A/N: It's time for Jim and Melinda to settle into Leoch and to try and wrap up the story the best from there. A bit of Katherine and Ned too and I hope you all enjoy! So excited to finally have this story completely up to date now so I can get working on a new chapter for y'all soon :) xx Mariah
"Ye dinna mind sleeping in this room, then? I can always find ye a better one that will fit yer needs."
Katherine briefly looked up at her brother-in-law before returning to her work, carefully grinding comfrey and other herbs into a salve for his aching joints. It was somewhat of a weekly occurrence since he had run out of his usual mixture on the voyage to Leoch sometime ago.
But with the hubbub surrounding the lord's return with his new wife last night – coupled with hurried (if heartfelt) introductions to the staff and frequent noble visitors named Ellen, Robert and Ian – she hadn't had the chance to make more for him, and she, little Eddie and Ned had been shuffled into a clean but clearly unused bedroom on the manor's third floor.
It wasn't luxurious by any means, but it was comfortable and nicely decorated. The bed was large enough for her and Ned to lay together and for Eddie to join them; if need be. The babe usually slept on his own in his bassinet with a nursemaid by his side, but there was the occasional bad night when her son only wanted her and she was never one to deny her sweet little boy of sleeping on her or just near her.
"I am only glad to have a roof over my son's head. After my late husband's health declined I was unsure what my plan for the future was, but then I saw my sister on the docks with Ned… it changed everything," she said softly, trailing off. "Your hospitality is greatly appreciated, Lord Clancy. I do not wish to think of where I could have been without my sister's guidance and your everlasting kindness."
Jim– observant but tactful – did not pry. He smiled, easing her worries a little. "Of course, Katherine. There is no need to thank me. Have ye come to stay, then?" He asked. "Ye wi' always have a place here in Leoch. I have told Ned that several times since we met. There is plenty of work to be found for a man with his skills. I wi' help ye both find yer places here." He glanced across the room to where Ned was unpacking the last of their things. Ned was still unused to the noble life of having most things taken care of by servants and liked to put his own things away. "I must thank ye again for saving my wife. By doing that ye saved our wee bairn as well and for that… I owe you a debt that cannot be repaid."
"I was only acting on Katherine's orders. It was the right thing to do," Ned said dutifully, standing up straight to hold out his hand for a firm handshake. "Anyone would have. It will be a blessing to see the child born into the world. I will pray that he or she will be healthy and strong."
"Not just anyone would have fought off pirates," Jim said. "I thank ye for yer prayers, Ned. Truly."
"Only two and they weren't the best ones on a good day," Ned said with a humble shrug as he moved back over towards his trunk. "I can only hope for the future to bring us both good tidings."
"Aye. I think it should," Jim glanced back over at her as she pursed her lips, thinking hard.
She brought over a small portion of the salve for him to rub on his shoulder. After a long moment when she waited for him to remove his tunic and bare his strong muscled chest, she slowly raised her gaze to meet his kind eyes. "I believe it would be best if we stayed. If that is a welcomed idea?" She asked, slowly rubbing the soothing herbs over his lower back before noticing his bruised shoulder. "And if you don't mind me asking… what did you do to your shoulder? It seems more bruised than tender."
"Of course. It's the least I could do for my good sister." Jim said, moving his arm back and forth with more ease. "Ah, that? It was an accident. I was messing around with my brothers, dinna fash lass. Ye are a rare fine healer, Katherine. I have tried almost everything for years, and your concoction has worked the best out of all the ones I paid for."
"Why thank you, my lord." She said with a bright smile. "That is a welcomed compliment. I am happy to have eased your pain."
Then Ned walked across the room again and drew her closer against him. "Ah, well – I can be one to attest that she mended me twice on the day she met me." He said, placing his hand gently on her shoulder. "I was only a stablehand and she was the first and only noble girl who had ever looked me in the eye."
"I wouldn't say I was the only one… many girls would talk about you in private, but were too nervous to say or even look at you." She said with a slight rose tint to her cheeks. "Though, Lord Clancy may not want to hear of such trivial things."
"Yes, I suppose so," Ned said with a frown.
"No, carry on. Do tell," Jim said with a nod, leaning against the wall near him. "I love a good story."
