“Ye’re back. Did ye come out here to swing on the rope?”
“Nay. We’re waiting for our turn with the bathtub,” Saoirse answered.
“Turn? Nae turns?”
Bluidy hell.
From their matching expressions, Magnus and Saoirse knew they thought the same thing.
“Our turn to have it in our chamber,” Magnus explained.
“Why dinna ye go to the loch like the others, Uncle Magnus? Then Auntie Sersie could have her turn sooner.”
“Yer auntie will always have a turn before me, Henry. Ye dinna put yerself first and ahead of others. We may be the laird’s family, but we must always think of others before we think of ourselves, and for the men, that includes putting the ladies in our family first.”
“I’m sorry, Auntie Sersie.”
“It’s all right. Ye’re still learning. Yer Uncle Magnus is right. As the laird’s family, especially for ye as his heir, we must always consider what is best for our clan before we do as we wish. It’s our duty and our privilege to provide for those who depend upon us.”
“Yes, Auntie.”
“Do ye want to play on the rope?” Magnus sounded hopeful, making Saoirse smother her smile. She knew the boy’s answer before he said.
“Aye! I canna wait to see how high ye push me this time.”
Magnus’s eyes widened as he glanced at Saoirse in horror. He thought the child would take himself off to play. She laughed and walked to the orchard, knowing her husband and nephew were close behind. The couple spent the next hour playing with Henry, and they both daydreamed about when they would play with their own child. By the time Caroline came to tell them their bath was ready, they were practically tearing the clothes from one another as they raced up the stairs. They remained secluded in their chamber until the next morning when everyone departed for Dunbeath, except the Rosses. Monty and Donan decided to make a detour and travel south to visit Laurel and her Campbell family.
As they approached Dunbeath after days on the road, Saoirse recognized two heads of white-blonde hair standing on the battlements. Brighde stood with Isabella as they awaited their family’s return. Near them, she spied Deirdre’s honey-colored spiral curls, Siùsan’s strawberry-blonde waves, and Ceit’s coppery-brown locks. Near Deirdre was a head of deep brown, almost black hair, and Saoirse realized it was Cerys. All the women awaited their husbands’ arrival. She shifted her attention to Liam and watched her grandfather. She wondered if it saddened him to know he was not returning to a wife. Her grandmother had been dead nearly thirty years, but she knew Liam remembered her as though she were still at his side.
She maneuvered her horse next to grandfather’s as the others raced forward, eager to return home and reunite with their family. Magnus’s brow furrowed, but he let the others pass them too, until he realized what Saoirse was doing. When she came alongside Liam, she heard him whispering.
“We’re home,mo ghràidh. We’re all here where we belong. Ye watched over us as I kenned ye would. Ma angel among the stars. Thank ye, Kyla. I couldnae have borne this without ye. I love ye, little one.”
Saoirse regretted her intrusion, and it embarrassed her that she overheard such a private moment. But Liam reached out his hand to her and squeezed when she put hers in his.
“Ye are so much like yer grandmama. She had the silent strength ye do. She had the kindest heart and enjoyed healing others. But she was a formidable woman once she came into her own. I see all of that in ye. I’m so proud of ye,leannan.”
“Do ye really think Grandmama is watching over us?”
“Without a doubt. She’s been beside me since the day we met. Even if we canna see her, and I canna hold her anymore, she’s guided this clan and protected us all. She’s our angel.” Liam glanced heavenward and smiled. He swallowed several times before he looked at Saoirse. She looked nothing like Kyla, instead a replica of her mother, except for her eyes. But she was Kyla’s kindred spirit. He saw a bit of Kyla in every member of his family, especially Mairghread, who looked so much like her. It was these qualities that reminded him that his beloved was never far from them.
Saoirse thought it was a lovely sentiment as she turned to look at Magnus. He nodded and smiled. He’d heard the stories about Kyla while he’d fostered with the Sinclairs. He felt like he knew the woman even though she’d died years before he arrived.
“Saoirse!” Brighde flew down the stairs and into the bailey as the last three riders entered. Alex was behind her, having taken the steps two and three at a time, nearly knocking Tavish down them in his hurry to reach Brighde. All four of the brothers had raced to greet their wives, Blake appearing to straggle behind the older men as he tried to keep up with his father and uncles. Ric knew better and had run to a different set of steps that no one else used. He raced along the wall walk and reached Isabella the same time as the brothers did their wives after jostling and elbowing their way up.
Saoirse swung down from her horse and landed in her mother’s arms. They clung to each other as more people filled the bailey. It was a time of joyous welcomes, mothers and daughters hugging their fathers, husbands, and brothers. Nessa and Mirren soon joined them, and Saoirse breathed easier. But as she pulled away and spotted Seamus, Caroline, and their children standing with Liam and Hamish, she remembered Dunbeath wasn’t her home anymore.
“It’ll always be here whenever ye wish to visit.” Magnus whispered from behind her, having read the flash of sadness when she looked around. She nodded as she took his hand and walked inside.
The celebration continued for a fortnight. Amelia, Arabella, Gavin, and Alasdair arrived three days after they returned. A contingent of Sutherland guards rode to Dunrobin and brought them back. Maude, Hamish and Amelia’s older daughter, arrived with her husband, Kieran, and their children Amy, Graham, and Mairi. Along their way from the Isle of Lewis, Mairghread and Wee Liam’s wife, Elene, joined them. Blair, Hamish and Amelia’s younger daughter, arrived with her husband, Hardi. Their children, Tira, Dougal, and Finnian, rode between their parents.
Saoirse had grown worried that Magnus would feel left out with only Seamus and Siùsan as his blood relatives. It relieved her to see the MacLeods of Assynt arrive with their distant relatives the MacLeods of Lewis. While Magnus and Seamus were still estranged from their mother and Gunn relatives, Catriona MacLeod of Assynt was their mother’s cousin. She’d done much over the years to help repair the rift between the MacLeods and the Mackenzies. It wasn’t a close relationship, except at family gatherings. Catriona and Torrian arrived with their sons Michail, Adan, and Edward, and their wives and children. Michail was married to Isabella’s sister Blythe. It was as much an excuse for the sisters to visit as it was to celebrate Magnus and Saoirse’s wedding. No one invited anyone from the Gunns, and they knew none would have shown up if they had.
Ten days into the fortnight long celebration that included the warriors’ return and the families arriving, Saoirse and Magnus stood at the steps of Dunbeath’s kirk. Sunset cast soft light on Saoirse’s hair, making it glow like a halo. With Magnus’s Mackenzie plaid wrapped around their wrists, they recited their official vows, binding them in the holy sacrament. The happy couple had eyes only for each other. Neither had a memory of the wedding Mass, only recalling exchanging their vows before their loved ones and the Clan Sinclair. They were fulfilling a legacy that Liam and Kyla began on those steps more than forty years earlier. It had only gotten stronger as each of the five Sinclair siblings married and built their families, following in their parents' footsteps of unconditional love and loyalty. Now the younger generation was taking up the mantle. While the sun grew weaker as they celebrated with a feast in the Great Hall, the brilliance of the clans’ devotion to each other grew stronger.
EPILOGUE
“Could ye stop? I shall fall in.” Magnus chuckled as Saoirse yanked his belt from his waist as they stood on the narrow ledge within the sea cave. They’d escaped the crowded keep as another of Liam’s great-grandchildren prepared to marry the next day. They’d come with their family, just as they had for so many holidays and family events over the past thirty years.
