MacLarens of Balmorie 05 - Once Upon A Time In Scotland (18 page)

She couldn't fault him too much for not confiding in her because she'd been making plans too. Her parents had started on the forms to get passports for them and Logan. She'd contacted Logan's father—the man couldn't have cared less about Logan leaving the country.

She hadn't been certain how things would end between them, but she had hoped, and she had started to put things in motion, praying that what she'd read in Liam's eyes had been real.

And it was real. She was looking at it right now, his blue eyes sparkling with love.

“Logan, my parents... They're going to fall in love with you, you know that, right?”

A cocky smile split his face. “I'm a lovable sort, lass. And what about you,
Abbie
?”

A grin tugged at her lips. “I think I fell that night in the woods.”

His eyebrow rose high and he moved closer, his gaze filling with hunger at the memory. He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Say it. Say the words.”

She leaned away and met the intensity in his eyes. “I love you, Liam
MacLaren
. And we'll be back home, on Scottish soil sooner than you think.”

A blinding smile crossed Liam's face and he laughed, tossing his arm around her shoulder as they walked toward the airport.

EPILOGUE

When the lad finally woke from his nap and waddled into the kitchen where Liam and
Abbie
had gathered with her parents,
Eleni
and Brain, all talk stopped and all eyes went to the little boy.

He held a
sippy
cup in one hand and a blanket in the other. A slight pang went through Liam's chest. The lad looked just like his mother right down to the freckles across his nose. A shock of black hair stood on end from his nap and his eyes were sleepy as he took in the scene, going from one person to the next before landing on his mother.

As though she hadn't been away at all, he walked up to her and held up his arms.

Abbie
laughed and picked him up, hugging him to her for a long time.

The rush of emotion at seeing
Abbie
hold her child on her hip, hit Liam so hard it stole his breath. And when she finally faced him with a happy smile, it made him yearn for way more than he ever thought possible.

She shifted the boy on her hip and said to him, “This is Liam.” She kissed Logan's cheek. “Can you say hi?”

When Liam met Logan Murphy Kowalski, the toddler stared at him with the big, dark eyes of his mother, the gaze discerning as though weighing Liam's worth. Liam didn't say anything, instead allowing the child as much time as he wanted to look.

After a very long moment, Logan held out his
sippy
cup.

Liam glanced to
Abbie
, unsure.
Eleni
and Brian began to laugh. “What should I do?” he asked.

Abbie
was grinning ear to ear. “He wants you to hold out your hand.” Liam felt sure he was missing a joke, but he did as asked. “No, palm up.”

He flipped his hand, palm out, and Logan turned the
sippy
cup upside down and shook it until a few drops of chocolate milk landed in his palm.

Abbie
beamed, her eyes a bit glassy.

“That's a good sign,”
Eleni
said with a laugh. “He only shares his chocolate milk with people he likes.”

“Hey, at least he didn't get the top unscrewed. Nothing like a chocolate milk bath while you're napping,” Brain said, speaking from experience.

Abbie
winced. “Yeah, we're going to have to work on that.”

Liam glanced down at the milk in his palm, then up at Logan. He smiled at the boy. The boy smiled back.

And Liam knew that fatherhood was going to be a wild, amazing ride indeed.

END