I have had so many "loverly" requests to continue this story. I am always open to such suggestions as long as there is a story still to tell. A few of you gave me your ideas and thoughts, and they have worked their magic on my imagination. And we did have a few things still unattended to…

Sláinte mhaith, mo chara as always to our Edward, whose idea this story cosmically was and is… Go raibh maith agat…

Chapter Forty-One

The Family Miles

Six weeks later:

"Good morning, sleepyhead…" I murmured as I kissed the top of my love's head and saw her stir awake in the early dawn light.

I knew I would never tire of watching Carolyn return to the daylight world from the blessed realm of sleep. It was a secret pleasure that I indulged to the fullest. I would often awaken moments before her. We were that well connected now.

I was deeply grateful that I was no longer alone, in the dark. She had brought me out into the warmth and light of her abiding love.

"Good morning, yourself…" she murmured as she stretched lazily against me. "How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough…" I smiled, as her eyes opened, and she rolled over to face me. "I adore watching you sleep. You look like an angel lying there."

"As long as you don't accuse me of snoring," she replied, with a soporific smile before she reached up to kiss me teasingly.

"That would be more than my life is worth," I replied quickly, as I enclosed her cheek in my palm. "I know when to hold my tongue."

She pulled back to rise on her elbow and looked down into my eyes. "What are you saying, Mr Miles? That I do snore?"

"My lips are sealed…" I swiped a pressed thumb and forefinger across my smiling mouth.

"Liar…" she complained, as she inserted one naked thigh between my own, pushing them wider apart. "I will make you pay dearly for that…"

"Yes, please…" I pleaded as she settled against me intimately.

"It's such a shame we cannot stay longer…" She sighed against my mouth as she began a slow exploration of my body. "These last six weeks have just flown by. I don't know where the time has gone."

"Yes… Is tú mo chroi agus m'anam..." My breath hissed between my set teeth as her questing fingers found their ultimate target and I was once again the sensual prisoner captured within the power of her skilful hands…

It was sometime later before we both finally managed to catch our breath. This second honeymoon in Sedona had been everything we had hoped it would be and more. I'd used the daylight hours to photograph everything in its beautiful spring glory while Carolyn sat in her Jeep and worked on her latest Edward Grainger manuscript.

It was the nights that belonged solely to us in our deeply secluded hideaway. Nights where sleep was often fleeting and our reconnection reaffirmed by our mutual delights and desires. Life was good. Very good, indeed.

The book she and Kat had written about Captain Greig and his beloved Emma had been published and was now selling very well. Something touching and beguiling about their love story had captured the reading public's imagination and they clamoured for more.

Before we left Montecito, Carolyn had been telephoned by Sean Cornell, her ever-impatient publisher. He wanted to know if there were more stories to tell and how soon could she get them outlined.

We were seated in the living room enjoying an early evening glass of Madeira with two good friends when the telephone rang. I watched Carolyn answer Sean's call and saw her watchful expression. I knew Sean was not the man who liked to keep the reading public waiting and wondering. He liked certainties and sound investments. And my wife was the best author he worked with.

"Look, Sean. I'll telephone you when Devon and I get back from our second honeymoon," Carolyn had replied. "It's not my story to tell. It never was. You'll know as soon as I know. All right. I'll call you when we get back from Sedona. I can't say more than that. Good night, Sean."

"Sorry about that…" She smiled as she hung up and turned back to the two ghosts who were watching her with keen interest. "Now, where were we?"

I sighed as I watched the sun rise through the un-curtained windows that offered incredible views of the world beyond our refuge. "I love you, my Luciana…" I settled my love closer to me and listened to her soft murmurs of endearment.

Sean had made very sure that book tours and signings also loomed large in our immediate future. I was more than okay with that, playing second fiddle to my wife's wonderful literary success. Despite Sean's demands for more, I'd already made plans to take my family home to Ireland.

'Home…' the word whispered in the back of my mind like a beckoning ghost.

When I'd asked him, Wilton Knight had once told me that home was the place you make in your heart for those you love and care for. He'd made his peace with that long before I met him on that cold, dark night in France during the last world war.

Well, then, my heart's home was full to overflowing. I loved a woman I would die for. But I preferred to live for her. She'd given me a son of my own, two wonderful stepchildren, great friends, and a fantastic, talking, sentient car who considered me as his father.

