It had been two years almost to the day since Marion and Eiric had married, and it was only then when her beloved cousin Mary could finally come to visit them. Marion was standing by the castle doors, holding her son in her arms, as he had just begun to crawl and had a knack for crawling away faster than anyone could run behind him, while Eiric and Edan were talking about Mary.

Marion had warned Edan plenty of times that she was not for him, and that he should consider her as off-limits, but the man just didn’t listen. It didn’t help that Marion had grown to like him, despite her feelings of disgust when they had first met.

It also didn’t help that he kept reminding them that he was little Hamish’s godfather. Marion had come to regret giving him that role, only because he brought it up every other day. Then again, she was happy to know that there were people around them who loved Hamish so dearly.

When the gates finally opened and Mary’s carriage came through the courtyard, Marion could hardly contain her glee. She was so happy to see her cousin again after longer than two years of being apart, as she had been the only person in England who had ever understood her, and who had stood by her side.

The door of the carriage opened wide and out came Mary, looking radiant as always in her red dress. Once her feet touched the ground, she ran to them, immediately cooing over Hamish and ignoring everyone else.

“Marion, darling, he looks just like you!” she said, as Marion handed the baby to her and she took him safely in her arms. “Oh, what a lovely little boy he is! He takes after his mother!”

“I like to think that I contributed somethin’ too,” Eiric said, and only then did Mary acknowledge everyone else, giving Eiric a dirty look.

“You . . . don’t think that I don’t know you seduced my dear cousin,” she teased. She looked the same, Marion thought, but she acted differently, as though she had matured greatly in the past two years, though that was hardly a surprise. Mary had always struck her as the kind of woman who was eager to seem mature if only to command everyone’s attention and get them to listen to what she had to say. “I’ll never forgive you for taking her away from me.”

“Ach, Mary, yer cousin is verra happy here,” Eiric assured her. “And if anythin’, she was the one to seduce me.”

Mary slapped Eiric’s shoulder with her gloved hand, tutting at him. “How dare you?” she asked in mock offense, gasping at his words playfully. “She would never, right dear?”

Marion decided to play along, giving Eiric a sly smile. “Right,” she said. “It was all because of this terrible, handsome Highlander.”

The two girls burst out in laughter, and though Eiric would never admit it, Marion could see a faint blush on his cheeks after she had called him handsome. She loved the fact that even after two years, she still had that effect on him.

“Forgive me for interruptin’, Marion, but dinna ye think ye should introduce me to this bonnie lass here?” Edan asked, rather predictably.

Mary looked at him with a curious smile, and then after a moment, she pointed a finger at him. “You’re Edan,” she said.

“Aye,” Edan replied, suddenly excited that Mary knew who she was. “How do ye ken?”

“Oh, Marion has told me about you in her letters.”

With that, Edan’s excitement was completely gone, vanishing within seconds. Marion laughed at him, shaking her head.

“Nothing bad, Edan,” she assured him. “Or at least, nothing too bad. Come, Mary, let me show you to your chambers. You must be exhausted from your travels.”

Marion led Mary inside, while her cousin still held Hamish in her arms, the two of them leaving the men behind. Marion led her to her room, which was the one across the corridor from her own, and once they were inside, Mary sat on the edge of the bed with Hamish in her lap.

“I don’t suppose that you find Edan charming,” Marion said. “He is not the kind of man for you.”

“Please, I didn’t come here to find a husband,” Mary said, waving a hand dismissively. “I came to see you and this little angel. I have no desire for a man.”

“No?”

“No,” Mary assured her. “But you seem to have found your match.”

Marion smiled at that, looking out of the window at the courtyard. Even from there, she could see Eiric, and the sight widened the smile on her lips.

“I suppose I did,” she said. “And I’m very happy here, Mary. I never thought that I would have such a life.”

“I’m glad,” Mary said. “You deserve to be happy, Marion, you truly do. After everything your parents did to you . . . well, the point is that you are happy now, and I am happy that you are happy.”

At the mention of her parents, Marion stiffened, biting her bottom lip, hands fidgeting in her lap. “Have you seen them?” she asked Mary. “Have you talked to them at all since I left?”

“I have,” Mary said. “A few times, yes. They are doing fine.”

Mary didn’t offer any other information, which could only mean that Marion didn’t want to find out about anything else, that Mary was sparing her the painful details. Marion felt as though she needed to know though, and so she couldn’t help but ask.

“What are you not telling me?”

Mary sighed, clicking her tongue against her teeth. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“Yes,” Marion said, though she was anything but certain.

“They pretend as though you are dead,” Mary said. “And perhaps you are, to them, but they never talk about you, they never mention you. Your mother wears only black. I’m sure she has made plenty of people think that you are dead, but I try to let everyone know you are actually fine, and that you write to me often. I don’t know why they do it.”

