Despite the family rules, Fionn snuck me into his room from the secret door in his closet. We stayed up late talking until we fell asleep together. The morning came, and I woke up in FIonn's arms. I rolled over to face him, smiling as he snored lightly in his sleep.
"Psst." I brushed my fingers across his forehead. "Fionn."
"Mm." Fionn's eyes fluttered open, landing on me. "Merry Christmas, Em."
I sat up in bed. "Merry Christmas. I can't believe it's here. I still can't believe we're here, together."
He leaned over and kissed me. "I can. I sort of knew since we first met that there was something about you that intrigued me."
I laughed. "I thought you hated me when we first met."
Fionn's eyes sparkled with mischief. "I thought you were stubborn. But that's one of the things I like about you, and without that stubbornness, we wouldn't be together."
I wrapped my arms around his neck while he placed his on my hips, drawing me into his lap under the covers. "That's true. Your stubbornness drew me to you as well."
Fionn leaned me back on the bed, and I let my lips linger against his mouth as his hands slid up my back over my pajama top. My fingers pushed lightly against his chest.
"Fi, we might not want to do that right now," I murmured.
He raised his eyebrows, the corners of his mouth quirking up into a teasing smile. "Fi?"
"What?" I crossed my arms over my chest in mock offense. "I get a nickname, why can't you have one?"
Fionn laughed, tickling my sides. "You're cute, you know that?"
A knock at the door had the two of us jumping apart as if a bolt of lightning had struck. I smoothed down my hair and moved to the side of the room while Fionn went to answer it.
"Merry Christmas!" Catriona sing-songed. She poked her head into the room, grinning when she saw me. "You two really don't understand the 'sneaking around' concept do you?"
Her brother rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Cat. Em was just saying good morning."
Cat smirked. "I bet. C'mon you two, mum's made us pancakes." She turned on her heel, her blonde hair swishing behind her.
I turned to Fionn. "I guess we should go downstairs before anyone gets suspicious that we're up to no good."
He grinned. "Or maybe we should just stay up here..." he trailed off, tickling my sides and bringing me back down on the bed beside him.
We rolled around together for a minute before I surrendered. Fionn pulled me to my feet and we padded down the stairs, our fingers clasped together.
"Good morning!" Maisie called cheerfully from the kitchen. "Emilie, I didn't know what kind of pancakes you like so I made chocolate chip, blueberry, and strawberry. We have cream and cinnamon for toppings."
"And of course, extra chocolate chips!" Catriona added, dumping a handful onto her plate as she served herself by the breakfast bar in the kitchen.
I shifted my weight and took in the sight before me. Wow, she really had gone all out. No one had ever done something like that for me before.
"Thank you so much, Mrs. MacLeod. This looks incredible," I said.
"My pleasure, love." She beamed at me. "And please, as I said last night, just call me Maisie."
"One Americano coffee," Fionn announced, handing me a cup with a wink. "Just the way you like it."
"Thanks." I grinned up at him.
Angus MacLeod appeared from the other room, holding a mug. "Merry Christmas! I am so pleased that we get to spend the holiday together. And with you too, Emilie. I am pleased my son has found someone like you to spend time with. After the last, er, anyway I'm happy that you could join us."
"Thank you," I said.
We all sat down around the table, our plates heaped high with pancakes, sausage, and bacon. Maisie had even gone all the way to make a blueberry compote to go on top of the pancakes.
I lifted a forkful to my mouth, each bite bursting with flavor. It had been a long time since I indulged on pancakes, and this was totally worth it. Chatter fluttered through the room, the air filled with excitement and happiness. Once we finished eating, we adjourned to the family room where the tree stood decorated with shimmery tinsel and ornaments that Fionn and Catriona had made as kids. Under the tree were a number of decoratively wrapped boxes.
"Emilie should open her presents first since she is the guest!" Catriona suggested.
"I like that idea," Fionn agreed. He picked up a small square package and handed it to me. "This one is from me."
I unwrapped the paper and took out a sleek black box. When I opened it, I gasped, pulling out a beautiful silver ring adorned with two hands that surrounded a heart. On top of the heart was a crown.
"Fionn, this is beautiful!" I turned to him and pressed a kiss against his lips.
"It's a claddagh ring," he explained, taking it out of the box and placing it on my right ring finger. "In Irish culture, the ring symbolizes love, loyalty, and friendship. You wear it with the tip of the heart facing inward when you are in a relationship. I hope that, um, as our relationship develops, we will continue to express all three concepts because I don't want to be with anyone else but you."
Tears sprung to my eyes. "Fionn, thank you so much. This is...this is absolutely, um, thank you. I love it." I leaned forward and hugged him to stop myself from crying. No one had ever given me such a lovely gift before.