I smiled. 'What more could any man ask for?'

We'd heard from the two lovebirds while they were honeymooning in Greece. Kat could not have been more thrilled about the success of the publication of their book. We would all soon be home again in Montecito to share the great news with the ghostly couple whose story had taken us down this unexpected path.

And an excited phone call from Michael - the week after we arrived - to say that Stevie had been safely delivered of their new baby. It seemed our cup was truly running over with happiness.

"You're very quiet…" Carolyn prompted as she raised one hand to thread her fingers through my hair. "I can see you're thinking. What about?"

"About how lucky we all are to have found each other against all the odds," I replied, taking her hand to kiss the tips of her fingers one by one. "Daniel and Emma, Edward and Kat, and you and I."

"And Michael and Stevie," she said. "They're like family now, too. And we cannot forget Kitt. He would not wish to be forgotten."

"Yes…" I nodded, as I ran the tip of my tongue across her open palm and then closed her hand around the erotic caress. "Last night, I dreamed again of the first time Michael saw Kitt, and he took us out on that test drive…"

I shook my head. "Maybe it was more of a nightmare." I chuckled wryly.

"Yes, you've told me about that before," Carolyn reminded me gently. "About how you didn't think he would ever work out. You said he was far too headstrong and impulsive."

"And he was," I affirmed with a sigh. "Kitt was furious with me for not allowing him to speak directly to Michael. But back then, I did not wish him to become any more intrigued with the car than he was that day."

I lifted my shoulders. "I didn't expect him to stay once he'd dealt with Tanya Walker. He said he had a life he wanted to be getting on with."

My love regarded me calmly. "But Michael did stay and saw it through. Now look at the pair of you. Like Kitt, he is your son in all ways, except by blood."

"Yes…" I sighed more deeply this time. "And I was thinking about you…"

I tucked her closer to my side. "Back when Wilton Knight died was a time when I missed you more than life itself. I had never felt so lonely or so alone."

I kissed her hair. "Late at night, when I couldn't sleep, I often saw you from the corner of my eye, or in the shadows of my office at FLAG when I was working. You came to me in my dreams, as well. I saw you, as I did that last morning, standing on the platform at Piccadilly station."

I looked down into her beautiful eyes. "I called your name for the last time as the train carried me away toward my unknown future. Cuisle mo chroí…I said to you as I watched you vanish into that cloud of steam and smoke…" I saw the sheen of tears in her eyes, and I felt like crying too.

She smiled softly. "As I often dreamed of you through all the long and lonely years I was married to Ian. I watched you leaving me again and every time I knew, deep in my heart, that you weren't coming back. That hurt more than anything. I felt almost as if I died there, that morning."

"And then I heard your voice calling my name on that LA street…" I traced the satin curve of her cheek. "It truly was as if everything stopped. I recall I couldn't breathe. I stopped walking and closed my eyes as I fought not to remember you. I told myself you were only alive in my dreams. That you were not really there. You couldn't be…"

"Yes…" Carolyn nodded quickly. "I thought I was seeing things when you walked past me carrying that bunch of yellow roses. I was so sure it was you and yet I convinced myself it couldn't be because of what we had both been told. But I had to ask. I needed to look into your eyes and see a stranger and hear you deny any connection between us. I'll admit I was deeply jealous of the woman who was going to get those beautiful flowers."

"I'm sorry…" I kissed her soft mouth in apology. "I thought, the devil takes Schrödinger's blasted cat! I wasn't going to turn and look behind me. I couldn't because I couldn't bear it if I was wrong…"

Carolyn nodded. "And even if I was wrong, I just had to know. I'd never felt so safe with anyone before or since. Ian never liked to dance, and I missed the sweet temptation of a slow, intimate waltz with you. Every single day, and throughout the lonely nights, I missed you with all my heart and soul."

"Luciana… Cuisle mo chroí…" I kissed the faint line of the bullet scar on her shoulder. "And then, you were almost taken away from me, again…"

I rolled over and cupped her behind in my palms. I raised her into the dawn light to sit astride my thighs. "I felt my heart had been torn out when I was forced to leave you there, on that train platform. I didn't want to be left alone, there in the dark…"

"Now, we will never be alone again, and we are surrounded by light…" She shivered as my seeking fingers caressed the intimacy of her soft skin and I felt her breathing get all tangled up with the mutual rush of renewed desire that arrowed straight to the most intimate parts of my body.

