by Skye, Harper
“It’s still there…” she whispered in disbelief.
She heard Zach chuckle softly against her. “It was my grandmother’s. And now it’s yours if you want it.”
Ailsa was sure her eyes couldn’t get any bigger. It felt like she was swallowing the world with them. “Zach.” She whispered his name. It felt like she was frozen. Frozen in this perfect moment she just couldn’t believe was happening. Last night she had been alone in a cheap hotel room knowing she had made the biggest mistake of her life. And less than twenty-four hours later she was standing here with Zach in one of her favorite places, despite the dark memories that also came with it. And now there was this ring and the possibility of forever.
Zach reached into the box with two thick fingers and lifted the ring out of its case. Ailsa felt herself naturally lift her hand up and offer her ring finger. Zach’s hands were warm as he slipped it down over her knuckle and secured it in place. His hands were always warm, Ailsa thought as she stared at this beautiful sparkling diamond that had somehow found its way across the world and onto her hand.
“Ailsa…”
“Um hmmm….?” She murmured looking up at him, her eyes still wide and full of astonishment.
“You have to say yes if you want to keep it.” He was smiling at her in that way he often did when he was having his own private joke and loving her all the way through it.
“You haven’t asked me a question.” Ailsa reminded him in a whisper.
“Will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
He brought her into his chest and she gripped his shirt in her fists. His body was shaking and for a moment it was difficult to tell whether he was laughing or crying. And maybe it was both. When she finally looked up at him, the joy on his face and in his eyes made up for the way he had looked the week before when she had left him in the cabin. Ailsa promised herself she would work to bring that look out in him every day for the rest of their lives.
They stood wrapped in each other’s arms for several long minutes. And then Zach shifted and brought his hands onto her shoulders. “I think your brother is probably getting tired of waiting for us.”
Ailsa looked over Zach’s shoulder to the cars and saw that her brother was also there, leaning against the car. She lifted her hand and saw him return her wave. “How did you find David?”
Zach gave a short laugh. “Well, let’s just say your brother has dealt with a few surprises himself today. Including a large American man storming into his sporting goods store demanding to speak to a David McKenzie about where I could find his sister.”
Ailsa laughed trying to imagine the scene with Zach in her brother’s store. “He’s a good brother.” She nodded as she took his hand to walk back towards David.
“He’s a damn good brother!” Zach agreed. “Didn’t even blink. Just shook my hand like he understood everything and told me to get in the car.”
“Did he really?!” Ailsa didn’t think her face could smile any wider. Her mouth felt plastered into an enormous grin. It wasn’t used to this much smiling!
When they reached the car, David was also making no effort to hide his smile. “You look like a cat who’s got the cream!” She commented giving him a hug.
“Look who’s talking!” David said hugging her back.
She squeezed him tighter. Her big brother. He was always trying to take care of her. “Thanks brother.”
“You’re welcome sister. Happy?” He asked.
And at last she could give him the answer he always wanted to hear. “Yes.”
“Okay, well…Let’s go introduce this Yank to mum and dad then!” He slapped Zach on the back and moved towards the driver’s door of the car. “See you back home.”
“You coming back?”
“Hell yeah!” He looked up at her. “I’m definitely not missing this!” Slamming the door, he turned on the engine and pulled out onto the empty road.
Ailsa took Zach’s hand and led him back to the passenger door of her parents’ car. “I’m still feeling pretty freaked out to be sitting on this side and not driving!” Zach admitted as Ailsa slid into the driver’s seat next to him.
“Just relax. We’ve got to drive back through Glen Coe and I’ll get to show you my mountains.” Ailsa turned on the engine and as she lay her left hand on the gear stick, she caught sight of the glimmering ring on her hand. She heard her breath catch and felt her stomach tighten. But this time from immense excitement. Looking out across Rannoch Moor, she said a final silent goodbye to her friends. Ironically, it was the perfect place to lay down a new, beautiful memory that would never replace the old scary one, but had shown Ailsa that it was possible to move on into a new future.
