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The Black Isle 
@emmaline  

Rabastan had gone with Zoë to Western Sky to look at horses on Sunday. It had been a really good day. They had put out feelers for buckskin dun and big bay Arabians geldings. The horses would be gorgeous and very well bred. The Lestrange would accept nothing less the best. He certainly believed that Emmaline's daughter deserved that, as well. They were getting on well, much to his relief. He wanted her to like him. He wanted her to accept the less than traditional living arrangement that he shared with her mother and Andromeda. While he knew that he would never replace Travis, he wanted them to be a family--and to be there for the girl. He knew too well the pain of living a life without anyone in the parent role. 

But the conversation he shared with Zoë had led to her saying it was obvious that he loved them both. He confirmed that aloud, promising he did in fact love both of them very much. He had said those words to Andromeda. Many times--in moments of passion, in sweet whispers in the dawn light, in silly happy times when they were more like sixteen year olds than middle age wixens. But he had never said it to Emmaline. 

He needed to. He need to say those words. No matter what she felt herself, Rabastan needed the woman to know that he had fallen in love with her. She was beautiful and brilliant and he couldn't imagine life without her. Life was better for having her in it. The wizard waited for a private moment before Emmaline had left for Dubhe, but after Andromeda had gone to the Ministry for the day. 

"You look beautiful today," he complimented, reverence warmed his voice as he looked at her. Rabastan closed the distance between them and slipped his arms around the woman. A sweet kiss brushed her lips, and he was smiling so much his face hurt. His heart thundered in chest. He knew she still loved Travis. He expected she would always. He wasn't trying to replace the man. He knew he couldn't. He just wanted to be something else for her. He wanted to be there for her, to brighten her days for as long as she would let him. 

395 • outfit

Having Zoë home was something that she had been looking forward to. Emmaline knew that she hadn’t really known what to expect when she had brought her home to the Isle, and not to Heartstone. But they hadn’t lived in Heartstone long enough for it to make a difference. She didn’t think that Zoë would have gotten attached to the house, and she would much rather her get attached to the island. Not the house itself, since they were building a new one. But she thought that it was good enough to get attached to the island.

More than the island though, she had been worried about how she was going to react to Rabastan. But surprisingly enough, she had seemed to like him. There had been some hesitation on Friday. She had seen it in the way that she had introduced herself to him. She was worried. And Emmaline had gotten ahold of her on Saturday morning, and asked her about it. But those fears were easily taken care of. She was proud of her. For adjusting, for adapting to this choice.

But she knew that Zoë was tough. Tougher than a lot of people gave her credit for. She didn’t look all that tough. But she was strong, and Emmaline knew it. She knew just how hard that she fought to be happy. And she could admire that in her youngest daughter. Well… She stopped her thoughts in their tracks at that. She wasn’t going to the be youngest anymore, but the only people that knew that were Rabastan and Andromeda. No one else knew that she was pregnant. Zoë had realized that Andromeda was, but at home the other witch did less to hide it. There were no glamours, there was no concern over how her dress fit. They were freer here.

But Zoë had already run off through the Floo for her sisters’ home, with a promise that she would be back by dinner time. And Emmaline’s phone had buzzed with a text from Hallie only moments later saying that she had her, and that they were going to the library. Of all of the places that her daughter wanted to go on her first day out of school for the summer, they were going to the library.

Emmaline had been standing in front of the mirror in their bedroom when she heard him come back into the room behind her. Honestly, she had thought that he had left for the Foundation already. She had planned on going over there this afternoon, but she had meetings this morning at the hospital. Actually, running a hospital was a lot different than working in one had been. But she was getting the hang of it. “Thank you.” She stepped into his embrace without a thought, and returned his affection, but her expression was far more curious than his. “You look like the cat that caught the canary. What’s made you so happy?”

494 • emmaline's outfit - no bag