by Jennae Vale
Nick gently kissed the tip of her nose. “Ye must be elated,” he observed. “We have much to do when we arrive home. We must arrange for our marriage and our celebration and we must send word to yer brother. He will come for the wedding and ye can get to know each other better.”
“It’s like a dream, all of it.”
“Did Anania tell ye what she plans for Ariweth. Surely she’ll do something to keep him safely locked away wherever he is.”
“Aye. She did. His powers have diminished steadily over the years, but he still retains some. She will continue to keep watch over him and the sword. She doesnae wish him to ever get his hands on it. The stone is mine now and as long as I have it, he will not be able to retrieve it. Without it, the sword is useless.”
“For that we should all be grateful.” Nick stood and gave Kat his hand. “Come, let’s break our fast and then be on our way home.”
“Yes. Home.”
* * *
Dunaill seemed prepared for their return. Lettie was waiting for them with a huge smile on her face as they rode in.
“Yer back,” she called.
“Aye. Did ye think I disappeared again?” Nick asked. He dismounted and then helped Kat down.
“I’ll nae be able to let ye leave me sight without worry, Nick.” As they approached, she threw her arms around them both. “I’m happy to see ye both. Do ye have something to tell me?”
“Why do I feel ye already ken what we have to tell ye?”
“Me mother’s intuition has been telling me from the moment ye first returned to us with Kat by yer side that ye were meant for each other. I sent Aidan off to the Bishop of Caithness and got the annulment that ye wanted, Kat. The Sheriff has arrested the man who sold ye to Laird Calhoun. So, yer free to marry me son.”
Kat smiled brightly at her mother-in-law to be. “Thank you, Lettie, but Bearach Calhoun is no longer a threat to me or to anyone else.
They quickly explained everything that had happened while they were gone and Lettie breathed an obvious sigh of relief. “We can all rest easy now. Yer one of us.”
“Aye. She will be officially as soon as we can arrange it. We must invite her family to join us.” Nick could hardly contain his excitement.
“Family?” Lettie’s curiosity seemed piqued by this statement. “I thought ye didnae have one.”
“I do, actually. I made up the whole ‘my family was killed by highwaymen’ thing. I hope ye can forgive me. I was merely trying to protect myself. I just found out that I have a brother in Aleck Sinclair. I had no idea and he doesnae ken it yet, but I’ll be telling him when he arrives for the wedding.”
“What a strange turn of events,” Lettie said.
“Ma, I have something to tell ye and the rest of the family. I havenae been truthful with ye about where I was for the last two years. It will also help explain the rest of the news that Kat has to tell ye.”
“Oh, my. I’m afeared of what ye might say, but come, let’s get ye both inside. I’ll call a family meeting and we’ll sit while ye tell us yer tale.” Lettie seemed curious and apprehensive all at once.
They entered the castle and went straight to the great hall. Warm cups of cider were served while they waited for the rest of the family to join them.
“Well, whatever ye have to say cannae be too bad the way ye two are smiling at each other,” Lockie said.
“Ye’ll hear soon enough.” Nick smiled sweetly at Kat.
The others entered the room. Nick’s sisters ran to hug him and then Kat. The lads joined round the fire. Some sat, some stood, but they all were paying close attention to the tale Nick was telling them.
“When I told ye that I had been in a faerie kingdom for two years, I don’t suppose ye believed me, now did ye?”
“Nicks sisters nodded and his brothers shook their heads.”
“’Twas a rather tall tale ye told,” Lockie said. “Where were ye really?”
“I spent the last two years in the future. The year 2014 to be exact, in a place called San Francisco, California. I survived there due to the kindness of the people I was lucky enough to befriend. They gave me a place to stay and a job to do and I made a good life for me self. I wasnae sure I’d ever see any of ye again and that was the only thing that saddened me. It was a great adventure and one I’ll always remember, but I’m happy to be back here with all of ye and I’m even happier to have met me love, Katriona, who as unbelievable as it may seem, has spent her entire life in the future. The same time I found myself in, but here in future Scotland and London.”