"There was one time when I was cleaning one of the horse's hooves and ended up getting hurt…" Ned said, trailing off from there to look over at her lovingly. "Katherine had heard me shout and came into the stables… I had never seen a girl, let alone a lady as herself not flinch at the sight of blood, yet she picked up the pieces and stitched my hand back together."
"A wonderful story," Jim said, smiling. "It will be good to have you both around. A wedding will be in the near future, that I can see very clearly."
"You truly think so? That would be wonderful," she said, dreaming of her wedding day to Ned. The one she had hoped for before she was wed off to another. "A dream come true."
"It will be good for the manor and for you both as well," Jim said, hugging them both. "I do not see a reason to object to such a beautiful event. Would you like me to set it into motion?"
Just then Eddie stole the moment by crying out. A nursemaid made a quick move across the room, but Katherine waved her away. "I will take him. Go rest, Ester. Thank you for watching him last night."
When they first arrived in Leoch, Jim had pointed out the small family graveyard just a little ways past the manor and beside the gardens. Melinda knew that he had gone there to speak to his family up returning, telling them things he couldn't face telling the living or even her.
She knew Jim wouldn't be going to visit them today because he had gone to discuss with Katherine and Ned about staying in Leoch more permanently. With her hand curved on her growing stomach, Melinda began the short walk to the graveyard.
Easily, she found who she was looking for. Faith Ellen Mackenzie Clancy.
She approached her grave and sat down on the lush green grass that would soon fade in the coming winter months. Finding a comfortable position for herself and the baby, she sighed, her hand running over the engraved stone.
"Hello, Faith. I am Melinda, Jim's wife." It felt a bit strange to be talking to a headstone but she had wished and needed to say something to Jim's mother and this was the closest that she would ever get. "I came here to tell you, if your son hasn't already, that we are with child," her hand curved around her enlarged belly, "and I wish you and Aiden could be here. With us, with Jim. He misses you terribly sometimes and I know being back home only makes him realize how important you both were to him. He will make a good father. I know in my heart that he will. I suppose I just wanted to thank you, Faith, for raising such a wonderful, kind and strong son. For bringing him up in this world so I could find him."
She brought my fingers to her mouth and kissed them, then slid them over the cold hard stone of Faith's gravestone. "I wish to ask for your blessing for this baby," she looked down at her stomach and felt a gentle kick from inside, "that even though you're not here as my own parents aren't," a tear slid down her face, "that you will love this child and watch over him or her."
Melinda stayed there for a while, partly because she was having some trouble standing up on her own these days. When she eventually did try and stand up, two large hands were at her back, helping her stand.
"Melinda," Jim smiled, wrapping his arms around her belly, "What are ye doin' here?"
She leaned her head back against his chest, feeling the strong thrum of his heart, "Just visiting with your mother, completely normal," she laughed and reached up behind her to stroke his cheek.
"That's verra kind of ye, Mel." He kissed the spot where her neck met with her shoulder. "I came home about an hour ago… Daniel said ye had gone to the graveyard but he hadna seen ye since. So I came lookin' for ye..."
She turned to face him, her hands on his firm chest. "And you found me," she stood on her tiptoes and kissed his lips softly.
"Aye, I found ye." He turned and led them back to the house.
Jim was the first to open his eyes the next morning, blinking blearily in the soft candlelight. He'd thrown his head back against the headboard, and he now eased up a bit, hands still gripping the lovely, perfect roundness of Melinda's arse. His gaze focused on his wife – her mouth open as she breathed, eyes still shut tightly, blunt nails digging into the soft flesh of his shoulders.
Slowly, gently, he ran one hand up and over her hip, settling his thumb in the hollow of her navel, his fingers spread wide over the swell of her belly – caressing her and the bairn. Their wee miracle – a true blessing from God.
He felt a soft kick and then another, his eyes glancing up to see if she had woken as her limbs twitched and her breathing rapidly increased– only to meet her eyes, wide open now, pupils dilated, drawing him in with a siren's song.
Melinda swallowed and licked her lips, sharing a wide, ecstatic smile with him. She grabbed his jaw with both hands, holding him in place as she leaned up for a long, slow, heady kiss. Later, when she had buried her face in the shelter of his neck and he had wrapped his arms so tightly around her that he felt the child moving against his own belly again, and he remembered what he had originally wanted to tell her before his bone-deep need and want for her had overpowered them both.
