Five Years Later

“Aindreas, ye daenae need to be overprotective,” Hayden called with a laugh as he looked up from the river to where Aindreas was standing with the horses.

Aindreas seemed to stifle his own laugh as he peered over the horses’ saddles.
“Aye, take yer own advice, Hayden.” He pointed down at the young boy who was clinging onto Hayden’s hand.

Try as he might, the boy couldn’t get to the river, for Hayden held too tightly onto his hand.

“Pa!” the boy exclaimed with annoyance, thrusting his booted feet into the riverbank beneath him in anger.

“Daenae look at me like that, Fin,” he chuckled, bending down to his son’s level. He had named his son after the stable master, wanting the memory of a good man to go on in the castle, despite what darkness had lingered there five years ago. “The river is dangerous, and ye must respect it.” He lifted Finley into his arms, holding the boy on his hip as he turned to look at Aindreas again.

“See?” Aindreas said with lifted eyebrows. “The boy wants to play with his cousins.”

“Aye, he will,” Hayden said with a laugh, knowing the two girls were far behind him playing in the shallows of the river. “In the meantime, calm yerself, relax a little. Nay one will attack us out here.”

“I take me responsibilities seriously.”

“Ye surprise me,” Hayden said with a laugh as he turned away from Aindreas, nodding in parting. Aindreas’ decision to stay at the castle had delighted Hayden over the years. Never had he had a truer or more loyal guard to his family than Aindreas had turned out to be. The one time that Hayden had asked Aindreas about his decision to stay, the man had been surprisingly honest after having a couple of drinks.

“Havin’ a place in the world, I finally realized what it is all about. It’s about findin’ someone worth fightin’ for, isnae it?”

Hayden couldn’t agree more. As he walked across the riverbank, his son increasingly kicking up a fuss at being carried. Humored by it, Hayden still held tightly onto Fin, with his eyes shifting to the rest of his family that was gathered together.

He had brought them all to his and Brandon’s favorite place from when they were little, though they had not yet attempted to take the children across the river to the stone in the middle.

Nay, too risky.

Hayden was protective indeed of his son. Such a feat would remain for another day. He kissed his son’s forehead, pushing the fair hair to the side and making the boy wriggle in annoyance.

“Pa!” he cried again, pointing down at where his cousins were playing in the shadows. “Play.”

“Aye, aye, ye can play.” Hayden laughed and slowly lowered his son down to his feet. He didn’t let him go completely, though and followed closely behind him, watching him as he took off his boots and stepped into the water too.

Ailsa and Catriona reached toward Fin, begging him to come to play too. Ailsa was the eldest of the three, by just a couple of weeks compared to Fin, and she splashed up and down in the water, casting such water over him that the boy complained loudly, rubbing his eyes. Catriona was the youngest and barely able to stand by herself, meaning that Brandon was standing behind her, holding onto her hands and helping her to walk in the water.

“Ailsa,” Brandon said with a warning tone. At once, Ailsa stopped what she was doing and looked up at her father with innocent eyes. “Aye, ye can look at me like that all ye like, but I saw what ye did.”

“She is as mischievous as ye are,” Hayden teased his brother, just as his son took hold of his hand and pulled him into the water too.

“I think she is as mischievous as her maither and aunt,” Brandon said, nodding his head in the direction of the grass where Luna and Aurora were gathered together. They were spreading out a picnic for them all on a rug, pointing up at the sun in wonder at it making an appearance after the long winter they had endured.

Hayden smiled at the sight, his eyes resting on Luna for a few minutes longer as he clutched his son’s hand. The last few years had brought more happiness than he had thought possible in the castle. It was a joyous place to be, and with his new family, the old shadows and darkness that had walked the walls were long gone. In its place were smiles and frequently the running steps of children as they chased down the little ones after doing something naughty.

“Pa, look.” Fin pointed down into the water. Hayden caught his son under his arms and held him still when he nearly toppled over.

Aye, this is me place. I will always be here for him to stop him from fallin’.

He loved this new role in his life. With someone else to love, he had a purpose. He clutched onto his son to keep him standing as Fin traced his fingers through the water, watching as silvery fish danced back and forth.

“Fis?”

“Fish,” Hayden corrected with a smile, watching as Fin continued to trace the fish with his fingers. He tried to kick the fish at one point, prompting Hayden to pull his son back in the water.

Brandon burst out laughing at the sight, pulling Catriona away from the potential splash.

“Did ye just try to kick the fish, Fin?” Hayden said in clear reprimand. Fin smirked up at him, clearly feeling rather naughty.

“Aye, they are all as mischievous as each other,” Brandon said, still loving, as his eldest daughter began to run around him in the shallows. “Nay wonder it’s hard to keep runnin’ after them.”

I daenae mind.

