Mackinnons #02 For All the Right Reasons (55 page)

Alex looked up, seeing his angry wife, wet and dripping and another fit of laughter gripped him. “You won’t b…b…believe,” was all he manage to get out.

Katherine hadn’t seen a thing funny so far. “If it concerns you,” she said dryly, “I’d believe it.”

When he could manage the breath to speak, Alex said weakly, “Sweetheart, come sit beside me. I’ve got something to tell you.”

“I’ll take the hilarity standing up, thank you.”

“I don’t really know where to begin,” he said, stretching his long legs out in front of him.

“What were you laughing at? Me?”

“You?” He laughed again. “No. I was laughing at myself…at my youth.”

Katherine looked at him like he had gone over to the other side, to senility. “Alex, there wasn’t a blasted thing funny about your youth, or mine either, for that matter.”

“Oh, but there was. Come here,” he said, patting the log beside him.

“No thank you,” she said.

“I’ve got a story to tell you. Are you sure you don’t want to sit down?”

“Positive.”

So it began, the telling of his story. For over an hour, Alex talked on, telling Katherine of his earlier feelings for her, moving to those in-between years when she clobbered him and let him know she wanted no part of him. He went on to tell her about the day he saw Karin at the creek, and how in time even the thought of her that way couldn’t hold him. “I read somewhere once that men spend the first half of their life making the second half miserable, and I believe it.”

Katherine listened to every word, straight up to the moment Alex said, “And that’s when you walked up and found me sitting here laughing like a fool.” He dropped his head in his hands from exhaustion, rubbing his temples for a moment before he raised his head and looked at her.

“You know,” he said, “it was strange seeing Karin again. It was like my past came back to me. I won’t lie to you and say I didn’t think about the way things used to be, the way she was everything I ever wanted, and how I prayed every night that God would make her mine.” He leaned down and picked up a twig and began breaking pieces off of it, tossing them to the ground. Katherine’s heart broke a little each time that twig snapped.

“How strange it felt to stand there looking at her the other day, seeing she wasn’t quite the angel I remembered her to be. Time had changed her…and my feelings, too.” He looked at her and shook his head. “Now don’t you go getting all teary, lass.

“I’ll have to admit it wasn’t all one-sided. I could see time had changed Karin’s feelings as well. You know, I felt like a fool standing there, wondering if we should try to talk about old times, knowing all the while that we had nothing to say. I looked at you, the woman I married, and I heard myself thanking God for unanswered prayer.”

She took a step toward him and stopped.

“Katherine, I love you,” he said. He lifted his hand up as if he were attempting to touch her to see if his hand would slice through thin air or touch something that was real.

“Katherine,” he whispered, “what are you thinking?”

She took a swipe at her eyes with the back of her hand. “You big oaf! I ought to tell you I can’t stand the sight of you for scaring me like you did just then—telling me all that teary stuff about Karin.”

“Come on,” he said, his voice light and cajoling. “Tell me what you’re really thinking.”

“I’m thinking it’s a pity I’m your wife.”

Seeing the hurt look in his eyes, she hastily said, “Because if I wasn’t already your wife, I’d ask you to marry me.” She breathed deeply to gain control. “Since I’m already your wife, I’ll just have to think of something else.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. When we got married I was such a fool. All I could think of was I was being forced to do something wrong, that I was making a big mistake.” He looked into her eyes. “I’m not the fool I was then. This time I know what I’m doing. I want to marry you, Katherine.”

She laughed, then seeing how serious he was, she stopped. “Is this for real?”

“It’s a real as it can be.”

“You’re crazy. We can’t get married. We’re
already
married!”

“Is there a law against getting married again?”

“I don’t think so, but…Alex, normal people don’t get married twice.”

“Who says we’re normal?”

“True, but that’s no reason to get married again. Why would you even consider it?”

“Because,
this
time I want to marry you for all the right reasons.” He paused, getting down on his knees in front of her. “Marry me, Katherine. I love you with all my heart.” He grinned. “And a few other organs as well.”

Katherine looked at him, seeing the boyish grin, and the years that had separated them all ran together. She threw back her head with a throaty laugh. The sheet fell away from her body.