Mouths were agape and everyone seemed speechless. Finally, Aidan spoke, “Yer not making up another tall tale, are ye?”
“Nae. This one is verra, verra true. There are others here in Scotland who have come from the future and there are others who have gone to the future only to return back to their homes. I’m one of those lucky people, as is Kat. Ye see, she grew up an orphan and has returned to find she has a brother.”
The questions started pouring forth like water sluicing down stream. Nick and Kat answered every one of them with a truthfulness that came across and left the others without question of their authenticity. Kat told of Anania and the green gem. Nick told them about the sword and Malcolm Granger. It was a tale that would be told for years and years to come as the Mackalls sat around their hearth.
The family agreed that it would be for the best to keep the stories about traveling to the future to themselves. It was surely something that would raise great concern among the other castle occupants and the villagers.
* * *
Wedding preparations were made and Lettie was having the best of times helping Kat with her dress and with the decoration of the great hall for the first Mackall wedding since her own. Invitations were sent to the neighbors who had just been with them to celebrate Nick’s return and a verra special invitation was sent to Aleck Sinclair, who was in for quite a surprise upon his arrival.
Nick doted on Kat. Whatever she wished he would make it his quest to provide. She wasnae a selfish lass, so most of what she wished for was always fer someone else. Still, he wanted to spoil her and he did his best. They hadnae shared a bed since their return and he hoped the wedding day would approach faster, because all he wanted was to hold her in his arms and love her. Stolen kisses and passionate embraces only made him want her all the more, but he knew that anything good, and Kat was so much more than good, was worth waiting for.
In the cold of winter, the occasion of Nick and Kat’s wedding was a warm and inviting event that everyone for miles around came to participate in. There was good food and drink, as well as music and dancing. The bride and her groom barely took their eyes from each other.
Aleck arrived two days before the ceremony and was ushered into the great hall, where he sat with Nick and Kat as he was told the story Anania had shared with Kat.
“I hadn’t forgotten that I had an older sister who disappeared when she was just a bairn. We thought the fairies had taken her. ’Twas ye. I should have known. I felt a strange kinship with ye from the moment I first met ye. I’m the happiest of men to ken that I have a sister, and after this wedding a new brother. Our parents grieved yer loss for their entire lives. Mother had three more babies, who were all stillborn. After the last, she was exhausted and quickly fell ill. She left us to join all the little lost souls she’d tried to birth and who we thought to be with ye. Father and I muddled along without her, two lonely men in a big castle full of folk. Our father died a few short years ago, I wish ye could have come back before that time, so ye could’ve known him. They were good people. The salt of the earth.”
Kat had tears in her eyes the whole time. Aleck stood and went to her, pulling her up from her seat and wrapping her in a bear hug. She sobbed into his chest and Nick had to wipe a tear or two from his own eyes. Lettie peeked in from the passageway and she too was sniffling.
“Kat, we’ve lost many years, but now we’ve found each other. This is a joyous time for us all. No mo
re tears. The past is behind us and from this moment on we have each other. You, who were so alone yer whole life, now have a brother and a new family to spend the rest of yer life with.”
Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, Kat smiled up at her handsome younger brother. Love had finally filled her heart with a peace she’d never experienced before. Life had always happened around her, but not to her and now she was experiencing all that life had to offer and she wanted to feel every bit of it. Her emotions had run the gamut from fear, to sadness, to love, to complete happiness. She was a verra, verra lucky lass by any standard.
She couldn’t stop hugging Aleck. His warm brotherly love fed that place deep in her soul that needed it the most and she knew he was feeling it as well.
Nick might have been jealous of all the time she was spending with Aleck, but he understood how important it was for her to do so. He also knew that after the wedding, Aleck would be leaving to return to his own castle and then he’d have Kat all to himself for the rest of his life. It was something well worth waiting for. He had a new brother and friend in Aleck and they would see each other as often as possible. He had promised them both.
