so he stood between the two women, his stance protective.“Soni, lass, tis just a game. She meant no offense tae ye, nae disrespect.”
Soni laughed, the sound tinkling in the growing darkness. “A game of skill. Tis not been done before. I like it, and accept your challenge.”
The girl was crazy.
But, sort of in a good way.
If Jenny wasn’t feeling so panicked, she’d be amused.
They’d found an old basketball inside the cabin, turned on the outside lights, and started to play.
But Soni didn’t seem to know, or care, about the rules as such. She ran the ball around, dribbled at times, didn’t bother at others, shot baskets randomly, and generally seemed to be having the time of her life.
If Jenny wasn’t sweating and scared over the outcome, she’d have enjoyed it much more.
Instead, she felt like she was playing the game of her life, a championship game, but to rules she didn’t understand.
Though it seemed crazy, she knew she couldn’t lose this game. She wouldn’t. She was playing to win Niall.
Rationally, she knew that couldn’t be the case. Either he’d stay because he wanted to, or he’d leave because he didn’t.
But the expression on his face told a completely different story.
Maybe she was simply afraid because he looked so scared.
Soni dropped the ball and accidentally kicked it in Jenny’s direction, giggling all the while.
Jenny scooped it up, carefully lined up her shot on the old, rusty basketball hoop with its sagging, weather-beaten net, and let it fly.
And she scored!
That didn’t mean she wasn’t still freaked out.
It was Soni’s turn, and when she got the ball, she ran around, giggling, dribbling inexpertly, her long skirts getting in the way.
She didn’t even bother trying to shoot from Jenny’s spot, and instead tried for a layup.
She missed, the ball flying over the hoop to land on the other side. But you wouldn’t be able to tell it from the way she laughed as she chased the ball across the cement court.
There was no doubt the girl was having fun.
Soni threw the ball one-handed over her shoulder, and somehow, defying all the odds, made the shot.
The girl’s hands flew up. “I scored!”
Did that mean they were tied? Or did Soni understand it hadn’t been her turn?
Soni whooped, reveling in the moment.
Jenny had the ball again, carefully lined up her shot, and to her horror, overshot and missed, the ball bouncing off the backboard and then to the ground.
Soni laughed, shot again, and missed as well.
The next time Jenny got the ball, she concentrated with everything in her, and easily made the basket without so much as touching the rim.
Her next turn, she did it again.
She turned to look at Niall, and then at Soni, who didn’t realize she’d lost the game.
“I think I won.” Jenny said, in an almost apologetic tone.
“Ye did? The game is won?”
“Yes, I won.” She felt sort of bad. In other circumstances she’d have let the girl win just because she was having such a good time.
“Am I a pig, then?”
“Nae, lass,” Niall was quick to correct. “A horse.”
She grinned. “That does have a better ring to it, does it nae?” She tucked the ball under her arm, grabbed hold of her skirt, and curtsied. “Then I suppose that Niall is yours.”
With that acknowledgment, Jenny ran to Niall and he opened his arms and caught her against his chest.
Niall turned with Jenny to look at Soni. “I can truly stay? I can keep Jenny for my own?”
Soni was slightly breathless, and smiling. “Well, as to that, I’d have let ye stay anyway. Ye did save each other, more than ye know. But the two of ye were just so fun tae tease that I couldnae resist! So, I thank ye. ’Twas a good game.”
She inexpertly dribbled the ball a few more times. “Do ye think I could keep the ball?”
Jenny nodded, slightly bemused. “Yes, it’s yours.” She’d replace it later.
“Yay!” With a wave, Soni disappeared right in front of them, taking the ball with her.
The hair on the back of Jenny’s neck stood up. She turned within Niall’s arms. “What just happened?”
“Soni went home, I expect.”
Jenny’s heart pounded, and she tried to catch her breath. “You did say she was a witch, didn’t you?”
“Aye.”
Jenny’s laugh was slightly hysterical. “In that case, if I’ve won you from a witch, does that mean you’re mine to keep?”
“Always, Jenny. Forever and always.”
“All right. But I think I’m going to need you to tell me a bit more about the Culloden Moor thing, okay?”
He smiled. “A conversation for another time.”
Chapter 18
Niall turned to Jenny, and his swallow was loud in the silence of the night. “Will ye have me?”
Jenny’s heart thumped as hope welled within her. “Have you?”
“Understand, I know I hurt ye earlier, and I’m begging. But if you tell me aye, I’m going to want everything. Your heart and soul, tied to mine.”
He searched her expression, waiting for an answer.
