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“Yeah. If you’re okay with it. I’ll still send money for Jax’s college fund. But I don’t think I can stay here anymore and be happy. You were right, I’ve always wanted something else. It’s time to act on it.”

“Kate… I don’t know what to say. Are you sure?”

Kate looked into her sister’s eyes. All these years, everything that Kate had become, had been because of Mandy. To provide for her, to take care of her.

A lifetime together connected them. And Kate was grateful for the time she’d had with her sister. But she saw it in Mandy’s eyes, and they both knew, they’d outgrown each other. It was time for Kate to move on—but also for Mandy.

“I’ll miss you, Kate,” Mandy said, smiling through tears.

Jax hugged her. “And I’ll miss you, Aunt Kate.”

Kate’s eyes burned from tears. “Me, too.”

She hugged Jax back and kissed his head, inhaling the familiar homey scent of him.

“Where will you go?” Mandy wiped her eyes.

Kate wanted to say she’d go back to Ian. But Ian didn’t want her. Her stomach sank at the thought, every cell of her body hurting. She shook her head. She needed to learn to live without him. A new life where she’d be independent and could finally realize her dream of creating the restaurant she wanted. A weird one. A mix. That was what she’d always imagined New York must be—a mix of everything. Surely, she’d find her customers there.

“New York,” she said.

But her heart whispered that she may realize her dream in New York, but she’d never be truly happy or complete without the red-haired Highlander. The Highlander who was kinder and more powerful than anyone she knew—in this time or in the past.

The Highlander who could never love her back.

Chapter 32

“Nae, cousin, ye didna die.”

The voice penetrated Ian’s consciousness, strangely distant, as if echoing in a deep chamber. The voice sounded familiar, and Ian made an effort to open his eyes.

His eyelids felt as though they were made of iron, his body heavy and wet. At least he hadn’t burned to death in that hell of high fever he’d inhabited for what felt like his whole life.

“I didna die?” Ian croaked.

He finally managed to open one eye. Owen sat by his side, his face dark against the gray sunlight filtering through the window behind him.

“Ye’re alive, although ye do look like a corpse.”

“Did I ask if I died?”

“Aye.”

“Oh.” Ian smacked his dry lips. “I hoped I were dead.”

He’d hoped the misery of existence without Kate would end.

Owen brought a cup to Ian’s face and held his head. Ian drank the cool water, which felt like life being poured back into him.

“Why are ye here?” Ian asked when Owen put the cup away. “Not that I’m nae glad to see ye.”

“Ye’ve been lying in fever for days, delirious, calling fer Kate.”

Her name brought a heavy weight to Ian’s chest. Anguish stiffened him like a muscle cramp, painful and powerful. But there was no muscle he could move to make the ache go away. What was he going to do without her? He’d had a purpose before, to protect her. To help her get back home.

Now all that was left was emptiness. The last place she’d ever touched him was here. She’d lain in the bed with him, worried for him and so bonnie it had pained him to look at her.

She’d said she’d stay for him…