More goodbyes and promises were made, and then Ivor set Aibreann into motion. Soon, they were on their way, traveling further and further until the castle was nothing but a dark spot in the distance.
They rode all day and all night, Callum sleeping tight in the buggy, but Ivor and Eithne were awake and bright, commenting on the scenery the whole time. They were making good time, and Ivor thought they might make it to Glasgow within just a few days.
“Callum’s so excited about this,” Eithne said. “But what did ye mean when ye said about coming back North? Have ye got another place in mind?”
He did, but he didn’t want to tell her yet. Ivor knew it was a little cowardly, but he wanted to be entirely sure that he was capable of making the final step before he committed to it.
Eithne waited a moment, but when he didn’t elaborate, she didn’t press any further. “We should stop soon,” she said instead. “Find an inn and get some sleep, both of us.”
Ivor nodded. “Are ye sure ye’re not being pursued by any bandits this time?” he teased her. “I’d really like to be able to stay for breakfast if I pay for it.”
Eithne chuckled. “Are ye a mercenary or not?” she asked him, only mockingly serious. “What’s a few sword wounds between friends?”
“Well, I dinnae ken about ye,” Ivor said, “But all I’m thinking about is a soft pillow, a nice fire, and a good night of sleep.”
* * *
In the end, they stayed in Glasgow for three months. Callum loved it there, and they had to promise him several times that they’d visit again, but Eithne’s heart longed for the wilder scenery of the Highlands. She had enjoyed very much staying in Clan MacDonnell, and although she couldn’t return there yet, something was calling her North.
When she told Ivor, he looked at her in genuine surprise. “Well,” he said. “It’s a good thing that ye would say that because I have an idea.”
“Tell me,” Eithne replied, her curiosity far from hidden. “Where did ye want to go?”
“We can visit Jonah and Myrna on the way back,” Ivor said, “But…I want to go to me clan. The one where I was raised. I havenae been back since me parents died, and I think it is finally time I faced it.
Eithne paused, then put her arms around him in a tight hug. “Are ye sure ye’ll manage?” she asked. “It’s gonnae be tough, going back there again after all these years. It might nae be anything like the place that ye and wee Iona left behind all those years ago.”
He hugged her back. “I ken,” he agreed, “But something tells me I willnae feel complete until I go back. I need to find out if me parents were ever buried and visit the site where they died. I need to tell them what happened to Iona and what happened to me. I’ll tell them everything, and…”
He glanced back at Callum, who was throwing a stick for Mossie to catch, then to Eithne, who smiled brightly at him. She knew that look in his eye. She felt it.
“And ye want to introduce them to your wife and son,” Eithne said gently. The word ‘son’ still felt strange on her lips, but that’s what Callum had become to them. They still wanted children of their own, one day, but Callum would always be their family.
And wouldnae it be nice to give him brothers and sisters to go along with his fresh start at life? After all, this is the beginning for all of us.
“Aye,” he agreed. “I want to show her the reasons I have to keep living me life to the fullest.”
Eithne reached up and kissed him gently. “I think that sounds a grand plan,” she said softly. “And I cannae think of anything better to do than bring yer new life and yer old together at last. There’s nae shame in the past, and it’s only by accepting it that ye can move forward.”
Ivor smiled.
Later that day, they packed up and left. Eithne was extremely excited to see her sister before they headed further North, dreaming of the multitude of things she’d share about the strange actions of the Lowlanders while they lived down this way. She wondered if Jonah had proposed yet, but it didn’t seem so.
And then they’d go on, back to the beginning – or back to an ending of a book that had never been closed. Ivor had helped Eithne to let go of her past, bringing her into a future where she could live despite it. Now it was Eithne’s turn. She would stay by her husband’s side, and she would reconcile him with his history.
“After all,” she whispered. “All of it is what makes you Ivor. And Ivor is who I love…good, bad, and everything in between.”
“Ivor,” he responded, “Is a lucky man.”
And together, they traveled on to their next ending and their newest beginning.
Epilogue
The Letter
Ayear after the wedding, Ivor sat in the reconstructed version of the family home where he had grown up, waiting on his beautiful wife to enter with the soup which she’d bustled away to fetch. It seemed surreal to him that he should be back here after all this time – but surreal in the sense that it was the only possible conclusion to his tale.
After briefly visiting Myrna and Jonah on the way back from Glasgow, he and Eithne had traveled with Callum back to his clan immediately. There, Ivor had found the site where his old home burned down. With some help from the locals, a fresh new cottage stood in its place, a near-perfect replica of the old.