“Because pretending I’m dead is better than telling everyone that I married a Highlander, even if he is the son of a laird,” Marion said. “You know that my mother hates Scotland. She doesn’t want anyone to know I’m here. She doesn’t want to know I am one of them now, because then everyone will know she has a Scottish heritage, too.”

Mary hummed, nodding her head slowly in understanding. “I see . . . well, there is no reason to think about your mother anymore, is there? She has chosen her path, and you have chosen yours. I can say with certainty that you are much happier than she has ever been.”

“And you?” Marion asked, eager to change the subject to something less painful. “You said you’re not looking for a man. Why?”

“Because I don’t need a man,” Mary said with a small shrug. “And I don’t want a man, not yet. Perhaps soon, but not yet. I would much rather spend the time with you and Hamish than have to deal with suitors. Those Englishmen . . . they know nothing about romance.”

“Maybe you will end up finding a husband up here, in the Highlands,” Marion teased. “There is one thing I know for certain, and that is that they’re nothing like the English.”

“Perhaps I’ll be open to the idea, then!”

The two of them laughed once more, and continued to share stories, Marion about Scotland and her family, and Mary about England and their common acquaintances. It was only several hours later, when Mary could not stop yawning, that Marion insisted that she had to get some rest, and so she took Hamish and left the room, going about the rest of her day.

Mary slept through dinner, and only showed up the next morning for breakfast, but she looked refreshed and ready to seize the day. Marion sat next to her during breakfast, the two of them appeasing Edan by letting him drag them into a conversation that was peppered with compliments directed at Mary, while Eiric watched in amusement, only pretending to listen to his father as he talked to him.

Adaria, enamoured by her grandson as she was, spent the entire time with him, feeding him small pieces of food from her own plate.

While they were talking to Edan, Marion was once again overcome with joy at how her life had turned out. She was surrounded by people she loved and who loved her back, she had her husband, her friends, the two people that had taken her into their home and treated her as their own and, of course, her boy. She could ask for nothing else; she didn’t want anything else.

The rest of the morning passed slowly, with Marion showing Mary around the castle grounds. She showed her all her favourite, hidden spots, everything she had discovered while walking around alone, and then she showed her the ravens that she and Eiric were breeding and taking care of.

“Good Lord, there are so many of them!” Mary said, leaning back as one of them began to flap its wings, even though it was in a cage and couldn’t possibly hurt her. “And what is it that you do with all these?”

“Send messages,” Marion said with a small shrug. “Eiric and I have trained most of them. They are very clever creatures.”

“I’m sure,” Mary said, distaste clear in her voice. “Well, enough of these birds! Don’t you have anything less . . . feathery to show me?”

Marion laughed at her cousin’s description of the birds, tutting at her. “You never liked these things, did you?”

“I always preferred dresses and good food and good wine,” she said. “And being indoors.”

Marion didn’t want to torture Mary any longer, and so she led her away from the birds, showing her the last places around the castle, until they reached a bench at the edge of the grounds. The two of them sat there, surrounded by rosebushes and the sound of a nearby creek, the water flowing freely through it.

“I can see why you like it here,” Mary said. “It’s very beautiful, very peaceful. I don’t know if I could ever live here, but I can see myself visiting more often. I have missed you terribly, cousin.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” Marion said. “Even though I hardly have any time to myself!”

“You mustn’t allow Eiric to take up too much of your time,” Mary said, sounding wise beyond her years, as she always did. “Every woman needs some time for herself. And with Hamish, I’m sure you have even less.”

“Oh, I don’t mind it,” Marion assured her. “I love them both so much, it’s hard to imagine not spending every single day with them. Besides, they grow so fast, the children. He’ll be one soon, and it feels only like yesterday when I realised that I was pregnant.”

“I do suppose you need to enjoy it while it lasts,” Mary said. “Such darling little creatures. You must have another!”

Marion laughed, but she nodded eagerly. She did want another child, perhaps a few more, the perfect little additions to her family. She could imagine nothing better than raising a small army of Eiric’s children.

For a few moments, the two of them fell into a comfortable silence, but then Marion saw Mary frown, eyes narrowing as she gazed at the distance.

“Who is that?” Mary asked, and Marion had to strain to see what she was referring to.

There, between the bushes, in the shadows cast by the tall oak trees, was a man, though Marion couldn’t possibly tell who it was before he disappeared.

What she did know was that he had been watching Mary, who was now nervous, her hand wrapped around Marion’s wrist.

“Come, let’s go back to the castle,” Marion said, standing up. Mary followed her eagerly, surely wishing to get away from that man.

Who was he, Marion wondered? And what did he want with Mary?

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