* * *
“I still cannot believeI have an uncle,” Torin said as he and Flora lay in bed together later that night. “I am so glad he lived these many years. I have so many questions for him.”
“You asked quite a few of him at supper,” Flora said.
“I am hungry to know it all, though I find it difficult to believe that my grandda, Lord Hamish, knew nothing about it. He was twelve and two years at the time and no doubt curious.”
“If he did know, he wisely kept the secret which meant he kept his half-brother safe,” Flora said.
“I so wondered what had turned my great-grandda into an unkind man when he had once been a good one. It is good to know that he was not evil like some said. He was just a man angry at the loss of the woman he loved. I wish I could say the same about my da. He had no excuse for being unkind. He simply cared for no one but himself.” He turned on his side to face his wife. “I feel for my great-grandda for I would be angry to if I lost the woman I love. I do not know how he lived the many years without her.”
“I imagine they are together now and happy,” Flora said.
“I hope so. I hope they have in death what they did not have in life… time together without fear or turmoil.” He tucked a strand of hair that had fallen across her cheek behind her ear. “We will love every day, wife, and share a good life together, for I will have it no other way.”
He kissed her and she smiled.
“Do not take long to slip inside me, husband, for I have an ache for you,” she said.
“As you say, wife,” he said, teasingly and did exactly as she asked.
* * *
The icy cold woke Torin.It circled his legs and crept up along his body. He shivered as he opened his eyes. A light emanated from the end of the bed, and he sat up. It shimmered and he watched as it began to take shape. A man and a woman, a quite beautiful woman, stood there, the man’s arm wrapped around her.
They smiled and he could have sworn he heard the man say, “I am grateful, great-grandson, and I am proud of the man you have become.”
The woman spoke and he heard her clearly in his head. “You will be blessed with six wonderful children, and they will do the Clan Norham proud.”
They began to fade when his wife was suddenly sitting up beside him.
“Do you see them?” Torin asked, continuing to stare as they slowly faded.
“See what?” Flora asked, narrowing her eyes to look where he did, hoping to see whatever it was he saw.
“My great-grandda and Annora. They are together and happy,” he said with a huge smile.
“Truly? That is wonderful and you see them?” she asked excitedly.
He nodded. “They are gone now, but I saw them clearly.”
“My parents are at peace as well. They came to me in a dream. They know I am safe, and they are happy.”
Torin slipped his arm around his wife and laid back to rest her against him. “I am happy they are at peace as well.”
“We are blessed,” Flora said.
“We are, and Annora says we will be blessed with six wonderful children that will do the clan proud.”
Flora rested her hand on her stomach. “The first one is already inside me.”
Torin’s hand rushed to cover hers. “For certain?”
“Aye, husband, come summer our first bairn will be born.”
“I love you, wife,” he whispered and kissed her brow.
“And I you, husband. We should think of names now so we will be prepared whether it be a lad or lass, we will be ready. I am going to start talking with the women who have bairns and learn all I can about what to expect. I was thinking of making an area in my solar a place where I could keep the bairn while I am there.”