“A mother,” Fiona replied. Then her bright blue eyes grew wide. “Oh, Fenella!”
“I’ve said naught,” Fenella spoke quickly. “Just wait, my bairn. Be patient and wait. Who knows what will happen. You might have a new mam soon.”
“But I want Da to marry Alix!” Fiona told the housekeeper. “Did the queen call him to court to give him a new wife? I will hate her! I want Alix for my mother!”
“Hush, child,” Fenella cautioned.
Fiona burst into tears. “I w-w-want Alix for my mother!” she wailed. “I don’t want some stranger! I w-wa-want Alix!”
“Now you’ve done it,” Iver scolded the housekeeper.
“Alix! Alix!”Fiona howled, her small face red and wet with her tears.
Both the laird and Alix came into the hall at the same time. They ran to the little girl, and Malcolm Scott picked his daughter up in his arms to comfort her.
“Fiona, what is it?” he wanted to know.
“I want Alix!” Fiona sobbed.
“I am here,ma petite,” Alix assured her, reaching up to wipe away the tears streaming down the child’s face.
“I don’t want a strange mother!” Fiona wept. “I want Alix!”
“God’s foot!” the laird swore. “What is the bairn talking about?”
“I’m sorry, my lord, I may have spoken out of turn,” Fenella began.
“ALIX!”Fiona sobbed loudly as she held out her arms to her companion. “I want Alix!”
“Give her to me, my lord,” Alix said, and took the weeping child from him.
“What the hell did you say to her?” Malcolm Scott demanded of Fenella.
Iver gave the housekeeper anI told you solook.
“Well, my lord, we were speaking on what Fiona desires more than anything else in the world,” Fenella began, attempting to explain the situation.
“I want Alix for my mother!” Fiona sniffled, now comforted by the warm arms holding her. “I don’t want some poxy woman from the queen’s court.I want Alix!”
“Very well,” the laird said in an agreeable tone. “You shall have her.”
Suddenly Fiona’s tears ceased. A smile broke out upon her face. “Really, Da?Really?I can have Alix for my mother?”
“If she will accept me for her husband,” Malcolm Scott said, a small smile upon his lips. “It’s actually all up to Alix, Fiona.”
Iver’s mouth fell open. Fenella grinned triumphantly.
“Will you be my mother, Alix?” Fiona asked. “Please!”
“If your father will ask me properly,” Alix said, “I will give you both an answer.” Her heart was soaring with her joy. She had lost her family only to gain another one. And she was loved! Loved by the laird and loved by this little girl in her arms.
“I thought I had asked you,” the laird said, his gray eyes twinkling.
“Not properly,” Alix replied mischievously.
The Laird of Dunglais knelt before her, and taking a hand in his, said, “Alix Margot Givet, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Alix tilted her head first to one side and then the other. “Hmmmm,” she pondered as if seriously considering the matter.