“Ailsa?”
Ailsa brought her vision back from the vast landscape until her blue eyes rested on Zach’s face. She felt his wide hand lay for a moment across her left one, holding the ring he had given her against his palm. “I’ve imagined proposing to you so many times. And last night on the plane over, I was just hoping you’d be glad to see me. But that…seeing you run across the land and fling yourself at me. I was so fucking nervous you were going to be mad when you saw me. And then when I heard the way you called my name and the next second I was holding you in my arms. That was better than anything I could have hoped for.”
He looked at her and in that moment, Ailsa saw all the faces of him. The way his face had looked at her with wide open eyes the first time they had run into each other in the lake house cabin. The way his face had stirred with the glimmer of love after their first kiss. The way his face had looked at her with great loneliness when he had stood before her in the dark shadows of the bar in Fairbanks. The way he had looked showing her his land. And then the shy look in his eyes when she had walked through his workshop for the first time. The look of his eyes in lust when he lay over her naked body. The ecstasy of his face when he was inside of her. The look of anguish when he had understood she was leaving him. The look of joy when she had said ‘yes’.
“So…” Zach cleared his throat and looked at her. “Are we moving to Inverness then?”
“What?” Ailsa couldn’t hide her shock at his question. “What do you mean?”
“Well, are you going to take that job at the music shop?”
“No. You mean…you’d go?”
“Ailsa, I’ve just put a ring on your finger, darling.” He said as if he had to explain everything to her now. “I go where you go.”
How was he so fucking amazing? Ailsa thought she had understood his love for her. She thought when she saw him coming towards her across the moorland, after everything they had been through and despite everything she had done, she had thought she understood then how much he loved her. Now she saw she had been wrong. The depth of his love was just beginning.
“No.” She shook her head. “I came here to say goodbye. Then I was going to go back and find you. I understand everything now. The dreams. The bear. What happened to me after the accident. Us.” She paused and brought her right hand onto his arm. “I was going to fly back and beg you to forgive me.”
“You were?”
“Yes.”
“Well I guess I beat you to it this time.”
“You did.” She grinned at him.
“Maybe it was my turn to come find you.” He leaned over and kissed her mouth. And then her cheeks. And then her nose. And then her mouth again.
“Let’s go with that version.”
“Okay.” Zach was laughing at her. “Now show me these mountains up close. I’ve got to pull myself together and focus on the next big thing.”
“Next big thing?” She looked at him, confused.
“Yeah. Meeting your parents and explaining to them why I’ve asked their daughter to marry me and am planning to drag her back to Alaska before I’ve even introduced myself.”
“They are going to love you.” Ailsa reassured him, patting his arm and revving the engine of the little red car.
“Oh yeah? Why is that.”
>
“Because you finally managed to make their daughter happy.” Ailsa looked over her shoulder and pulled out onto the lonely road. In front of them the mountains loomed tall and graceful with their beautiful glacial curves. “Many have tried and failed…”
Zach laughed and Ailsa felt his arm weave in around her shoulders. He leaned against her and kissed the side of her head. “I can’t stop kissing you!” He murmured against her.
“Don’t stop.”
“I won’t.”
And she knew he meant everything.
Epilogue
Zach leaned against the bar and let his gaze linger on his wife. She stood on the stage with the rest of the band holding her fiddle loosely in one hand, the curves of the wood mimicking the curves of her hips in her jeans. They were a pair, those two. There had been times over the past two years when Zach had really seen what Ailsa had meant when she had told him that sometimes the fiddle was her truest voice. But through her work with Pete, he had also watch Ailsa take pieces of wood and bring them to life. She gave the instrument its own unique voice through her craftsmanship.
