Hidden Jewel (Heartfire Series) (47 page)

She's mine.

A soft gasp of surprise, barely audible though it came from the woman only a foot away, made Micah's eyes spring open, shocked by the fact that he had obviously uttered the words aloud. Blinking at his own faux pas, his dark eyes met Ailill's with a sudden gleam in the deep blue orbs, narrowed as if daring her to challenge his claim.

"She's mine," he repeated in a louder voice, looking away from the pain that suddenly flared up in the eyes of his occasional lover and friend, knowing that Ailill would see that he was lying if he held her gaze. "As you pointed out before, it don't take full penetration to start a baby." It was mean, he knew, to throw that back in her face, unfeeling as it sounded, but even with the claiming of the infant, Micah, selfishly, wished for Ailill to know that it was she by whom he had been deflowered.

"No, it doesn't," she answered softly. "But it does take a man's seed, and it wasn't your name that the lass uttered while in the throes of labor." She watched him closely, seeing the deep flush that crept up from the collar of his shirt, staining his sculpted cheeks with a rather sickly purple shadow. "Nor was it your twin's."

His head snapped up in surprise. "But...Jacob said-"

"No matter, Micah. It doesn't signify," Ailill cut him off sharply, a fire burning in the sapphire depths of her eyes. "If you wish to lay claim to the wee bairn as your own, I won't challenge you, nor the honor you give her and her mother's spirit in so doing. It's right and good of you to wish the best for her, as she hasn't a name, nor a reason to even to live upon this cursed earth. You honor the spirits of all who have walked the same precarious path of dark and light into the shadowy realm with the claim you have made, whether it's true in body or heart." Looking away, toward the doorway, she gazed solemnly into the eyes of Jacob, who had been silently standing guard since his twin had first sat down, awaiting his own turn to study the child he believed he had started. He looked as guilt-ridden as a lad who had accidentally murdered his own best friend and Ailill's heart thumped most painfully to see that the man had obviously been working through some overwhelming emotional angst. His eyes were bloodshot, the lids red and puffy from crying; the glossy mass of his hair was disheveled, as if he had literally been ripping it from his scalp with hands so bruised and battered that she wondered how he could stand there without showing the pain of at least one broken knuckle. "Neither of you are the father, she isn't
your
bairn, but your concern is not the least bit untoward, as the bitty wee lass is, evidently, of your blood."

It took a long moment for her words to sink in, both men blinking in confusion at what sounded like yet another Highlander's bewildering play on words. And yet, there was a sadness in her eyes and a look of such candor that it had the impact in both of their intelligent minds that she had been hoping for. Flashing her a direct look, Jacob stepped into the room and strode over to where the swaddled infant lay sleeping in his twin's strong arms. Realization burned brightly in his dark blue eyes as he carefully scooped up the tiny thing for a close, scrutinizing look.

"That fuckin' bastard," he growled at last. "No wonder she looks like Noelle." Micah's head shook almost violently in denial even as Jacob whispered, "she's our baby, alright. Our baby
sister
."

"Kiah?" Micah said after a pause. "But, how?"

"How d'ya think, Micah? He screwed Angel, obviously around the same time
I
did." The bitterness in his tone touched Ailill deeply, and her eye was drawn up to his perfect face, to his reddened eyes, now burning with righteous indignation. "No wonder she didn't want me when I went back to see her. Hell, he probably abused her, as cruel as he is. What a fuckin' shit!"

"Well, whether he may have abused her or not," Micah replied in a calm tone, "he
did
make her pregnant, and now the girl is gone and her baby,
his
baby, is still alive." His gaze flicked briefly to where Ailill was sitting, a throw pillow clutched to her belly as if the small weight could keep her still. She badly wanted to tell them all that she had heard from the mouth of the dying young woman, but she was purposely staying out of it, waiting to see how these men, who had much on their proverbial plates that neither even knew of yet, would chance to resolve this particular Gordian knot; there would be no slicing it in two with the gleaming blade of a sword this time. It was yet another test, perhaps cruel of her to allow them their own unfounded beliefs, but she'd been through plenty of tests, knew the ways around them without actually cheating; it was simply for the best that she remain closemouthed, for now. There was a hopefulness in her eyes that Micah could not easily dismiss. He wondered what it was that she held back, dismissed the thought as quickly as it had come.

