Page 69 of Bride Takes a Laird
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 ClanGraham. 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…ourbairn.” 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 rightto 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.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kendra held herswaddled babies, one on each side of her body. The babies were a good size and she realized how blessed she was to have survived giving birth to them. The lass had barely any hair at all, but the lad had a full head of shiny dark locks like his father’s. She tilted her head to smell the scent of the lad’s hair. She smiled to herself and a sense of pride filled her heart.
When she glanced up, she found Magnus standing at the door staring at her. He quietly closed the door behind him and approached with silent steps. As he reached her, a grin widened on his handsome face. How she’d missed him. She dreaded the words she needed to say to him. Kendra decided that if he was going to continue to be laird to his clan then she would stay at her home and give him his freedom. Her decision nearly broke her heart when she considered it, but it was best not to have false hope that he would ever care enough about her to put her before his clan.
“There are two? Ye went beyond your duty, Kendra, for I would’ve been pleased with just one bairn.” He chuckled and set a gentle hand on the lass’s head then leaned forward and kissed the lad’s hair. “Are ye well?”
“I am, Magnus. I cannot lie and say it was easy but I am well enough.” Kendra had thought so many times about what she’d say to him when she saw him but the words seemed to vanish in her mind.She sighed and tried to shift upward.
“Do not move, sweetheart. Rest, for ye deserve it.” He sat by her knees and reached to take a baby from her. “What have we? Lads, lassies, or one of both?”