“I couldna nurse my twins, either, but there’s no shame in it. We have two wet nurses now so they’ll have plenty of nourishment tae fill their bellies. Have you thought of a name for the lad? Your late father’s, mayhap—ah, God.”
Cora immediately looked stricken while Tira’s breath caught in disbelief.
“M-my father is dead?”
Cora gave a heavy sigh and murmured, “Aye, some months ago. Forgive me, Tira, I wanted tae wait until you were stronger tae tell you—och, it’s better you know. The loss of your mother and your abduction proved too much for him, though I know little else. Would Monroe be a fitting name for your son in tribute tae him?”
“Aye, Monroe.” Tira could barely speak for the grief overwhelming her along with terrible regret for blaming her father that she hadn’t been rescued. Had his heart given out from anguish over not being able to find her?
She couldn’t deny it would have been a near impossible task with her aboard ship for those first months with Thorgren and constantly sailing from Scotland’s coastline to the Orkneys and then back again for more raids—until that November morning when rescue had been snatched away from her.
Someone must have seen her alongside Thorgren during a raid and that news relayed to Errol and the other Highlanders for them to attack the encampment—och, her head pounded to think of the misery she had endured since that day. She had known then she was with child, Tira wiping away fresh tears with the back of her hand as Isobel slept peacefully in her lap.
“Please…take her from me.”
At once a second wet nurse hastened forward to scoop up her daughter, leaving Tira to rise shakily from her chair.
It was all too much for her…seeing Errol face-to-face…holding her bairns and feeling such love for them no matter the horror that had brought them into the world…and now hearing of her father’s death?—
“Take my arm, Tira. I will walk with you tae your room.”
Gratefully, she obliged Cora, for her legs felt wooden and sapped of strength, Tira stumbling over the threshold.
She heard a feminine gasp, Cora trying to catch her from falling only for Tira to feel herself swept up into powerful arms, Errol’s face etched with deep concern as he carried her down the hall.
“I couldna leave you, Tira. I’ve been standing outside the door waiting tae speak with you—och, lass, dinna cry.”
Errol’s voice hoarse with emotion as another sob burst from Tira, she could no more cease the onslaught of tears than she could slow the racing of her heartbeat to feel him holding her so tightly against him.
His handsome face so dear…his blue eyes so stricken at her distress as she thought wildly of all the times she had dreamt of Errol’s arms around her and not Thorgren’s—not Thorgren’s!
Through the sobs wracking her, Tira felt Errol lay her gently upon the bed as Cora came up behind him to whisk a blanket over her.
“It’s my fault—I shouldna have said a word yet about her father! Och, Errol, you can see that you canna speak tae her now. Later today, I beg you…just as she agreed.”
Near blinded by tears, Tira saw Errol nod and then he was gone from beside the bed while she lifted a hand to reach out to him.
A hand that Cora clutched as if she thought Tira yearned for her comfort, Cora’s voice hoarse now, too.
“Forgive me, Tira…I’m so sorry tae have upset you…”
“God help me, it’s true,”Errol said vehemently under his breath as he stormed from Tira’s bedchamber, the desolate sound of her weeping following him to the tower steps.
The woman he loved more than life loathed his touch, just as he had feared. She hadn’t begun to sob until he had swept her into his arms—och, why hadn’t he been patient and waited until later in the day instead of insisting that he speak with her?
He had been spellbound watching Tira hold her bairns, the tenderness on her face making his heart pound—aye, making him believe all would be well given she hadn’t spurned her wee ones after days of refusing to see them.
Instead she had given them names, Isobel and Monroe, and had cradled them lovingly in her arms as would any new mother.
Her nod of assent about seeing her later had filled him with such hope that he’d been shaken by its intensity and had stood outside the nursery to steady himself, and then decided to stay.
Yetwhyhad she agreed to see him? Clearly from her reaction to his touch, it wasn’t because she longed to speak to him, too…unless she intended to tell him that she no longer loved him and wished for him to leave Castle MacLachlan.
His fists clenching, Errol lunged down the steps three at a time, his heart thundering harder.
By God, how was he to withstand hearing such words from her lips? Soft pink lips he longed to kiss again, the slight weight of her body fueling his determination to protect her for as long as it took to make her smile and look at him with love shining in her eyes as she had a year ago?—
“You’re a fool,” Errol said bitterly, not even noticing the servants scattering out of his way as he strode through the foyer.