"
We
will lay claim to the baby," he added softly, giving his twin, and then Ailill, an even look. "We will both claim paternity, and we'll raise her as if she were our own daughter. It is our right."

Jacob's handsome face cleared at once, as if he had been struck with a sudden epiphany. His dark head bobbed in agreement, making a glossy wave fall from the widow's peak atop his forehead and slide forward, half covering his face. He looked down at Ailill, saw the way she was looking at him, and paled, suddenly stricken. "Unless you don't want us to?"

It was a question, not a statement, and Ailill breathed an inaudible sigh of relief that he had thought to ask. The full truth of the matter could come later. Much later. A slow smile spread across her face, lighting up her features until she very nearly glowed. "I wouldn't have it any other way," she answered truthfully, a tone of pride evident in her husky voice which said far more than her words had, touching them both deeply. Laughing softly as a feeling of tremendous relief spread over her, Ailill reached for the infant, cuddling the warm body as if she were holding a doll, as if
she
were truly the child's mother.

Jacob and Micah exchanged a glance at the sight, both suddenly feeling the urge to cry, to laugh; in relief, and in fear; to put the baby to bed so that they both could take their beautiful, fiery love to bed and show her all of that; to do all of those things which they knew could send her into sweet oblivion. All of this showed clearly in the eyes of each man when Ailill looked up. Her eyes glowed softly in answer, the slight weight in her arms a vivid reminder that much had still to be done. The two men smiled, understanding well what she was about. Death, and the ordeal of having to bury a tiny woman who had not even lived long enough to see true adulthood, had a tendency to fill a man with an almost overwhelming need to bury his sorrows deeply between a responsive lovers thighs.

"Well then, my bonnie raven loves," Ailill breathed softly, her fingertips stroking the silken hair atop the newborn's head. She was smiling; that secretive smile that hid her true thoughts, though not her feelings, from view. "What will you be calling this bitty wee lassie? Now that you've asserted that she will have a surname, and a very good one at that, I might add, she will need a first name, to start. We shall give her an honorable naming ceremony once we have more people here to bless her with any rights she will have, she being the daughter of... fine men such as yourselves. I believe we could work that in during the days to come, so that all will know she is
your
daughter as well as a part of the clan."

Although it was a bit of a surprise when both Jacob and Micah immediately spoke up, naming the infant in unison as if they had already discussed the subject, Ailill took no real notice of the look in each man's eyes above her as they said it. Instead, she looked down, smiling into the deeply colored, unfocused eyes of the newborn baby girl. "
McKell MacDuff nic Morna
," she said softly. "Such a sweet, bonnie name for a sweet, bonnie lass. You're father's have got very good taste, have they not?"

The infant flourished over the next few weeks. With the help of everyone who lived at Hidden Jewel, and the constant feeding of 'Annie's Miraculous Mama Milk', as the two men aptly dubbed the concoction which made up the sweet baby formula, the tiny girl grew healthy and strong, looking more like the chubby newborn she should have been with each passing day. True to their word, Jacob and Micah took the care of Baby McKell to heart, taking turns with her throughout the long days and nights, when someone else hadn't gotten to her first. Though neither wished to move into Hidden Jewel, the cozy cabin being their first real home without the constant rule of Kiah, most of their time was spent there. To Ailill, it looked as if the men had truly found the love which they had been seeking for so long. She, as well, felt quite captivated each time she set eyes upon the silky raven curls, the eyes which, after the first week, held just a touch of a promise that they would be the same glacier blue as her true sire, as her poor unfortunate mother, lost souls within the Histories. It was getting on time for yet another trek, this one less brutal than the last; it was time to open up her sight to its fullest, to search for the wee bairn's own lost history.

