Chapter Twenty-Nine

"'T is truly a gracious offer," Keenan said later that evening as everyone enjoyed a dram of whisky in front of the fire. He shook Phillip's hand. "'Tis more than expected."

"'Tis the least I can do for a clan who has done so very much for my family." His sentimental gaze went to his wife and daughters. "If not for you MacLauchlins, I dread to think where they would be now." He nodded at Keenan, Malcolm, and Teagan. "You have my undying gratitude."

They nodded in return, and Keenan raised a mug in toast. "Here's to new friends and alliances."

Phillip raised his as well. "Indeed!"

Everyone raised theirs in turn, celebrating a bright new beginning. How could they not when Phillip was giving the MacLauchlins not just Greer's substantial dowry, but an alliance with a noble English family and, most of all, the gem that tied them to King Edward III himself. It put them in a unique position and, if need be, would see their clan protected.

While Phillip made it clear they could use the gem for whatever they liked, Teagan knew Keenan would hold on to it for him. That it was, in its way, a means to protect Greer if anything went awry. As it were, her dowry alone brought substantial wealth to their clan.

Wealth that he would trade in a heartbeat to keep her in his arms and safe. Protected and cherished. Free to think and say what she would.

"How did yer conversation with Isabella go?" he murmured in Greer's ear, glad to have her on his lap, in his arms. "Is she all right?"

Greer had sat down with Isabella earlier and spoken of her sister's passing when she caught an illness a few years back. How peaceful it had been in the end. How much she loved Isabella.

"She's all right," Greer confirmed. "Though 'twas hard, I think it gave her closure."

"Aye." He squeezed her hand. "No doubt it did."

While mayhap a bit subdued, Isabella seemed at peace on Malcolm's lap, her hand resting over his on her swollen belly. He nuzzled her neck often, his love for her so recognizable to Teagan now, he couldn't imagine how he'd ever wondered at it. His gaze went to Keenan and Fionna, who barely took their eyes off each other, then to Greer's parents, who did the same.

Love was all around him.

Right next to him.

He brushed his lips across Greer's temple, remembering the eve before. How sweet it had been making love to her. How much he longed to do it time and time again until her belly swelled. Then plenty more as the years went on.

" Très bien alors les petits ," Fulbert exclaimed, shooing Duncan and Besse along. He had come here with Isabella from France and loved cooking almost as much as her. "All right, little ones, let's go get what we made." He cocked a brow at Julianna and Dougal in passing. "Come along then. You are never too old for this."

Greer eyed Keenan and Fionna's son and Julianna as they followed. "Is it me, or are they walking a tad bit close?"

"Shh, dinnae get yer mother started." He chuckled. "She's convinced love blossoms betwixt the two and considers Julianna too young."

"I imagine she does," Greer replied softly. "Though, in truth, she's almost marrying age."

"Aye," he agreed. "But trust me, ye'd do well not to say such in front of yer good ma."

"Point taken." Her gaze drifted to Ada and Edmund, who had danced a turn or two earlier but sat apart now, eyeing one another. "I would say young love is not all that blossoms."

"Nay." He chuckled. "They eye one another like predator and prey, do they not?"

"They do." She met his chuckle. "Yet one has to wonder, who is the prey and who the predator?"

"'Tis, without doubt, a game of cat and mouse."

She grinned at him. "You mean cats and dogs."

He met her grin. "We are never going to let them forget that, are we?"

Her brows arched. "Now, what fun would there be in that?"

"None at all."

He was about to say more when Fulbert and the young ones returned with pastries to celebrate not just Teagan and Greer's matrimony but a bright new future for the MacLauchlins.

"I will miss them when they are gone," Greer murmured. She enjoyed the delicacy and watched her parents. "I wish they could stay on longer."

Her parents would be staying a few days, then heading back to England while Julianna stayed on for now.

"They willnae be gone permanently, lass," he reminded. "They need to get things established at yer estate and groom Alfred to take over. Until then, 'tis important they oversee things and make what they expect clear."

"I know," she said softly. "I will still miss them, though."

"Aye, but ye will have all of us to keep ye company until their return." He smiled and dusted frosting off her nose, chuckling as Aunt Mórag call out to Ada that it was time. "And 'tis bound to be verra entertaining around here."

"Aye, I'm coming," Ada called back, finishing off her pastry. She told her children to keep an eye on Edmund the Scoundrel, and to be good, then she was off.

"Better hurry up," Mórag muttered. "The spirits willnae wait all moonrise."

"What is it they are doing again?" Greer shook her head as Edmund admired Ada's backside. "Walking to the ocean?"

"Aye." Teagan smiled softly as his aunt and Ada vanished outside. "It seems with ours being the final marriage that brings good fortune to the MacLauchlins, Aunt Mórag's ready to go to the sea. There she will wish the husband and son she lost to the illness a safe journey into the afterlife."

"That's nice," Greer murmured. "And Ada will help her do that?"

"So, she says." He nodded at Colmac and Rona across the way. "Either way, it does all of us, especially her eldest son and daughter-in-law, good to see her out and about again. Free from the binds that held her."

"I get that." Greer polished off her pastry and leaned back against him. "So very much."

"Aye." He rested his cheek against her temple, knowing she'd faced her demons every bit as much as he had his. "For we are free now, too, are we not?"

"We are," she whispered. "So very free."

While they would always carry a bit of their past with them, it was no longer all-consuming. No longer took them away from the here and now.

"And what of your good friend Edmund?" Greer winked. "Or should I say, half-brother?" He had one of Ada's bairns on each knee, all three of them covered in pastry droppings. "Do you think his grand adventure will end here?"

"Nay, I think 'twill begin here." He smiled and toasted Edmund when he looked his way. "I think yer wee Scottish friend already has him cast beneath her spell."

"You realize that could very well be a real spell?"

"Aye, but then I guarantee 'twould be just the sort of way my brother-in-arms would want to fall in love," he responded. "Like I said, the perfect beginning to his grand new adventure."

She was about to respond when a commotion came at the door.

"Och, 'tis good to be home!" his sister Nessa declared, entering with her new husband, Tavish. "Hello, brothers!"

Unbeknownst to all, Nessa and Fionna's first-in-command had been carrying on a secret affair for years. One that finally came to light when Fionna and Keenan came together, their clans no longer enemies.

Though Nessa had been home a few times since she and Tavish married, she spent more time at the Taylor holding. Introductions were made, and as expected, the celebration resumed as the MacLauchlin clan finally came back together. The pipes sprang to life, and dancing began anew.

Teagan couldn't remember the last time he laughed so much nor spent so much time in the present. But he did and always would with Greer.

Eventually, he pulled her close, eager to be alone with her again. "Are ye ready to—"

"I thought you would never ask," she replied before he could finish. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes dewy with desire. "Yes, husband, I am very much ready to."

So they did, day after day, only falling more deeply in love if that were possible.

Though he had fulfilled his pact with his brothers, in the end, he'd found so much more than he could have hoped for. Not just the wealth his clan needed, but the cure to his broken heart. Greer had saved him from the dark corners of his mind, the brutality of mankind, and his own guilty conscience.

More than that, she had shown him the light again.

She had, in every sense of the word, been his redemption and the start to a wonderful new life.