Page 98 of Bride of Fire
But how should he answer her?
He couldn’t very well say Jenefer was his lover.
Nor could he confess that he’d let a hostage care for their bairn.
To her credit and his relief, Jenefer had a quick answer. “I’m the babe’s nurse, m’lady.”
She swept forward, and Morgan closed the door behind her.
“No doubt you’re eager to see your son,” she said.
But as Jenefer carried him toward her, Alicia appeared to shrink into the mattress. Her eyes grew round, and her fingers tensed in the bedlinens.
“I… I… I don’t think I have the strength to…” She sank onto the pillow, turning her back to them. “Perhaps later.”
Jenefer exchanged a look of bafflement with Morgan.
He didn’t understand Alicia’s reaction either. It seemed like she would want to see their son. He’d hoped that holding the bairn might distract her from her tribulations and make her whole again.
But maybe the shock was too much. Maybe she needed time to adjust to being a mother. Maybe bonding with him would help.
“I’ve named him Allison,” he told her. “After you.”
“I’d like to rest now,” Alicia murmured over her shoulder.
Morgan was crestfallen. He’d expected that Alicia’s return from the dead would change everything. That she would be so grateful to see him, she would embrace him and their child with all the love she’d held close to her chest before.
He was wrong.
He’d forgotten how Alicia could withdraw like a snail into its shell. How, with a word, she could cut off all conversation and retreat into solitude. How she could leave him with his mouth hanging open and no one to hear his thoughts.
In the ensuing awkward pause in the room, the bairn naturally chose to begin whimpering.
Jenefer looked expectantly at Morgan.
He swallowed, unsure of what to do or say.
She raised her brows in silent communication.
He frowned.
She indicated Alicia with a sharp nod of her head. Then she lifted the bairn as if she intended to leave him beside her in the bed.
He shook his head.
She compressed her lips in frustration.
He mouthed the word, “Nay.”
She narrowed her eyes with smoking fury.
Alicia groaned from the bed. “Please take him away.”
Jenefer’s jaw dropped.
“She’s goin’, m’lady,” he whispered, catching Jenefer by the shoulder and wheeling her around toward the door.
He should have known she’d resist. Her brows collided in disapproval, and she wrenched out of his grip. Of course, her violent movements upset the bairn, who began to wail in earnest.
