She gave him a reproachful look. “And you were so sure I would agree to be your wife?”
He grinned wickedly at her. “Lass, I told you, I wasn’t going to give you a choice.”
She pummeled him with her fist. “Rogue! It would have served you right had I refused!”
He captured her fist and held it against his chest. “But I am your husband now.”
“Aye, you are.”
“Do you trust me, Ella?”
She trailed her fingers down his back, and slid one leg up over his. “I do.”
He cupped her chin in his hand and raised her face to his. “And so will you tell me now, everything?”
“Do you still want to know? You have already won me, heart and soul. I won’t ever leave you.”
Ceann kissed her lips, pulling the bottom one gently between his teeth. “If you ever left me, I would hunt you down, to the ends of the earth if need be, to have you back.But now I want to know everything about you. Tell me.”
She nodded slowly. “I will tell you all that is mine to tell, anyhow.”How to begin, after waiting so long? “I grew up at Mandaine, a few days ride to the south.” She paused and looked at him. He was watching her intently, his hand absently stroking her hip. “My mother was a healer there, a priestess.” She felt his hand clench slightly where it rested on her body, but he waited for her to continue. “She diedwhen I was only three. The others took me in and raised me, and Esme especially was like a mother to me. I even called her Aunt. She taught me the healing arts.”
“You had no knowledge of your father?”
“No. No one knew who my father was, my mother never told. Esme always told me it was just meant to be, and I took her at her word. I never missed what I never had.” She turned and tucked her head into his arm, tracing small circles on his smooth chest with one finger. “My life there was good. I was happy. But I admit I always felt there was somewhere else I was meant to be. A few days before I first met you, I was told by the… leaders… that I was to go on a quest to Tulloch. They said it was very important, and warned me well to be careful and not fail. They said I was to find a great treasure there, but they wouldn’t tell me what to look for, only that I would know when I found it. Malcolm and Dougal left me on the trail right before you found me. I couldn’t believe my luck when you brought me straight to Tulloch, but then I realized it had all been part of the plan. I started looking for something that could be a treasure, but there was nothing of value to me, but you.” She raised her hand to touch his face, tenderly. Ceann remained silent, so she continued. “When I was told that it was you I sought and that I would giveyoua great treasure, I was so relieved. I never suspected, though, that I would give you a son.”
She stopped speaking because Ceann was kissing her again.
It was time. Ethan ran his hands through his wavy brown hair as he paced the study. It fell back loose on his shoulders in wild disarray. Ceann had the right to know everything he himself had so recently learned; Iona had confided it all to him right before Ella had come to Tulloch.But the telling was not going to be easy. How to reveal to Ceann that his past was never as he thought? That secrets had been kept and hidden, that… the door opened, and Ceann came into the room, closing it behind him with a firm thud.
“Ethan? What is it?”
“Sit down”, he said hesitantly. “There are things I’ve learned, things that you have a right to know about.”
Ceann sat in a chair by the hearth, and looked at his friend apprehensively. “What are you talking about?What things?”
Ethan took a deep breath. Best to say it all straight out.“It has to do with the past, and with who you really are. WhoIreally am. Artair, he loved your mother very much, so much that there was nothing he wouldn’t have done for her.”
“Aye, that he did. My father adored her. It nearly killed him, when she died.”Now, finally, he understood that kind of love.
Ethan nodded. “I remember. I’ve never seen such grief consume a man.” He looked up at Ceann, holding his eyes. “But Aisleen wanted a child. She desperately wanted a child, and she could not bear one of her own.”
He watched as Ceann’s brows drew together in confusion, but went on before he could speak. “So he sired a child for her, that she could love and raise as her own. He gave her her heart’s desire.”
Ceann leaned forward in the chair, resting his elbows on his knees, his face shrouded in disbelief. “What do you mean? How do you know this?”He’s telling the truth. I’ve always known it, somehow.God!
Ethan took the chair next to him. “Because we have the same mother, Ceann. We’re brothers in truth, in blood.”
Ceann let his head fall forward into his palms, dragging his hands through his hair. He looked up. Hair that was the exact same shade as Ethan’s.My brother.“Iona?” he asked weakly.
“Aye. She did it for them, for your mother. I think she could see, even then, that it was all part of a greater plan, a puzzle whose pieces needed to fit, and I’m certain there is still more than she has told me. I think that would have been the only way she could have given you up, for something bigger than all of us.”
“I want to speak to her.”
Ethan nodded. “I will bring her.”
“Now.”
“Alright.”Ethan stood up and walked to the door, pausing to look back at his brother. “Are you okay? I know what a shock it must be for you. It was for me too.”
