But he stopped, and I realized he had something or someone tucked behind him. “And I’m not the only one who thought so.”

The someone stepped out from behind Aidan, and I felt my breath fly away.

She looked at me with cautious, hopeful eyes, her light blond hair longer than it used to be, braided in a fishtail down her left shoulder.

“Sylvie?” I whispered, disbelieving she was here.

Four weeks into our new relationship, Aidan had asked me to sit in his weekly Skype call with Sylvie. It had been strange and awkward at first because of the time that had passed, but over the weeks it felt like all three of us had never left each other.

As far as I’d been made aware, however, she wouldn’t be visiting Aidan until late June.

“I wanted to see you in the play,” Sylvie said.

And then like she’d done so easily before, she rushed forward and threw her arms around me. I immediately wrapped my arms around her, feeling a piece of me that I’d been missing slot back into place. With tears of gratitude, I looked up at Aidan, and he took us in with such love in his expression, I thought I would burst.

Finally, with the realization that Sylvie’s affection for me had never waned, I felt the last of the guilt I’d carried over the years of my young life detach from my soul and float far away. Without even meaning to, I’d blamed myself for not being able to stop Cal from taking her that day.

Now I knew better.

It was easy, when you loved people, to find ways to blame yourself when you couldn’t protect them from the hurts of the world. That was an impossible task, and we only ended up hurting ourselves by believing that it wasn’t.

The only thing that was in our power was to love through the hard times, to hold onto that love, and not allow blame and guilt to blister it.

I had all the love I needed in that theater building, and I swore to myself as Aidan approached us and wrapped his big arms around Sylvie and me that I would protect our love with my body and soul. More importantly, I’d forgive myself on the days when the rain came out of nowhere and soaked us to our skin. We’d have those days.

Everyone had those days.

But with Aidan, I could find the laughter in those days, as well hidden as it may be, and I could strip off my dress and seduce the sadness out of him. Our passion wouldn’t ever be a solution, but it would be a constant reminder that the hard days were worth getting through to keep safe what we shared.

It was a well-known fact that the Scottish used humor and lightness to get through difficult times. To play on, to laugh on, and to dream on, even on the days they felt abandoned by hope. I understood that now. I got it. I respected it.

This place … well, it fit me.

Indiana and my mother would always have a piece of me.

But this place … these people … this man …

They fit beautifully.