The Wellspring (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #12) - Diana Knightley Page 0,35
ye on it later.”
I joined them down on the floor and cuddled under his arm, looking up at the bairn — Archie so big now, aware of the rough of his big-boy body, hugging his da. Isla, so little, unaware of her body, climbing on us, rough in her baby moves, clamoring on us, pressing on my face with her arm and her knee in Magnus’s throat to get comfortable sitting on his chest. Her diaper was not one inch from Archie’s face. He giggled. We all cuddled, there on the floor of the living room, right where we had been standing, after everyone else had long since cleared the room.
“We missed you so much, didn’t we Archie?”
“Aye.”
I said, “So what do we do now?”
“Now we go tae a restaurant here on the island. The whole family. Perhaps by horse. I want tae ride Sunny tae Slider’s restaurant.”
“How long would that take do you think?”
“I daena ken, five or six hours, I think.”
I curled up against his side. He was my mountain, prone on the floor, piled on by all our kids — it seemed a million years ago that his ribs were injured, barely able to breathe and now he had Isla on his chest; she was all cuteness and light, but a weight all the same. The good kind.
She had the round ball of the end of the push-stick in her mouth and drool was freaking everywhere, rolling down her pudgy arm, pooling on his shirt.
I said, “Isla, ouchie.” Gesturing to her mouth and the long stick.
She grinned, pulled the stick from her mouth, and put her drool-covered drippy hand on Magnus’s cheek. “Doo.”
Archie said, “Ew.”
Magnus chuckled. “Och, tis a wet river comin’ from ye, wee’un.”
She giggled and put a finger right into his mouth and giggled again.
“Are you glad to be home even with a drooly finger in your mouth and a possible wet diaper on your chest?”
“Och aye, tis better than a dry bairn, swaddled and waitin’ tae be looked upon. Twould be too perfect. I prefer the bairn tae be sittin’ upon me, tellin’ me she missed me with a splashing hand.”
She giggled again gave him a soft and indeed splashy smack on his cheek.
“Dost ye want tae ride the horses tae dinner, bairn?”
“Whoa there, Highlander, it’s almost dark, it’s cold out. I know you missed the horses but just to get them from the stable and…”
He sighed very deeply and comically. “Och, I ken, tis easier tae drive in the Mustang. We will require a different sort of horse for dinner this night, but on the morrow, we will ride the horses. Dost ye want tae go tae Sliders and hae all the cheese and macaroni ye want, tae celebrate yer Da has come home?”
Archie jumped up, “Yeah!”
Ben came running in. “What?”
“We go Sliders!” said Archie.
The kids danced all around us and Isla announced, “Go go!”
I pressed my lips to his cheek. “Well, I guess we have to do this.”
“Aye, tis m’welcome home gift.” He kissed me on the lips, clamored to his feet, and proffered a hand, helping me up.
Zach called from the kitchen, “We’re going out to dinner? I thought it was tradition that I cook a welcome home feast?”
“I ken, but I want ye tae hae the night off tae celebrate. If it makes ye feel more in control, I will let ye decide what I am tae eat. I am nae reading, nae makin’ decisions, beginning with the menu, too many choices.”
“Deal.”
We went to get ready and I questioned him while applying my mascara, leaning on the bathroom counter. “The kingdom was good? Lady Mairead running everything well? Peacefulness reigned?”
He ran a hand through his hair and adjusted his shirt. “Nae.”
A clump of black fell on my cheekbone. I pulled a tissue to wipe it. “What do you mean?”
“Lady Mairead made a deal with a man named, Sir Padraig Stuart—”
“The actor?”
“Tis what Quentin asked, but nae. The deal was for the Trailblazer. She would nae disclose it tae me, even though I had her imprisoned.”
My eyes went wide, watching him in the mirror. “Oh man, I would have loved seeing that.”
“Twas quite fun for a time until I realized some large inconsistencies were happening.”
“Like what?”
“She dinna remember coming here with the two friends, that was the first one. Another was when I put her in jail she was wearing a dress, when I went back tae see her, she was wearing a jacket with one of the gold bands around