"I miss ye so much," he said quietly, tracing his thumb up and down the bumps of her spine. "I wish to apologize for hardly having any chance to be with ye since our arrival. I want to show ye Leoch more once I have the chance."
"Mmm. Yes. I know you will show me your home in time and I miss you as well, dear husband. Know that I will not grow angry at your for doing your duty as long as you come to dinner and bed at night," she said with a smile on her face.
Gently he massaged the small of her back – which was troubling her more and more as the child grew – and she hummed with pleasure. "Ah, well. It's no' just doing my duty as the lord of Leoch but as yer husband. I have a duty to ye as well and I will never forget it, Melinda. So many times throughout the day I turned to speak to ye and forget ye're no' there with me like ye were on the boat. I am still not used to being parted from yet for most of the day… being our duties have us both busy."
She straightened, raising her head to meet his eyes. The movement shifted him within her, and they both gasped. "I am not parted from you now," she teased. "Do not forget that."
He swallowed, slowly steading his breath. "I mean – there are so many things I wish to tell you. So many times I want to laugh wi' ye at something, or someone. When I want to ask what ye think, or what ye'd do."
She tucked behind his ear the hair that had become mussed with sleep. "I miss you, too," she said quietly. "I wonder what you are doing – how bored you are – what you're learning about each day as the laird or how many harlots have propositioned you."
Her tone was light – but, perceptive as always, he immediately sensed her underlying worry – and insecurity. He traced her soft, swollen lower lip, thoughtful. "I meet so many people, go to so many places and do so many things, but my thoughts are always of ye, Melinda. I want to rush home, to be alone wi' ye. To share everything with ye – and know that ye are here, waiting to share everything wi' me."
She kissed his thumb, heart full. "I am learning, too," she said softly. "About Scotland, the court of Leoch, and running a household of my own. I so love being useful, but I miss you, desperately. I cannot wait for you to come home every day and for me to just be your wife."
He rested his forehead against hers – and together they breathed, savoring each other. He slowly began to move into her and his gaze settled on the point of their connection – where the boundaries of their bodies melted – becoming one flesh, just as their hearts and minds were truly one.
"We are not whole without each other," she whispered after a long moment, caressing the stiff joints and muscles of his back. "You are the only thing that makes sense to me. The only person I can trust."
"Ye are my heart, my joy, my soul, mo nighean donn," he breathed, bringing their joined hands to touch the precious, amazing point of their union.
Her stomach quivered and her breath quickened. She whimpered as tears shone in her eyes. "The love of my love, oh..." She gasped.
He tilted his hips, delighting in her shudder. He felt her hand move to the back of his neck, sliding up into his hair, tugging gently. His hips slapped against her, staggering in their rhythm as the primal need to finish finally took over. Something snapped in him and suddenly the white-hot flare of pleasure burned through him. Moaning and shuddering he emptied himself into her again and again before he stilled, buried as deep as he could possibly be.
They all slowly but surely found their routine at Leoch. Jim's days were filled with attending to his lordly duties and the needs of his tenants. Melinda's days were filled with her duties as the lady of the house while learning way around. Even though she was heavily pregnant, she had insisted that she could still do just as much as everyone else.
Katherine did her best to help out wherever help was needed. She had become the manor's physician of sorts with a makeshift room for her to heal people in provided to her by Jim, along with some herbal supplies that she had asked for. Ned had taken up to be a handyman of sorts and did whatever he could to help out as well.
"I am going down to the stone mill Katherine, Mrs. Crook said it's not working, care to join me?" He asked her over breaking their fast, more porridge with some fresh-picked berries. There was even a sweet-treat of a drink from France that gave her an extra sing of energy brought out as well.
"Sure," she said with a slight nod and smirk. "I would love to get out of the manor for the day. I will just have to have someone alert Margaret, the nursemaid." She said and quickly a servant ran off to alert the girl they would be leaving and she would need to watch over Eddie for a bit longer.
He led her out to the stone mill and she waited outside as he went to see what the problem was, "How's it looking?" she asked Ned as he came back from inspecting it.
"It'd be a damn sight better if the wheel were turning. There must be somethin' stuck," he sighed, shaking his head. "I am gonna have to go back and see if I can pry it loose."
