Page 35 of Bride Takes a Charmer (Highland Vows & Vengeance #3)

“Oh, that shall be delicious. My thanks, Edra. Enjoy the solitude and rest. We shall see you this eve.” Sorsha picked up the basket and called to the children. Outside, she walked along with Luthor and Gillian following.

“Will we get to ride horses?” Luthor asked excitedly.

“Nay, I am certain we will walk to the loch. Come along, do not dally.” Sorsha picked up her steps and hurried to the gate where she hoped Shaw awaited her.

On her approach, she saw him standing with the watchman.

He looked so handsome even from afar. His longish brown locks tussled with the warm breeze, along with the hem of his tartan.

He’d rolled up his tunic sleeves which showed the sinewy muscles of his forearms. To think she’d been held within those arms early that morning. Sorsha sighed with happiness.

“Ye look well pleased.” Shaw took the basket from her. “Are we ready? What’s in here?”

“We are. There’s some foodstuff there in case we get hungry.”

“Can we swim in the loch?” Gillian asked.

“Of course, ye can, Gilly lass. We shall enjoy the water today.” Shaw picked her daughter up and Gillian squealed with laughter. “Let us be off.” He set Gillian down and grabbed a large satchel which he set over his shoulder. “I brought some items too for the day.”

The walk to the loch took little time. Their excitement to get to the water matched their sprightly steps. Luthor was quiet on the walk and that concerned Sorsha. She wondered what he was thinking about. She wanted to ask, but it was best she allowed him to tell her on his own.

At the loch, Shaw pulled a large thin cover from his satchel and set it upon a shady grassy area beneath the trees. She set the basket of food on it and helped Gillian remove her overdress. Beneath, she had a thin linen underdress which afforded her a little modesty while she bathed in the water.

Shaw and Luthor stripped to their braises and ran into the water.

Sorsha collected their garments and folded them, placing them in a pile on the cover.

Afterward, she settled on the cover too and slipped off her shoes.

As she did so, she watched Gillian, who appeared skeptical about entering the water.

“Do you not want to go in?”

Gillian shook her head. “Not yet, Mama.”

“Well then, come and sit with me. We shall talk.”

Her daughter sat next to her and watched Luthor and Shaw in the water carousing, splashing each other, and bellowing with laughter.

“I wanted to talk to you about that night, the night you were taken from me. Can you tell me what you saw? You were frightened. I heard you scream.”

Gillian peered at her lap and nodded. “Aye, Mama, I was scared. I saw you holding the dagger and I… You stabbed Da. Then someone grabbed me and took me away.”

Sorsha’s chest tightened at hearing Gillian’s recounting.

“I promise you, sweetheart, I did not stab your da. I only held the dagger in my hand because I pulled it from him. Your uncle stabbed your da and I entered the chamber at that exact moment. I ran to your da to give him aid but it was too late. So I removed the dagger from him.”

“You did not stab him?” Gillian glanced up at her.

“Nay, I certainly did not. Although your da and I were not close, I respected him. The last thing I wanted was to lose him. I am sorry that you had to witness his…ah, that you were taken away. I wept for two whole days because I could not get to you.”

Gillian pressed her eye to wipe away a tear that gathered. “I did too, Mama. Are you happy now with Laird Shaw?”

“I am very happy. Are you?” Her daughter shrugged. “Do you know what would make me happier? If you would call Laird Shaw ‘Papa’. That would please him mightily. He is a good man and wants to be your father. Will you let him inside your heart as I have in mine?”

“I want to let him into my heart. He makes me laugh.” Gillian stood but fell against her and wrapped her arms around Sorsha’s neck.

Sorsha wanted to weep at the joy that sprang to her heart. “I have never seen you so mirthful and that makes me happy too. Laird Shaw will protect you, Gillian, and ensure that you are always cared for, but more than that, he will bring you joy and love.”

“I feared Da because…” Gillian’s words fell away.

“I understand, sweetheart. He was not an easy man and was sometimes frightful. But alas, we are free now to find happiness. There is no reason to fear anyone now.” She hugged her daughter close and then set her away. “Not even Laird Shaw’s sister. She didn’t mean to scare you and Luthor.”

“I am not fond—”

Sorsha set her hand on her small daughter’s shoulder and caressed her arm with her palm. “You should try to be fond of her, Gillian. She’s your da’s sister and family. We must be patient with Corliss and allow her to get to know us. Can you do that?”

Gillian nodded.

“Now, go on and enjoy the water.”

As soon as Gillian reached the bank, she jumped in and the small waves reached her knees.

Shaw grabbed her and whipped her around the surface of the water.

Hearing her daughter’s sweet laughter made her smile.

