Page 98 of Authentically, Izzy
“It’s... it’s beautiful,” she whispered.
“It is.” And when she turned, he wasn’t even looking at the town. He was staring at her and she’d never felt so beautiful in her whole life. All the shallowness, immaturity, and self-centeredness of the previous relationships bloomed clear. She’d never had a man look at her like Brodie did. See her like he did. This was the reason for the storybooks. This is what the warrior fought to protect or rescue. This beautiful and tender realization of being seen, loved, and loving in return. There was no going back to anything less. As Penelope would say, Brodie was designer while Izzy had been living on generic clearance items her whole adult life.
He cleared his throat and gestured ahead. “You can see all of Skern from here and miles beyond. That is Brawnlyn Castle, or what’s left of it. It sits on the edge of Loch Sella.” A stone ruin with an imposing tower perched like a lonely sentry overlooking the hillsides. And then there were the cobblestone streets of Skern, and the green rolling hills, and far in the distance the rolling sea. She almost laughed at the wonder of it all. She’d spent so much time reading stories, she never imagined actually living one, but here she was. Her fingers tightened around Brodie’s. What had she missed all these years of being afraid? Of burying her heart, her life, beneath stories or duty or hurt? She loved serving her family, but how long ago had Josephine’s or Aunt Louisa’s or other people’s requests to her become an expectation rather than an opportunity to truly choose? And would she have had the courage to choose her own dreams, even if she’d recognized them?
“We’ll drive by those ruins this afternoon and through the Alnors, there.” He leaned close and pointed out the sharp-edged mountains rising up from around the ruins and the loch. “My house is just beyond those mountains, by the sea.”
“Of course it is.” She released her held laugh, shaking her head. “You’ve been pretty secretive about this house of yours. Waithcliff, right?”
“Aye, though it was already given that name before I inherited it.”
“You inherited it? It’s a family home?”
“One of my uncles who never married. We were always close, and he asked if I’d want it. I’d fallen in love with the house when I was a child.” He slid a hand around her waist. “But that is all I will say because, Karre, I want Waithcliff to be a surprise. I’ve worked on it for three years and am rather proud of what I’ve been able to renovate to this point.”
“Everything has been a surprise.” She sighed into him, assigning this moment a special place among the mental scrapbook she’d created called “Brodie.” “It’s hard to believe a place like this exists. You have it all. Oceans, mountains, lakes, castles, adorable villages.” She waved toward him. “Inherited manor houses.”
“Bookshops,” he added.
She raised a brow. “Handsome and charming natives.”
He shrugged a shoulder and tipped his chin in a dashing pose. “Our best feature.”
“I’d agree with that.” She showed her appreciation for their similar height by kissing his smile and then waved toward the quaint town stretching out before them to a green countryside. “But in all honesty every place we’ve visited so far has been remarkable! Like walking through a storybook!”
“Even the Inswythe Docks?” His brow rose in the playful way she was beginning to adore seeing in person more and more.
“Well, it gave off Dickens vibes, but still storybook worthy.” She sighed and took in the view again. “No wonder you love it so much. I can’t imagine people ever wanting to leave such a place.”
“Right. One would think that, wouldn’t they?” His whispered response pulled her attention back to him, his expression uncharacteristically solemn.
“Brodie?” She turned to face him. “I’m... I’m not asking you to leave, you know.”
“I know.” His lips softened back into a small smile, his gaze holding hers. “It’s just that . . . well . . .”
Her stomach suddenly dropped, and the breeze took on an unexpected chill. Here it came! The moment when the romance took a dip into real life. The great reveal of some horrible reason why they could never be together, and all these lovely imaginings were nothing more than pen and ink.
“You know”—he drew in a breath—“you have to know that I care for you.” He cleared his throat and ran his palms down her arms. “You... you have my heart, Isabelle. Almost from the start, you’ve had it.”
She blinked. That didn’t sound at all like a disaster.
“Brodie!” Ellen Sutherland’s voice rose from below, echoing through the roof door. “Brodie dear, would you mind coming to take this call? Your brother is quite... flummoxed.”
Brodie’s shoulders bent with a sigh.
“He says it’s something about gremlins and thievery again, I’m afraid.”
Izzy felt her eyebrow raise.
“A few nasty business associates.” Brodie shook his head and gave her shoulders a little squeeze. “Anders has a way of inciting conflict. It’s a special gift of his. I’ll be right back.”
Izzy watched him disappear and then turned back to the view, allowing the fresh air to fill her lungs. She’d had Brodie’s heart from the beginning? How? She braced her hands against the iron railing fence in the roofline. Of course an Éowyn profile picture would grab any trueLord of the Ringsfan, but he wasn’t talking about the photo. He was talking abouther. And she understood, because something in her heart responded to him from the first email. A kinship.
She pulled out her phone to snap a few pictures of the view, when a message popped up on her screen. Josephine? Her breath stalled. Were the babies okay?
She pressed the message so that it opened into a very long text:
Mother has decided not to retire after all. She took off the last four days to help me prepare for the twins and within that time we realized retirement wasn’t for her and her constant presence in my home wasn’t for me. I love her. She’s a wonderful mother, but I cannot imagine listening to all of her “suggestions” about EVERYTHING all of the time. I’ve told Mother that I’d prefer for you to help me with the twins, so she’s going to lighten your library schedule a bit when you return so you can have some flexibility. Won’t that be fun? Besides, no one is as good at setting people at ease as you. How long are you in Skymark? Your little island friend will love Mt. Airy. It’s a wonderful community and so accepting of foreigners.
