My mother wrapped her arm around my shoulder and gestured to Callum as I looked over at him with teary eyes.
“Callum invited us. It’s been arranged for weeks now. He wanted to surprise you. He even picked us up at the airport this morning. He’s been telling us all about what his duties are as laird and the difference between this Cagair and the Cagair of his own time.”
“What?” At her mention of that, I was certain I was dreaming.
“They know, lass. Morna told them. She helped them…she helped them to understand…to accept it.”
I pulled away from my mother for just a moment so I could speak with Callum out of earshot. I grabbed his hands and led him a few steps away.
“Morna’s here?”
“Aye. She and Jerry arrived just after yer parents. She agreed to help me so that the knowing wouldna be so hard for them as it was for ye.”
I moved to kiss him. I didn’t know if I’d ever been so happy.
“Callum, this is wonderful. You can’t know what it means to me—to have them here, to have them know everything—it’s everything. I love you so much.”
He kissed my brow and held my face in his hands as he spoke.
“I love ye, too, lass. I’ve a few things I must attend to today. Please spend the day with yer family. I’ll meet ye for dinner.”
The mention of food reminded me of Adwen, and I guiltily bit my lower lip.
“Callum, you might want to go and check on your brother first. I sort of…well, I kicked him hard.”
Callum stepped away from me in surprise. “What did ye do that for?”
“He told me that Anne was having a party that I wasn’t invited to and that she’d hired a caterer to feed them. It pissed me off, and he wouldn’t let me through, so I took him out of commission to get by him.”
Callum ran his hand through his hair exasperatedly. “Ach, I knew he was the wrong person to send to distract ye, though he wasn’t lying about everything. I did have Anne hire a caterer for the week. I dinna want ye cooking while yer family was here. I wanted ye to be able to enjoy every moment with them.”
I huffed, feeling more and more guilty by the second.
“I guess I owe Adwen quite the apology.”
“Ye can do that later, lass. I’ll see to him now. Go and enjoy yer family. I’ll see ye at dinner.”
The food, much to my chagrin, was delicious and the company so wonderful that I didn’t think my heart could hold any more happiness. Callum moved everyone into the sitting room after dinner where he had a large fire going and furniture arranged so that we could all gather around it.
Conversation flowed easily amongst everyone—though I only vaguely listened to most of it. I was too distracted by my thoughts of Callum—by my overwhelming gratitude and disbelief of his thoughtfulness.
It was only when he spoke up for the first time during the conversation that I listened.
“Aiden, why doona ye tell us about the first moment ye knew ye loved Anne?”
It seemed an odd question for Callum to ask him, but I found myself curious as to the answer. I knew they were both crazy about one another, but as much time as I’d spent with Anne, her relationship with Aiden had never come up.
Aiden happily obliged him.
“We were at university together. She came here to study Gaelic, though in truth, I know she only came here to study Gaelic men. We were in three classes together our first semester, and I always made a point of sitting behind her so I could watch the light bounce off her golden hair. One day, about midway through the semester, she turned around and said…” He stopped and pointed to Anne so she would finish.
She smiled and snuggled in close to him as she did so.
“I turned to him and said, ‘My favorite flowers are lilies. I’ll have a vase and some water ready for them when you come and pick me up at eight.’”
Everyone laughed as he leaned in to kiss her.
“I knew then I would marry her.”
Callum pointed to Adwen and asked the same question. Even though he held a bag of frozen peas in his lap, he willfully answered.
“The moment Jane kissed Orick just to silence me, she owned my heart completely. I knew it because I’d never been so jealous in my life.”
“Orick, what about ye?”
Callum continued going down the line of couples. It became clear to me that he intended for each to share. Sap that I am, I loved every minute.
Orick reached up to brush his wife’s red hair from her shoulder, as he spoke only to her.
“I loved ye before I met ye. I saw ye in a window and knew then ye were the only lassie that would ever rule my heart.”
My own parents went next, and theirs was a story I already knew. Dad was touring Italy with his then girlfriend, though she left him for another man in Rome, and he continued his trip without her. When he returned to the States, he returned with my Mom.
Finally, it was Jerry and Morna’s turn. Theirs was the story I was most eager to hear.
Jerry reached for Morna, placing a hand upon her knee as he spoke. “I canna say for sure, for I’m fair certain she spelled me to love her against my will.”
Everyone laughed except Morna, and she hurried to set the record straight.
“Hogwash. It took ye the better part of a year to convince me to even look twice at ye. I can tell ye precisely when ye first fell in love with me. ’Twas the moment we first danced.”
Jerry pulled Morna’s hand up to his mouth to kiss it before speaking to Callum.
“And what about ye, lad? I believe ye are the only fellow left.”
I twisted so I could look at him as he spoke. I was quite curious to hear the answer myself. He faced me, smiled and then stood.
