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Eight months later

“L et me see my wee lass,” Gunn purred as he lifted Winnie from Jocelyn’s arms. “The older she gets, the more she looks like ye.” He kissed the bairn’s silky hair, her big blue eyes looking at him.

He was so proud of Joss. She’d birthed their bairn like a warrior. And Winnie was their bairn. Their daughter. Two months ago, Winnie entered the world, crying so loud he was certain the world could hear.

He and Joss had been inseparable since that horrible night. They’d married as soon as Gunn had received the signed divorced papers. Malcolm and Alexander had seen to that. He was quite sure there may have been some prodding by fists to make it happen but happen it did.

“Where’s my niece,” Gwen called from the other room, carrying her newest bairn, Freddie, and burst through the door. “They’re in here,” she called over her shoulder. Nicholas, carrying Violet, followed, with Bennie clinging to his trouser leg, his thumb stuck in his mouth.

Gwen stopped short. “She’s a beautiful wee lass, isna she, Nicholas?”

“Aye,” he said, clapping Gunn on the shoulder.

Clarissa and Alexander entered next, Colin on Alexander’s shoulders, holding on to his ears for balance. He pointed to his son. “And this is why my ears are always red,” he laughed. “Lovely to see ye three. Congratulations on the arrival of your wee one.”

“Thank you,” Joss said quietly, and Gunn kenned she was getting overwhelmed with emotion. He squeezed her shoulder. “Ye all right?”

She nodded, grabbing his hand.

“Did someone say we needed more bairns in the house?” Finlay called before entering the room, carrying his son, Allan.

Willamina followed him, carrying their daughter, Anna, Allan’s twin sister. As they’d learned, the doctors weren’t always right.

Last to arrive were Lizzie and Malcolm. She pushed her way through the door, her round belly leading the way. It wouldn’t be long, and their family of two would become three.

Gunn looked around the room. At his brothers. Their wives. Their bairns and wee ones, and smiled, pride filling his chest as his and Joss’s gazes met.

They’d all come so far. From boyhood friends, to brothers-in-arms, to husbands, and fathers.

And it was because of all these strong women. Without them, none of this would be possible.

He bent to Joss, placing a kiss on her cheek.

“I love ye, Joss.”

She smiled, pulling him in to capture his mouth before whispering, “I love you, too.”

*