Sleepless nights filled with love making differed greatly from sleepless nights in the office working on magazine articles or sleepless nights tending to a sick child. When the sun rose the next morning and my eyes had yet to close for a single minute, I realized that while my body was beyond exhausted, my mind was alert and happy.
“What’s the plan for the day?” I rolled to face him, Eoghanan’s deep green eyes piercing into my soul.
He said nothing for a moment, and I could sense that he hesitated. “No verra much. If ye doona mind, I’d like to make the announcement of our coming marriage today.”
I didn’t mind at all. If Vegas was only an airplane away rather than several hundreds of years, I would have suggested we marry the very next day. I moved to run my hands through his hair, kissing his nose as I snuggled into him. “I don’t mind at all. How soon can we be married? I mean, I’m not very familiar with how weddings work here.”
He rolled over onto his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows as he looked down at me. “As soon as ye wish, lass. I dinna wish to rush if ye wanted to take some time, but I’d marry ye today if I could.”
“Today? Could things be arranged so quickly?” I closed my eyes and smiled, delighting in the feeling of his fingertips as he ran feather light touches up and down my bare arm.
“’Tis no so much to arrange, but I’m afraid I must leave for a day or two to make special preparations.”
“Preparations for what?” Fear that I’d managed to lock away for the night crept back. “You’re not…Eoghanan, I don’t want you to go after her.”
“No, lass. I am no afraid of the witch, Jinty. Without me brother to act as her puppet master, I doona think she is capable of real harm. Though should I get the chance to end her life, I will do so for all the pain she helped bring upon this family. ’Tis only that I wish to prepare a surprise for ye. Baodan and I will leave this afternoon.”
I knew it was ridiculous. I was too grown to allow such a notion to find a resting place in my mind, but the thought of him being away for a mere two days made me rather sad. “Must you leave? In the middle of the gathering?”
“Doona worry yerself, Grace. The gathering will last for weeks. Few will even notice our departure. Eoin and Arran will be here to care for things in our absence. Trust me, when ye see what I’ve planned for ye, ye will be glad I left.” He flipped over onto his back and stood rather abruptly. “In the meantime, I need ye to stay here a moment while I check on yer other surprise.”
He dressed quickly and left, leaving me with a mind full of confused wonderings. He’d not left my side all night. How could he have so many plans already in place?
He didn’t leave me long to imagine what he had planned, arriving back in the doorway within a matter of minutes, the largest smile I’d ever seen on his face.
“I think ye best get dressed, Grace.”
I stood and did as he asked. His excitement roused my curiosity greatly. “Okay, what is it? What have you done?”
He shrugged nonchalantly. “’Tis no so much what I have done, but Morna. Ye see, I had a conversation with wee Cooper before we traveled back here, and he spoke of a man verra important to ye all. When I told Morna of him, she promised that she would check in often to see how things progressed between us and should they lead to marriage, she would send ye, Cooper, and Jeffrey a gift. Yer gift has arrived.”
Surely he couldn’t mean what he made it sound like. The man who the three of us leaned on more than any other and the last missing piece in our little puzzle couldn’t possibly be here.
I fumbled with the laces in my anticipation and eventually spun my back toward Eoghanan, lifting my hair and pointing to my back. “Help me, please.”
He obliged, working quickly with the laces. “There. Ye are properly covered and free to go and see yer surprise. I hope ye are no disappointed.”
I hoped so, too. He’d built up to it so much, making me believe it could only be one thing, that I knew if it wasn’t I would have a difficult time masking my disappointment.
I walked quickly down the hallway, unsure of just where my surprise lay. Then I heard it—the same voice that I’d gone to my entire life for guidance and comfort, the same voice that Cooper loved second only to mine and Jeffrey’s.
I turned the corner and nearly wept. There, with Cooper clinging to him, grasping his neck so tightly I was surprised he could breathe, stood Bebop.
*