“Good Lord!” Alex said as he shot to his feet. “Good Lord a mercy!” His mouth went dry. He didn’t know whether to grab her and run before she changed her mind, or let out a war whoop that would put a Comanche to shame. “Good Lord, Katherine, does this mean what I think it means?”

“Mackinnon, stop your grinnin’ and drop your linen.” And that’s precisely what he did.

Epilogue

Caleb Mackinnon sprang to his feet and began pacing the floor. “My God! How long does it take to have a baby? She’s been in there all night. Isn’t there something that doctor can do?”

Alex looked at Caleb, the youngest of his five boys. “These things can’t be rushed, son. Birthing babies takes time. Your mother said everything was coming along as expected. It won’t be much longer now.”

“The first one always takes longer,” said Rafe. He was the oldest son, already the father of three.

Caleb went on pacing. “I don’t think I want any more,” Caleb said. “I didn’t know how much Julia would be going through, or I wouldn’t have had this one.”

“Nonsense,” Eliza said, dropping down on the sofa beside her husband. “Birthing babies is the most natural and beautiful thing in the world. You couldn’t deny that to Julia any more than you could deny it to yourself.”

Alex watched Caleb. Of all his sons, Caleb was the most like him, right down to the same pale blue eyes and dark hair. He was acting about as nervous as Alex had when Katherine was birthing their first over thirty years ago. Only Alex didn’t have five brothers and three sisters to give him advice. He thought about his own four brothers and how they always liked to tease, thinking how lucky he was that none of them were there when Rafe was born, or he would’ve gone through the same thing Caleb was enjoying right now. He watched Caleb’s dark brow knit together as he rounded on his sister. “And what makes you such an expert, Eliza? You and Josh have only one child.”

Eliza looked just like Katharine when she was a bit put out. “My Lord, Caleb. I’m only twenty. How many children do you think I should have?” Eliza asked.

“That’s what happens when you’re the baby of the family,” Rafe’s wife Amelia said. “I was the baby of our family. All my life I’ve been trying to catch up.”

“Eliza has always been a slow starter. We thought she’d never learn to talk,” said Cal. He was just two years younger than Rafe and not yet married.

“That’s because the seven of you were always talking so much I never got a chance,” she said. Eliza picked up a sofa pillow, holding it by the fringe as she hurled it at him. Cal laughed and caught it easily in one hand. •

Alex settled himself back in his leather chair and picked up his glass of brandy. He looked around the big comfortable room filled with his children, pleased that all eight of them had come, bringing their families. His eyes went over the faces of his sons and daughters by marriage, thinking his children had done him proud when it came time for them to pick a mate. He loved each one of them as if they were his own.

The rumble if footsteps on the porch outside, the shriek of children laughing reminded him that he shouldn’t leave out his twelve grandchildren either. It was a blessing, he thought, that his entire family was together like this for the first time in over five years. It made him feel there was something special about that little mite struggling to be born upstairs. Not many children came into the world surrounded with the love of thirteen aunts and uncles and twelve cousins, not to mention a doting old grandfather and a grandmother who insisted on giving each one of them a mule for their fifth birthday. He lit his pipe and exhaled a wreath of smoke, giving thanks to God. This was one Christmas he wouldn’t be forgetting.

The shrieking wail of a baby pierced the conversation and the room grew suddenly quiet. Caleb sprang to his feet, just as a door upstairs opened, then closed.
Tap, tap, tap
came the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. A moment later, Katherine Mackinnon paused at the top of the stairs, a radiant smile on her face. “You can come up now, Caleb. Julia is tired, but she wants to brag a little before she goes to sleep.”

“
Yaaaa-hooo!
” Caleb shouted, and he leaped the leather ottoman his father’s feet were resting on to prove just how elated he was.

Alex watched him take the stairs two at a time, then he looked at Katherine as Caleb picked her up and swung her around, giving her a big kiss before he put her down and dashed down the hall shouting, “Julia honey, I love you.”

Katherine laughed and looked at Alex. “Come up here, Grandpa. I have something I want to show you.”

Alex joined Katherine at the top of the stairs. “Is everything all right?” he asked. “Julia…”

“She’s fine.”