My Luciana had always been like an addictive drug. I knew she would always be so for me, and I would never be able to get enough of her winsome beauty...

※※※※※

It was the last day of our six-week honeymoon. I knew we would both be sad to leave this secluded slice of heaven that we'd found. We were due to fly home tomorrow, back to Montecito and our new life together.

Kat got up and showered before my eyes were even open. She dressed in a pretty yellow sundress and prepared to leave early, saying she would go on one last shopping trip before it got too hot.

She declined the offer of my company with a warm smile edged with a little tiredness. "You know how much you hate shopping."

"Not with you," I argued quickly, but she over-ruled me with an upraised hand.

"I want to see if I can find something very special. Just for you." She kissed me sweetly and left our hotel suite before I could insist, I go with her.

"Don't be too long…" I looked after her slender, yellow-clad figure.

With a wide-brimmed hat, she seemed that same essence of summer, wholesome and radiant. But there was something more about her now. An extra glow that I couldn't quite identify.

I also knew she was tired. But then, we both were. It had been a hectic six weeks of doing all the tourist spots, and we'd crammed in a lot of sightseeing before we'd finally settled here to spend the final week in our last hotel suite of the trip and catch our breath.

"It will be good to be home…" I sighed as I got up to shower and dress.

We'd received an excited phone call from Michael - the week after we arrived - to say that Stevie had been safely delivered of their new baby, and all was well. We would be introduced to the new Knight as soon as we got back to Montecito.

I smiled as I made my morning coffee hot, strong and black. Maybe I would be the same excited and almost incoherent man, one day soon. Kat and I had not talked about starting a family yet. There was still time.

I carried my coffee mug out onto our very private hotel balcony that overlooked the dizzying heights of the Santorini caldera. I never tired of waking up to the view. I'd followed in my father's footsteps and purchased the best camera money could buy. After my coffee, I was going to take some more shots.

It was an incredible feeling to be up so high over a sheer rock wall and see the sea sparkling far below in the sunshine like a sapphire blue carpet. It was dotted with tiny white ships that had to keep moving because the harbour was so deep, they couldn't drop an anchor to hold them in place.

The sight of all that slumberous majesty and evidence of brutal power always took my breath away. I smiled as I considered fetching my camera. I already had enough photos to fill a coffee table book.

But not this morning. Kat's unexpectedly quick return drew my attention from the view. When I turned, I immediately noticed she wasn't carrying any shopping bags, and she looked as if she'd been crying.

"Kat?" I put aside my coffee cup and took a step toward her. I was about to ask what on earth had upset her when she walked out onto the balcony and linked her fingers through mine.

"I'm okay," she said. "Truly…" She smiled and said, "I've just been given some news."

Then she kissed me and uttered those two simple words that changed my entire world forever. Her unexpected and incredible news that did snatch the breath from my lungs and left me open-mouthed with wonder. I forgot all about the magnificent view behind me and my intention to photograph it.

"Oh, Kat…" I looked down at her and she smiled up at me with such love in her eyes that she humbled me.

I swallowed tightly. "You're sure?" I asked in that time-honoured and inane way of most men when faced with such marvellous and mind-blowing news.

Then I blundered on ahead and compounded my thoughtless error. "I mean, are you really sure?"

My beloved and very wise Katt simply smiled and nodded. "Yes…" she said softly and tightened her clasp on my hand as if she was trying to steady me.

'Do I look as if I'm about to pass out?' I had no idea.

But I did know I felt dazed. I managed to prevent myself from asking the completely inane question of 'how and when?' I knew very well the 'how' if not exactly the 'when.'

"That first night after we arrived in Athens," Kat answered my unspoken question as she went up on tiptoe to kiss my cheek. "I haven't been shopping. I went down to the medical clinic just now and was lucky enough to see the hotel doctor right away. After some tests, he assured me that I'm six weeks pregnant."

"You didn't tell me you were seeing a doctor," I replied with frowning concern, as I hugged her tightly. "I wondered why you were being so secretive when you said you were going out shopping. I would have gone with you if I'd known."

