Page 28 of Bride Takes a Laird (Highland Vows & Vengeance #2)
M agnus’s breath formed a cloud of mist. He couldn’t stay inside the manor and listen to his wife’s screams. He needed to distract himself from the plight Kendra was going through. On his walk about in the courtyard, he trailed along a waist-high stone wall. Stars speckled the night sky and a shimmer swathed the darkness.
He wasn’t pleased to see the essence of the heavens because it reminded him that childbirth was a dangerous business. He prayed that God wouldn’t call Kendra home and that she wasn’t taken from him. Then he prayed to the Goddess Flora, for she would protect his wife. Magnus was being selfish and prayed to both deities—he couldn’t lose her. He needed Kendra because his life would be meaningless without her.
Why hadn’t he realized that until now?
A woman emerged from the manor and hurried toward him. He turned to face her, his heart thumping in his throat. “Ah, Laird Cameron, there you are. I’m Gilda, Linet’s mama, and the maidservant to my lady Kendra. We met briefly when you arrived.” She bowed slightly and smiled when she raised her face to his.
She didn’t look like she had bad tidings to share. He took a deep breath because, he discovered, he’d forgotten to breathe. “Good eve, Mistress.”
“I do not deem we have long to wait for Kendra was well into her pains. Seems your bairn wants to enter this world and is hasty.” So she had no tidings at all, really.
Magnus nodded absently, hoping what she said was true. The thought of Kendra suffering tensed every part of him. He wished he could be there with her, supporting her, and assuring her.
“Are you hungry? I thought you might want a bite of supper?”
“Nay, I couldn’t eat right now, but my thanks.”
Gilda stepped beside him. “Do you mind if I walk with you? ’Tis the truth, I could do with a bit of air and to keep my mind occupied. I fear that I am as worried as you be.”
He slowed his pace so the elder woman could keep up with him. “Do ye know how Kendra fares? Has Linet given a report? I am impatient for news.”
Gilda shook her head. “None have left the chamber as yet, and I am certain you must be anxious to meet your baby. Agnes, the midwife, is skilled and has delivered many babies. Your wife is in good hands. My lady Kendra also has Linet with her. I thought it best to give them room to do their duty and I ensured clean cloths and freshly heated water were made and readied. I heard Kendra though for she’s bearing the pain well.”
“I cannot bear that she’s in pain.”
She clicked her tongue and shifted to gaze at him. “You must love her to have such concern. I too cannot bear it for Kendra has been akin to a daughter to me.”
Magnus nodded and couldn’t hold back his grin. He held out his arm for Gilda to take because he didn’t want the servant to trip in the dark. “Kendra is unlike any woman I’ve ever beheld. When did she learn to be a steward?”
Gilda chuckled lightly. “Ah, so she has shown that side of herself to you? I have known Kendra since the day she was born. A few years after her mama passed, she asked her da to teach her counting and sums. It was her way of getting him to spend time with her. I fear that she was a lonely lass what with her da being away and her brother as well. She did what she could to spend time with them.”
“So she had more than one purpose for learning sums?”
“Indeed, aye. Kendra usually has more than one purpose for anything she does. When her da became ill, she sold almost all the manor’s possessions to find a cure for him. She used all the wealth and hired healers, bought potions, and even communed with mages and paid for them to cast spells to take away her da’s ailment. But it was all for naught.”
“Is that why Lord Graham accepted coins from Lord Heatherington for Kendra’s hand?”
“Ah, so ye know about that too? Nay, Lord Graham wasn’t in his right mind and would never have accepted Heatherington’s offer had he been so. He wouldn’t give Kendra to the knave but he must have taken the coins and misunderstood. Unfortunately, he lost the coins before Kendra could return them. She searched everywhere for them and finally found the coins and is now intent on returning the manor to its former glory. She despaired over it and tried to repay Heatherington but he said the debt had already been paid. Kendra didn’t say so to me, but I assume you had something to do with that?”
Magnus wished Kendra had spoken to him about the missing coins. He could have eased her worry over it. “Aye, I gladly repaid the debt for her.”
Gilda clung to his arm and peered ahead as she spoke, “You allowed Kendra to repair the manor and restore it. She’s very pleased about that.”
“It is a bonny home.” Magnus hadn’t ever seen such a small manor home like Kendra’s. It had a grandness about it and yet held charm.
“Kendra worked herself to weariness tending to the manor after her brother left to go lend his sword to the English. She was alone, left to bear the responsibility when Aston went off to war. He needn’t have gone, but he had wanderlust in his heart and in his feet. Still, that left Kendra to look after her da. She wouldn’t allow us to help her. It was not only disheartening for her but also taxing. She took care of him when he ailed and ensured all those within the manor had enough food. We are devoted to my lady for her kindness and devotion.”