Hayden lifted his eyes from Fin to look back at Luna, wondering if it was time to ask her what he so longed to say. The children had transformed his life again, just as Luna had changed it, and he found he kept wanting it to be changed.

Maybe… it is time we had another.

***

Luna smiled as she watched her son play with Hayden. The two of them together were a delight to see, making her dance her hand across her stomach, knowing that there was another life brewing there, though she had not uttered a word of it to anyone yet.

“I long for sleep, Luna,” Aurora complained dramatically as she fell back on the rug. Luna laughed and inched toward her sister’s side, pouring out a tankard of small beer for her.

“It cannae be that bad.”

“That bad?” Aurora scoffed, sitting up to take the tankard. “Wait until ye have a second. They run around at all hours of night.”

Luna tried to hide her smile, not wanting anyone else to know yet that there was indeed another on the way.

“Ye think we cannae hear yer children?” Luna said with a laugh. “We may be in a different wing of the castle, but Catriona’s voice has a habit of carryin’ very far.”

“Ye mean her cryin’ does,” Aurora said, biting her lip before sipping her beer.

“It was much the same when Ailsa was that young. I cannae wait for the day she sleeps through the night.”

“It will happen soon,” Luna assured as her sister fell on the blanket again, her eyes fluttering closed as she waited for sleep.

Luna thought it rather right not to disturb her sister again. When Aurora showed genuine signs of falling asleep, Luna lifted a second blanket she had brought with them on their picnic and laid it across her sister’s body, giving her a little warmth as she slept. When Aurora’s voice grew even, Luna turned her focus back to their husbands and children as they all played together, making the splashes in the shallows so great that they sometimes reached above Fin’s head.

For a second, Luna shifted her gaze from the son she adored so much to her husband and Brandon as they talked together. Much had changed in the years that had followed Nathair’s attack on the castle. Brandon’s lairdship went from strength to strength, and with Hayden frequently making trips to other clans to build friendships and treaties for him, the clan was certainly becoming something secure and formidable. Luna had seen firsthand how the clans’ people had prospered.

The poor were not so great in number these days, and the harvests had been good. With the comfort of a secure lairdship and friends in other clans, they had drawn more and more soldiers to their ranks, and they had never gone to battle with another clan since.

Once feared, thanks to its last laird, the Mackenzie clan was now something celebrated and admired by other clans. Together, Brandon and Hayden had done something Luna had thought impossible when she had first heard their names and believed the rumors. They had made the Mackenzie clan a true home to the people here, including her.

Fin abruptly stepped away from Hayden and reached for his cousin. Together, he and Ailsa clung onto one another and walked into the shallows, looking at the fish and pointing them out to each other. Luna could see Hayden asking Brandon to keep an eye on Fin, something he eagerly agreed to before he stepped out of the river and hurried toward her.

Luna placed a finger to her lips, urging Hayden to be quiet as she pointed down at Aurora’s sleeping form. He nodded in agreement before sitting down beside her and placing a quick kiss on her cheek.

“Ye are very protective of him,” Luna whispered with a giggle, pointing at Fin.

“That is why he fusses so much.”

“I ken, but I cannae help it. I will never let any harm come to him.” Hayden’s firm voice made her wriggle with delight, for she knew he would hold true to that vow. The day they had married, he had made vows of his own to her in the privacy of their chamber as they had made love. He had promised not only to protect her, but any child they had and any loved one that was a part of their family. The strength of his devotion was one of the reasons she loved him so much.

Aye, it is time to tell him.

“Well, soon yer attention may be somewhat divided from Fin. A little, anyway,” Luna said cryptically, watching as Hayden looked up to her with eyebrows furrowed quizzically.

“Why? Because Brandon is sendin’ me on more treaty talks? Nay. I ken it takes a few days to get to the north, but I willnae be gone that long. I’ll be back fussin’ over Fin before ye ken it.”

“That is nae what I meant,” she said slowly, watching as Hayden frowned further. She glanced down at Aurora, checking that her sister was indeed fast asleep before she lowered her lips to Hayden’s ear and whispered something to him. “We are to have another child, Hayden.”

When his lips found hers, it was so sudden that she almost fell over from where she was knelt up in the rug. She laughed as she pulled back from that kiss.

“Somethin’ tells me that made ye rather happy.”

“Rather happy? I’m delighted!” Hayden said hurriedly, kissing her again. “I was just about to come and ask ye if ye wished for another child.”

“I do, very much. Fortunately, one is already on the way.” As she laid a hand across her stomach, her eyes flitted across Ailsa as she played with Fin. Luna imagined another little girl was standing there with them. “This time, I have a feelin’ it is a girl.”

“Then our life is complete, Luna,” Hayden whispered, leaning to kiss her again.

The End.

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