Alex passed Eliza off to her blushing mother, then made his way over to the shallow end of the loch where the bairns all splashed in the water. As soon as they spied him, the wee ones all ran over yelling, “Tree, Uncle Alex. Please, be the tree.” Celestina held her youngest, Catriona, while Caralyn held her wee lad, Padraig.
Maddie smiled up at her husband. “See how they love you, Alex?”
Alex strode into the water up to his knees, holding both arms out to the side, and shouted in his deepest voice, “Watch out, a storm is a brewing.” The bairns giggled and ran toward him, each of them reaching up to grasp his enormous arms.
Gregor was last, chasing the older ones into the water. “Dabin, wait for me!”
Once they were all hanging from his arms, he started to swing them back and forth, “Here comes the wind.”
The bairns started to swing and squeal, some of them landing in the water with a splash, others hanging on for dear life.
Maddie yelled, “Be careful, Alex. Do not hurt them. There are so many hanging on your arms.”
Once all of the bairns had landed in the water, he climbed back out and headed over to greet his sister, Brenna, who was standing off to the side on the hill overlooking the water.
“All is well, Brenna? Is this not too hard for you, watching all the bairns?”
Brenna’s eyes teared up. “Nay, ‘tis wonderful. You know not how happy you have made me by bringing the family to support me. Alex, look at our clan and all it’s become.”
As Alex stopped to stare out over the loch, Jennie and Aedan came to join them. “I know,” he said. “‘Tis hard to believe they are all part of our clan. I wish Mama and Papa could see us now, how we’ve grown.” He wrapped his arm over Jennie’s shoulder and kissed her cheek.
“I know, but I believe they are watching.” Brenna swiped away a tear as Brodie and Celestina joined them, and Maddie came over to hug her husband. “How could I be sad about losing one child, when we have so many strong bairns?”
“You’ll have another someday,” Maddie whispered. “Alex and I lost one before we had Eliza.”
Silence settled over the siblings, but the solemn moment was broken when Logan came running at them from the tree, followed by Robbie. Before he reached them, Logan first chased over to Gwyneth, who was sunning herself on her plaid, and proceeded to drip water all over her.
“Logan, you’ll pay!” She jumped up and chased him back to the tree.
All the older bairns chased after the two to see what they would do next.
Logan flung himself into the water from the swing, yelling, “Come catch me, Gwynie.” He landed with a big splash almost as loud as his first. Gwyneth used the swing next—after flipping in the air, she kicked her legs straight up and landed in the water head first, with her arms leading overhead, not far away from Logan. Dressed in her leggings and a sleeveless tunic, she hardly made a ripple in the water.
“How did she do that?” Robbie whispered, Caralyn right behind him with their babe on her hip.
“Are those two always so playful?” Celestina asked.
Micheil and Diana came over, holding their two lads, David and Daniel, both a bit overwhelmed by everyone. “Aye, Logan loves to tease Gwyneth,” Micheil replied.
“But Gwyneth enjoys every moment of his teasing,” Diana added.
Celestina said, “I love to see the strong friendships among the cousins. Look at Bethia and Kyla, and Gracie and Sorcha. Roddy and Braden are inseparable until they come here, and then they love spending as much time as they are able with Gavin and Gregor. Those four lads are all within a year of each other, are they not? And look at Molly and Ashlyn, they’re so dear together!”
Moments later, Logan and Gwyneth climbed out of the water laughing, arms wrapped around each other.
Yuletide Angels
Book 9
A beloved story of Alex and Maddie, when they both meet their grandbairns…
Dyna, Alick, and Alasdair.
Chapter One
I wrote this with the idea that it was before Elizabeth and Connor were born.
Obviously, I wrote it after Highland Swords, so I admit the timing could be confusing.
