In Scot Water - Caroline Lee Page 0,59
when ye decided to marry me.”
His lips tugged up ruefully on one side, and he shook his head. “Aye, my love, I am sorry for that, sorrier than I can express. And I’m sorry I didnae make it clear who my father was, and what my position in the clan was. Can ye forgive me?”
“Please, Mama? He’s really sorry, and he loves ye.”
If she wasn’t mistaken, Malcolm was holding his breath.
And so was Liam.
The lad was watching her with eyes as anxious as his new father’s. Knowing she had to set a good example, she grinned.
And told the truth.
“Loving someone is about forgiving their mistakes, honeybun. So aye, I forgive yer Da.”
Liam squealed and threw himself into her arms again, at the same time Malcolm sucked in a breath.
“Ye mean it, Evie?” he asked hoarsely.
She nodded. “I forgive ye.”
Bringing her hand to his lips, he placed a kiss on her palm, and she felt his lips curl.
“ ’Tis pleased I am to hear it. But ye’ll please me even more if ye repeat what ye said about loving me. Ye meant it? Ye love me?”
Her smile grew as she nodded. “Aye, Malcolm. I think I fell in love with ye, before I even gave myself to ye! How could I no’ love a man so kind and intelligent and strong and—”
Laughing, he pulled her to her feet, and Liam, clinging around her neck, came too.
“Enough, wife! Ye’ll make my head spin with such praise.”
She twined her fingers through his and held her son tight against her. “ ’Tis no’ empty praise, husband. I love ye. Ye saved me—no’ just from the water, but from a life of loneliness. Ye’re giving my sons—our sons—the future they deserve. And ye love me for me.”
Grinning, he pressed his forehead against hers, trapping Liam between them. “Ye make me feel like a hero, Evie.”
“I love ye,” she whispered.
Liam squirmed around to hold on to both of them. “I love ye too, Mama and Da!”
As if God was answering, a crack of thunder shattered the stillness of the courtyard, and Liam jumped. Chuckling, Malcolm placed a quick kiss on her lips, then straightened.
When he scooped her into his arms—Liam as well—she and her son both squealed.
“What are ye doing?” she cried out.
The rain began then, fat drops she found herself not minding at all. She and Malcolm both tilted their faces up to the Heavens, and they were both smiling.
“Come inside, wife, and let me introduce ye to yer future.”
Chapter 11
“Well, brother, ye’re finally in the running!” Rocque grinned as he clapped one large hand on Malcolm’s shoulder. “With a wife as bonny as that one, I ken ye’ll be happy.”
Malcolm grinned, watching Evelinde swaying side-to-side to the music, as she cradled wee Tomas and spoke with her father. “She is bonny—and dinnae be eying her, ye great oaf—but I’ll be happy no’ because of that reason.”
Around them, revelers celebrated Malcolm’s wedding now that it was finally dry enough to hold a celebration under the stars. The pipers piped merry tunes and the drummers—not ghostly ones, but flesh and blood, thank St. Thomas!—kept the frantic beats, which had his clan members’ feet tapping.
“Aye, ye’ll be happy, because ye cannae seem to keep yer hands off her.” On Malcolm’s other side, Duncan scowled—naught unusual there—at the celebrations. “ ’Tis an embarrassment, that is.”
Rocque guffawed. “Like ye and yer Skye are any better? Only difference is, now ye two have yer own little cottage, so ye can grope in private!” He winked at Malcolm. “ ’Tis my favorite part of Merewyn’s cottage, ye ken. The groping.”
Malcolm nodded solemnly “ ’Tis an important part of marriage. But now ye’re married, does the cottage no’ belong to both of ye?”
His twin snorted, his attention on his wife, who was chatting with Lara and Nessa across the courtyard. “Ye dinnae understand how marriage works yet. What’s mine is hers…and what’s hers is hers too.”
The grin he shot Malcolm told everyone the commander didn’t mind this arrangement at all.
“I’m happy for ye, Rocque,” Malcolm said quietly, knocking his shoulder against his twin’s. “Yer Merewyn is a fine woman as well.”
“Aye, and for more than just her bonny face. I think she’ll like yer Evelinde.” Rocque draped his arm over Malcolm’s shoulders. “We chose well, brother.”
Through a part in the revelers, they saw Skye helping her twin into a chair. Fiona looked green, and ‘twas obvious to all around her she was carrying Finn’s bairn. Where once that might’ve made him jealous,