She’s tiny, shorter than me, with a lean body and silver hair in a perfectly sculpted French twist and the jade-colored eyes I’d seen on multiple MacTavish men. She’s eyeing me in a way that makes me think she’s already burrowed deep into my brain and rearranged my ganglia into a pattern more pleasing to her.
“Grandmother, Grandfather, this is my bonnie bride Arabella Blair MacTavish. Bella, this is Cormac MacTavish Senior and The Lady Elspeth MacTavish, my grandparents.”
It is clear that my enormous spouse, the man who has killed six men just for me and likely dozens more, is terrified of his grandma. If I wasn’t so paralyzed by fear right now, I would be finding that adorable.
“It’s an honor to meet the couple who created this beautiful and very large family.” I try to gather up any scrap of composure left to me and pray my hand isn’t sweating like a beer bottle on a hot day as I shake their hands.
“Delighted, of course.” The Lady Elspeth is facing me directly, as is her husband. She dinnae lean closer, but her words are perfectly and precisely shaped.
Cormac Senior is warmer, and he gives me a conspiratorial wink. “I understand ye have already been of great assistance with a rather persistent itch in my sons’ backside, aye?”
“Language!” The Lady Elspeth is scandalized.
“Miss Blair! Miss Blair Miss Blaaaaiiir!”
I can hearthosesqueals, even above the rest of the crowd. The first wee arms wrap around my waist; it’s my student Lina. The rest of my wonderful kids surround me, all scrubbed up in their best with a harried-looking Headmaster Scott behind them.
You’re here! All of ye? How?I sign, laughing as I hug them all.
“It’s a grand, noisy symphony,” Logan says, shaking the Headmaster’s hand. “We thought your bairns should be our guests of honor.” He insists on being introduced to all twenty of my students, and I sign and speak as I introduce each one.
And this is Roger,I sign proudly,he’s always helping me with the younger students and he’s picking up lip-reading so quickly! He’s wanwitty, this one.Roger grins up at Logan as my husband gravely shakes his hand and I’m thinking I’ve witnessed the beginning of some hero-worship.
I’m close to tears when I realize that Logan’s grandparents have stayed to meet all my students as well. My littles dinnae seem as scared of The Lady Elspeth as I am. “We understand that the Wallace School for Exceptional Children could accommodate a larger student body with some additional funding?” She’s speaking to an overwhelmed Headmaster Scott and he nods so quickly that I’m thinking his head’s about to fly off. “I’ll have my secretary message you for a meeting, then.”
“That would be lovely, Mrs. MacTavish!” The poor man looks like he’s not sure whether to bow or kiss her hand, but he settles for backing away and nodding some more.
The lobby lights dim discreetly and I give all my kids one last squeeze before they troop gleefully to the very front row in the auditorium, just behind the orchestra pit.
There’s a quick moment before Logan escorts me into his family box and I grab him by the lapels, kissing him fiercely. “Thank ye. I just- I dinnae know what to say! What you’ve done here, I…”
“No crying now,” he says, cupping my face in his big, calloused hands. “I have a sister. I know mucking up your night face with the extra bits of mascara and such is a serious thing.” Pulling out his pocket square, he carefully dabs at my tears. “The most entertaining part of this evening is gonna be watching your students soak it all in.”
Seanmhair agus Seanair - Scottish Gaelic for Grandmother and Grandfather
Wanwitty - Scottish slang for extremely smart or clever.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
In which Logan’s past as a Fuckboy comes back to haunt him.
Logan…
I was telling Bella the truth, watching her students gleefully bask in the music is the highlight of the night for me. Unfortunately, it is the only highlight because my past catches up with me by intermission.
“Darling! Where have youbeen!”
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. It had to be Sheena.
Her arms wrap around my neck like an anaconda as she attempts to kiss me. I’d always liked the fact that she was nearly as tall as I was in her heels, it made quickies in random places easier. But with her mouth chasing mine, I’m regretting the first time I accepted her invitation when she pulled off her knickers in a shadowy corner of my Uncle’s Lachlan’s sex club. She’s wearing a vivid crimson dress that matches her hair, and it looks like it’s being held together by a wee bit of thread and a lot of audacity.
“Sheena. How are ye?” I turn my head as her lips graze red lipstick across my cheek, gently wedging my elbow between us. “Have ye met my beautiful wife?”
My beautiful wife had been talking with my sister Kenna and Ethan’s wife Sloan, but now all three of them are watching this awkward fecking encounter with the woman I know my sister calls ‘Satan in Louboutins.’
“Silly!” Sheena slaps my shoulder.“Wife?A man like ye never settles when there’s so much variety! In fact…” I grasp her wrist as she tries to slide her hand up my chest, “I’d love to leave this colossal bore and go have a drink somewhere.”
My glance darts to Sloan and Kenna, but neither seems interested in helping me out.
