Grant tipped up her chin and smiled down at her.“We will love and protect our bairns.Prepare them to face any obstacle and nurture them with kith and kin.Those goddesses underestimate the stubbornness and strength of MacAlester blood.”
“I cannot believe I’m pregnant.”She flinched at her unrealistic whininess.Of course, she could be pregnant.It only takes one time of unprotected sex, and they’d been going at it like rabbits whenever they weren’t teetering on the brink of death.“I never thought about becoming a mother.I’m not so sure I’ll know how.”
“With every bairn and every mother being different, I’m not so sure anyone is an expert on wee ones.Some just have more experience than most.The women of the keep will help ye any way they can.As will I.”
“What do you know about babies?”She couldn’t wait to hear what an eighteenth century Highland smuggler laird had to say on that subject.
“When they cry, ye do yer best to figure out if they’re hungry, soiled, or just after a good cuddle.”He twitched a quick shrug.“I remember my mam with my brother.Whenever he cried, she patted his wee arse until he passed a good bit of wind to make his belly feel better.”
Grant had never spoken about a brother before.She almost hated to pry.“What happened to him?”
After a long look upward, as though seeking the right words from the heavens, Grant gave a sad shake of his head.“With so little to eat that winter and all of us weak from nothing more than a bit of parritch each day, he and Mam took ill.Da, the laird, did as well.The fever took them all ’cept for me.Henry’s family took me in.Lachie’s family shared what little they had, too.”He stared off into the distance, his jaw flexing.“I was their only hope for leading the clan someday, so they often went without to feed me first.”
Jessa swallowed hard and blinked fast, trying not to cry.“I am so sorry.”The tears overflowed.She couldn’t help it.He had been through so much.Suffered so much loss.
He drew her close again and held her.“It was a long time ago, lass,” he said quietly, “and they’re with me still.I carry everyone I have ever loved in my memories and my heart.”
“I’m afraid, Grant,” she whispered, trying to sort her churning mess of emotions into neat little boxes that she could label and store away for when she felt like dealing with them.
He tipped her face to his again.“What do ye fear, m’love?”
She stared up at him, despondent yet finding comfort in losing herself in his gaze.“Everything.Bringing babies into this cruel world.ThoseothersMairwen hinted at.Being a decent mother.I’m worried about every freaking thing under the sun, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.”
“There is where ye are wrong, my own.”
“What?”
“Ye can love me.Know that I will always do my damnedest to protect ye.Cherish every precious moment we are given in this life.Dinna let the dark ones steal yer joy, for when ye do, they also steal yer light.Nothing in this life is guaranteed, no matter the time in which ye live.If ye live yer life in fear, ye dinna live it at all.”
He was so right—and wise, but she wasn’t all that sure she should tell him.After all, he was pretty smug as it was.“If Mairwen and Morrigan are right about our pending parenthood?—”
He silenced her with a long, slow kiss, then lifted his head and smiled.“I pray they are right.Remember, I told ye we needed at least a dozen bairns?The keep is large.It will take a good-sized herd of children to fill it with laughter.If ye bring them in two at a time, the keep will fill even faster.”
“You are being ridiculous.”
“Nay, my dear one.I am a man wise enough to know when I am truly blessed, and I love ye more than life, more than I ever dreamed I could love anyone—and it scares the blazes out of me as much as it thrills me.”
“I love you.”Somehow, those three little words didn’t begin to describe all she felt for him.She reached up and touched his face, wondering how she had ever managed without him.“I guess we should catch up with the others.”
“Aye.”He lifted her back into the saddle and hoisted himself up behind her.“On to Seven Cairns.”
Chapter 18
As they drew closer to Seven Cairns, Jessa caught herself staring at it with her mouth ajar.Amazement and a healthy dose of eeriness shot through her.The eighteenth century Seven Cairns was identical to the one in the future.Well, almost identical.Rather than electric lights brightening the shop windows, oil lamps and candles burned.Instead of cars and trucks parked beside the sidewalks, horses, carts, and wagons waited.And the sidewalks weren’t poured concrete.Flagstones paved the ground, providing dry walkways for the villagers.But then again, maybe the walkways had been the same in the future.She couldn’t recall.The main road was the same.She remembered how she and Emily had admired the beauty of the cobblestone road even though all its bumps had made their little rental car vibrate like a windup toy.
Grant lifted her down from the saddle and gave her an encouraging smile.“I’ll be here with old Jock if ye need me.”
He understood she needed alone time with Emily.
“Thank you.”She squeezed his hand, then joined Emily in front of the pub.“It’s the same but not,” she told her.
“I know.It takes some adjustment.”Emily nodded at the doorway.“Same people too.Lilias and her brother are probably behind the bar waiting on customers right now.Only their apparel changes to fit whatever century they decide it is.It’s all one grand illusion.”
“How do the inhabitants of the village collectively decide which century it is?Not everyone who lives here is a Weaver.”Jessa weakly waved at Nonie, the bookshop owner she’d met in the future.The woman was dressed as a sedate, gray-haired eighteenth century shopkeeper, yet in the future, she’d been a pink-haired, middle-aged woman who loved dressing in flamboyant styles.This was all so confusing.
“You’ll have to ask Mairwen how they decide what year it is,” Emily said.“I’m not that far into my training.”
“Training?”
