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“You traveled to me?” He shook his head in astonishment.
Marjorie put her bow on her shoulder and her arrow in the quiver. Her hands shook, and her knees wobbled. “Aye, we did. And now it seems there’s just this slope that separates us.”
“Stay there. I’ll help you up.” Konnor removed the big bag on his back.
Marjorie shook her head and chuckled softly. “Isna it how ye injured yerself?” With her stomach both knotting and bubbling with excitement, she walked towards the slope. “Stay there. We’re coming to ye. I’m nae gentle lady who needs rescuing.”
Konnor grinned. “No, you are not.”
The way up was harder than she’d thought. Rocks and pebbles ran from under her shoes. She breathed heavily, and her heart thundered against her ribs. Was it from the climbing, or from seeing Konnor? She grasped branches and roots to keep from falling. She and Colin helped each other get up the hard places.
Finally, they stood before Konnor. Marjorie felt flushed, hot, and sweaty. She took in a lungful of air in an attempt to calm her ragged breathing. There he was, hugging her son with the brightest smile she’d ever seen on his face. The man who’d brought her back to life. The man who understood and cherished her more than anyone in the world. His blue eyes pierced her with the intensity of lightning, like he could look into her soul, like he could see her whole, naked, and vulnerable.
When he let Colin go, he came to stand before her.
“Hi,” Konnor said softly.
She forgot how to speak. His presence melted her like fire malted a wax candle, so sweetly, so deliciously. She remembered his mouth on her lips, his hands making her body sing like a citole. Her mouth went dry, and a new layer of sweat broke out over her skin. Suddenly, she craved something strong to drink.
“Why are ye here?” Marjorie managed. “Isna Los Angeles on the other side of the world?”
“Yes, it is,” he murmured, and his voice stroked her like a gentle hand. “I came to go back through time for you.”
The ground shifted under her feet, and she needed a moment to find her balance again.
“For me?”
“Yes, my Highland queen.” He brushed his knuckles against her cheek.
Highland queen. She let the words wash over her for a moment. They settled in her stomach, instantly setting a whole cloud of butterflies into the sky.
“Did ye change yer mind then?”
“I did. I don’t want to imagine my life without you.”
Those words were like freedom. Like running on the edge of a cliff without a worry in mind, jumping off and being caught by the wind and carried above the sea. She felt weightless. Expanded. Complete.
“And I dinna want a life without ye,” she echoed. She looked at her son. She smiled to him, and he gave her a nod. “And neither does Colin.”
Konnor took a step towards her, a mountain of a male, his scent the sweet mixture of unknown herbs and sea and his own musk.
“Come here.” He took her in his arms and kissed her.
The world around her swam and shifted, and everything around her disappeared but Konnor. Only his lips stayed, the warm, soft bliss of his mouth, the gliding of his tongue against hers, the gentle nibbling of her lip. The iron rods of his arms around her waist was the best confinement in the world.
“Mother!” Colin gasped. “Konnor! Ye can lick each other’s mouths when ye’re alone.”
With difficulty, Marjorie leaned back and interrupted the kiss. Oh, how she’d missed him. She hadn’t even realized how much she’d missed him until right now. She belonged with him. In these arms, glued to this body, breathing the same air as him. Dissolving with him.
She smiled at Colin. “Dinna fash, son. One day ye’ll meet a woman ye love like I love this man, and ye’ll understand.”
Colin blushed and mumbled something. Marjorie and Konnor exchanged an amused look. But there was still one question to sort out.
“Did ye want to come stay with me in 1308?” she said.
“Yes.” Konnor chuckled. “I’d be happy to live in any time as long as you and Colin are by my side. I know your life and your family are in 1308, so the last thing I wanted was to take you away from them.”
Marjorie chuckled softly.