"I went alone because I didn't want to worry you," she replied calmly as she drew back. "I thought it was just a case of indigestion. We have been indulging a little too much in all the delicious local seafood. But I've also been feeling a little exhausted and slightly queasy. And my breasts were a bit tender when I put on my bra the other morning."

She placed the flat of her free hand against her abdomen. "I wondered, but I wanted to be very sure."

"I'm sorry…" I leaned down to press my forehead against hers. "It's all so unexpected. Are you okay with this? I mean, I know I am."

"Of course…" She placed her fingers over my lips. "More than okay," she replied. "This child will be the physical expression of how much we love each other. I just didn't expect it to happen so quickly."

Her lips curved knowingly, and she moved closer to press herself against me from breast to hip. "Of course, I should have expected it since we haven't been able to keep our hands off each other since we arrived here and threw away all our protection."

I nodded. "That's because I will never be able to get enough of you. Not if we live forever…"

"Then, that's just as well…" Kat nuzzled my neck. "Because we only have one last day here and I don't intend to spend it talking about the future that will soon arrive…"

"Kat?" I asked hesitantly.

"I'm pregnant," she said those two magical words again as she drew me after her, back into the warm, fragrant shadows of our bedroom. "But I'm not breakable. There will come a time when I can no longer see my feet and my ankles will swell. And I'll be moody all the time. You might not love me so much, then…"

She turned to me and shimmed out of her yellow sun dress. She dropped it to the floor. Her beautiful nakedness, clad only in a tiny, lacy bra and matching underwear, stopped my breath as easily as had her unexpected announcement. I stared at the soft swell of her abdomen where our growing child lay cradled.

"Not a chance," I denied. "Be as moody as you like. I will love you even more…"

I didn't have the will or the strength to argue with her as the linen curtains closed behind us and sealed us once again into our own private world. I picked her up in my arms and carried her back to the bed and laid her down as if she were the most precious woman in the entire world. To me, she was…

※※※※※

Because Devon was my father, and Edward, my brother, I had managed to hold my tongue over Danny's desire for speed and to test my upper limits. I once thought Michael was too impulsive, impetuous and overly loud in both his personality, irascible commands, and his choice of music.

I now looked back on those early days with a wry fondness and a quiet despair. Over the last six weeks, Danny had often done his best to exceed all those limits and more.

Barely a week after Devon and Carolyn had driven away to Sedona - the same time that Edward and Kat had flown out for their honeymoon in Greece - Stevie had gone into labour and young Master Michael Edward Knight Jnr had made his rapid appearance in our busy world.

Encouraged by everyone at Knight Investigations, Michael had allowed himself the rest of the time off to be with Stevie and their son, until everyone returned. He hadn't been much use to us anyway. He had paced and worried like a worried mother hen with a single chick until we'd all told him to go home and stay there.

He had been dubious about finally allowing Danny to become one of my qualified pilots. I have to suppose that the young man reminded him too much of himself at that age. But that gave the young man licence to take unsupervised charge of me and the required field work, alongside Reginald.

Of course, we had all assured Michael everything would run like clockwork. It would be as if he had not gone on maternity leave. Eventually, Michael left us, very reluctantly, but he did leave.

Now I looked back on him with great fondness. Reginald preferred to ride his motorcycle to interview clients, or do the work, which left the bulk of the field duties to Danny and myself.

Nancy, Edward's very capable secretary, and Bonnie held down the fort in the office and answered the constant telephone calls. We were all very busy and barely had time to talk. Hence my reluctance to broach such a thorny subject that could only cause upset or dissent when we didn't need it.

"Come on, Kitt. What's the matter?" Danny finally asked as he took a corner a shade too fast. "You've been very quiet for days now. Something thorny on your mind, Bro?"

'Bro…' I sighed.

I wasn't allowed to forget that Danny saw me as some kind of crazy half-brother. His words, not mine. He found it very amusing and didn't hesitate to remind me at every opportunity.

"It's just that I am missing Michael," I prevaricated with a sigh. "But I'm glad he finally agreed to take the time off to be with his family. He deserved that."

"But…" Danny frowned at me. "I can hear a 'but' in there. Bite the bullet and spill, Bro. You can tell me what you're chewing on. There's only you and me here."

