The Capture of Highland Desire (The Mac Coinnach Brothers) (26 page)

             
And it was.

Epilogue

             
Eian flew down the stone steps of the keep, nearly taking out Bren on his way.

             
"Hell Eian, where are ye going with the devil at yer heels?"

             
"Allia wants cold water from the well."

             
"Ah."  Eian's wife had been in labor with their first child since the wee hours of the morning, and Eian was a bundle of nerves.  Bren understood, he had been there not that long ago with his own wife, and he had nearly gone mad with the helplessness of waiting and being unable to do anything to help.  He followed Eian to the well while he drew up the water so fast that the bucket hit the winch at the top and sloshed water over the edges.  "Easy, brother.  Allia is doing well?"

             
"Aye, the other women say it's likely my son will be born within the hour."  He was so glad his brothers' wives were there to help Allia through the birth, because he himself was clueless in such matters.  He knew exactly how to put a child
into
his wife, but really had no idea how they got back out again.

             
Bren grinned at him.  "Yer so certain it will be a son?"

             
"Of course, Bren.  Three sons for three brothers, remember?  If Allia weren’t carrying a son, she wouldn’t have been able to kill Mored.”  He beamed with pride at what his courageous little wife had done.  “But my next bairn will be a pretty little girl that I can coddle and spoil."

             
Bren took the water jug from Eian's slightly shaking fingers and filled it for him with a wry smile.  He would have never imagined his devil-may-care little brother could be held by one woman, and happily anticipating fatherhood.  Truth be told, he would have thought it practically impossible, but just look at Eian now, so nervous and excited over becoming a father, something he had spent most of his adult life trying to avoid at all costs.  Miracles did happen. 

J
ust then a woman's scream of agony rent the air, and Eian took off at a dead run for the keep.  Bren shrugged and followed with the forgotten water jug.  His brother would thank him later if Allia still wanted the water.  Bren had learned quickly that when a woman is in labor, it is best to do whatever she says and do it quickly, or at least keep your ballocks well out of her reach, as she was quite likely to blame them or their owner at some point in time.  He passed Drust on his way through the hall.

             
"Willa says it's almost time."  He grinned, something he had been doing a lot more often now that he had Willa in his life.  "I've never seen Eian so... crazed."

             
Bren laughed.  "Aye, nor so happy."

             
"We are all three of us verra lucky men", Drust said with conviction.

             
"Aye, that we are."

              Eian plowed through the door and into the room, his eyes landing on Allia, propped up in the bed with her eyes squeezed shut panting.  He stopped short.  "Hell, I forgot the water!"

             
Willa raised an eyebrow.  "How could you forget the water when that's the only thing you were sent out for?"

             
Bren stuck his arm through the open door with the jug, and Eian took it gratefully.  "I have the water now", he said sheepishly.  Faith took the jug from him as Eian went to Allia's side, taking her hand and squeezing it gently.  He had no words to take away her pain, and more than a little guilt that her pain was, in fact, his fault, so he just pushed the damp tendrils of her hair back from her cheeks and thought how breathtakingly beautiful she looked, giving birth to their child that she had nurtured all these months with her body.

             
The midwife's head popped up suddenly at the end of the bed, startling him out of his thoughts.  "It's time!  One or two more pushes and ye’re done, lass!"

             
"Oh God!"  Allia gritted out from between clenched teeth.  "I think it's an elephant!"

             
"What's an elephant, Love?” Eian asked, concerned.

             
"Shut up you idiot!"

             
He grinned at her sudden outburst.  He liked it when she was feisty, because it meant she was strong.

"I can see the head", the midwife, Maggie, was saying.  "Dark hair, just like his father!"

              Eian grinned even wider.  "Och, he's really mine, then!"

             
Faith rolled her eyes.  “Because there aren’t any other men in the world with dark hair…”

Moments later, the room was filled with the wailing cries of a newborn baby.  "A little lad, of course."  Maggie announced, bef
ore setting the baby at the foot of the bed to vigorously rub him dry.  Then she wrapped him in a soft blanket, and placed him in his mother's arms.  Tears of joy misted Allia's eyes as she looked down at their son.  He looked just like Eian, of course, because all of the Mac Coinnach men seemed to produce little clones of themselves, and he had a little tuft of dark hair that promised to be wavy.  The baby stopped crying and looked up at her with wide eyes.  Smiling, she gathered the blanket and handed him carefully to Eian.  "Your son."

             
Eian took the squirming bundle gingerly in his arms, beaming with pride.  He reached down to touch the tiny hand and the baby grabbed onto his finger.  "God, he's stronger than he looks!  Welcome, little man, I'm yer da."  He looked up to the women, who were tidying the room.  "Tell my brothers to come and meet my son.  Tell them to bring their sons as well, and we'll have the future of the clan Mac Coinnach together for the first time."