“There are. You just can’t see most of them because of all the artificial light polluting the sky. Look, you can see themoon.” It’s the faintest shadow of itself in the sky, limned by a whisper-thin crescent of white.
“Almost the new moon.” Callum’s voice is subdued as he sits beside me.
I’d been desperate for a new moon and its promise of returning to the future. But now, sitting with Callum on a stretch of plaid, heated by the fire, anticipating our cheese and oatcakes, I realize all I want is this.
Him.
He wraps his arm around me and I lean into him as we stare up at the night sky. “’Tis like a wee chink in the heavens,” he says.
“The moon?” I smile, because there’s so much to share with him, so much to talk about. “It’s not. It’s big and round, and we eventually fly into space and land on it. People have walked on it.”
“’Tisn’t too hot? It burns so brightly.”
“Actually—get this—it doesn’t burn at all. That’s just reflected sunlight.”
He’s quiet. I realize he’s staring at me.
I scoot my shoulder free so I can meet his eye. “What?”
“You’re from a time of such wonders. Are you certain…” He falters. “If you change your mind, about staying, you’ve only to ask. I’ll move the heavens myself to make it possible.”
“What? No! I told you, I’m not leaving without you. And anyway, there are plenty of wonders here. I mean, just look at all these stars. Plus, you know”—I pat his thigh, working up the nerve to finish—“you’re pretty wondrous yourself.”
He places a single fingertip under my chin to keep my face tilted to his. “Mo ghràidh. This is more than I ever imagined.You. You’re more than I ever thought a person could be. When I’m with you, it doesnae matter what my clan is, or what I’ve done, or who I’ve fought. I can show weakness?—”
I reach up and clasp his wrist. “If this is you weak, I’m afraid to see you strong.”
He gives me an abashed smile. “You ken my meaning. With you I can be…”
“Yourself?” I finish for him, my voice gone serious.
He gives me a relieved nod. “How’d you ken the truth of it?”
“Because it’s the same for me.” I tighten my grip, holding his hand in place like I might never let him go. “When we’re together, I’m not someone’s kid, or caretaker, or grandkid. I’m just…me.”
I barely get the words out before his lips crash into mine.
The whole world vanishes. Soon, we’re lying down, and as his hands grow braver roaming my body, I forget myself in ways I never believed possible. Let myself do things I’ve never done. I arch into him, lost in the heat of him. My fingers tangle in his hair, his breath burns against my skin, and I feel wild. Unraveled.
A creature of fire beneath an endless sky, with only the stars to witness us.
He pulls away, and his eyes are hooded and dark gazing down at me, his hair a chaotic halo around his head. Breathless. Astonished.
“Och, Rosie-love. I’m sorry. I should slow but…o mo chreach sa thàinig…I forget myself when I’m with you. Are you all right?”
“More than all right.” My hands are eager on him, already pulling him back down to me, but I stop. Because he’s right. We should take it slow, at least until I figure outseventeenth-century contraception. A feeling rushes through me, something like relief. As though he’s seen and understood a part of me that even I hadn’t.
My mother was pregnant at nineteen. I won’t be.
I flop my head back, moaning with frustration. “Yeahhh…we should probably slow down.”
He rests his head on my shoulders, catching his breath. “I’ll not ruck up your skirts and take your maidenhood like a savage. But, och, love”—he raises his head to meet my eyes—“I’m but a man, and you’ve all the power and pull of the sea.”
He savors me with gentle kisses then, lavishing along my cheeks, my hair, my neck and ears, so charmingly old-fashioned as he apologizes for forgetting himself.
He mingles murmured Gaelic and English until it feels like a warm stream of adoring sentiments washing over me, Callum telling me I’m a gift to be treasured, that he honors me. That we’ll wait…for more…until we can do things properly.
For Callum, there is no end goal. No race to the finish line. Just this, us, sweetly together.
