She opened her eyes as his climax overtook him. Her body and his quaking together, Agnes felt hope for the first time since leaving the great hall at Mugdock Castle all that time ago.
William did not pull out of her right away when they were finished. He lay on top of her and held her face in his hands. He kissed her forehead, her cheeks, her nose, and then her lips.
“Do you know how much you mean to me?” he said, gazing intently into her eyes.
She felt cherished in that moment.
“I believe it might be as much as you mean to me,” she whispered.
“We have this, you know,” he said as he pulled her to lie on her side facing him and stroking her hair.
“I do.”
“And no one can ever take it away.”
She started to understand a little of where he steered the conversation.
“You and I can be separated by all the demons in hell, and we would still have this. Do you understand, Agnes?”
She thought she did, but it was hard to pull oneself out of complete and utter despair. Had they taken a step in the right direction? Aye. But that didn’t extinguish it like blowing out a candle.
“William, I cannot explain what it was like.”
“I know, love. And you don’t have to talk about it now. Only when you’re ready. But you do understand it will help.”
“Aye, I do know that. I suppose I’m trying to sort it all out for myself, before I can talk about it. What it was like waking each day, still in captivity, was bad enough, but then being in that place alone unable to leave. It was a nightmare from which I could not wake.”
William held her tighter. “What can I do?”
“There’s little you can do, besides give me time to work this through. And maybe—”
Agnes reached her hand down to feel him again. He was already coming to life once more.
“Och, but you are insatiable,” he said as he rolled her to her back and quickly entered her.
This time was hard and fast, which was exactly what she needed to further purge those awful memories away. She understood they had a gift, and at the moment she was grateful for it for so many reasons.
Falling onto his back William turned his head to her. “Are you telling me, I am your medicine? Because och, love. I’ll happily comply.”
Agnes smiled at his enthusiasm. She supposed there could be worse medicines than an amorous husband who would move heaven and earth for her.
“Aye, now can we please leave this place? The last thing I need is to see wooden walls.”
William didn’t seem to need any further encouragement. He hopped out of bed and quickly gathered up their belongings, finishing with the strings on her gown the owner had provided for her. Within the hour they were atop his horse once more and riding hard for Mugdock Castle.
The wind in her face and the thick muscled chest at her back further aided in her spirits. When the castle walls finally came into view, she was certain she’d never seen a more joyous vision in her life. Once inside the gate, William’s mother and brotherscame running up to see her together with a sheepish-looking Neville.
“My dear, we were so worried. You have to know I prayed for you every night and my dearest assured me you would be saved. Well, here you are and you are looking quite gaunt. Now come and let us get you fed and rested.”
His mother practically barked orders for anything she could think of apparently to see to Agnes’s comfort. Agnes had never seen her so focused on anything besides her departed husband. Perhaps this whole business might help in her healing as well.
“Did the stories help?” she asked William after she finished issuing orders.
“Aye, mother. Right down to the very last one.”
“You cannot mean…”
“Aye. They had a rustic cabin at the Devil’s Pulpit.”