She choked out the words. “Yes. Yes, I am most definitely keeping you. I won you, remember?”
He smiled at that, then drew in a breath, reached down, and ripped a strip off of his kilt in one quick move.
“What are you doing?”
He clasped her hand, his palm over hers, and draped the torn material around their wrists, tying their hands together.
“I’m binding ye to me, lass. Forever.”
She looked down at their hands. Did he mean that literally?
He took a breath, clenching his eyes tight as emotion overcame him. When he opened his eyes again, the light shining off the house revealed his look of intent. “Jenny, I will share myself freely and honestly.”
Jenny gasped at the strength of emotion in his voice. “Niall, I will as well.”
“My love will fill every part of ye. I will share your troubles, your grief, your laughter and joy.”
Jenny glanced down at the ties binding their hands together and remembered Niall telling her brother the cloth was to handfast them as they renewed their vows.
Oh, dear Lord! Niall was marrying her, here and now!
She swallowed, and nodded frantically. “As I will love and share with you.”
“I will encourage ye to thrive, to grow, and to learn.”
She clutched his hand. “I will do the same for you.”
“We are bound together, our lives joined by love, and trust, from this life to the next.”
“Yes, Niall. We are bound. Forever.”
Tears fell from her cheeks before she even realized she was crying. But they were tears of joy, and happiness.
“I take ye for my wife.”
She nodded, blinking against the tears blinding her.
“Do ye take me for your husband?” He prompted, looking sure, strong, and filled with masculine confidence.
She nodded again, her throat tightening.
“Ye need to say the words, lass.”
“I do.” She choked out, more tears falling. “I take you for my husband.”
His grip tightened on hers once more. “We’re married now. Do ye understand, lass? From this day forward.”
Jenny stared at Niall, stunned. The darkness of the night enveloped them and she felt the trees that surround them on all sides, cocooning them under the basketball hoop where she’d won him.
She tried to catch her breath. “We really are married now, aren’t we?”
“Aye, Jenny, we are.” Niall unwrapped the piece of torn kilt, and carefully folded it before placing it inside his shirt. He pulled her into his arms and held her close. “I offer ye my heart, I’m yours forever.”
“And I’m yours.”
Jenny could barely breathe when he finally, finally bent to kiss her. He pulled her against him, the kiss gentle, tender, and filled with promise as she laid her hands on his chest. He offered her everything he was, and wanted the same from her in return.
He finally broke off to press feather-light kisses over her cheek, then jawline, until finally pulling her close to bury his face against her neck.
He just held her close, the moment tender and romantic.
She smiled against his chest. “You know, I’m still going to want a wedding.”
He chuckled, released her, and lifted her hand to press a kiss across her knuckles. “In front of a
priest?”
“Yes, I’m afraid my parents will insist on it.”
“What wife wants, wife gets. I’ll marry ye as many times as ye like, but in the end, ’twill make no difference. From this moment on, ye will always be mine.”
Jenny sighed like a swooning heroine from one of her romance novels. “I like the sound of that.”
Niall chuckled, bent down and lifted her with casual strength into his arms. Her stomach fluttered as he carried her toward the cabin.
Well, she had thought that it would make a great place for a honeymoon.
Epilogue
Seven months later.
Jenny was working from the farm, once again, Bones sleeping at her feet.
Niall talked her into coming out with him more often than not because she could work at the kitchen table.
Ever since they’d found out she was expecting, Niall had been in super protective mode. When the ultrasound revealed it was a girl, making the child all the more real, he turned it up a few more notches.
Her grandmother was taking a nap upstairs while Niall and her grandfather worked outside. Her husband was slowly learning the family business.
Grandma and Grandpa had started out with subtle hints, and then not so subtle ones, hoping that Niall would take over the family farm, and that he and Jenny would eventually live there.
Niall, after talking to her father and brother and getting their blessing, had finally agreed.
Her grandparents were now looking at condos in retirement communities and planning a cruise.
The MacDonald’s were going to have a farm.
Her brother had teased him mercilessly to the tune of Old MacDonald, until Niall had gripped his throat and pressed him against the wall one day.
Now he only hummed the song in her hearing.
Zach and Tina, who’d canceled their divorce at the last moment, were expecting their baby any day. The couple was sickeningly happy, but no more so than she and Niall, so she could hardly tease them about it.
Jenny was just about to get back to work when Niall came in, swooped down, pulled her out of the chair, and kissed her. He then rubbed her stomach, as Bones jumped up, whining for his attention. She’d finally accepted she’d never be first in her dog’s affections again. The dog just liked men better. But as long as she was first in Niall’s heart, she could deal.