“Aye, as I said, Mistress, she is an incredible woman.”
“It does this old heart good to hear you proclaim such.” Gilda tapped her chest. “She was distraught when you didn’t come. But now you are here and I hope you mend her broken heart.”
Magnus flinched and stopped walking when he reached the kitchen. Gilda released his arm. “I am resigned to do so even if it takes me until the end of my days.”
Gilda smiled and bowed to him. She entered the kitchen without another word.
He ambled toward the manor’s entrance. He had grown cold, walking in the frigid night. Magnus entered the manor and couldn’t hear anything except for the crackle of the wood in the hearth. Kendra was no longer yelling and he stood still, listening hard and praying that she’d survived the birth and was well. He stood before the fire and warmed his hands waiting for someone to come to give him a report of her condition.
Noise from outside drew his gaze to the entrance of the hall. The sound of a horse’s whinny and men’s voices reached him. The manor’s door creaked open and John entered the room. When he spotted Magnus he approached, and called out to him, “Laird Cameron, can I get you ale or wine?” John shook the barrel and lifted it. “I’ll fetch another. This one is empty.” He hefted the barrel and left.
Magnus’s gaze shot to the steps when he thought he heard someone but it was probably a soldier or another entering the manor. A tall burly man stood at the threshold of the hall and grimaced at him.
“Who are ye and what do ye want?” Magnus hadn’t seen the man before.
The man grunted and stepped forward. “I am Aston of Clan Graham. Who the hell are you, and where are my father and sister?”
Magnus felt the heat of his ire reach his eyes. After what Gilda told him, he detested Aston for his selfishness. The man gave no care about his family when he rode off to join with the Sassenach king. Magnus couldn’t hold back his anger; marched to the man and struck his jaw with his fist. Aston staggered back a few steps, pressed a hand to his jaw, and continued to glare at him.
Her brother resembled Kendra with a head of long blond hair but his blue eyes were much darker than his sister’s. His beard was unkempt and scraggly but Magnus supposed he hadn’t taken care of it during his travels. As much as he wanted to lay the man flat, Magnus clenched his hands closed and remained where he stood.
John reentered the hall and set the barrel on the stand by the buttery. “Oh, Laird Cameron, I forgot to tell you that Aston arrived.”
“Cameron?” Aston said to John and rubbed his jaw. “Who the hell is he, and why didn’t you tell me he was in my hall?
Magnus couldn’t shake his irritation. The man had the gall to instigate him, he’d give him that. “I am Kendra’s husband. Ye remember her? She’s the lass, your sister, who ye left to fend on her own, to tend to your ailing da, and kept this manor afloat.”
Aston bellowed with laughter. “Kendra married you?” He shook his head as if he disbelieved him. “Why would she marry you, a Highlander? You speak a falsity, yes, you must.”
The man insulted him which made Magnus want to pummel him, but he held firm and didn’t move. Kendra would be displeased if he harmed her brother and so he kept himself from doing as he’d wanted—to give the man a blackened eye or a bloodied nose. Yet, he wanted to thrash him with every bit of his strength. “She did marry me, happily I might add, by the order of King Alexander. She is at this moment, giving birth to my… our bairn.” Magnus couldn’t help but put a wee bit of arrogance in his tone.
Aston’s mouth hung open but then he closed it. “You had no right to strike me.”
Now Magnus bellowed. “Ye call that wee tap a strike? Ye best prepare yourself for your sister’s anger for she must harbor intense ire at you for abandoning her.” He didn’t think Kendra would ever strike anyone, least of all her boorish brother, but Aston didn’t know that. The man should grovel at her feet for his neglect. Then Magnus flinched because he too had been guilty of neglecting her. He had every intention of groveling for her forgiveness, though.
Linet entered the hall and reached him quickly. “Laird Cameron, Kendra is ready to see you now. You can go up.”
He tried to ascertain by Linet’s look how Kendra had fared but the woman just appeared weary. “She’s well? And the bairn?” That was all he wanted to know at the moment. He hoped that she didn’t have difficulty or hurt too badly.
“She is and did well. Prepare yourself, Laird Cameron.”
His brows drew together at her words. “Prepare myself for what?”
“A surprise. Go on. Don’t keep her waiting.”
Magnus rushed to the steps, his heart pounding in his chest. He didn’t care about whatever surprise Linet spoke of. He only wanted to reassure himself that Kendra survived, and if he was blessed, their bairn would thrive.
He hurried down the hallway until he reached her bedchamber door. With his hand on the door handle, he took a calming breath and realized the moment was at hand—he’d make his confession, beg her forgiveness, and praise her for putting up with him.
Magnus released a slow and steady breath and opened the door.