* * *
The day of the wedding arrived and it was as wonderful as Kat had imagined it would be. Her dress was beyond beautiful. The cream colored velvet was decorated with embroidered flowers. She wore a Mackall plaid across one shoulder and pinned at the opposite waist with a beautiful emerald brooch that was a gift from Lettie. This was her special day. She was to wed her man. The man she’d learned she could trust above all others. The man who touched her soul and made her knees weak just gazing on him. Nick Mackall was to be her husband. She felt like the luckiest woman on earth. Nothing could make this day more complete.
The ceremony was a simple one, but it was filled with the love that Nick and Kat shared. It would be obvious to anyone observing them that they were truly meant to be together. They exchanged their vows and were declared married to the cheers of the crowd. The celebrating began with a toast to the bride and groom by Aleck Sinclair.
“To my sister and her husband, who is now my brother. May they live and love for many, many years to come.”
Everyone drank to the happy couple. Many more toasts were made and food and drink were overflowing. The musicians began to play and the dancing and singing began. This went on long into the night. The happy couple escaped to their chamber before it was all said and done and closed and locked the door behind themselves.
Chapter 22
“Wife,” Nick began after depositing Kat on their bed. “I never imagined a day would come when I would find the love of my life and then be lucky enough to marry her and spend all my days showing her how much she is loved. I intend to show ye well this night.”
Kat couldn’t help but giggle, but at the same time she tingled from her head to her toes with anticipation. “Husband, I am all yours and always will be. I cannot imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn’t met you that day in the woods. Deep down inside, something told me that you were the man for me. I will spend the rest of my days loving you and I, too, intend to show ye well this night.”
Kat stood on the bed and did a seductive striptease while Nick’s eyes shone with obvious lust for her. He walked to the bed and pulled her towards him, burying his face in her belly and kissing her while she wrapped herself around him.
“It’s been a long time and I am not a patient man.” He let go of her to remove his own clothing. Piece by piece they flew to the far corners of the room. When he was done, Kat ran her hands over the hard planes of his muscular chest and arms. He was perfect in her eyes. She shivered in anticipation. Nick took her hand and guided her back down to the bed, where she lay waiting as he scanned her body from head to toe. He ran a hand up the inside of her leg, stopping short before reaching the place she wanted him to touch. He was teasing her. She licked her lips as he watched, knowing the effect it was having on him. He surprised her by leaping onto the bed and laying his body over her entire length. He growled into her neck sending goosebumps all along her naked body. “Are ye cold?” A legitimate question considering that she’d complained of the cold more often than not since she’d known him. “If ye are, dinnae fear, fer I intend to warm ye with the fire that burns deep inside of me at the thought of ye.”
Softly seeking her lips, Nick kissed her. The intensity of those kisses grew as she responded to them. Their tongues mingled in a loving duel, hands explored familiar places, but with new intensity. Kat lifted her hips to Nick and he drove himself inside of her. A moan of pleasure escaped them both and they joined in the rhythmic dance that would lead them to the place they desired, though they wished to delay their arrival for as long as possible, enjoying the pleasurable sensations of their bodies touching at all of their most sensitive points. They’d made love before, but this time it was done with the knowledge that their love for each other made it a spiritual experience. It touched their bodies, their hearts, their souls. Nick repositioned them so that he sat with Kat facing him, her arms entwined around his neck and with his hands firmly grasping her ass, she rode him. Their gazes met and held, each watching the pleasure they were giving to the other. They could see it in each others’ eyes. Their movements quickened as they each sought their release and when it came, Nick let loose a growl of pleasure, matched by Kat’s moans of ecstasy. When it was over, they sat as they were for some time, neither wanting to break the spell they’d woven. Nick didn’t wish to leave the warmth of her silky core, so he carefully laid her back on the bed and rested atop her. Kat for her part held tight, not wanting him to move from her. Their lovemaking had been perfect for their first night as a married couple. Nick was bursting with the love he felt for Kat. “I love you, my sweet.”