'Colloquialisms…' I sighed inwardly. They were the very bane of my deeply logical existence.

Michael had taught me the very first one when he ordered me to 'clam up!' It was on the initial day of our investigation into tracking down Tanya Walker in the town of Millston in northern California. To my relief, Michael finally asked me his first direct question and Devon's quirky idea of programming then allowed me to answer him.

That long-ago morning, I felt I had finally been released from the hated prison of enforced muteness. I had plenty to say and I wanted to say it all.

Of course, Michael had immediately wanted to lock me up again and throw away the key! He said he detested a car that talked back to him!

Now, I can look back and remember those early days of our, at times thorny interaction, with a wistful fondness. We had both grown to love and understand each other. I supposed I also needed to give Danny the same gift of time. But it was still hard to do so.

"It's really nothing," I replied quickly, not wishing to cause any extra tension between us. "Please, ignore me. I do believe we are close to the address of our next assignment. Should we continue on our way? We do not wish to be late."

I consoled myself with the knowledge that Michael would be returning to work on Monday. His time away was almost up. I could endure another three days of discomfort due to the over-enthusiasm of the young man seated in my pilot's seat.

I knew Danny did not mean me any harm. He simply lived life at a higher speed, as Michael once had before he'd married and settled down with a wife and two small children. His new life had mellowed him and slowed him down considerably. I could admit I too had become used to life lived at that more sedate pace. Bad people no longer shot at us or tried to blow us up.

Danny shook his head. "No way. Not until we've nutted this out. I can see you're out of sorts, so don't try and tell me it's nothing," he denied. "It's something and I can tell it's eating you up inside. Like I said, Bro. Spill. I'll survive. I'm not made of marshmallow."

"Marshmallow?" I asked reluctantly.

Tension simmered across my circuits. I could have sympathy for any human if this was what suffering from a headache felt like. I wanted to go home, settle into my darkened garage and soothe myself with a little Beethoven.

"All soft and squishy," Danny replied crisply as he pulled over to the side of the street and stopped. "Don't go treating me like some over-ripe peach. I don't bruise that easily. Now tell me what's eating at you. That's a direct order."

"Very well…" I sighed. "It's just that you remind me so much of Michael when he and I first met. Back then, he chose to live his life at speed and at a level that quickly took him into serious conflict with a sinister and dangerous opponent."

I paused and then said, "My role was to try and mitigate any such disasters before they happened. I was not as successful on that mission as I would have hoped. Though the threat was eliminated, Michael was seriously wounded and almost died. I also sustained some internal damage that negated my ability to self-drive."

"Ah, I see. And now you're having a very serious case of déjà vu…" Danny grinned at me. "You're afraid I'll run you off into a ditch somewhere or get us shot up. Or worse. I figured it was something like that. You've not been at all like your usual talkative self. And you've allowed me to play my music. I've not heard a single bar of Vivaldi or Mozart for days."

"You have learned to know me too well," I conceded. "Recently, I have not felt like playing anything from my personal collection."

"You gotta be in the mood, right?" Danny leaned back into his seat to stare at me.

"Exactly," I replied slowly, as I felt the tension in my circuits ease slightly.

"Bro…" Danny laid a hand on my super dash. "Let's burst this blasted boil once and for all and squeeze all the poison right out of it. Start fresh."

"Yes, Daniel?" I replied, understanding all the weight of responsibility that Devon must have felt that first day he'd reluctantly placed my keys in Michael's hand.

"I promise faithfully not to try and wreck you, or myself…" Danny declared. "If you promise to stop acting like some old agony aunt and relax a little. I got this. We've got this."

I had to ask. "We've got what?"

"You and me, Bro. I got us both. I won't let you down."

"Thank you, Daniel," I breathed cautiously.

"Thank you, Kitt," the young man replied solemnly. "And Kitt?"

"Yes, Daniel?"

"My name is Danny. I'm only Daniel if I've messed up somehow. Or Devon's not pleased with me. Which ain't too often, anymore."

"Yes, Danny." I wasn't going to argue over such a small point.

"So, Bro…" he continued then, as he gave my super dash one last pat of familial reassurance.

"Yes, Danny?"

"Stop fussing, shut up and drive. Or you'll make us late for our next appointment."

"Yes, Danny…"

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