"What? Ned, you'll freeze to death!" She exclaimed, trying in any way to stop him but it was useless.
Ned was already stripping his boots and socks and when he loosened his belt, his trousers dropped. At least he wouldn't be taking his tunic off as well or she didn't know if she could keep her subtle glances at him as slim. "Most likely," he shivered under the cold spring air. "But at least the manor will be able to serve decent bannocks at my wake."
She was trying to look anywhere but him as she saw more paled skin revealed to her than tanned as he stripped down to only his tunic. The breeze caught under it, however and she was greeted with a nice view of his firm arse. Ned crawled down into the water and gasped at the temperature, glancing up at her.
"Don't look at me. I warned you!" She said, shaking her head.
Just then, Melinda came marching up to where Katherine stood, "Mrs. Crook told me that you two came up here. What does he think he is doing?"
"Melinda, you shouldn't be running around in your condition. It's not healthy," she reminded her.
"Do not presume to tell me what I can or cannot do, little sister. I am fine," Melinda snorted and they both watched as Ned dove under the water.
He was down there an awfully long time and Katherine was starting to wonder if she should start stripping layers and dive in after him. She held her breath for another long twenty seconds and then came a loud sound as the wheel began to turn. And in the wheel was Ned's shirt.
That was not a good sign.
"Blessed Michael defend us!" Ned shouted and rose out of the water a bit down from where he had entered.
"What in the hell were you even thinking?" Melinda shouted at him and he covered himself the best he could with both hands.
"Melinda, will you please turn around while I try to get out? Before I freeze anything off!" He shouted and her older sister could only laugh, handing her a blanket she had brought before turning to head back to the manor just down the road. "Katherine, will you please bring my things over?" His teeth were beginning to chatter together.
"Of course, Mister Banks." She teased him and laughed at the sight of him, clutching himself in his hands.
She returned with his trousers and boots, there was no rescuing the shirt, now going round and round in the stone mill. Ned had gotten out of the water slowly, digging numb fingers into the loose earth of the embankment, trying to will his frozen muscles to cooperate. Once over the edge, he laid there like a grounded fish, shivering, gasping for breath, skin glistening with moisture and prickling with cold.
"Here. Put these on first," she said as her shadow crossed his face, shielding him from the sun as she held out his trousers first.
Slowly, carefully he rose to his knees. Quickly he tugged them on once he took them from her, and she wound the blanket Melinda had given her around him, immobilizing him for now as she tried to warm him.
"Katherine, I– "
"Do you always… have to be such a bloody hero? Your lips are turning blue and that scar on your side is still healing and God knows what's in that water…" Her voice was muffled as she scrubbed his hair dry. Her whole body shivered as she reached out to touch him. He was ice cold. "Ned, you are freezing!" She slid her hand back and forth over his arm to bring about circulation. "Do you know how much you scared me? I thought I'd lost you." She gripped his shoulders and shook him slightly, eyes burning into his. "You can't do that. Not to Eddie, and most certainly not to me."
"I was not trying to get myself killed. I swear it." He strained against the fabric pinning his arms to his sides – wanting to hold her - but to no avail. "I would never do that to you or Eddie. I would never leave you alone."
She sighed and lifted one hand from his shoulder to cup his cheek. "I know that," she said softly, shaking her head.
He turned his face to kiss her palm, holding her eyes. A long moment passed between them that was filled with silence.
"I did not realize you could hold your breath for so long," she said after a while, tucking dried strands of hair back behind his ears.
Ned shrugged. "Ah well. My brothers and I used to swim a lot when we were lads. I did not realize that it would be such a useful talent until I was grown." He chuckled.
Katherine's brows lifted skeptically. "Useful for fixing stone mills?"
He shrugged, his mouth widening in a wolfish grin. "Yes, but for other things too." He teased her.
"Like what?" She asked, intrigued.
"A gentleman should not say such things to a lady," he shook his head.
Her grin matched his own then. "Oh. I see." She watched as he eased the blanket from his shoulders and smoothed the fabric on the grass beside them.
"Did you not tell me once that the best way to warm someone is through skin-on-skin contact?" He asked.
Katherine unwound the shawl from around her. "So I did. Want to make sure?"