“I’ll tell ye, but first I must remove what has been poking me in my side all day.”
He bent to one knee just as I noticed the ring in his hand. My sudden intake of breath caused my lip to tremble as I watched him.
“Callum…”
He interrupted me before I could say anything else.
“No, lass. Let me speak, for ’tis my turn to say when I knew I loved ye. The answer is, I doona know. I canna think of one instance, one word, or one glance with which ye captured my heart. Ye dinna enter my life as a strike of lightning. Instead, ye are the gentlest of rains that slowly and surely brings the flowers to life.
“I liked ye, I cared for ye from the start, but the loving of ye, that has built slowly, day by day, hour by hour. I doona think I’m near finished. I’ll love ye more each day until I take my last breath, and if ye’ll have me, ’tis exactly what I intend to do.”
He held up the ring—its silver band encompassing a green stone so lovely and large I feared its weight on my finger—and asked the words that made tears spill from my eyes once more.
“Marry me, Sydney. Marry me, and I will never stop ye from being the lass ye wish to be whether it be in this time or my own. We can manage both. Will you?”
“Of course I will.” I kissed him between sobs of joy, and my hand shook terribly as he moved to place the ring on my finger.
If my months at Cagair taught me anything, it was how to live. I didn’t understand how little of that I was doing until I passed through Cagair’s doors and stairwells.
So many people, so many emotions, filled these halls the past months—fear, anger, sadness, grief—but there were also great moments of laughter, joy, and love.
As I melted into Callum’s arms, with so many of those I knew and loved gathered around celebrating his proposal, I knew that even though trouble, sadness, and grief were sure to come again—as long as there was love, there was life.
And in the end, everything would be okay as long as we stood at each other’s side.
EPILOGUE
Morna & Jerry’s Home
Morna crawled into bed next to her husband, and she didn’t think she’d ever been so happy to do so.
“Jerry, promise me that we doona have to leave this house at l
east until Christmas. This year has tired me to no end.”
Her husband’s laugh, old yet strong, tickled her neck as he snuggled in closer to her.
“’Tis fine by me, lass. Ye are the one always dragging me about so.”
“Hmm…” She started to drift, content to sleep with Jerry’s arms around her but woke again at the sound of his voice.
“Morna, might I ask ye something? Ye dinna really speak true at Cagair—when Callum asked when I knew I loved ye. Why?”
She pursed her lips, memories of the time so long ago flooding her mind.
“I dinna lie to them completely. We did dance often, did we not? What I told them was all they needed to hear for now. The rest can wait for another day.”
That day would come soon, she knew. The memories simply wouldn’t stay put any longer. It was time for her story—the real story—to be told.
Morna’s Legacy Series continues with:
Love Beyond Reach (Book 8)
Morna’s Story
Coming in 2016
Links to all the books in Morna’s Legacy Series:
Love Beyond Time (Book 1)
Love Beyond Time Audiobook - Audible
Love Beyond Reason (Book 2)
Love Beyond Reason Audiobook - Audible
A Conall Christmas (Book 2.5)
A Conall Christmas Audiobook - Audible
Love Beyond Hope (Book 3)
Love Beyond Measure (Book 4)
In Due Time – A Novella (Book 4.5)
Love Beyond Compare (Book 5)
Love Beyond Dreams (Book 6)
Love Beyond Belief (Book 7)
Morna’s Legacy Box Set #1
(Box Set contains Books 1, 2, 2.5 & 3)
Morna’s Legacy Box Set #2
(Box Set contains Books 4, 4.5, 5 & 6)
Thank you for reading!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bethany Claire is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the Scottish time travel romance novels in Morna’s Legacy Series.
Bethany’s love of storytelling has been a lifelong passion but, convinced it would serve her best to follow a “conventional” career path, she tucked that passion away and went off to college.
Fast forward four years and about six major changes later, she realized the stories simply were not going to stay tucked away. Months away from graduating with a degree in elementary education, she finally realized writing was the only career that would make her happy.
So one day in the middle of a summer education course, she got up in the middle of class and walked to the registrar’s office and withdrew from the university on the spot. Since then, she has devoted herself to writing full time and is following her dreams.
Read more about Bethany at www.bethanyclaire.com.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Some books are harder to write than others. The characters run amuck. The story changes direction. the words just don’t seem to flow as easily as they should. It’s always hard for me when that happens. I’m very Type-A. I like things to line up just so—exactly how I planned them. This book didn’t follow the pattern I laid out for it at all, and the changes that occurred because of it didn’t only mean extra work for myself, but extra time and pain for the team members that help make what I do possible.
Mom, Maegan, Dj, Karen, Elizabeth, and Marsha—for your patience, guidance, and late-night work, I thank you.
Love Beyond Belief (Book 7 of Morna’s Legacy Series) Page 20
