"You could finish your degree here, couldn't you?"
I turned to look at Darach, squinting in the evening light and not sure how serious he was.
"Well...I suppose I could. Why?"
"Why?" Darach repeated my question back to me, scoffing and grinning. "Why do you think, Jennifer?"
I didn't know what I thought. I know what I wanted to be true. Before I could say anything else Darach bent down to kiss me and then pulled away only far enough to look me in the eyes.
"I love you. I love you, Jennifer Robinson, and I don't want you to leave."
My vision blurred with tears almost immediately. It was what I wanted. I think I already knew he loved me but I wanted to hear it from him, I wanted to really know it.
"Yeah, this is the usual reaction I get from women when I tell them I love them. Crying."
I laughed through my tears and took a handful of his shirt in my hand, shaking him gently.
"You better not be lying, Darach. I'd rather live with you never loving me than you telling me you loved me and not meaning it."
He raised his eyebrows at me and tucked a long, dark curl behind one of my ears. "Jenny, are you completely insane? Is this a surprise to you? If it is I have to say I'm very disappointed in your powers of perception - I'm pretty sure it's obvious to everyone within a hundred mile radius that I love you,"
For some reason the image of my grandmother's face popped into my mind at that moment and I started to cry harder, pushing my face into Darach's chest for comfort and leaning against his tall, strong body.
"Hey, Jennifer. What's wrong? Why the tears?"
I took a few minutes to compose myself and looked up at him:
"I was just thinking of my grandmother."
"Were you? Why? Would she be happy that a strange Scottish Laird who lives in the middle of nowhere loves her granddaughter?"
I nodded, trying desperately to blink tears away but they kept coming. "Yes, Darach. That's why I'm crying. No one ever really loved me except her. When she died it felt like no one ever would again, and now you say you love me."
"I do love you, Jenny."
"I know you do. I don't even know why I'm crying. I'm happy. I'm so happy you love me, Darach. Of all the people on earth I could choose to love me, it would be you."
He pulled me tightly in against his chest but I wasn't finished:
"I love you, too, you know. I think I loved you within a twenty four hours of meeting you, actually."
Darach laughed at that. "Yeah, I think I did, too."
"Then why the hell did we wait so long to say it?"
He kissed the top of my head. "Because we were both afraid it wouldn't be reciprocated."
There was a small sound behind us and we both whirled around to see Cameron standing there. She was smiling and holding a handful of greenery and flowers.
"I knew you two were in love a long time ago. Grown-ups are silly."
I loved the way she referred to Darach and I as "you two".
Chapter 17: Epilogue
Three weeks later after a trip he told me was to Dubai, Darach marched into the kitchen where I was eating dinner with Cameron sporting a huge grin.
"Daddy!" Cameron jumped up from the table and threw herself into his arms. He kissed her cheek and sat down next to me.
"Eat fast, Jennifer, there's something I want to show you."
I could tell something was up from Darach's buoyant tone of voice. When he rushed me out to the Land Rover as soon as I was finished eating, leaving Cameron with Mrs. Clyde, I couldn't contain myself.
"Darach! What's going on?"
"Just wait, you'll see soon enough."
So I decided to go along with whatever it was he had up his sleeve. Soon, we were pulling up to the field that contained the Pictish stone.
"I've already seen the stone..." I said, confused. But he ignored me, coming around to the passenger side and helping me out, leading me down the path to the little hill and up to the stone itself. When we got there, the sun had just gone down. No one else was around. I looked at Darach with my eyebrows raised, waiting to find out just what it was that has gotten him into such a state.
"So," he started, looking me in the eye, "now comes the time for Jennifer Robinson to prove all the nice things she says to her Laird."
'Her Laird.' I liked that.
Even as I watched him get down on one knee I was still unsure about what he was up to. It only sunk in when he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box.
"Darach..."
"Shhh, Jenny," he shushed me, looking up at me and taking my hand.
I always thought I would cry. I'm a cryer. Perhaps the happy summer, full of love and new-built family, had changed me. Whatever the reason, I surprised myself by not instantly bursting into tears. Instead I just looked right back at Darach as the feeling of my heart filling right up to the brim spread out through my body.