Page 45 of Fall of a Kingdom

He left the den, giving our family privacy. I gestured to the boys. They came, reluctantly, but their curiosity quickly overpowered their hesitation.

“She’s going to need protecting,” Barrett said, pinning Hawk, Noah, and Iain with a piercing stare.

“How are babies born?” Hawk asked.

“I want to know too,” Iain said.

“Stork, cabbage patch, or the truth?” Barrett asked with a look at me.

They were too young for the truth, so I interjected, “The baby needed a family, and she found us.”

“She’s really small,” Hawk said.

“Can I see her?” Iain asked.

“Easy, now,” I said. “She’s fragile.”

“What’s her name?” Noah asked.

“Piper,” Barrett replied.

Noah looked from Piper to Barrett and then grinned. “You were right, Mam.”

“What was I right about, love?” Barrett asked.

“You told me if I wished hard enough, my dream would come true.”

“You wished for a sister?” I asked him.

He nodded.

I met my wife’s gaze. Her hazel eyes were glassy with tears, and she didn’t bother trying to hide them, not even when one rolled down her cheek.

The front door opened, turning our attention. I frowned in confusion.

“Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas,” Ramsey boomed as he appeared in the doorway of the den. “Holy shite. That’s a baby!”

Chapter15

BARRETT

“You have sucha way with words, Ramsey Buchanan,” I said with a wry grin. “Like a Roman poet. And might I remind you about little ears being present?”

“Holy shite, holy shite, holy shite!” Hawk chanted.

“Holy shite, holy shite, holy shite!” Iain mimicked his older brother.

I glared at Ramsey. “Now look what you’ve done.”

Piper started to fret again. While I was busy trying to mollify her, the boys skipped a circle around Ramsey crying outholy shitelike an incantation.

“Boys, enough,” Flynn boomed. “This is why we call them heathens.”

“You mean the Great and Ominous Flynn Campbell can’t even control his own offspring?” Ramsey asked. “Priceless.”

“What’s priceless?” Ash asked as she appeared in the den, carrying wee Duncan. Not so wee Duncan loomed behind her with Malcolm to his shoulder. Carys had her entire hand wrapped around Duncan’s finger, but she squealed and let go of her father when she saw Ramsey.

“There’s my princess,” Ramsey said, grinning at his niece. He held out his arms to her and she ran toward him.