He watched as Ailsa turned her body slightly on her toes, and the light from the small window caught the long strands of her light hair, turning it from a soft brown to gold. It was May and the light was finally coming back to the Alaskan sky in full force. There had been times over the winter when it was hard to imagine they would ever seen the sun again. And yet, once the spring equinox had passed, light had raced back into the sky and the evenings had begun to stretch out again.
It was still hard for him to believe that this May marked two years since Ailsa had first walked into that bar, and Zach had known for certain what it felt like for your heart to stop. There had been many times over the last two years that Zach had worried. Would she be able to handle the long dark Alaskan winter? Would the nightmares of her accident ever give her any peace? Would she ever truly feel at home here in Fairbanks with him?
Ironically none of the things he had worried about most during those early months after she had run across the Scottish moorland, thrown herself into his arms and let him put a ring on her finger had come to pass. Ailsa’s quiet nature meant she dealt with the long dark days of winter better than most Alaskans. Her work with Pete and the community of musicians and other artists that gravitated to Fairbanks were a certain kind of down-to-earth, practical type that suited Ailsa’s personality.
If he was honest, the most trouble she had had was finding the right musicians for her band. She had met the guitarist Matt at Pete’s music shop and they had hit it off immediately, dreaming of forming a new folk band. And Matt had a friend who played the double-base and was an easy addition. But finding a drummer had been a real problem. The first drummer had been a constant source of strife, arguing over everything and turning most practices from a friendly jam session into a constant negotiation.
When Ailsa had finally found a way to amicably part ways, the search for a new drummer had led them to a guy called Joe. The band had limped on with Ailsa getting more and more frustrated at the way Joe’s lack of rhythm took the shine out of most of their songs.
The band was Ailsa’s real joy, and the weeks when things hadn’t been going well had really brought her down. That was why Zach was crossing all of his fingers that this new guy who now sat behind the drums was as good as Ailsa had said. They had only had one practice session together, but Ailsa had been beaming when she had come home from their session. And she wasn’t easily impressed.
“What can I get you, Zach?”
“IPA and a water, Jesse, thanks,” Zach said throwing a glance at the bartender and smiling.
“Nice to have Ailsa back onstage. It’s been a few months,” Jesse commented, pulling Zach’s beer.
“Yeah she couldn’t find a drummer. Hoping this guy is good. She’s been itching to get the band back onstage.”
“Well, like I said, it’s great to hear her play. You’re a fucking lucky bastard, you know that.” Jesse added, nodding towards the stage where Ailsa’s figure cut a beautiful curving line and her hair streamed in long waves down her back.
Zach grinned as Jesse handed him his drinks. “Yeah I know it.”
“Make sure she knows it too, brother. I’ve made that mistake before.”
“Every damn day,” Zach agreed. “Thanks for these.”
With both glasses in hand he made his way over to the stage where the beautiful woman who was his wife stood.
“Everyone got their set list?” He overheard her asking to a round of nods.
“You okay, Ryder?” She asked, directing her attention to the new drummer.
“I’m good, Ailsa. Thanks for letting me play, I’ve missed it.” Zach heard Ryder’s reply. He had a brooding look with his dark eyebrows and the slight frown his face seemed to fall into at rest, but his voice was easy-going. Straight-forward. Ailsa had called him a stereotypical drummer when he had described him to Zach last week, and Zach was starting to see what she meant.
Turning lightly on her toes, Ailsa noticed Zach standing at the edge of the stage and immediately her eyes lit up and her mouth shifted into that quiet smile she used with him. “Thought you could use a drink,” he said. He could feel his whole face pulling into a smile as he felt the energy of her radiate into his chest.
Ailsa reached out to take the water from his hand. Bringing the glass to her mouth she took a long sip. “Thanks. Just what I needed.” She leaned down from the stage and brushed her mouth against his, and Zach had to try very hard to keep himself from taking more. He could feel the cold taste of her lips where the water had touched, and before he crossed the line, he forced himself to pull away. There was something about Ailsa onstage. All her beauty and courage and the very heart of who she was shone through. And it never stopped affecting him to see her like this.
