Chapter 28
“Hew?”Logan threw back his hood.
Hew dropped the plaids.“Logan?”Itwashis brother, although a taller version since the last time he’d seen him more than a year ago.
Logan loped forward with an enormous grin.He caught Hew in a rib-crushing embrace.Then he pushed away to arm’s length to take a good look at him.
“So good to see you, brother,” Logan said.“You’re looking fit.Lovedoesconquer all, aye?”
Before Hew could answer, he heard an unmistakable bellow.
“Dunlop!”
Aunt Deirdre?Was she here as well?
From behind his armful of plaids, Dunlop replied, “Deirdre?”
The clan cleared a path between the two lairds.Hew could see now the visitors were all from Rivenloch.
“Thank God ye’re here,” Dunlop said, handing the plaids off to a nearby clansman.“Ye’re just in time,” he rattled on.“We’re not sure whether to call the physician.Or if we’ve got enough plaids.Or—”
“What’s happened?”Deirdre demanded, as clear and efficient as always.
“’Tis my Carenza,” Dunlop said.“She’s goin’ to have the bairn.”
“Now?”
“Aye, and ’tis takin’ so long, I fear—”
“Is it?”Deirdre asked in concern.Then she turned to the nearest maidservant.“Isit taking so long?”
The maidservant’s eyes went wide.She’d likely never been questioned by a warrior maid.But Deirdre trusted her opinion more than a man’s.Women knew more about such things.The maidservant bit her lip, glancing uncertainly at Carenza’s father.Then she shook her head.
“Then there’s time,” Deirdre said.“Hallie?”
Hew’s cousin Hallie came forward and pulled a scroll out of her satchel.She handed it to Deirdre, who handed it to Dunlop.
“I need you to sign and seal this,” Deirdre said.
Dunlop frowned in confusion.“What is it?Can it not wait?This is no time for negotiations and contracts.As I’ve said, my daughter is in—”
“Aye, so you’ve said.And ’tis my nephew’s bairn, aye?”
“Aye.”
“Then I need you to sign and seal this.”
She unfurled the scroll then, and Hew’s breath caught as he recognized the document.
Dunlop raised himself to his full height, which was still just shy of Laird Deirdre.“With all due respect, m’laird, ’twill have to wait until—”
“Nay.”She showed him the document.“Now.”
Flustered by her bold challenge, Dunlop skimmed the parchment, then took it in trembling hands when he saw what it was.“Scribe!”
Hope swelled in Hew.Was their marriage going to be made real before the bairn arrived?That was his dearest wish for Carenza.
In the darkest part of his heart, he’d secretly feared God might punish him for his sin with the death of their child.Now at least that part of his dread might be vanquished.
