“We should tell faither,” Alina had been quick to offer, but Ceana had shaken her head.
“I shall take care of this meself.” Ceana stood and left Alina’s room. Armed with nothing but her will, she made her way to the front door.
“Who calls?” Ceana asked, hoping the door was not brought down onto her face.
“I have come for ye,” she heard from behind the door, and a smile spread across her face. She knew the voice, and it did not belong to Scott. It was her Torcall.
She opened the door and wanted to jump into his arms if not for the fact that he was still healing from his wound. There was a hurt look on his face that relayed his disappointment that she had not fallen into his arms. It seemed to have been expected of the two of them, but there they were, standing just a leap away from one another.
What do I say to him?Ceana asked herself. There was a lot to say, and there was nothing. It would have seemed lazy just being silent there with him if it had not meant much more. They had come a long way to that night, that moment in which the two of them stood away from one another, able to do whatever it was that they wanted. Both were free, and they stood there, soaking themselves in the reality of it.
“Ye look beautiful even when the sun is nae its brightest in the sky,” he spoke first. “I could spend a lifetime looking at ye, and ye would never be different before me eyes.”
They were just words, but they burned through every part of her body.He thinks ye are beautiful. He says he would spend a lifetime staring at ye;she mused over his words again.
“Even when I become old?” She asked him because she wanted him to say it again.
“Aye,” he replied and took a step towards her, but he did not come close enough still.
The silence that they both feared returned. It was a shy silence, for there were words that both were supposed to speak to one another; affirmation or denial of confessions they had made to one another.
“Do ye trust me still?” he asked her.
“Aye, I do.”With all me heart.
He offered her his hand. “Then come with me to a place where we might be able to speak freely. There is much that we must speak about.”
The loch.She knew and smiled. She trusted him with her hand, and his larger hand closed around hers gently as he pulled her with him to his steed. He did not lift her onto the back of his steed for his injuries, but he helped her still. He got on behind her, and they rode.
Involuntarily, Ceana leaned into his warmth as they rode slowly into the night, and he accepted her. His arms pressed against hers, squeezing her only slightly but registered his possessiveness over her. There wasn’t a man in all the Highlands that she would have given that privilege save for Torcall.
I love ye.She wanted to stop stalling and simply tell him all; risk her pride and heart even to free her heart of her chest burden.
“Torcall....” She spoke his name.
“We are here,” he told her. Her eyes turned away from him, and she saw the familiar loch. It was just as the last time they had been there together. He got off his horse with a slight groan that he tried to hide from her before helping her off. There was a cloth on the ground beneath their tree, and he brought her to it.
Ceana came around it and turned to face Torcall. Behind him, the moon rose, brandishing him in its glow. He was the most handsome she had ever seen him. However, his eyes were darker in the moonlight as he stared at her, finding the courage to start his words.
She held her breath as she waited on him. Winds went by, and still, he was quiet. Uncomfortable from the tension in her limbs, Ceana settled onto the cloth, and he joined her.
“I will be forever grateful to ye for saving me life. Nay one believed in me innocence except for ye. Even though ye could have been branded a criminal as I was, ye risked yer freedom to save me, to give me strength and hope even when I didnae deserve it,” he started, and all she could do was nod. She did not know what to say back to him.
“I have nae been able to think of anything else but the day we were together...” She knew the day he spoke of, for she had thought about it also since it had happened. It was the day that they had admitted to having feelings for one another.
“...do ye think of that day also?” She came out of her thoughts and heard his words.
“Aye, I think about it also,” she replied to him. She saw him wait for her to speak more, but she did not. He had the same fears that she had, she realized.
She feared that he had said those words only because he had been close to death, and she had been the only one by his side then. She could see in his eyes also that he was plagued with doubts as well; perhaps guilt was the reason he had thought she had confessed those words to him.
Were yer words true? Would ye still wish to leave the clan lands?Those were her doubts.
Seeing that she was not going to speak, Torcall continued. “I am in love with ye, Ceana. There is nay a moment that passes that I do nae think of ye. It is nae gratitude, for I ken gratitude. I feel gratitude to me uncle for protecting me when me parents died. What I feel is nae just gratitude. It is a longing. It is a need, just as for food or for water.”
Ceana’s heart stopped in her chest as she considered what he was saying. Was he going to say the words she had wished to hear from his lips once again? She prayed more than she wondered.
“I ken ye might be in love with another. I ken that ye have had men who are better than I am, but....”
