“Muirgen, slow down,” Alaric called as his daughter waddled ahead. She walked with her arms out to keep her balance, and where her pace was slow, she ran as quickly as her little legs would allow.

“Mommy!” she cried out as she continued to hurry.

Alaric smiled as he walked behind her, keeping a close eye so that if she tripped, he would catch her. But she was excited, filled with energy, and he loved that about her.

“Careful,” he warned as she hurried into the garden, nearly stumbling into the hedges. “Your mother will be furious if you come back all scratched and broken.”

“Mommy!” she shouted again, her voice rising above the hedges and sweeping across the garden. “Mommy!”

Nessa was nowhere in sight, but that did not mean she wasn’t nearby. If Alaric were to guess, Nessa would be on the other side of the garden, waiting for the two to return, and likely more than a little annoyed. They were only supposed to be gone for an hour, and Alaric had promised that he would return in time because they had plans for that evening, and his presence was required.

But where Muirgen was concerned, Alaric had a difficult time saying no, and the promise he made to his wife was always one that he knew he would break.

“Mommy!” Muirgen came to a stop suddenly. Before her was a row of giant hedges that split the path in two. The hedges stood tall above the little girl’s head, and she looked down both paths with confusion.

Alaric laughed as he came in behind her. “What’s the matter?”

She turned back, and her brow furrowed in puzzlement. “Where … Mommy?”

He shrugged. “I told you not to run ahead.”

She scowled at him and pointed to the right-leading path. “Mommy?”

“Maybe?” He grinned.

Her scowl deepened, and then she took off once more. “Mommy!” 

Muirgen’s flaming red hair vanished around the hedges, and the sound of her feet scurrying along the stone path quickly died as she went. 

Oh, how he loved his daughter. 

While her red hair was reminiscent of her mother’s, her dark eyes belonged to Alaric, and when he looked into them, he knew there was nothing he would not do to keep her safe and make sure that every day she lived was a blessed one. And while Nessa often claimed that their daughter’s personality reminded her of Alaric, he knew she was just saying that to appease him. She was wild and free; she was adventurous and curious, and she was her mother to her core.

As for her name? It was Irish in origin, its meaning ‘born of the sea,’ chosen because it evoked images of the type of endless possibilities that her life promised; the world belonged to her, and Alaric would make sure that she had it.

Also, and this was merely coincidental, she just so happened to love the water, where she and Alaric were coming from just now, and the reason they were running so late.

Lately, Alaric had taken up sailing again, finding a new love for the hobby he had avoided for so many years. And while he loved sailing by himself, a chance to sit with his thoughts and think of all the good that had found him these past two years, he just as much loved taking his daughter out with him.

They had only meant to take a short trip across the lake, but Muirgen had begged and pleaded that they stay out a little longer. With the weather as perfect as it was, and with his daughter’s laughter like music in his ears, Alaric had granted her this wish.

A wish that I am sure I will soon pay for …

Sure enough, as Alaric hurried down the path and back toward the castle, he saw proof of the punishment promised to him. 

Muirgen was tucked into her mother’s arms, holding her tight and giggling with glee as she told of the adventures she and Alaric had just taken. And while Nessa listened to her daughter’s rapture, she glared a warning at Alaric.

“You promised me one hour,” she said as Alaric slunk toward her. “I have been going out of my mind.”

Alaric grimaced. “It is not my fault …”

“Oh? Blaming your two-year-old daughter, are you? How brave.”

When he reached Nessa, he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “I figured that you wouldn’t be nearly so angry with her as you were with me. So, yes, I am blaming her.”

Nessa rolled her eyes. “Did you hear that, Muirgen? Your father is trying to get you into trouble?”

“Daddy!” Muirgen cried joyfully. “No!”

Alaric rustled his daughter’s hair. “I take it that our guests have already arrived?”

“Thirty minutes ago,” Nessa said. “And seeing as you cannot possibly present yourself looking like that …” She ran her eyes over him in judgment – earned, because Alaric was soaking wet and covered in sand. “Go and get ready.” She put Muirgen down. “And quickly, please. You have thirty minutes.”

He kissed her on the cheek again, and while she pretended to pull away, she smiled and shook her head at him. “I only need twenty. Come on, little one …” Alaric took his daughter’s hand. “Let us get you bathed.”

As promised, Alaric took only twenty minutes to ready himself for supper, and when he arrived at the dining room, he was greeted with eye rolls and joking comments about his tardiness – as expected.

“Oh, so nice of you to join us.” Peregrine rose from the table and walked to greet him. “Please, take your time. It is not as if we have been waiting.”

“And I am just now remembering why I so rarely invite you to visit.”

Peregrine laughed as he shook Alaric’s hand. Then, he dropped to his knees as Muirgen hurried toward him. “There she is!” He swept her into his arms. “Oh, look how big you have gotten.”

“Uncle Peregrine!” Muirgen giggled as he lifted her.

“How old are you now? Ten at least.”

“You are silly!”

Peregrine set her down, and Muirgen hurried down the table to where her mother waited. As Nessa helped Muirgen into her chair, Peregrine returned to his place and proudly introduced the woman sitting beside him.

