Page 10 of Dear Kilted Scotsman
“Don’t you need your boots?” Ainslie calls after me, but I don’t bother answering her.
I’m near the tree line when I see Brianna standing near the water’s edge, just as I did when I first saw her. She’s staring out at the water.
“Brianna!” I call out, the uneasy grip on my heart releasing a bit when I see her.
She turns but doesn’t smile or show any sign that she’s happy to see me.
“What are you doing out here?” I ask, closing the distance between us.
She holds out her hand to stop me when I reach for her. “I needed some time to think.”
“About what?”
“About us.”
The grip on my heart tightens again. “What do you mean?”
"This is all happening so fast." She turns back to the water. "I thought that's what I wanted to meet someone and fall so completely for them just like Katherine did with Graeme.”
I shake my head, not knowing who she’s talking about, but she continues before I can ask.
"But it's different in real life. The stakes are higher. The pain feels so much stronger and it could cripple you if it doesn't work out."
“But what if it does work out?”
She shakes her head. “You can’t guarantee that we will get our happily ever after.”
“You’re right. No one can guarantee that if you take a chance on another person that it won’t bring you some pain along the way. But that’s how you know it’s real. I'm real. I'm here standing in front of you." I pull the letter out of my pocket and hand it back to her. "I'm not a fictionalized version of a man you had in your head. There will be ups and downs, but we will work through them together."
She throws her arms up and laughs humorously. “I don’t even live here.”
I point to the letter. “You weren’t afraid of the miles between us then. We will figure it out. If you want to move here, that’s great. If you want me to go back with you to America, I will follow you. I don’t want perfect. I want something real—with you. What do you want?”
She looks down at the letter in her hands, brushing her fingertips across the envelope. I hold my breath and wait while she decides what she wants. I can only hope that my words, my kiss, my love is enough for her to take this chance with me, to create our own adventure.
Brianna tears the letter in half and drops the pieces on the pebbled shoreline.
“I want something real with you too.”
I close the distance between us, wrap my arms around her. “I love you so much,” I whisper to her.
“I love you too.”
I kiss her like it’s our last kiss but knowing that it’s only just the beginning for us.
"Maybe someday our story will be written," I say when I pull back to look at her.
She smiles and shakes her head. “Let everyone else have their fiction. Our story is just for us.”
Epilogue
BRIANNA
“Da-da-da-da!” Katherine garbles out as she watches her father stand and waits for the results from the caber toss.
The connection between the two of them is beyond words, and it's like he's heard her cheering him on when he glances over at the two of us. We are sitting in the front row with all the villagers in the stands, cheering on all the men as they compete.
I glance at the stage and see Ainslie in the same dress I wore three years ago when I played the Lady of the Loch.
