A Highlander's Home

by Laura Hathaway

  Mac slammed his hand on the book, sending a cloud of dust into the air. Excitedly he said, “That means, my dear, that ye are supposed to be here!! Ye were meant to be here and save us! If ye hadn’t come when ye did, if ye had not run into Leith that day in the woods and distracted Alisdair with your thievery, he would have ambushed Leith and his men and claimed Hell’s Gate for himself! Don’t ye see? Ye were meant to be here. The book says so!”

  Raine swallowed. “Mac, that book could be referring to any woman. How do you know it means me specifically?”

  “Och, ye of little faith!”

  He flipped through the pages and stopped. Raine was surprised the book had not fallen to pieces yet.

  Mac pushed the open book in between the two of them and stood back. There on the dirty, yellowed pages of this book that had been written by an unknown ancestor, was a hand sketched portrait of Leith, Raine, and two young boys.

  Raine gasped, almost choking on her desert. “That’s us!”

  Leith looked closely at the drawing. “It could be, but it’s an old book, and the details are blurred. It does look similar but there’s no way to tell that these people are us.”

  “Turn the page.” Mac stood frowning with his arms crossed over his chest.

  Leith turned the page and stopped breathing. Looking back at him was Raine. The page looked as if it had been drawn yesterday, it was so clear. Her eyes, her lips, her smile. She was dressed in those blasted clothes he hated that she claimed were “jeans”. She stood in front of Hell’s Gate, staring back at him, her hair blowing gently away from her face.

  “How can this be, Mac?” Leith asked in wonderment.

  Raine looked over his shoulder and choked. A servant girl patted her on the back.

  She said, “Where did you get this? How can that picture of me be in this old book? I haven’t even been technically born yet.”

  Mac held his arms open to the sky. “Wondrous things can happen if you but listen. The name on the book is worn. I cannot tell who wrote it, but I know it was your ancestor, Leith. And he knew you were coming, my lady.”

  Leith flipped the page back to the family portrait on the other page. “And the children?”

  “Your sons.”

  Leith squinted at the drawing. “Well, they definitely look like MacGregors.”

  Raine could hear the pride in his voice even if he claimed not to believe this hard-to-believe explanation from Mac.

  Lady MacGregor swept into the room and made her way to them. “Good afternoon everyone. Raine, my dear, you look wonderful. And hungry. Doesn’t your husband ever feed you?”

  They smiled at her humor as she reached for the book in front of Leith.

  She gasped when she saw the picture. “I told you! I told you I saw her picture! I told you so!”

  Mac sighed and rolled his eyes. “Yes, my lady, you told us. And I found the book.”

  As the two bickered over who was responsible for discovering it, Leith and Raine made their way outside. They stood in front of the oversized doors and looked out over the land. It was still covered in white, the silence comforting, the wind still and the air causing their breath to turn into little white clouds.

  Raine leaned into Leith’s warmth. “Do you believe that?”

  Leith rested his chin on her head. “I believe that ye are here. I believe that ye are my wife and the mother of my children. I believe that somehow, some way, ye were brought to me. And I believe that I love ye. No matter how much of a headache ye cause me.”

  She giggled, and then hiccupped. “Hmm. I believe that I have to have some more of that dessert.”

  Laughing with her, he kissed her lips, tasting the sweet custard she enjoyed so much.

  She sobered. “I also believe that no matter how I got here, through magic or accident or destiny that I was meant to find you. And I believe that I love you more than anything else in this strange world.”

  He flashed a smile. “I am glad ye fell on me in the forest that day.”

  She gave a small laugh. “So am I.”

  His smile disappeared. “I’m glad you did not go home, lass. I don’t know what I would do without ye in my life.”

  She took his face in her hands and marveled at the beauty of this oversized Scotsman who had become her everything. She tiptoed and kissed him lightly.

  “I am home.”

  22