What a remarkable change to her daughter’s demeanor.

Perhaps the best thing that happened to them was their change in circumstances.

Rodick’s death might not have been such an unfortunate happening after all.

Immediately, Sorsha pleaded for God to forgive her for such a thought.

Luthor skulked from the water with a pout on his face. “Gillian won’t let me have a turn.”

Sorsha patted the cover and smiled. “Come sit with me for a short moment. Is the water warm?”

He nodded. “I thought ’bout what you asked, Milady.”

“You did? And what is your decision? Will you join our family? I want you as my son, Luthor, but no matter what you decide, I shall still love you.”

His eyebrows furrowed slightly but then his frown turned to a smile. “You love me, Milady?”

“Of course I do. I want to take care of you and know that your mama would want me to make sure you are happy.” Sorsha kept herself from taking his hand. How badly she wanted to offer sympathy or comfort. “And Laird Shaw would so like to call you son. It is our greatest hope that you accept us.”

Luthor swiped his arm across his face. He pulled his knees upward and wrapped his arms around them. “I do, Milady. I want ye as my mama and papa.”

Sorsha tried not to let the tears in her eyes fall, but she had to hastily wipe them away. “You do not know how happy I am. The only thing that would please me more is if you would call us Mama and Papa.”

“I can…Mama.” Luthor rocked on his buttocks and kept his gaze on the water.

“Then let us go and join our family. They look like they are having all the fun.” Sorsha pulled him to stand and took his hand.

She ran toward the water and he followed.

Her toes scrunched in the sandy, rocky bottom, and she gasped at the chill of it.

It wasn’t too cold, but it was not as warm as she’d thought or hoped it would be.

They played in the water for a time but soon got hungry. After they partook of an early afternoon meal and ate the entire chicken and bread, the children lay back upon the cover, drowsy and lethargic for once.

“Take a wee rest, sweet ones,” she said and covered a portion of their bodies with Shaw’s tartan.

Luthor lay on his side and called out to Shaw, “Papa, later will ye show me how to fish?”

Shaw’s eyes widened slightly when Luthor called him Papa. His grin, though, attested to the fact that he was touched. “Aye, I will, son. Take a wee rest as your mama suggested.”

“Papa,” Gillian called. “Me too? Will you show me how to fish?”

“Aww, she’s just a lass and lassies do not fish,” Luthor said.

Shaw chuckled low. “Gilly lass, I will show ye how to fish too. Son, lassies do fish and they can do just about everything we can. I bid ye to remember that.”

Luthor nodded. Gillian grinned.

Shaw whittled a stick and tied a string to it. “I am going to see if I can catch a fish or two for supper. Luthor, stay here and protect our family. I will not be long.” He marched off toward the water and then continued down the bank.

As Sorsha sat with the children, she cleaned up the remnants of their meal and noticed Luthor’s small pout. He wasn’t pleased being left behind.

“Mama, will you tell us the story about the mountain and the bun?” Gillian asked. “You have not told it to me in a long time.”

“I would love to but how about a new story?”

The children nodded.

Sorsha leaned back with her hands behind her.

“I shall tell you a tale that my da used to tell me when I was a young lass. One day, Ant was going to the river to drink. She fell in and was carried along in the stream’s current.

In the tree nearby, Dove pitied Ant’s condition and threw a small bough into the river. ”

“Oh, nay, does Ant drown?” Luthor asked with awe.

Gillian shushed him. “Don’t ask questions.”

He bristled. “I can ask questions!”

Sorsha bit back her smile and continued, “Ant swam to the bough and it floated to the shore. Later, Ant saw a man with a fowling piece on a string that he aimed at Dove. The man tried to trick Dove to catch him. To repay Dove for his kindness, Ant stung the man on his foot and he missed his aim. Ant saved his newfound friend Dove.”

The children clapped.

“Always remember, my children, that little friends might prove to be great friends,” Sorsha finished. She proceeded to tell another story, and then another, making the tales less and less exciting as she saw the children settling down and their eyes growing heavy.

By the time she finished the last tale, Gillian’s and Luthor’s eyes were closed and they breathed easily. She rose from the cover, approached Shaw, and set her arm around his shoulder. “They are asleep.”

“Did ye hear Luthor? He called me papa…and Gilly lass, she called me the same.” He leaned his head against hers.

“My family…I was blessed, Sorsha, when ye chose me for your husband.” He reached for her hair and tucked an errant strand behind her ear.

“I never thought I would have wee ones or such a bonny wife.”

“It is I who is blessed, Shaw.” She lightly kissed his cheek. “There were years when I thought my existence was fated for misery. I always tried to be positive, but then all that happened with Rodick. Then you happened. You have made me so happy.”