“This is home.”
“Will ye ever forgive me, lass?”
He appeared so vulnerable and old and weary and frail. She wondered how much time she had left with him. Not much. A few years, maybe. Was she willing to waste it on old grudges and even older feuds? That would make her too much like MacGregor.
“I don’t want this rift between us anymore,” he said.
“I don’t, either.” She put her arms around his waist in a hug.
For a moment he didn’t seem to know what to do, but then he hugged her back. As she had thought, he wasn’t nearly as meaty and muscular as he’d been even eight years ago. She squeezed her eyes shut, regretting the time they’d wasted on ridiculous anger.
She pulled away to see that his eyes were wet. He quickly wiped them and sniffed, looking at everything but her.
She said, “I appreciate yer offer of a place to live. This is my home, and I like it here, but I will come visit.”
He brightened at that. “Truly?”
She smiled. “Truly, Grandfather.”
“Grandfather? Cait?”
They both looked at the house to find Rory coming around the corner.
“There ye are,” he said with his lopsided smile as he loped toward them.
“Come inside,” Cait said, giving up on some quiet time alone.
—
They had a nice afternoon. She and Rory did most of the talking, reminiscing, and catching up on old acquaintances and even older gossip. Their grandfather tended to sit back and watch, but he appeared pleased, and she was happy with that. It felt good to mend that rift, to not carry around the anger and guilt that had been plaguing her for so long.
As nighttime descended, Rory and Graham prepared to leave.
“Are ye sure about stayin’ here, lass? Ye can come with Rory and me, ye know.”
“I know.” She looked around her cottage. “But I need to do this.”
Graham shook his head and muttered, “Foolish,” to no one in particular.
“I can stay with ye,” Rory said. “I can sleep on the floor or in the barn.”
Cait smiled at her cousin, delighted that he was back in her life. He was the closest person she had to a sibling. She patted his arm. “Thank ye, Rory, but I’ll be fine.” Rory appeared skeptical but kept silent and rode off with Grandfather Graham.
As soon as she was alone, exhaustion claimed her. She locked everything because Iain had made her promise that she would, and tried not to think about how silent her house was and how cold her bed would be. Her thoughts strayed to how warm Iain would be lying next to her, and how she really wanted to curl up next to him.
She happened to glance at the front door to find Black Cat sitting in front of it. She knew what that meant. Someone was coming. She wasn’t even nervous or frightened; she knew it would be Iain, coming to check on her.
She opened the door and watched him dismount. “No harm has come to me.”
He looked her up and down critically. “I can see that.”
She stepped outside to take the reins of his mount and lead it around the side of the house while Iain followed.
“No sign of Donaldson,” she said, then hesitated before saying the next. “Graham came by.”
“Did he? And what did that daft bugger have to say?”
“He heard about Donaldson and…um…us.”