“Alaric, I would like you to meet Sophia …” He took her hand and helped her to stand. “I have told her nothing but horrible things about you, so feel free to confirm them.”

“Peregrine!” Sophia gasped, and her cheeks colored. “He has not done so. I promise you. He has had only good things to say.”

“I doubt that.” Alaric walked forward, took her hand, and offered a short bow. “But it is nice of you to say. Peregrine has been rather mute where you are concerned, so I am eager to hear exactly how he tricked you into courtship.”

“With spell work, of course.” Peregrine winked. “Taught to me by your dear wife.”

“Enough of that,” Nessa said sharply. “We are trying to have a good time, Peregrine, and my daughter does not need to hear such things.” Then, she winked. “And if I were to cast a spell, it would not be in your favor. Believe that.”

Sophie was a beautiful young woman with dark hair and sharp green eyes. She was petite in stature, had an expressive face, and she looked at Peregrine as if he were the center of the world. They had been courting now for three months, and Alaric knew from the way they looked that it was a relationship set to last.

Truly, he could not be happier for his friend.

“I suppose we should start.” Alaric took his place at the head of the table. “Now that I am ready.”

“Oh yes, because you are most important,” his wife chided.

“And I am just so pleased to hear you admit as much.”

The supper was a wonderful and cozy affair. Mostly, it was spent in laughter and light conversation about what had been happening these last few months. Stories about Muirgen. Tales of Peregrine’s courtship. And Alaric was pleased to talk about sailing until his wife asked him to stop because he was boring everyone.

Also, they spoke of his sister and Crispin …

“He wrote to me last week,” Peregrine explained. “He had just come from visiting Verity, who is doing well.”

“I am pleased to hear it,” Alaric said with a faint smile. 

“Truly, the way he tells it, she is more herself than ever. He visits her often, and they take long walks and talk as if it were the old days. She still loves him, I believe, and Crispin … well, I think he wishes to forgive her. He is trying his best.”

Alaric had little to do with Verity, and where he knew that he had every right not to speak with her again, he could not remove the feelings of guilt that continued to sit with him. She was his sister, after all, and he did not wish her ill. 

“Perhaps we should visit her?” Nessa offered. “I know she would appreciate it.”

“Yes,” Alaric sighed. “Perhaps.” He grimaced, those feelings of guilt swirling within. “Ask me tomorrow. Or maybe next week.”

Nessa took his hand and squeezed it. “I know she would love to see you. As I know that she wishes for your forgiveness. And if Crispin can do so …”

“Tomorrow,” he said again. Alaric knew he would one day forgive his sister, and he looked forward to when that day came. But such things were hard to do, and he did not want to force it.

The supper stretched late into the evening, and it was one that set the castle alive. Thornwyck Hall was no longer a cold and depressing place that felt too large and too empty, but one now filled with life, happiness, and love. 

It was a home, and Nessa was the reason for it.

When the evening ended, and after Peregrine and Sophia returned home, Alaric found himself standing at the base of the staircase. The podium that had once held the bust of Aisling still stood, but while the bust itself had not been replaced, that single piece that held her face remained.

Alaric looked at that singular piece of marble. It featured his wife’s eyes, her nose, and a fraction of her mouth. When he studied it, he smiled to himself, because he knew that she, most of all, would be happy for how his life had turned out.

“Alaric …” Nessa’s voice was soft as she came in behind him. “What are you doing?”

“Remembering,” he said gently. “I still miss her, sometimes.”

“As I would, if I had known her.” She took his hand and joined him in staring at the fragment that remained of Aisling. “But I like to believe that she would be happy for you, Alaric. And for me, too.”

“I know she would be.”

“Speaking of happiness …” Nessa turned on Alaric and took his other hand. “I have some news. I meant to share it at supper, but I thought it was news you might wish to hear first.”

“Oh?”

His wife’s green eyes lit with fire, and her smile was one that he felt in his heart. “I found out just last week, and where I was not certain at first, there can be no doubt now.”

“No doubt about …”

“I am with child,” she said with laughter. “And my gut tells me it is a boy. Or so I hope.”

Alaric’s heart soared. “Are … you are sure? A child?”

“Very sure.”

These past two years had been a blessing the likes of which Alaric could never have dreamed for himself. 

Firstly, his marriage to Nessa was everything he wanted. Not just a woman to share his life with, but one whom he loved, and who completed him so that he felt whole like he never knew was possible.

When Muirgen came into their lives, that completion grew like the tide, and Alaric’s world was made that little bit bigger. He was happy. He was content. He had the life that he never knew he wanted but now wondered how he had lived without it for so long.

But this news… again, Alaric’s world had just become that little bit bigger. His heart, too, always had room to grow. It soared in his chest and burst from his mouth into a smile that told the world how wonderful this news was to hear.

He had so much to say to his wife, but words were wind, and actions were what mattered. So, as he looked upon the woman whom he adored, he brought her forward and planted a kiss upon her lips. She returned it without hesitation, and they held that kiss as the room faded around them so that they were all that remained.

It was their world, the place that they belonged, and so it would remain today, tomorrow, and for the rest of their lives.

THE END