Epilogue

EPILOGUE

TEN YEARS LATER

R obert leaned down and picked up a handful of dirt. Holding it out, he tossed it on the coffin and then supported Anice as she did the same. In her eighth month, she was ungainly on her feet and the slope made her steps even more precarious. Robert nodded and the boys followed their example. Craig led his almost-five-year-old brother to the end of the grave so that the dirt would land where it should.

Struan MacKendimen, earl of Dunnedin, was laid to rest on a clear and sunny August morn after a short illness. His grave was dug next to his wife and his other son within the family plot on the hillside near the castle.

After a few others had tossed dirt in, the workers took shovels to finish the burial. Although Anice looked tired, she stayed by Robert's side until it was done. Then, with his arm to help her, she walked down the hill with him and back towards the keep. The boys ran ahead of them, already planning their next activity for the day, as children did.

"I am just glad that you made your peace with him, Robert. I am certain it made his passing easier."

"I did it for ye, wife."

"Nay, Robert. You did it because you are a good man."

"A good man, ye say?"

"Aye. Of course, that's what Robena called you all those years ago."

"What else did she say about me?" he asked, already knowing the answer. His friend had become his wife's friend as well and he knew what Robena had told his wife those many years before.

"A good man, but more than a bit daft."

He laughed with her and then scooped her into his arms rather than letting her walk all the way back to the keep in her condition. As he carried his wife, the new countess of Dunnedin, into her home to prepare for the coming of their child, he reflected on how his life had been changed so much for the better by a love that had been once forbidden between them.