“And I love you, my trusted highlander.”
Nick smiled at that. She trusted him. Those simple words meant the world to him. To be trusted was a matter of honor. To be trusted by the one you loved was an honor. He would continue to hold her trust like the precious gift that it was.
* * *
The wedding feast continued below stairs. Aleck was dancing with Nick’s sister Isla. He enjoyed her saucy personality. She wasn’t all sweetness and light like her sister, Merry. She was a challenge and he had always prided himself on accepting any challenge that came his way. This lass would be no different. It was unfortunate he would be leaving in a day or two. It could be months before he saw her again, but if it was meant to be, then it would be. For now he was just enjoying her company.
“I believe I need a rest. Would ye care for something to drink,” Isla asked as she stepped back away from him.
“I would.” He followed her to a table filled with drink, enjoying the view of her swinging backside as she walked.
Isla handed him a cup of ale and took one for herself. “How long do ye plan on being with us?” she asked.
“Only for another day or two. I must return home to attend to business.”
“Yer a busy man are ye? I thought ye might want to stay to spend time with yer newly found sister.”
“Aye. I would like to get to know her better, but that time will come. I hope she’ll come to visit with yer brother some time soon. Ye could join them ye ken.”
“I could, but I dinnae believe I will. Ye see, I’m a busy woman myself. There is much that I must do here at my home.”
“Surely yer family could spare ye for a short while.”
“Nae. I dinnae believe they can. Thank ye fer the dance,” she said as she began to walk away.
Playing hard to get, Aleck thought to himself. “Lass, I dinnae believe I’ve done speaking with ye.”
“Ye have.”
He enjoyed her bluntness, though he could tell she played with him. “Very well then, I’ll find another to dance with me then.” Aleck turned and headed back to the others. He spied Merry standing by the far wall and made his way towards her. He never even glanced back to see where Isla was. Two could play that game. “Merry,
why do ye stand here all alone? Would ye care to dance?”
Merry, true to her nature, smiled sweetly at him. She was a lovely young lady, but unlike her sister, she didn’t pique his interest. “I’d love to, sir.”
Aleck swirled her onto the dance floor and past an angry-looking Isla. He smiled. She could pretend all she wanted that she cared not for him, but he knew differently. It was written all over her face. He made polite small talk with Merry and when the dance was done, he took it one step further. He felt a little badly about deceiving Merry with his true intentions. “Merry, would ye care to join me outside fer some fresh air.”
Merry appeared a little apprehensive as she glanced in Isla’s direction. “I thought perhaps ye’d be wanting to go fer a walk with my sister.”
“Yer sister has no desire to spend more time with me.” Aleck said as he gazed down into her sweet face. “’Tis just a walk, nothing more, I promise.”
“All right then.” Merry gently laid her hand on his arm and he guided her outside. From the corner of his eye he could see Isla stewing in her own juices. Perhaps she’ll learn a lesson from this, he thought as he placed his plaid around Merry’s shoulders and they disappeared from the room.
* * *
Isla couldn’t believe it. That man was a bastard. He’d spent the entire evening flirting with her and dancing with her and now he was wooing her sister out in the courtyard. The nerve of him. She practically stamped her foot she was so angry. Isla was used to getting whatever she wanted. She knew she was a bit rough around the edges, but it had always worked for her in the past. Aleck Sinclair had turned out to be the exception to that rule. She had turned him down and he simply walked away from her and to her baby sister. Merry was too trusting. She’d probably end up in a compromising position if Isla didn’t do something about it. She picked up her skirts and hurried towards the door. No need for a cape, her boiling blood would keep her warm. She hit the cold air with steam pouring from her nostrils like a dragon on a quest. Where were they? She scanned the courtyard and could see no one. She heard what sounded like her sister giggling like a wee lass over near the stables. She hurried in that direction, sure she’d find Aleck with his hands and mouth all over poor Merry.