“Need anything else?”
“Just to start playing. I always hate waiting around after sound check. It’s dead time. Gives me too much time to get nervous,” she added, her voice quieter than usual.
“And then you start playing and you forget all of that and you remember that you’re brilliant.” Zach brought his arm around the back of her waist and squeezed her closer to him. She threw him a wry smile at the way he had tried to roll his Rs in imitation of her Scottish accent.
“Seb and Leah here?”
“Yep, we’ve got a table over there,” Zach pointed and Ailsa shielded her eyes against the glare of the stage lights and then waved when she caught Leah’s eye.
“Okay, I’m going to head back. Break a leg, babe.” He pulled her down for one more kiss. It was slightly selfish but he couldn’t help himself. She was the most beautiful woman standing there onstage. And she loved him. He was a fucking lucky bastard!
“So who’d Ailsa get to replace that god awful drummer?” Seb asked as he saddled onto the stool at the high top table.
“Oh someone Pete knows. Says he grew up around here…” Zach’s voice trailed off as he suddenly saw Leah’s face drop.
“Oh. My. God. Is that Ryder fucking Slade behind those drums?”
Zach’s head spun round to look back at the new drummer. From the way Leah was looking at him, he half expected the guy to have suddenly transformed into a monster. But no, same dark haired quiet guy sitting behind the drums, obviously exercising an extreme amount of patience with Matt who was still gesturing in full conversation with Ryder. Matt could talk the ears off a deaf man.
“Who’s Ryder Slade?” Seb asked. His raised eyebrows told Zach he was just as surprised as anyone to hear the tone in Leah’s voice.
Leah didn’t answer. She was staring at Zach as if something were his fault. He shrugged. “Yeah, his name is Ryder. That’s all I know though, Leah. What’s the deal? You know him?”
“Yeah I know him.” For a moment she was quiet and Zach and Seb exchanged looks again. “He used to date my little sister,” Leah added at last. “Fuck! Meredith is going to…”
“Doesn’t
your sister live in the Lower 48?” Zach asked, still confused.
Seb nodded towards his friend. “She does, but she just called last week to announce that she’s quit her job and is moving back to Fairbanks.” He looked back over at Leah who continued to stare in the direction of the stage as if she still couldn’t quite believe her eyes.
“Ryder fucking Slade. Unbelievable…”
“Surely your sister expects to run into people from her past if she moves back to her home town,” Zach offered. It had happened to him plenty of times. His old high school girlfriend still lived in Illinois about ten minutes from his parents’ house and he seemed to bump into her every time he was home for a visit.
“He’s been down in Anchorage for years,” Leah explained, finally bringing her gaze back to the table. Behind her, Zach could hear Ailsa pull her bow across her fiddle a few times. They were about to start the first set.
“Are you going to tell her?” Seb asked. He looked from his wife’s face back up towards the stage as if he were also trying to figure out why this was such a big deal. People had ex’s. Why was this any different? Zach could read his thoughts as if they were written across his face.
“I don’t know.” Leah shook her head. “She’s had a rough time and she’s taken a huge leap of faith quitting her job. I don’t want to freak her out. I’m going to have to tell her though. At some point…” She ran her fingers through her blond hair and sighed. “Ryder Slade…fucking hell. I think I’m going to need a stronger drink.”
Want to read about Seb & Leah - for FREE?
With her golden hair and sunny smile, Leah comes across as a girl with a perfect life. What most don’t see is that her smile is Leah’s own specially-crafted armor that hides a well of fears.
Seb basks in a playful, carefree life, building sunrooms and treehouses for his Fairbanks clients and spending all his free time hiking, skiing and refusing to worry about the future. But then he meets the beautiful girl at the coffee hut who he calls ‘morning glory’, and when he sees the flicker of fear hidden in the edges of his eyes, there is nothing Seb wants to do more than grow into the man she can finally trust.