Page 34 of Bride Takes a Charmer
“Will we leave right off?” Trey asked.
“Aye, I want to get home too. My wife is anxious to be with her wee lass, who needs to be put to bed. Get the men ready and we will leave shortly.” Shaw was about to rise when he noticed Gillian’s eyes were open and that she was staring at him. “Are ye hungry lass?”
She lowered her chin to avoid his gaze and didn’t answer.
“’Tis time to go.” Shaw rose and held out his hand to her. The moment was taut with apprehension as her gaze widened with fear but then she finally placed her hand in his. He helped her to rise, then took up the tartan from the ground and handed it to Henny.
Shaw kept his pace slow as he approached the horses. Gillian followed meekly and silently, carrying the tartan Trey had covered her with and with which she’d wrapped herself. When he reached his horse, he pulled the leftover bread he’d wrapped and saved from earlier that day. Without asking her again if she was hungry, he turned to her and pressed the bread into her hand. “Eat.”
His men were ready to make for the lane and he could delay no further.
He quickly mounted his horse and shifted back to make room for the lass. Trey handed her to him and Shaw adjusted the tartan she held around her shoulders. “That will keep ye warm whilst we ride home.”
As they began to ride, he let some of his men ride ahead and kept his distance from them. He whispered to Gillian, “I metyour mother when she was a young lass. Now I am fortunate to be married to her. I vow, lass, to be a good da to ye. Ye may not understand what that means yet, but one day ye shall be happy.”
For the next league or so, Gillian leaned back against him. Shaw was pleased because that meant she was letting her guard down. Suddenly he realized that he was now a father. Shaw wanted to be the kind of father that he’d had, an honorable man who held love in his heart for his children. He wanted his children to have as much faith in him as he had in his da. With a silent vow, he promised that Gillian would never go without—without care, love, or attention, and be secure in the knowledge that her new da would always take care of her.
With the motion of the horse, he thought perhaps Gillian had fallen asleep again but when his men shouted, she craned her head and he noted she was awake. She hadn’t eaten a single bite of the bread and that sunk his shoulders a little. But the lane that led to the gates of his home lay ahead. He was never more gladdened to arrive. Sorsha was in for a surprise, one that might make her heart burst with joy.
Trey rode back from the front of the procession. “Riders sit outside the gate, Laird.”
“Who are they?”
“’Tis the MacPhersons, Laird.” This came from Henny.
Shaw passed by his soldiers and rode to the front of the procession, not stopping until he reached Laird MacPherson. His steed whinnied and pranced, as the lane was crowded with horses. The moment was rife with tension as his men pulled their swords free from their scabbards. His gates remained closed but the men who had remained at his home while he went on his excursion, assembled, and appeared ready to take up arms.
Alan MacPherson leaned forward in his saddle which shifted the long strands of his red hair over his shoulders. The manresembled a fierce warrior with the ornate plate of a shield across his chest and the bands of leather surrounding his arms. His beard was done in various knots and braids and though kempt was unruly at the same time. His blue eyes darkened with the man’s forwardness when he grunted before saying, “I thought I would have to await ye forever.”
“I just returned to my holding. Why are ye here?” Shaw wasn’t pleased by the MacPherson’s visit, especially when his eyes shifted to the lass on his lap. “Ye dare to come on my land without permission?”
“I had to come, Mackintosh. Who’s the wee lass?”
Shaw ignored his question and didn’t respond. With a glare, he expressed his ire at the man’s brazenness. “As ye can see my soldiers are not pleased by this…foray.”
“Ye gave me no choice since ye ignored my request for a meeting, I had to come. Can we meet now?” Alan grunted and tipped his head at the Mackintosh soldiers. “I see your men are ready for a fight, but I do not wish to appease them.”
“There are things I must see to since I have only arrived. Ye may make camp in yonder woods and await me there. I will come and see ye when I can.” Shaw motioned to Clovis, who opened the gate. He rode through and didn’t look back.
His main concern was getting Gillian to her mother and then he’d probably have some explaining to do. After, he’d see to the MacPherson and find out why he’d come. Shaw had forgotten the missive he’d misplaced and wondered now if it indicated what was so important that Alan risked his soldiers’ lives in coming without an invitation.
Shaw crossed the bridge and continued riding until he reached the keep. There, he slid from his mount and held out his arms to Gillian. She set her hands on his shoulders as he lifted from the horse. He didn’t want to set her down and carried her inside. Her wee body was light and barely weighed as much asa goose. She held on to him tightly and Shaw supposed she was still fearful. “Now, let us find your mother. She will be overcome with joy when she sees ye.”
Shaw entered the fief. Through the long hallway, he listened for voices but didn’t hear any and hoped Sorsha hadn’t retired for the night. At the great hall, he stopped by the entrance and saw her sitting in a chair by the hearth. Across from her, his mamo seemed to have fallen asleep.
“Sorsha…” Shaw hurried to her and kept his eyes trained on hers. “There is someone here to see ye.” He set Gillian on her feet and gave a light nudge to her shoulder to press her forward.
She gasped and stood hastily. “Gillian!” Sorsha glanced from him to her daughter then back to him. “How? Gillian!” She hurried forth, fell to her knees, and took her daughter in her arms.
Shaw knelt next to them and set an arm around his wife’s shoulder. She visibly shook and tears streamed down her cheeks. The moment tensed his heart at witnessing the anguish Sorsha must have felt in missing her daughter. Now she couldn’t speak and swayed with Gillian in her hold. Gillian’s little arms wrapped around her mother’s neck and tears shimmered in her beautiful brown eyes.
He pressed a hand over Sorsha’s back. “I shall give you a moment to be together.”
He rose and moved to the hall’s entrance, where he stopped and looked back at the scene before him. He wasn’t an overly sentimental man, but the sight of a mother holding her wee lass nearly buckled his knees with emotions. As he traversed the hallway, he was now gladdened that he’d retrieved the lass. Gillian belonged to her mother and him.
Back outside, he ambled toward the gate and noticed none of the MacPhersons remained. He whistled for Walen who stood afar speaking with his brother near the training field. Hiscomrade trotted to him but said not a word when he moved to stand next to him.
“I am going to meet with MacPherson and thought ye might want to come.”