Even more surprising was how quickly James took to the role of Grandpa; the pretty baby had the huge bear of a man wrapped around her itty bitty finger within hours of his arrival back on Jewel Mountain. It was as if the man had been waiting for Ailill to breed, and rather impatiently, just so that he could have a living doll to cart about. As soon as he heard the sad tale, the real truth of whom the baby had been born to, coming from a very displeased Ailill when the brothers were not around to hear a single word, the leader wisely accepted the claim of both young men as her paternal link, carefully naming McKell in the Clan ledger as the true daughter of the twin brothers, Micah and Jacob MacDuff, though James had had the foresight to leave a large blank spot for the names which she would be given later, by others, along with her birthrights. It seemed as if the tiny raven haired baby made the leader of the mount as truly happy as her two acting fathers were, after years of yearning to fill his massive home with the pitter-patter of tiny feet.

Taking the orphaned infant into Hidden Jewel had another effect, which had an impact on Ailill's life, though she was unsure if it was as promising as it had at first seemed. It was as if a great weight had been lifted, quite suddenly, from Ailill's well-muscled shoulders, the unquestioning acceptance of the baby by her own father; James stopped bothering her about wedding the two brothers that very day, though when she questioned him about it he avoided giving her any real answers. It should have been a great relief, but it was not. Her father was up to something, she knew, and her mother was involved.

Annie had managed to gain her daughter and the twin men more time, what with the sudden arrival of the baby. Micah and Jacob had told her about the dream visits made to them by the young Scot, and his subsequent demand that they return her to him within a two week timeline once she returned to the mount. They asked her if there was some way to conjure the man so that he would not be angered by Ailill's not showing up at the allotted time, much to the her mother's obvious amusement. Annie had found their fear of the beautiful Tiernan absolutely hilarious, her deliberately nefarious laughter had goaded them both into speaking plainly of the idea that all the MacKintosh women were witches intent upon the destruction of men. She had fairly roared with delight at such a notion, embarrassing the two tall, exquisite young men to the point of blushing like pretty lasses before explaining that she was not a witch, nor could she conjure anyone, but she would do her best to see to it that the giant Highlander would not come a-calling for their pure Mac Morna blood. It had taken days to live that one down; Annie had chuckled with glee nearly every time she caught one or the other looking at her, much to each man's chagrin.

Ailill had not been so amused. When she found out, from her mother, that the woman's apparent delight stemmed from the secret visit of her first love, and then, when questioned,  neither of the men would even admit to what she knew to be fact, Ailill had been furious.

Furious enough to sleep alone, in her own bed, for three nights before Micah grew tired of receiving a cold shoulder every time he attempted to get close to her, of being unjustly punished over something that was not his fault. He and his twin cornered the stubborn young woman in the kitchen on the fourth day, just as everyone was sitting down to lunch. A nice warm November day, perfect for a swim in a lake, to their way of thinking. Micah literally threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, preserving his own sense of her decency before the farmhands and her parents by slapping a large hand across her shapely rear, hard enough to leave it stinging, though he
was
holding her kilt in place as he carried her, fighting, though without much effect, out of the great house to the shadows of the wood where he promptly tossed her, shoes and all, into Rosewater. "To cool your damn foolish temper," he had said when she resurfaced, sputtering questions and curses,before he jumped in, nearly mauling her against the muddy bank; Jacob helping him to turn her thoughts to the present by standing beside the pond, buck naked, shamelessly singing some foolish Robert Burns song entitled '
The Quakers Wife
', in a surprisingly beautiful, very loud, voice, his mock-Scottish accent for the bawdy lyrics about how a 'nine inch will please a lady' surprisingly good as well, though by the time they were through with her, Ailill's mind was no longer on anything but the sexy southern drawl of the two incredibly demanding men from West Texas, both of whom proved exactly how wrong she had been to neglect them for so long.