He said, “I want ye tae ken I love ye, and if somethin’ happens tae me?—”
My head shot up. “What — ?Oh.”
“Just listen, mo leannan. I hae some valuables in m’rooms at Glume. As m’wife they belong tae ye, they were passed down from m’mother when she passed.”
I watched his face as he spoke. “Your mother passed…?”
He nodded.
“I didn’t even know.”
He took my hands in his. “Tis alright, Alexandria, ye ken now, we are new tae each other. There is a lot we daena ken, tis why I am tellin’ ye. If something happens, go tae Glume and lay claim tae my things, and then ye will go see m’father, Laird Elphinstone. Ye will introduce yerself, I am sorry I am nae there, I looked forward tae doin’ it.” His fingers rubbed back and forth on my hand as he spoke, “He daena hae much, but the house and castle would go down tae ye, he daena hae any other heirs.”
I frowned and shook my head. “I don’t need anything, I…”
“He needs tae ken that I am gone, ye will need tae tell him.”
“This is all too much, it’s scaring me.”
He raised his brow and said, “Ye ken what I am goin’ tae say?”
“Yeah, I know. But now I really wish I had taken you to bed. I don’t like all this talk of — ‘this is what you should do if I’m gone.’ What if our last memory of each other is eating pizza?”
“The greatest food ever made!”
“Still…thatcan’t be the end. I don’t believe anything is going to happen to you, the world can’t be that cruel.”
“Ye ken it can be, mo leannan, of course it can.”
“Yeah.”
He said, “Besides that, the pizza wouldna be the last memory taegether, twould be this, here — ye in my arms, my lips here.” He kissed my forehead and so I held him even closer.
“Okay, that’s good.”
He said, “And we wouldna forget our wedding night.”
“Basically yesterday.” I sighed. “It was awesome.” I kissed him. “But this is just a conversation, a just-in-case, we will be together tomorrow, and all the days after.”
He didn’t say anything. He kissed me and then I stepped away from his embrace. He stood and we went to the table to eat the meal placed out for us.
After the meal,Max said, “Alexandria, may I speak tae ye?”
We went to the corner for privacy.
He said, “I wanted ye tae ken Aunt Claray will remain here with ye. They considered sending ye tae the safe house with the bairns, but I took the liberty of speaking for ye, I told them ye would want tae remain here. There will be a full guard. I hae been assured that ye will be safe.”
“Okay, thank you for looking out for me.” I reached in my pocket and pulled out the carved lamb. “Did you give this to me?”
He picked it up from my palm. “Aye,” he frowned, “ye still hae it?”
I nodded.
He looked really sad. “I carved it for ye when ye were three. I gave it tae ye right before ye disappeared.”
“Carved from the Rowan tree.”
“How do ye remember?”
