“Ye are certain we’re alone now?” Graham waited, sword still lifted, ready to cut down anyone who threatened them.
Her own tension eased a bit and she relaxed enough to exhale. A part of her on a very primal level warmed at being protected. She had no doubt; he would keep her safe or die in the trying. “I promise they’re gone. It’s okay. Let’s go.”
“Hmph.” Graham jammed his sword back in the sheath, scowled one last searching glance around, then looked past her to Angus. “Take to the high ground whilst we descend to the sea. Find them. Ye ken what to do.”
“Aye.” Angus jerked his head down in a single nod. “I ken it well. Take Mistress Eliza to the sea. There will be none threatening ye on my watch, I grant ye that.” He sheathed his sword, then carefully worked his way back around them. Before continuing up the hillside, he tossed a smile and a wink back over his shoulder. “I’d rather be hunting a goat-swiving knave than traipsing around with a pair of lovers any day. I leave ye to yer honorable task, Mistress Lilia, and I’ll not return until I’m certain ye both are safe, I swear to ye.”
“Thank you, Angus.” Lilia’s heart warmed. He might be a crude and clumsy pain in the ass, but Angus was a true friend. “Be careful. I don’t want you hurt either.”
He waved away her words. Scratching his ass as he trudged back up the trail.
Lilia and Graham plodded along in companionable silence for what seemed like hours, thankfully, with no recurrence of the upsetting emotions she had sensed earlier. They briefly paused during their descent for Graham to hack off a pair of stray saplings growing alongside the path. He quickly fashioned them into walking sticks for himself and Lilia. At first, she’d argued, thinking she didn’t need it, but then she’d grudgingly realized that walking down the steep incline was much easier with the staff to help steady her balance.
“It would not hurt ye to admit when I’m right, ye ken?” Graham swatted her rump with an affectionate smack as they reached a level shelf of rock wide enough to sit upon and take a rest.
“Don’t hold your breath.” She wagged a finger in his face, then twisted open the straw to the water bottle swinging at her waist. “It is a wise man who knows when to celebrate his victories in silence.”
He snorted out a laugh and leaned back against the sheer rock cliff at their backs. His face grew serious as his meandering gaze settled on the squawking terns, following their slow graceful circles across the cloudless sky. The birds dropped, one by one, in targeted dives into the sparkling waves, then burst back up through the surface with their glistening lunch wiggling in their beaks. He reached over and gently squeezed her knee. “Ye never said. Shall we be returning to the future tonight? Or will we be staying here ’til the morrow?”
She shrugged. “I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. I guess it doesn’t matter. Angus probably wouldn’t care either way. He seemed excited to go off exploring on his own. What would you like to do?”
If Graham wanted to stay another day or so, other than the fact they might run a little skimpy on supplies, it really wouldn’t be a problem. All she’d been concerned about when they’d finally agreed on this plan was following Eliza’s last wishes.
Hunger burned in Graham’s gaze as he slowly trailed a finger down her arm. “If ye wouldna be against the thought, I’d rather we stayed on here a wee bit. Just another day or so, mind ye. We’d be alone—and uninterrupted. If Angus fails to find whoever ye sensed, the man will find something else to hunt or fashion a spear for fishing, ye can be sure of that. He’ll not be a bother to us.”
Then his gaze dropped and his brow knotted into a frustrated scowl. Graham pulled his hand away, his mouth twitching into a deeper frown beneath his mustache. “Forgive me,mo nighean bhan.Ye must surely think me a selfish man to hunger for ye whilst yer grieving.”
Lilia snuggled beside him on the ledge and leaned her head against the hard muscles of his shoulder. “It’s okay.”
And it was. Since they’d met, they’d never really been alone—not really. There had always been either friends, phone calls, text messages, or the weight of Eliza’s impending passing right there with them. She understood completely what he felt and not just because she was an empath. There was a serene isolation to this place—as though the world had paused in its spinning and told them,Tarry awhile. Learn of one another. Breathe.
“I only wish . . . ” Graham stopped and blew out a heavy breath. He fisted a hand against his chest. “Ye fill my heart, love. My soul is at last sated and I burn with the wanting of ye.” He shook his head. “I canna help myself,mo nighean bhan.I was put here to be with ye. I canna imagine life without ye.”
A contented smile warmed through her. She looped her arm through his and hugged him closer. “I love you too.”
The sun rose high overhead, nearly at its zenith. They were close enough to the glistening sea, to hear the waves alternately crashing, then shushing against the rocks of the shore below. Lilia shifted sideways and stood. “We need to go now. We’re almost there.”
She felt the pull of Eliza’s place calling—the large outcropping of stone Eliza had described so many times that Lilia felt as though she’d sat there with her, staring out across the water. Even with the cancer tormenting her with excruciating pain, when Eliza had spoken of where she had often played as a young girl, her face had lost the deeply etched lines of suffering and illness. She’d smiled as she’d gazed off into space, her weary eyes shining with the memories of her youth.
As they descended the last bit of the incline, Lilia pointed a bit farther down the shoreline. “There. That is Eliza’s place.”
Graham nodded as he rested his hands on top of his rough staff. He leaned forward and propped his chin on his hands. “Aye. ’Tis a fine place. I feel the peace of it myself.”
Climbing carefully across the wet boulders, slippery and treacherous with the wearing of the sea and the leavings of seaweed and foam, Lilia wedged her walking stick between her back and the handles of her backpack then stretched with hands, knees, and feet to scale the stair-step layers and wrinkles of Eliza’s rock. When she finally stood upon the dry, sun-bleached summit of the flat-topped boulder, the refreshing wind and salt spray greeted her as though they’d been awaiting her arrival.
Love. Gratitude. Joy.The powerful emotions embraced her, lifted her up, and filled her heart with the certainty that all was as it should be. Eliza was well now—and happy. And Eliza would never really be gone.
“She’s here.” Tears welled up, then overflowed and streamed down her face. Lilia closed her eyes and allowed the gentle breeze to kiss them away. “She’s here,” she whispered again as she held her arms open wide, her hands lifted to the warm caress of the sun.
Graham gently pulled her backpack off her shoulders, set it at their feet, and steadied her back against his chest, his arms loosely wrapped around her waist. “Aye, love.” He shifted against her with a deep intake of breath then a satisfied sigh. “Her spirit smiles here.”
It was time. With trembling fingers, Lilia opened the canvas bag at her waist and carefully worked free the wooden box. The rich honey sheen of the oak grain shimmered like gold in the sunlight. How proper and fitting because Eliza’s heart had been pure gold.
Crouching, Lilia slowly opened the lid, carefully emptied the sealed bag of ashes inside the box, then turned it to face the sea. The sound of the waves suddenly seemed livelier as a gusting breeze encircled them, dipped down into the opened box, and drew out the ashes into a dancing ribbon of silvery gray out across the water.
The sea birds’ cries and the crashing waves sounded like peals of laughter as the wind whipped around them one last time, blew the tiny vessel clean, then slammed the lid shut. Then all stilled. The sea grew silent and the sound of the birds disappeared.
A faint kiss brushed Lilia’s cheek and a feather-light touch rippled across her hair. Eliza’s softly chortling whisper tickled her ear.I love ye as me own, dearie.The wind picked up along with the rippling waves lapping against the rock.And I’ll be watching over ye—ken it with all yer heart.Then the sound of Eliza’s faint laughter floated out across the sea.