“The baby?”

“Everyone is fine.” She smoothed the deep furrow between his brow. “Don’t look so worried, my love.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong, Alex.”

“Why’d you tell me to come up?”

She put her arms around Alex’s neck and kissed him softly, ignoring the hoots and whistles from below. “Maybe I just wanted to hear you tell me you’re glad you married me.”

He grinned. “I’m glad I married you,” he said, nuzzling her neck. “Both times.” He pulled back, looking into a face that was remarkably young for a woman who was on the downhill side of fifty. “I’ll tell you another little secret, too. I love you, Katherine.”

“I know you do.” She took his hand in hers and led him down the hall, stopping at the room that joined Julia’s. “I love you too, Alex. With all my heart.”

Alex didn’t speak, but he did look a little wary. After all, he knew his wife better than anyone. “Katherine, what in the blue blazes is going on? Why are you acting so strange, wheedling confessions from me, telling me you love me in the middle of a birthing?”

He had never seen her eyes so bright, or her smile either, for that matter. He put his hand on her forehead and she slapped it away, giving a soft laugh. “If you’ll stop looking so suspicious, I’ll show you why,” she said, opening the door and leading him into the room. They passed the open door that led to Julia’s room, seeing Caleb sitting on the bed beside Julia, holding her hand, kissing her forehead. Caleb’s sisters, Alexandra and Noel, were standing next to Caleb, their backs to the door. Just as they passed, Alexandra turned and seeing her mother and father, she smiled and nodded, giving Noel a nudge. Alex still had a frown on his face when his two daughters came through the doorway, each of them carrying a tiny bundle that was mostly blanket and a tiny red face surrounded by thick black hair.

“Say hello to your grandsons, Alex,” Katherine said, watching Alex’s face as the babies were placed in their cradles.

“Two,” Alex said hoarsely, hearing his daughters laugh as they left the room, closing the door behind them. “She had two? Julia had two babies?”

Katherine laughed. “They’re commonly known as twins, Alex. Now close your mouth.” She reached up and closed it for him, then shook her head. “Honestly, for a man who was a twin himself, I’m amazed at you.”

“Well, I’ll be,” Alex said. And then again. “Well, I’ll be.” He stood over the two babies in the tiny cradles, his joy a secret thing, a look of awe upon his face. He gazed upon a part of him that was fresh and new, a part of him that was living and would go on living, his grandsons, posterity slumbering in their small bodies, the promise of his seed that would continue for generations.

His chest puffed out, he looked at his wife. “Do you think they’ll take after me?”

Katherine slipped her arm through his and rested her head upon his shoulder. “You bred their father, didn’t you?”

Then seeing the expression on her husband’s face, she laughed and took his arm. “Aye,” she said, “I think they will return the compliment.”

About the Elaine Coffman

Long before she began writing novels, Elaine Coffman taught elementary school and language and learning disabilities, never dreaming that she would one day embark upon a new and exciting career as a novelist. Elaine began writing in 1985 and her first book was published in 1988, and she captured the hearts of fans everywhere when she created magnificent Mackinnon family saga of seven books. Due to reader requests to write about their ancestors, she is continuing with the Mackinnon – Douglas series, set in Medieval Scotland.

Literary achievements include four nominations for RT Best Historical of the Year, three time winner of the RT Reviewers Choice Award, Best Western Historical of the Year, and the Maggie Award. Her books have been selected by Doubleday Book Club and Literary Guild, and she was named one of the top ten romance novelists by the American Library Association’s
Booklist.
Her books have appeared on the bestseller lists for the 
New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today
and
Publishers Weekly.
She has also been featured in
Entertainment Weekly, People
Magazine and a leading cultural magazine in Egypt. Always in demand as a speaker, she has spoken to clubs and organizations from coast to coast and has been interviewed by numerous television and radio stations, including a radio broadcast from the USS Constitution in Boston Harbor.

When asked why she chose to write historical romance, she replied, “Because I have always loved history, and wondered where my ancestors came from.” After several years of research, she traced her family back to Charlemagne and now belongs to numerous genealogical organizations.