"Okay! Fionn's gift next." Catriona winked at me before handing her brother another package.
"This is for you," I said, wiping my eyes with the backs of my hands.
Fionn carefully unwrapped the box and pulled out a sleek black frame. "Wow. Em, this is beautiful. You...you did this for me?"
The frame held an image of the first completed sketch I had ever seen from Fionn when I'd found the hidden room through the office. I had told Catriona about it and she'd been able to take the image I sent her and get it framed.
"I thought you might want to hang it in your apartment to show off your talent. I remember seeing this sketch and, well," I bit my lip, "it was when I first started to fall for you."
A chorus of "aww" went up through the room—even from Angus.
Fionn grinned and cupped my face in his hands. "It's perfect. It truly is the best gift I could've ever received."
We spent the rest of the morning opening presents, sharing stories, and laughing. I had never had a more perfect Christmas and I never wanted it to end.
***
Later that day, Fionn and I laid curled up on the couch just enjoying each other's company. My head pressed against his chest as his fingers combed their way through my hair.
"So, it's Christmas," Fionn said.
"Mhm." I closed my eyes.
"Which means that New Years is right around the corner. So I wanted to ask you if you had any plans." His chest rumbled under my head as he spoke.
I grinned. "Not that I can think of at the moment. Why do you ask?"
"Well there's this film festival over in Cromarty and it runs for a few days before New Years, ending with a huge celebration on the thirty-first. It's a five hour drive from Wigtown, but Lachlan has agreed to take us if you're interested."
"That sounds like a lot of fun," I agreed. "When would we leave?"
"Two days, we will head back to Wigtown tomorrow afternoon and then leave first thing the next morning for Cromarty."
"Let's do it."
Fionn pressed a kiss to my hair. "I'm gonna go talk to my dad about something. You'll be okay here?"
I nodded, sitting up. "Yeah, I think I can keep myself busy for a while."
He leaned forward, tugging at my bottom lip with his teeth before letting his tongue explore my mouth. I braced myself, curling my fingers through his hair. Heat flowed through my body and suddenly I wished we were upstairs in his room. Fionn pulled away, his blue eyes sparkling.
"See you in a bit," he murmured, walking away and leaving my mind a pile of mush.
While Maisie cleaned up the kitchen, I walked in to help her. I picked up a dish and began wordlessly running it under the water.
"Ah love, you don't need to do that," she said.
"It's okay, I'm happy to help." I paused. "Mrs. MacLeod, er, Maisie, can I ask you a question?"
"Aye." She nodded.
"How much do you know about Fionn's ex?" The words escaped my mouth before I could stop them.
Maisie chuckled. "Truthfully, not much. Although I do know that he never brought her here for Christmas. They were together for three years, but there was always something off about her."
"How so?" I handed her a glass to dry off.
"She never appreciated Fionn's passions the way that you do, Emilie. Even the gift you gave him, Natalie would've never done anything as special."
Natalie. Fionn had never mentioned his ex by name before. I tried to picture her in my mind. What did this Natalie look like? Brown hair like mine? Light or dark eyes? Maybe a lot like Deedee. Yeah, that's how I pictured her.
"You make him so happy," she continued. "He's never given a girl the claddagh ring before, so he's definitely serious about you."
Heat rose to my cheeks. I was pleased his family approved, but could I live up to their expectations?
"I have to ask, Emilie, how long are you planning on staying in Scotland?" Maisie asked. She pushed her dark hair behind her ears. "You must have responsibilities back in the states, aye?"
I swallowed. The dreaded question, and one that had been pushing around in my mind ever since receiving the notification on my phone last night.
"I do, yes," I settled on replying. "I'm thinking about returning after the new year for a while. My best friend is getting married in February and I'm her maid of honor so I need to be there for preparations and such."
Maisie nodded. "And then you'll be coming back to Scotland?"
I opened my mouth to answer, unsure of what I was going to say. The notification on my phone last night should've made the answer easy. The acceptance to the creative writing program was a second reason to come back to Scotland and maybe stay indefinitely.
"Emilie?" Maisie blinked at me in anticipation.
"I-I hope to," I said. "I've meant what I said about Fionn. I really like him a lot and I don't want to do anything to jeopardize our relationship."
"Darling, I think he'll understand that you have to go back to the states for your friend's wedding. He's very reasonable, he'll understand. And, you know, you can still do long distance. Angus and I have done that for years and our relationship, while it has its challenges, is still very much intact."
She had a point. Plus, I wouldn't be gone for very long. Once I had my student visa and got settled with an apartment, Fionn and I would be back together in the same country. And with the travel that was required with the program, we would have to do a distanced relationship anyway.
"You're right. Thank you, Maisie," I said.
We could do this. I could go back to the States for a short while then return to Scotland and be with Fionn.
I could finally be happy again.