The Stony Places (The Craigallan Family Saga Book 2) by Tessa Barclay

Author:Tessa Barclay [Barclay, Tessa]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: historical romance, family saga, Victorian family saga, historical novels, family saga series, historical fiction, victorian romance
Publisher: Wyndham Books (Family Saga)
Published: 2019-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Morag McGarth had looked forward to Gregor’s arrival as she always did. He came looking taller and more filled out; she felt the thrill of pride as he swung up the path to her door and engulfed her in a welcoming hug.

Now Rob, who had accompanied him in the carriage, appeared, and kissed her lightly on the cheek. ‘How are you? You look so well, Morag!’

‘I’m fine, really fine. Dr Luce says he can find almost nothing wrong with me.’

The longer she stayed in the mountains, the more her health seemed to stabilise. She lived a very active life these days, going often into the Springs to visit friends and attend parties. Dr Luce still advised that she should spend as much time as possible out of doors and avoid smoky atmosphere, enclosed places, and any over-exertion or loss of rest. But otherwise she was a free woman, able to do as she pleased.

For the first few days of his visit Gregor stayed close to home with her. But it was only natural that he should want to go to some of the events arranged in the Springs. Morag encouraged him to do so. She had a horror of being a possessive mother, the kind who wouldn’t allow her son to go anywhere without accounting for his movements.

Besides, she had Rob for company. He liked to walk with her in the mountain paths she now knew so well. ‘Sometimes,’ he murmured, ‘I feel I’m back in my boyhood. I knew the mountains around my home in Scotland just as well as you know these, Morag.’

‘Do you ever want to go back?’

‘Never! I think of the place with fondness, but nothing ties me to it now. My mother’s dead ‒ there was no one else I cared about.’

‘No, everyone you love is here, Rob.’

He took her arm through his. ‘That’s true. And the one I love most is here beside me.’

‘Oh, Rob …’ She was rebuking him. ‘You know that’s not true. You love Ellie-Rose. You even love Gregor more.’

‘They’re my children. Of course I love them. But not in the way I love you, Morag.’ He stopped, turned her to look at him, and smiled. ‘You’re a bonnie lass, my love.’

‘Rob! You shouldn’t say things like that!’

‘Why not? It’s true.’

‘But … But … All that kind of thing is over.’

‘Is it?’ he remarked.

After a moment they walked on. Sudden new thoughts had come to them.

Morag had been so accustomed to think of herself as a widow, and as an invalid, that the notion of love had left her entirely. As for Rob, he had physical needs which he quenched with the help of pretty young ladies in Chicago or New York. He had a strong sexual urge, which sometimes caused him problems; he was still a little ashamed of the feeling that had surged up in him when he took Stephanie home that night.

Now he felt again that quickening of the pulses which told him he was in the grip of the familiar old flood-tide.

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