Page 132 of Promises to Keep

“Good, then they dinna find ye for it. I dinna want tae hae such a strict rule, but I felt I had tae, even though I hae broken it.”

He shook his head. “I was in the command tents, near the battlefield, and – Lady Mairead told me the date ye…” He squeezed my hand. “I told m’self I couldna come, that it would be a risk, and twas the worst time tae leave the war, but m’heart decided for me, I rode away from the troops tae the woods and twisted the vessel and now I am here. I dinna think on it, I just did it. I had tae see the bairn.”

Isla said, “You are silly, Dada, the bairn is not a bairn, the bairn is inside mammy’s stomach.”

He put his hand on my rounded stomach and grinned. “Aye.” The bairn rolled through my stomach. “Och, dost he hear me?”

He bent over, causing Isla to shift and be playfully squished, and to giggle merrily, while her face was pressed to my midsection. He pressed his face to the folds of fabric on my skirt. “Hey Bairn, ye are happy tae hear me?”

The baby moved, a mound rolling from one side of my stomach to the other.

I smiled at my husband, he returned it, his teeth white in a broad smile against his dirty skin. I said, pushing hair back from his forehead, “You look like you’ve been through smoke.”

“Ye ken me, mo reul-iuil, I am always tae put out the fires, but we daena need tae talk about war, nae now. Let’s just sit here and let me enjoy yer great big body for a moment, this fine roundness, the comin’ bairn, and Isla needin’ hugs and Archie.” He hugged the kids until they squealed with joy.

The others stood and left our circle, leaving us be, except Ben who needed to get a hug too. Then Zoe. Then we just sat together in the dust of the courtyard, on a fine day with a high sky, and the castle settling down from the excitement of a high alert.

We finally got up from our huddle and went to our room and Magnus changed and washed his hands and face in the bowl. The kids had gone off to look for Ben, and now Magnus and I were alone.

He asked, “Has it been verra hard?”

“Yes, but nothing like your experience, I’m not at war, I just… it’s not fun waiting, and we don’t have anything good— I’m not complaining though, it’s not war. We survived.”

He pulled me back on the bed. And then chuckled at my rounded stomach. “Tis verra big!”

“And so uncomfortable, I have to lie on my side.” I rolled over to face him. He turned to face me. “Has it been very hard what you’re doing?”

“Aye… but tis almost over.” His hand went on my stomach and the baby kicked again. “Och, he wants all of m’attention!”

I said, “You seem so convinced it’s a boy. You know, Beaty tried so hard to guess and she ended up totally surprised. It was a boy, Noah, by the way.”

“I ken, and are ye comparin’ my prognosticating powers tae the ones of Madame Beaty?”

I raised his chin from where he was looking down at my belly. “Did you sneak a peek at our future, Magnus? Have you gone to the future and asked if we have a son or daughter, do you know?”

“Nae, I promise, we hae hidden ye, I couldna look ye up without riskin’ yer location, so this is all guess work, but I am right in it. We already hae a girl, of course tis a boy.”

I chuckled and we kissed, then I said, “You have to wash up, even more. There is no touching me from the waist down as filthy as you are.”

He said, “If ye kent how desperate I am ye wouldna push me away even for one moment. Ye would feel sorry for me, my want would bring ye tae softness and ye would take a gentle kindness tae my plight. It has been a long time without ye, and tae see ye all round like this, och nae, I canna wait.”

“I am not softness, I am firm, take off all your clothes.” I climbed off him and went to the pitcher of water, poured some into a basin, and taking the rag beside it, wrung it out in the clear water and then returned to my husband.

He stood in front of me, majestic and naked, and I washed him, starting in his mid-parts and down his legs and he said, “Och nae, tis ticklin’ and ye are… hurry, mo reul-iuil, ye need tae… I am sorry I came tae ye so filthy, but och nae, I need ye…”

I washed his cock and balls and around his stomach and his legs, and went slow and teasing, “But what about here, my lord, you might want me to take my time here…”

“Och nae, ye are… call me m’lord again.”

“What do ye mean, m’lord, ye want me tae call ye, Master Magnus…?”

And then that had been too much for him to take. He lay down and pulled me to lay down beside him, he pulled up my skirts and in the spoon position entered me from behind,say it again…his hand on my stomach, his breath on the back of my neck, in my hair…

“What, m’lord? You want me, Master Magnus?”

“Aye…”

I gripped his hand and groaned from the pleasure of it, enjoying his desperate want and his building excitement, his taking of me out of desperation, desire, needing the closeness of me…. Out of his mind, he groaned, once more…

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