Highland Hearts. Eva Hamilton Maria

peaceful breath. The pleasure he derived from his surroundings radiated from him and it infuriated Sheena all the more. Especially his apparent oblivion to her feelings.

      “That’s wonderful that your memory didn’t fail you,” Sheena said in an uncharacteristically sarcastic tone. “But this waterfall is one of the only things left that didn’t change in your absence.”

      Logan’s eyes opened and she looked directly into them only to hear, “God has the ability to change everything, lassie, and yet keep it the same.”

      “Maybe in your world, but surely not in mine.” Since Logan left, not one single thing in Sheena’s life had remained the same. “Let’s start with the year you left Scotland, Logan. In 1743 the military built a road right through Callander, just in case they needed to use it to pacify any Highlanders who sought to rebel.” And in 1746 when the Jacobites did rebel, a bloodbath ensued.

      This example stood as only one of many things that had changed in Sheena’s life over the past five years.

      But surely Logan knew about this. It was only Sheena he didn’t know anything about anymore. He had made it very clear by his absence that he could live without her.

      “Besides all this political nonsense, what else has changed in your life? From where I stand, everything looks the same to me as it did in the past.”

      “Logan, you don’t understand. Everything has changed. The past is just that and I live in the present.” She bent down and snatched up her black shoes.

      “And what of that?” Logan stepped closer, giving Sheena no recourse. She couldn’t back away from him, unless she wanted to meet her Maker. And as tough as life got, she would never succumb to that.

      Sheena pushed her way around Logan. “I am sure the details of my life are of no interest to you.”

      “Let me be the judge of that, lassie.” Logan followed her away from the edge of the waterfall to a rock she leaned against for support to put on her shoes.

      She scowled at him as she walked away, jutting her chin high into the air. “Do as you wish, Logan. You always do anyway.” Her underlying contempt for him and his actions snapped through the chilly air. She never wanted him to leave Scotland, but he had done so anyway.

      “And you don’t?” Logan kept up, even with her brisk pace.

      “We both know that a man is given that privilege, while a woman is not.”

      “Since when have you not lived and breathed for yourself?”

      “Since you left.” Sheena stopped dead and faced him.

      “Then you must tell me what happened to you in the past five years, lassie, so we can reverse it.”

      “I already told you, it no longer matters. Events are set in motion. Forces beyond my control and even yours, propel me toward a future that no longer resembles the past.” Sheena held fast to her skirts and walked on.

      “Sheena.” Her even stride faltered at the sound of her name coming from his lips. “Whatever has happened can be undone. Nothing is ever final, not even death.” He came up beside her again. “I am here now. We can fix this.”

      But Sheena couldn’t argue any longer. Being livid, she didn’t trust what would come out of her mouth. She knew cementing her new path in life after he left meant she couldn’t turn back time now. If she felt gracious, she could thank God he lived to tell of his journey, but she wouldn’t listen to his tales.

      It hurt too much seeing him.

      “My life is no longer any concern of yours.” Tears welled in Sheena’s eyes. If only he’d loved her enough to remain in Scotland. But he ignored all her pleading. Did what he wanted. Left. And now that he had returned, nothing remained the same.

      “You are wrong. It is. It always has been and it always will be.” Logan reached out for her hand, but she pulled away.

      “Nay.” Sheena turned swiftly. “Nay, it isn’t.” She ran from him.

      Logan could see over the whole village of Callander with his feet planted on the crag. He knew exactly which path Sheena was taking to her house, but he couldn’t follow her.

      He sighed. He wanted the separation from Sheena to end. Already spending five years away tortured him enough. But evidently, she needed time to get used to the idea that he had returned. That took him completely by surprise.

      He’d dreamed about his homecoming every day since the day he left the Highlands. He’d amassed so many versions of their reunion and yet none of them played out like this. In his dreams, Sheena ran to him, wrapped her arms around him and professed her undying love. Somehow, he needed to figure out a way to make her react like that.

      If only he could tell her why he’d left Scotland five years ago. But he couldn’t. To do so would go against her father and the secrecy he’d sworn Logan to uphold.

      And Logan knew, if he breathed a word to Sheena about what had transpired five years ago before his departure, her father would never allow Logan to marry her. Not then. And not now. Not ever. And Logan couldn’t let that happen.

      So he never told Sheena he’d met with her father to ask his permission to marry her. And he never told Sheena that her father had demanded that Logan prove his worthiness to marry her by risking his life to accept an indenturement in the Americas. Nor did she know that as a measure of good faith, her father had given Logan a Montgomery family heirloom. It was a wooden box with leaves carved all over it that housed a letter her father had written, telling Logan he could marry Sheena after he made the treacherous voyage back to Scotland.

      But tearing himself away from Sheena to accept his indenturement in the Americas had ripped Logan apart. The shock and betrayal in her darkened amber eyes had agonized him. Hearing her plead with him to stay, seeing her tears, watching her anger develop had pained him. But he couldn’t see another option. Not when he had been dirt-poor and had nothing to offer her besides his love.

      He had hoped they would wed. And yet there he had stood at the top of their waterfall, their most special place, telling her he would leave Scotland for an indenturement in the Americas.

      He knew it didn’t make any sense to her. He knew he’d hurt her. He only prayed the situation didn’t turn into something irreparable. He would go and talk to her father right after he made amends with Sheena and, of course, after he dug up that wooden box containing the hidden letter he kept to remind her father of the promise he’d made.

      However upset Sheena was now, after his explanation she would know he’d never meant to hurt her. She would understand that everything he’d done he’d done to secure their future together. She would forgive him. At least he prayed it would be so.

      Turning his attention toward the countryside where he grew up, he walked down the treeless crag, to the barren land beneath, with his life’s meager belongings hardly filling the slim bag he flung over his shoulder.

      Logan’s shoes sank into the damp earth as he walked home, their wet sound his only accompaniment. Not even a bird greeted him. If only his reunion with Sheena had turned out differently, with her love the same as it had been their whole lives. Maybe then the five years he’d spent away would seem like nothing more than a bad dream. But he couldn’t ignore or wish away the reality of the situation. She despised him for leaving. And his return marked the beginning of atonement, rather than triumph.

      Sheena came down the crag like a woman running from an attacking poisonous adder snake. Gasping for breath, she leaned against a rock at the edge of the village to steady herself. Glancing back up the crag, she saw nothing but the steep cliff. Logan hadn’t followed her.

      The tears she ran from stormed out. She fell to her knees in the soggy moss, not caring when the cold wetness soaked through her skirts. Logan’s unexpected homecoming caused too much pain. He thought they could just pick up from where they’d left off five years ago. Not possible.

      Reliving all the hurt he’d