Fire Maidens Scotland (Billionaires & Bodyguards #6) - Anna Lowe Page 0,68
told you about my undying love for my dear Ava. Indeed, the love for one’s mate can be the easiest of all. But there’s another kind of love — love that can test and challenge you. Love that doesn’t always guarantee a happy end.
These words are difficult to write, as are the painful memories they recall. But please indulge me as I free my soul of them. I speak of the love of a child, whom you must guide and nurture, but sometimes reprimand or even punish. You know that Ava and I had a son…
Lachlan glanced at Holly, whose eyes were shiny with tears.
“Are you all right?”
She flashed him a tight smile and huddled closer, then nodded. “Go on.”
He took a steadying breath and continued.
Ava and I had a son — the only child destiny blessed us with. Every parent wishes the world for their child, but we can be guilty of wishing for too much as well. Well-meaning wishes, to be sure, but ones that crowd those of the child. I was blind to that at the time, but I realize it now. If I could turn back the clock and do things differently, I would. I would raise my son the way you were raised, free of crushing expectations and a cage of duty. But I learned that too late.
Too late for Terence, but not for you.
“Me?” Holly murmured, perplexed.
Lachlan didn’t answer right away. He was too busy wrestling with the lump in his throat. Where were all those emotions coming from? The letter had nothing to do with him.
It’s just like us, his dragon whispered. Just like Father.
“Hey,” Holly whispered, stroking his arm. “Are you okay?”
Lachlan squeezed her hand. Now it was her checking on him. Funny, that.
“Yes. Sorry.” He gave the letter a little snap and forced himself to focus.
Some say my son Terence left, shirking family and duty. For a time, I believed that too. But I see now that I was the one who drove him away.
Trevor’s handwriting wavered at that point, and Lachlan squinted before going on
Terence departed on adventures I know all too little about. At some point, we learned that he had fallen in love. At the time, I didn’t approve, but who was I to judge? I see that now. Again, too late for my poor son. Too late for me to set the record straight, but please allow me to try.
Like myself at that age, Terence was a headstrong young man, and he became embroiled in trouble abroad. Trouble that took his life and stole all the joy from Ava’s heart along with mine. Foolhardy, some called him. A terrible waste, others said. Bitter and broken as I was at the time, I agreed.
It was only a year later, after my dear Ava passed away, that I discovered the truth. A truth I wish you to communicate to the world. Terence was neither foolhardy, nor was his death wasteful, because he gave his life for a higher cause — the woman he loved, and the child he fathered.
Lachlan’s eyes just about bulged out of his head. Up to that point, the story had matched what he’d been told. Terence had taken off, and Lachlan’s father had been dispatched in hopes of talking his friend out of such folly and coming home.
Folly. Foolish… his dragon growled.
Lachlan clenched his jaw. For years, he’d bought that message, and it had nearly cost him Holly. But Terence hadn’t given in as easily as he had. He had followed his heart.
“Terence had a child?” Holly’s yelp made Mungo leap to his feet and look around.
Lachlan stared at the bombshell of a letter. Did the Guardians of Scotland know? After all, they had been just as invested in Trevor’s family line continuing as Trevor himself.
“Wow. Terence and some woman had a baby?” Holly went on.
Suddenly, it dawned on Lachlan what Trevor was getting at, and everything fell into place. Trevor’s sudden interest in North America after Ava’s death. His investment in a tiny distillery in the middle of nowhere, partnering with a family no one knew. His doting on a cowgirl from the Rockies and bringing her to Scotland again and again.
Not just any baby, Lachlan nearly whispered. You.
Holly gripped his arm. “Poor Trevor. To find out he had a grandchild. Did he ever find him or her?”
Lachlan looked at her, unable to say so much as, I think so.
Still, how could that be? Holly’s father was a cougar shifter from Wyoming.