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“Always, as you are mine. I’ll always be your safe place.”
He covered my hand with his. “I like tae think of ye as my home, Kaitlyn.”
“It is always true.”
A wispy cloud raced across the sky and we watched it for a moment.
Magnus said, “Have ye forgiven me on it?”
“I do. My forgiveness happened slowly, moment by moment, but it’s fully here. I might be angry sometimes as we live the rest of our lives dealing with your son. The world seems pretty unfair to me right now — that might make me really really act out... I would like to punch someone and my list of someones is getting much longer. But, you, my love, I just want to wrap around you and keep you safe.”
He wrapped his hands around mine, drew my fingers to his lips and kissed my knuckle.
“I will teach ye tae punch.”
I chuckled. “It’s a deal.”
“Tis your turn tae tell me of what happened tae ye, that Lady Mairead was speakin’ of.”
I said, “This needs another donut.” I pulled out the box and we each took one. I poured a little more coffee in our mugs. We chewed with moans of pleasure and we took long drafts of the warm liquid. I wiped my fingers and mouth and began. “Years ago, when I was with Braden, I made a mistake and let him film me, with a camera, while we were having sex.”
Magnus’s brow drew down. “Why would ye?”
“Why did I do anything between the ages of sixteen and twenty-two? Because I was a dumbass. A not thinking dumbass. I don’t know. It was the stupidest thing in the world. But at the time—”
“Twas Braden’s idea?”
“Yeah, it’s like a power thing, now that I think about it. It’s like ‘look what I can make my girlfriend do.’”
“So twas tae show other people?”
“I didn’t think so at the time, though in retrospect I should have made him destroy it, but I didn’t and I never thought about it again. It definitely wasn’t for him to watch, it’s just weird.”
I checked his face, concern and concentration, trying to understand what I was telling him.
I continued, “Recently he was breaking up with his girlfriend and she was spiteful so she went into his videos and photos and released a bunch of them.”
“Explain what ye mean by this?”
“Remember those cat videos we watched? Like that. People watching tv can watch this video of me.” I decided to spill the rest of it. “And the worst part, it was on the news. That means my name is connected to the video and from the sound of it, from Lady Mairead appearing on our doorstep, my personal details will be released because of it. My past has caught up to me and now it’s put us both in danger.”
“Twas this what ye learned of last night at the reception?”
“Yes. Tyler told me, he saw it on the news.”
He stared out at the horizon as he asked, “Did he watch the video of ye, Kaitlyn?”
“No, I don’t — he said he didn’t, but the truth is, everyone can watch it and I just, I’m so freaking ashamed. Telling you, I don’t know how you can even look at me right now, I’m such an embarrassing wife.”
He winced. “By my accounts ye misplaced your trust, but ye canna hold yourself tae blame for the actions of a scoundrel.”
“Really? You’re not furious? Ashamed of me? Embarrassed?”
“Nae, for what purpose, tae hold ye tae account for his wrongs?”
“Wow, I thought you would be totally upset by this information.”
He shrugged. “Tae me, tis all just shiftin’ light and colors, ye tell me ye are in there, but ye also told me just two nights ago, that there arna real people inside the tv. Isna that what ye said?”
